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
Would love to know if you try any of them!
Print
Quick & 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 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): Stand Mixer or Handheld Mixer | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | 12-Count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners
- 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. 🙂
Keywords: banana muffins
These are a family favorite now! I used 1/3 cup turbinado sugar & 1/3 cup of white sugar in place of the brown sugar. These came out moist and flavorful! Excellent!
★★★★★
This is my go-to banana muffin recipe! My husband has celiac disease so I usually make them with either Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 and King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour, both with excellent results! I just used coconut oil, coconut milk, and coconut sugar for the first time today and they’re still absolutely delicious!
★★★★★
Love this recipe… I accidentally used this recipe for a banana loaf. Worked well!! I just baked for 35-45 at 180c mins until golden brown.. Serve warm with butter!! Yum
With the mini muffins, do you still start out at 425 for 5 minutes or just bake them at 350 for 12-14 minutes?
Hi Sharon, For mini muffins, bake 12-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C). Enjoy!
Great recipe! I was able to follow this recipe and use a few substitutions to make them vegan and gluten free! I substituted the flour for Bob’s 1-1 gluten free flour, eggs for 1tbsp ground flax seed + 3tbsp water mixed and let set for 5 minutes, butter for earth balance plant based baking sticks, milk with out milk, and even threw in some 100% dark baking chocolate, which I crushed into chunks. I added some raw sugar crystals to the top for some extra pizzazz. My boss at work didn’t think I could make gluten free vegan chocolate chip banana muffins- can’t wait to bring these in and show her 🙂
★★★★★
These muffins were so easy to make and delicious. I added chopped dates to half of them I need to cut the baking time by about 2 min when I turn it down to 350. (I should have checked them a couple min sooner as my oven bakes hot). I plan to make these often. I love having muffins in the freezer to grab when I head to exercise in the morning. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Amazing and Fluffy!!! Great recipe!
I used two large bananas, one small egg, only 70gr of coconut sugar and no nutmeg. I made them with and with out chocolate chips. I baked them exactly as described for 5m on high heat and 14m on medium heat. The muffins came out so fluffy and moist! Thank you
★★★★★
Do you think an air fryer will ruin the texture? If not what times do u recommend?? (I don’t have an oven)
Your recipe sounds delicious !!
★★★★★
Hi Jess, we’ve never tested baking these muffins in an air fryer so can’t offer any advice. Let us know if you give it a try!
Great recipe! I accidentally left out half the sugar but my daughter still thinks they are delicious!
★★★★★
Super easy to make, tastes great and versatile! I used coconut oil instead of butter as I was running low on butter and they turned out great.
★★★★★
Delicious! Lightly sweet and tasty. I was wondering if you had nutrition facts for this recipe?
Thank You!!
★★★★★
love this recipe. but i have a general baking question for you. the receipe calls for “weighted” flour and also says a “spoon and leveled” amount. i get different results in doing both. what am i doing wrong?
Hi Pam, We test all of our recipes multiple times using both metric weights and cups (since that’s standard where we live). While spooning and leveling our flour does get us the 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) for this recipe, we always say that “A cup isn’t always a cup, but a gram or ounce is always a gram or ounce!” Basically, when in doubt go by the weight!
I made these today for first time and did not like them at all. The batter had strange odor and the muffins taste more like nutmeg than bananas. Very disappointing as I always have great outcome with Sally’s recipes.
This recipe is amazing, I didn’t add or change anything so it’s really good on its own. This is only my third time baking and it was really easy, so definitely recommend for beginning bakers. The only thing that is that once you bake it for five minutes at 425 F the muffins were ready after only after 12 minutes of 350 F. I also did on conv bake so it may just be my oven so if you are doing it on conv bake it will cook faster. I had an experienced baker with me for a little help and they told me that if I put them in for 6 more minutes they would have burned. So, all in all, really good recipe but maybe don’t cook as long.
★★★★★
I followed the recipe exactly, but they have a very strong and overwhelming taste of baking soda. I’m not sure why this happened.
Hi Claire, thank you so much for giving these muffins a try! Usually a bitter taste results from either using too much, or expired, baking powder. Be sure that you are only using one teaspoon of baking powder and that it is fresh. Most boxes say to use within 6 months but we generally replace them after 3 months. I hope this helps!
Incredible, best banana muffins I’ve ever baked. Try sprinkling a little “sugar in the raw” (turbinado cane sugar) on top before baking
Banana muffins are my new favorite breakfast food and I LOVE this recipe. Thinking about trying to add some oatmeal. Any advice?
★★★★★
Hi Sandy, adding oats would require some testing. You may love these whole wheat banana muffins as well!
I substituted around 50g of the flour (I use wholemeal) for quick oats, and they’ve turned out great!
What would the cook time be adjusted to if doing mini Muffins? Looking forward to trying these!
Hi Katie, For mini muffins, bake 12-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C). Enjoy!
Hi Sally,
I’ve read elsewhere that doing a combo half butter and half oil is what you need to have moist muffin. Can I ask why you prefer to use all butter instead?
Hi Astrid, you can use the same amount of vegetable/canola oil instead or half and half as you mention. We love the taste from using all-butter here, so you will lose a bit of flavor with the oil swap. Let us know if you try!
Marvelous, as we’ve all come to expect from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
I cut the sugar in half, because that’s how I roll, and they were still excellent.
★★★★★
So delicious! Light and not overly sweet! Didn’t have nutmeg so I used allspice instead, not a problem! Only regret is not doubling the recipe, as it only made one tray of muffins, they are half gone by morning already! Will be bookmarking this recipe:)
★★★★★
This recipe turned out to be perfect. Next time I will make them with a topping.
★★★★★
omfg made these just this morning, did a double batch so could do mini and normal muffins in just banana and other half added choc chips to it……i ate all the big muffins (10 all up) and have frozen down the mini ones for my daughters daycare days (and to stop me eating them all too)….
★★★★★
Wonderful recipe, they rose so beautifully. I substitute 1 egg for 1/4 cup applesauce sooo yummy!
Best banana muffins I’ve had in a long time. They were light and tender I put the cream cheese icing on them yum!
★★★★★
My goodness so delicious and fluffy – thanks so much ☺️
I loved this recipe. Can i substitute all purpose flour with king Arthur’s measure for measure Gf flour.
My son can’t have gluten. Thanks!
Very moist! Forgot to drain frozen bananas. Definitely will make this recipe again.
★★★★★
Really nice, I used white sugar as didn’t have brown, and no nutmeg, but wow theyre great tasting.
Delicious! Made with semi-sweet chocolate chips. They turned out perfect! I will definitely be making these again.
★★★★★
Super easy to make! Tasted yummy. I made half with chocolate chips and the other half with walnuts, for a variety. I yield 11 3/4 filled muffins with this recipe. I recently moved so I did not have baking powder so I did a substitute I found online which consisted of lemon juice and baking soda for the reaction. I think it worked well in the recipe. Only change Ill make for next time (besides having baking powder) is using a little more cinnamon/nutmeg as I like things with a little more spice!
★★★★★
These were absolutely delicious! I put walnuts in half of them. Next time going to try raisins.
Very good!
★★★★★
These are wonderful! I used half butter and half vegetable oil. 1 TBS sour cream and 1 TBS milk. I put the sugar crystals and walnuts on top to make them toasty. Love it!
★★★★★