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:Â 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):Â 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. 🙂
Fantastic recipe. I made it today and it came out super soft. One thing I varied was the second baking time. First at 220c for 5 minutes and then at 175c for 8 minutes in a fan-forced oven.
I made these with nativa sugar replacement and they worked well. I think I was slightly on the light side with the sweetener. One lot, I added sugar free chocolate with a sprinkling of cinnamon and nativa brown sugar replacement on top of each muffin before baking. These ones were amazing. If utilising sugar replacement, I’d recommend using a good quality pure vanilla essence, like I did and it helped a lot. I also switched the 2 T milk for almond milk, and the result was light and fluffy. Thank you for this recipe!
I made this with whole wheat flour and less sugar. I also subbed canola oil for the butter, but 5 tablespoons instead of 6. The muffins came out so delicious, moist and fluffy. I was amazed.
Great recipe, so quick and easy to throw together and the results are perfect every time! I’ve made them with coconut oil and with butter, both work well. Thanks
Thanks so much for an awesome recipe!
I love moist, flavourful muffins!
My boyfriend and his roommate also enjoys it a lot
Super simple recipe! I’m at high altitude (6000’) and tired these with oat flour, just for fun. Used 2 cups of oat flour and they turned out great!
We LOVE this recipe. We make it every week and our whole family knows that the last three bananas are to be saved for these muffins. They’re really versatile too: sometimes we use whole wheat pastry flour instead of AP, or coconut sugar instead of brown, or vegetable or coconut oil instead of butter. No matter what, they always turn out great! Added bonus is how fast they come together!
Yumm! I didn’t use any sugar at all as I usually find baked goods too sweet especially for a lunchbox addition. And these were perfect! The bananas are sweet enough.
I added flax seeds and hemp seeds for extra nutrition and 2 frozen blueberries on top as requested by my daughter.
This made 24 mini muffins and 4 regular sized muffins. My kids love them and so do I!
These turned out awesome. I tripled the recipe and made 28 muffins. The extra ones went in the freezer for a quick breakfast. I used bananas from my freezer after thawing them. I used canola oil instead of butter because butter is so expensive lately. I’m sure it would have been even tastier with butter but it was great with canola oil too. I used apple sauce in place of the egg because I was out. I also added walnuts and hazelnuts. I may sprinkle coarse sugar on top next time.
Best muffins ive ever made. So moist and flavorful. The whole family loved them!
These were so good and easy! I used whole wheat flour and they came out wonderfully. Will definitely make these again soon because somehow we always have overripe bananas!
These were delicious! I used oat milk, coconut oil, choc chips and unsweetened coconut flakes. I love this!
The best banana muffins. Everrrrr. Made these and gave some to my neighbours. They really loved it! Heck, even I loved it. The muffins didn’t make it to the next day haha. Shall be making these again and again!
I’ve used so many banana muffins recipes, and so far this one is my favorite! They come out absolutely perfect. I make my banana “mash” with a some lumpy banana pieces, so I don’t mash it all completely and I love it!
i’m making these now. Can the recipe be doubled?
Hi Jeri, for best results and to prevent over mixing, we recommend making two separate batches.
I tripled it to make 28 muffins. It turned out great!
This recipe is perfect! I sub the bananas for a can of pumpkin and they’re delicious! I make them every fall now.
Yum-I used white/whole wheat flour mix & buttermilk (a little extra for the ww flour), also I stirred in a C of frozen blueberries. My trick for using frozen over-ripe bananas: thaw completely, and cut off one end of the banana, then just squeeze from the other end & banana slides right out!
This recipe is golden!! I used heavy whipping cream instead of milk and salted butter, I didn’t have unsalted, and they were mouth watering delicious Ness! Great recipe.
I accidentally made these without sugar tonight and they turned out wonderfully! Fluffy and moist, I made 12 mini and 6 regular muffins. I added a spoonful of ground flax to get a bit extra boost in there for my kiddo. These will make a perfect addition to her bento boxes this week! As usual, great recipe (even when I completely forget an ingredient )
I just made these muffins. I used allulose baking blend of brown sugar and no salt baking powder. They rose nicely and tasted great! Thanks for the recipe !
Could I use half all purpose flour and half coconut flour in this recipe?
Hi Lesley, unfortunately, coconut flour isn’t always a 1:1 swap with all purpose flour, so it would take a bit of recipe testing to properly incorporate coconut flour here. For best results, we recommend sticking with all purpose flour.
The muffins are in the oven as I type so I guess I can’t say much yet but the batter was to die for. I’m just a tad confused though as I did a 12 muffin tray but there wasn’t enough batter to fill them to the top, even after reducing to 10…
I love all your muffin recipes! Thank you! I hope to start a ‘drop in for coffee time’ here in a small town in Yamagata Japan. These will be a wonderful addition.
Great recipe and my muffins were great! Loved melting butter in lieu of creaming it cuz I WANT TO DIRTY AS FEW DISHES AS POSSIBLE! Allergic to coconut so that was OUT! I added chopped pecans as I do to almost anything I bake! Half the muffins were topped with that decorating large white sugar … love it on muffins and cookies and the other half was topped – after cooling-with powdered sugar which I always have in a shaker dispenser.
Not for nothing can I bake banana BREAD! The middle drops and I have to toss the whole battery mess. Thankfully I CAN make muffins tho. Thanks
First time making this recipe but was very brave to use sour cream instead of milk. Muffins turned out really soft and moist! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I made this yesterdays evening with my bf and our toddler, it was super easy and absolutely delicious, I followed your baking instructions carefully and by far the most delicious Muffins I’ve ever made, thank you so much for sharing , greetings from Germany
I missed the melted butter but they were still absolutely delicious!
Thank you so much for providing such a simple but great recipe!
The recipe was easy and fast, which is just what I needed this morning with three hungry boys. I used almond extract instead of vanilla, everything else was the same. Happy faces all around.
Literally, the very best banana-y moist and flavorful muffin ever !! I found the batter runnier than what I have been accustomed to with other recipes but this I believe is what makes the difference! My goodness these are good!
This Quick & Easy Banana Muffin recipe is the Best. I have been baking for almost 50 years. Thank you for adding the science of baking and the tips such as how to use frozen bananas in the recipe. I had intended to add chocolate ganache topping but we ate them all quickly because they are so good! Quick to make and Eat!
So soft and buttery. I loved these muffins. Every recipe from your website has been absolutely top-notch brilliant. Thank you for sharing!
They were sooo good!
I’m not a big baker at all- this was super easy.
So yummy! The second time I used this recipe, I only had 2 bananas. I used a little applesauce in place of the 3rd banana and they still turned out great!