These banana muffins are soft, buttery, and spiced with cinnamon. They’re wonderful plain, with chopped walnuts, or even chocolate chips. You need 3 large ripe bananas and a few basic kitchen ingredients to get started.
Banana bread is wonderful, but muffins are quicker, more convenient, easily portable, and taste just as good. I’ve been searching for the perfect EASY banana muffin recipe since my daughter began eating solids. We always have bananas in the house which means we eventually have spotty bananas ready for baking!
These quick and easy banana muffins bake in 30 minutes, so if you need to be in and out of the kitchen FAST (um, don’t we all?), this recipe is your savior.
Banana Muffin Ingredients—Each Is Important!
This banana muffin recipe requires a handful of basics like flour, sugar, and milk. That’s what I love about baking—it’s the same base ingredients for basically everything.
- Flour: I tested the recipe with both all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour and LOVED both variations. See recipe Note below.
- Melted Butter: We’ll use melted butter as the fat, though melted coconut oil works too. I love using melted butter in baked goods, and though I was afraid these banana muffins would taste too dense without creaming softened butter (which incorporates air), that’s not the case at all.
- Bananas, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg: The flavor team.
- Egg: 1 egg gives the muffins structure.
- Milk: A common ingredient in some muffin recipes including pumpkin muffins, milk provides necessary moisture. Dry muffins… the worst.
- Sugar: Sweetens. When I make these for my daughter, I use half brown sugar and half coconut sugar. You can use all brown sugar, all coconut sugar, or a mixture of the two. Keep in mind that coconut sugar isn’t quite as sweet as brown sugar, so the flavor will change. See my recipe Note. 🙂
Do these banana muffins taste like banana bread? Yes, totally! But they have a lighter, softer, and more buttery texture. You’ll love it.
How to Make Banana Muffins Moist
There’s a fine line between a moist banana muffin and a dry banana muffin, aka sandpaper in a cupcake wrapper. To make banana muffins moist, make sure you’re using a solid ratio of dry to wet ingredients. I found the muffins to be dry without the addition of liquid, but a couple Tablespoons of milk solved the problem. Use a little fat (butter), brown sugar, and plenty of bananas for lots of moisture and flavor.
How to Mash Bananas
So I started doing this last year and it’s been a total game changer whenever I make banana cake, these breakfast cookies, or banana bread. Just use your mixer to mash bananas! Peel and break them into chunks, place in your mixer, and beat until mashed. Beat the rest of the wet ingredients right into this bowl, then beat in the dry ingredients. So easy.
Can I Use Frozen Bananas?
Yes and I do this often. Thaw the frozen bananas at room temperature. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe below. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking. Try not to mash too much or else you’ll be left with 2 cups of banana-y liquid; some chunks are great.
This banana muffin recipe is perfect if you:
- Have 3 large spotty bananas
- Love banana bread
- Need a quick homemade breakfast, snack, etc.
- Don’t feel like creaming butter and sugar together
- Don’t feel like dirtying 100 pans
And, to turn these into a scrumptious treat, you could dip the tops of the cooled muffins into chocolate ganache and add sprinkles. (Affiliate link: I love these naturally colored sprinkles.) You can also add the streusel topping from these banana chocolate chip streusel muffins.
More Muffin Recipes
These easy banana muffins have been my default for awhile, though I usually switch between these and a couple other muffin recipes previously published. I consider these muffins on the healthier side and they’re each toddler & adult approved. 🙂
- Baby Apple Oat Muffins
- Bran Muffins
- Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins (these include oats)
- Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
- Healthy Apple Muffins & Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Would love to know if you try any of them!
PrintQuick & Easy Banana Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These banana muffins are soft, buttery, and spiced with cinnamon. They’re wonderful plain, but taste fantastic with 1 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips. You need 3 ripe bananas and a handful of basic kitchen ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas)
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)
- 2/3 cup (135g) packed light or dark brown sugar (or coconut sugar)*
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk*
- optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, mash the bananas. On medium speed, beat or whisk in the melted butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then beat or whisk until combined. If adding nuts or chocolate chips, fold them in now. Batter will be thick.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21–23 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake 12–14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C).) Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to continue cooling.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: For longer storage, freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or warm up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-Count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Why the initial high temperature? The hot burst of air will spring up the top of the muffin quickly, then the inside of the muffin can bake for the remainder of the time. This helps the muffins rise nice and tall.
- Whole Wheat Flour: Feel free to substitute whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour or use a mix of both as long as you use 1 and 1/2 cups total. If using all whole wheat flour, add another Tablespoon (15ml) of milk.
- Frozen Bananas: You can use frozen bananas here. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
- Sugar: You can use 2/3 cup of packed brown sugar or coconut sugar. Or a mixture of these to yield 2/3 cup. If using 2/3 cup coconut sugar, the muffins won’t be as sweet. I find they taste best with 2/3 cup brown sugar or 1/3 cup of each. 2/3 cup of honey or pure maple syrup works too, though the muffins will taste a little more moist in the centers. I’m unsure about sugar substitutes, but let me know if you try any.
- Milk: Use your favorite variety of dairy or nondairy milk.
- Banana Bread: Here’s my favorite banana bread recipe. 🙂
I just made them and they are delicious! I only had heavy cream instead of milk and didn’t have any nutmeg, but they are light and tasty. Thank you !
amazing had it in my pack lunch
Great recipe, and baking in diff temperature definitely is a game changer, no worries anymore the muffins would come sealed and underbaked inside. Thank you for this tip
These were great the only problem I had was they were a bit small not sure how much to fill the papers up ? I didnt want to overfill them .
Hi Em, you can fill them all the way to the top. Enjoy!
My husband loved these! Thank you!
Just made these moist banana muffins.
I added more cinnamon and nutmeg. They came out great! Thanks
Just made these with my daughter! Absolutely delicious! Thank you!
Do you have a nutritional breakdown for this recipe? Calories mainly.
Hi Sue, we don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
Love the flavour and texture!! Tasted even when we had it right out of the oven…had a crispy top!
Hi, is it okay to substitute applesauce for the butter?
Hi Susan, you can replace some of the butter with unsweetened applesauce, but the texture of the muffins will slightly change — we recommend keeping some of the butter, as the muffins might taste rubbery without it.
Delicious as always Sally! You are my go to for all of my baking. These muffins, along with every other recipe of yours is always a hit! Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge and amazing recipes!
made it as a loaf and it was so good!
Just made them and forgot to add the milk but they’re still moist and fluffy. I wonder if they’ll dry out sooner? Freshly baked they’re delicious.
Note: I’m a beginner and I found this recipe to be within my comfort zone—very easy, as promised!
Thanks for the Monk Fruit substitute! I’m diabetic so I will make these today!
I used a Monk Fruit brown sugar substitute and these came out perfect and delicious!
Hi Sally. I ended up with muffins fully tasting and smelling of baking soda. Totally unpalatable. Where did I go wrong. I feel frustrated as I had to discard them all
Hi Cate, did you use more baking soda than the recipe calls for? You need 1 teaspoon each baking soda and powder. Any other changes you possibly made?
Delicious! Today, I made a second batch only I did something I learned years ago: Use over-ripe, black bananas and, in this recipe, add an extra one (total of 4); peel, place in a covered bowl, microwave, for 3 minutes on high so they release liquid. Slide them into a mesh strainer placed atop a small saucepan, agitating them now and then to recover as much liquid as possible (should be 1/3 – 1/2 cup of liquid); simmer and reduce until only about 1/4 cup remains. Add the now “banana syrup” back into the bananas, mash and follow recipe as written. It really increases the banana flavor. Refrigerated, these stay great for a month.
As usual you nailed it! It’s why I always come to you first when I am baking. I actually divided the batter into two and added cocoa and chocolate chips in half and the other half added apples, pecans and I did an oat topping and both were amazing! The higher temp at the beginning really helped make them look perfect!
I added dried cranberries, pecans, 1/4 tsp ground cloves and 1/4 tsp ground ginger. Spicy and delicious.
Best banana muffins – the cinnamon and nutmeg makes the difference, typically banana muffins and bread are too much “banana” flavor. This recipe is a keeper.
Lovely recipe. Easy to make.
Srly this is by far the best recipe of banana muffin. They turned out moist, light and not as dense as other muffins I’ve tried before. One little change I did is reducing the sugar amount to 80g, which is perfect to my taste (though my sister even said it was slightly too sweet for her, but that’s okay, she’s quite old so…). I also added cashew, raisins and 1 tsp of rum essence. Thank you for this recipe. Wish you health and good luck ❤
Moist but surprisingly bland. A little more salt, sugar, banana? Maybe a little more each? Not sure but won’t be using this one again.
My sister in law taught me a trick about banana bread recipes. If you mash the very ripe bananas up with the soda called for in any recipe… it pulls the flavor out in the bananas. Also make sure your bananas are very ripe with brown spots on the skins.
Just made these. I added blueberries, pecans, white chocolate, and topped with streusel. Took a little longer to bake. Delicious!
Delicious and simple. Per daughter’s request added the chocolate chips. Muffins were nice and moist. Always looking to reduce sugar so might cut back bit on the brown sugar next time as aging bananas always become sweeter naturally. Certainly make this recipe again. Thanks.
These were amazing!! I added chocolate chips and peanut butter. Soooo good!
Made these for my family and they absolutely loved them. I followed the recipe exactly but somehow managed to make 18 muffins? WIN WIN!! So easy to make and will 100% make again.
Made these for my 17 year old as snacks while studying. I added choc chips to the batter. They didn’t even last the night.
Tastiest and most moist muffin recipe I have tried. This one is a keeper
I baked these today and my husband’s comment was that these are the best muffins, (not just banana muffins), he’s ever had. I added walnuts as well and will try them with pecans and choc chips next time. Thank you for this recipe!
I made the recipe with coconut oil and the half coconut sugar/half brown sugar ratio recommended in the recipe notes, and they were fabulous! The texture was beautiful and the taste so rich. I used unrefined coconut oil, and the coconut flavour really combines well with the banana for a tropical flavour.
I’ve used this recipe 3 times now- we always seem to have rotting bananas, sigh! Since my kids are little I cut the brown sugar to 1/3 a cup and couldn’t tell a difference. This recipe is pretty fool proof. I’m no baker, and it’s come out perfectly everytime!