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 loved the recipe but I used olive oil instead of butter and I added chia seeds. My bread and muffins turned out great and very moist!
I’ve made these twice now and love this recipe! Thanks for the tip on starting the muffins at a higher heat, I totally didn’t know that was a thing but it really makes a difference. This recipe is perfect!
Great recipe, super easy and really like the texture. Very handy way to use up leftover bananas. I didn’t have butter so I used sunflower oil in it’s place and it came out perfectly well.
I bake so many of your recipes Sally! I wonder if you would consider also adding the weight in grams for the baking powder, spices, liquids etc on your recipes. I know it is easy to measure these items with spoons or jugs but for those of us already weighing all the other ingredients it would be a little faster and less clean up. Thanks for all the great work you do!
Thank you so much for trying this muffin recipe and many of the other recipes on my site! Adding the gram measurements for teaspoon measures like baking powder, soda, cinnamon, etc has been on my big to-do list! Thank you for the suggestion.
I followed the recipe and these muffins were fine. In my opinion they were not as transcendentally delicious as other commenters made them sound. They were not bad, but there was nothing about them that set them apart from just about every other banana muffin I’ve ever eaten.
Make this muffins for breakfast this morning. It is absolutely amazing. The muffins are pillowy soft and tastefully fantastic. Use the recipe as is. Will definitely make this banana muffins again. This recipe will be added to my recipe book. Thanks .
Hi , I am just about to try your banana muffin recipe but only have two ripe bananas, can I add some unsweetened stewed apple to make up the amount please? Hope this will work.
Hi Sue, if you mash them up along with the banana, that should work okay in a pinch.
I bought bananas specifically to sit and ripen to make these again. My husband and adult son (took half of them home with him) absolutely LOVED them and insisted that I make more asap.
I have made these now twice! I used to make banana bread but was in a hurry one morning on my way to a vacation and made these for the car ride. Huge hit!! I just baked them again (doubling the batter) and they still came out perfect!! This will now be my go-to!
I forgot to put the egg!! will it still come out good?
Hi Sara, egg adds structure to these muffins, let us know how they turn out.
Can I make this without nutmeg and cinnamon my two kids doesn’t like the smell and taste of it.
Hi Kai, you certainly can, though the flavor may seem a bit bland. Let us know if your kids enjoy them!
I make these muffins regularly for my kids – they make a fantastic quick breakfast or snack and use simple ingredients. While it tastes great as-written, since they’re in regular rotation at my house, I’ve lowered the butter by half (and add 3T nonfat Greek yogurt) and sub 1/2 the sugar for monkfruit. The substitutions are undetectable in the finished product and make them a bit more nutritious as a frequently eaten item.
I have been using this recipe for years! Muffins are always soft, fluffy and delicious. My kids favourite.
The best muffins in the world! Can I make this into a Bundt cake? What would be the bake time and temp?
Hi Claudia, we’d recommend using this banana cake batter for a Bundt instead (see recipe notes for bundt cake instructions). Let us know if you give it a try!
I am making my second batch in a week! Delicious and easy to make, I like them better than banana bread. This will be a staple in my recipe box.
Just made these. Turned out ok. Used same amount required in brown sugar but I used white sugar instead(not sure the right amount if swapping to white sugar). Not overly sweet which is fine. But all I can taste is nutmeg and no banana. Next time I will skip that and cook for a few minutes shorter as I think that is why they were on the dryer side.
They were likely dry, and the taste off, due to the white sugar. I would use the brown sugar or coconut sugar.
I’ve taken frozen bananas and sauteed them to reduce some of the liquid. I found that this also increased the banana flavor.
Adding toasted, chopped cashews was a delicious twist to the already delightful recipe. Thank you!
I am about to bake these… and should have asked sooner… what about jumbo size muffins?? temp/bake time? thank you! I can’t wait to try these!!
Hi Krissy, if using a jumbo muffin pan, we recommend following the same baking times as these jumbo blueberry muffins. (With the initial high temperature trick.) It should yield about 5 jumbo muffins – fill batter to the top.
Had SO many leftover maduros (pan fried sweet plantains) from an event and decided to give it a shot subbing for bananas. The muffins came out great, not sweet, which was expected since plantains are not as sweet as bananas. Would make again with maduros or bananas! My family is excited to have these for breakfast this week.
Sally’s banana nut muffins are exactly how she said they’d be! Light, packed with flavor, tall, fluffy, fabulous, and incredibly easy and quick to make. I love how they cracked and am so pleased with how they turned out! Who doesn’t love a good muffin?!
My first attempt at making these muffins were such a hit with the kids! I added chocolate chips and made mini muffins for their lunch boxes. It was super soft on the inside with just enough banana flavor and the cinnamon and nutmeg added a little bit of something extra to the taste. Definitely a recipe I will make again! (note: I used 1/3 brown and 1/3 white sugar)
Your recipes are amazing and surely no reason for a failed baked goods! Thank you ❤️
I make these alot. I usually have just one ripe banana so I cut the recipe in half and use some Greek yogurt to make up for additional 1/2 banana. They are always perfect
I tried this yesterday,so moist my family loved them omg. Thank you
Can I replace the flour with a gluten free flour mix?
Hi Tracy, we haven’t tested it ourselves so we’re unsure of the result. Let us know if you give it a try!
I made these to use up some very overripe bananas instead of banana bread. My son now loves these more than the usual recipe I use for banana bread. These are now his favorite.
I made these for my toddler with coconut oil and coconut sugar. I made mini muffins (makes about 36) so they would be easier portions for the little one. We have a dairy allergy, so I was excited to see the substitutions possible! We used oat milk as well. These turned out delicious! My husband (not dairy free) couldn’t stop gobbling them up! If you are thinking of making these with the coconut subs…go for it! They are a hit for the whole family!
Did you need to adjust the cooking time for the mini muffins?
Hi Angie, For mini muffins, bake 12-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C).
This is a great and easy recipe to pull together. I only had 2 bananas do I added some unsweetened apple sauce. They came out great!! The boys enjoyed them and we will have them regularly for a quick easy breakfast and after school snack! Thank you. I made them into mini muffins @ 350 for 12-14 min.
Amazing recipe! (As usual).
Muffins had a great rise and were so fluffy!
I got compliments when i made this muffins. Friends even told me i bought it at starbucks . It was so delicious that my husband said the quAlity of the muffins is sure a hit when i will sell it. Thank you very much for sharing your recipe.
If I doubled the recipe, would it turn out ok?
Hi Kate, for best taste and texture, we recommend making two separate batches to ensure you don’t over mix and the ingredients incorporate properly. Enjoy!
Muffins turned out great, my toddler loved it! Would like to try with coconut sugar next time, do i crush or melt the coconut sugar? Thanks!
Hi Sheryl, you can use granulated coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar. No need to melt it.
Maybe today for family breakfast they came out wonderful amazing everyone loved them there was a way to leave a photo
I stumbled onto your website during the Lockdown in 2020 and it has been my go-to site for almost every cake I bake. I love how easy it is to follow your recipes and best of all, they ALL taste amazing. So much so that I’ve now started a business and all my (your) cakes get great reviews.
This banana muffin recipe has become a hit in my church whenever we have to bring baked goods.
Thank you for sharing.