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, banana bread, or chocolate 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!
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 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. 🙂
Reader Comments and Reviews
Sally;
Hi,I made your quick&easy banana muffins at home and they taste really good.I copied down your recipe and your recipe was easy to follow and I had all of the ingredients at home the muffins turned out well but they almost looked like the picture of your muffins but they had domes on top of each muffin and I made sure to use a toothpick inserted in the center of each muffin and they baked and we’ll done baking perfectly even though I am legally blind and I use a talking weight scale in the kitchen when I am baking but the measuring cups and measuring spoons are hard for me to see so my mom or niece help me out in the kitchen.I hope that you don’t mind me coping down some of your recipes to make them at home.
Kim
My kids love these muffins! It’s a nice easy recipe for the kids to get involved in making. I use less brown sugar and they don’t notice the difference.
OMG… SO good!
I used to have a cup of brown sugar and 1/3 cup of monk, fruit sweetener, and they turned out perfect.
They are truly delicious. I usually bake Sally’s other muffins, the ones that have sour cream in the recipe, but I decided to go for this one because I don’t have any sour cream and I am very pleased with the how they taste. They are really delicious, so soft and moist.
Sally,
I made these banana muffins for the first time this week. It’s raining and cold and I wanted something warm and spicy!
The spices are a game changer! I will make them again!!
ps. OMG I just had two more muffins with crispy bacon on the side!!!!
Everyone in my home loved these! Will make again.
They turned out burnt. The 425 degree temp is too high.
Hi Shelby, did you reduce the temperature to 350 after 5 minutes? The muffins should only bake at 425 for the first 5 minutes.
I made these with the King Arthur Sugar-Free Baking substitute and just a dash of molasses instead of brown sugar. Per the King Arthur instructions, I took them out a minute early as the sugar substitute browns more quickly than regular sugar. They came out delicious!
How long do I bake these when using my jumbo muffin pan?
Hi Sheila, we recommend using the baking times and instructions from jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide.
Hey Sally!
Any suggestions for egg substitutes? My toddler is allergic. Thanks!
Hi Annie, we haven’t tested these muffins with any egg substitutes, but let us know if you do!
3 tbsp of aquafaba (chickpea brine)!
I made a vegan batch with macadamia nut milk, vegan butter, and 3 tbsp chickpea brine today, and it came out perfect 🙂
Best banana muffin recipe there is, thank you!
Wonderfully quick, easy and delicious! I browned the butter, doubled the cinnamon and added blueberries and walnuts. So good!
So easy and comes out great every time!
Made the banana muffins. Absolutely delicious. Used crème fraiche instead of milk. They were light and fluffy
Prepared recipe as written. The batch of 12 regular-size cupcakes turned out perfect in every way. GREAT recipe!
I’m so addicted to these! We’ve made them at least half a dozen times at this point, and won’t be stopping until I’m dead in the ground.
Just one question if anyone knows: how can I best store them? I want to make larger batches, but I’ve got a tiny fridge shared between 3 people, so I need to make do with storing them in tins in a dark cabinet. Does anyone have an idea of what’s safest here?
These are the best banana muffins I’ve ever had!
I was juggling two toddlers when I made this. We dropped half a banana, added one whole smaller banana, spilled the dry ingredients, and then when I put them in the oven I quickly glanced at the recipe and saw 12-14 so I put them in for 14 minutes at 425! And they STILL came out absolutely delicious! 5 stars!
These are great! I tweaked it a bit for the kids. Half butter/half avocado oil, half AP/half whole wheat, added 2tbs ground flaxseed, half coconut sugar/half monk fruit brown sugar and I added 2tbs Greek yogurt. Hands down the best banana muffin recipe we have tried. Thanks so much!
My daughter was begging for bananas and muffins. I had frozen bananas and all but the nutmeg. They are delicious, she is very happy with her banana muffins.
Forgot to leave 5 stars!
Such an EASY recipe and the result is so moist and soft and delicious I had two small overripe bananas so I sort of halved the other ingredients except for the egg (I used 1 egg). Also used a light wholewheat flour (weighted in grams – not cups) and honey instead of sugar.
A great tip with just mixing the bananas with the mixer. Nice and easy.
Really good muffins and my go to from now on. Thanks!
Your Banana muffin recipe is easy and the muffins are to die for. Thank you so much
These were delicious and so much quicker than banana bread! Mixed whole wheat and AP flour, used 1/2 cup of chopped pecans and 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and sprinkled with some coarse sugar before putting in the oven. My family highly recommends this one!
This is the best banana muffin recipe I’ve ever made. This will be my only one from now on. These are so moist and delicious!
These were perfect. I followed everything exactly. They are the best I’ve ever made. Will definitely be using this recipe again. Thank you .
This is our favorite banana muffin recipe. I sprinkle the top with chopped pecans and cinnamon sugar before baking.
Made this recipe as is and added in some chocolate chips (my kids requests). These are delicious!!! Thanks
i used 7 absolutely disgusing smooshy bananas, coconut oil and subbed the sugar for half a cup of maple syrup and these turned out to be the most insanely good muffins…like..i cannot believe how good they are!
Just made these muffins and they are the best I have ever made and tasted! Thank you for your recipe
There amazing I always use this recipe for banana cupcakes
These are the best banana muffins I’ve after eaten. This will be my go to recipe from now on.
They were delicious, even though I forgot to add the butter. Still extremely moist