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
These are so good! My little sister and I made them for my mom’s birthday!
I doubled the cinnamon and nutmeg because I find recipes rarely call for enough. I like those flavours to shine. I added 1/2 cup walnuts and half cup chocolate chips. They turned out great.
Hi can i use olive or canola oil instead of the butter/ coconut oil?
Hi Steph, You can use the same amount of vegetable/canola oil instead. You will lose a bit of flavor though.
Can I double this recipe to produce 12 jumbo muffins? Or would it be better to make a regular batch twice, each producing 6 jumbos muffins?
Hi Jan, You can but we do recommend making the batter twice instead of doubling. Less risk of over or under-mixing that way!
So easy and so delicious, best banana muffins recipe
The best recipe. Made it exactly as stated (no nutmeg here) but every thing else was as written. Soft and moist. Kuds are going to love them.
These were the best choc banana muffins I have ever eaten!! Thank you so much.
I added a pack of choc chips and I used brown sugar.
I want to try again without choc chips and make a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
Hi! between all the roommates and me, we have SEVEN dead bananas. I want to make a double batch, one spiced and one regular, but I only have one muffin pan [ 🙁 ] if I leave the batter sitting while cooking the previous batches will it affect the texture of that batch? I’ve read that in order to keep muffins fluffy you want to only barely combine the ingredients. What do y’all think?
I made these but they stuck to my cupcake liners. Do you know why that would be? Otherwise delicious.
The lightest muffins on the planet, absolutely unbelievable, had multiple people tell me they were the best muffins they’ve ever had.
Also has to sub some of the ingredients and it made no difference!
I just made these tonight and they are fabulous!! I will definitely be making them again!
YUMMMMM!!!
this was my first time making banana bread AND my first time ever making muffins. this came out perfectly and my whole fam loved them. chocolate chips make them even better 🙂
Excellent recipe!
I added a lot of pecans and chocolate chips, very moist and fluffy as well. Definitely saving this recipe
I’ve made this recipe several times because I love how easy it is and the muffins always come out amazing!!
Just popped them in the oven and can’t wait to try them! I filled the regular sized muffin tin liners to the top and the batter yielded 9 muffins. Could I have done something wrong? I usually fill about 3/4 full and yield 12 muffins or cupcakes when I bake.
Absolute perfection!
Moist, tender, flavourful.
Thanks so much for this keeper recipe!
They are the best muffins I have ever tasted! The recipe was perfect and they baked beautifully!
Great recipe! Loved the melted butter alternative because i dont have an electric beater and creaming the butter was going to be a nightmare. I only had 2 bananas and used choc chips. Came out good. Will reduce the sugar next time, ised soft brown sugar and found 2/3 cup to be too sweet for my batch. Definitely coming back to this one!
These are the best muffins I have ever made.
Absolutely delicious muffins, lovely and moist and good rise to them!
I made this and completely forgot to add the milk and it still tastes 100%. It was soo good and very moist.
Me and my sister made this for breakfast. These were GREAT!
The Best muffins ever. So simple and yet so delicious. I have made 2 batches in 2 days. And planning to try to make banana bread with this batter. Absolutely wonderful. Thanks sally.
Hi! I tried this muffin receipe today and it’s yielded delicious muffins that are so soft and moist. Instead of choco chips I dropped some raisins in the batter and topped with a few chopped cashews. Nevertheless, it still tasted great. Thank you for such an amazing receipe. Love from India
These are AMAZING!!! The best thing about this recipe is that it’s flexible, so you can substitute without worrying too much. I had to substitute a LOT, like using whole wheat flour instead of regular, having to speed-ripen the bananas, using veggie oil butter instead of regular… but they tasted SO GOOD! My family keeps on asking me to make more of these! Thanks Sally for the amazing recipe!
This is the absolute best banana bread/muffin recipe I have ever tried and I will never have to look for a better one! They are super moist and not dry like most other banana recipes I have tried and so fluffy!! These will be my go-to recipe from now on!
Whoa. I have been baking for over 40 years, and these may be the very best muffins I have ever made. I followed the directions almost exactly, except for using all purpose einkorn flour in place of conventional flour (it was all I had). I did add the chopped walnuts. Truly spectacular muffins.
Brown sugar is slightly acidic thanks to the molasses that it contains. This allows it to react with the baking soda.
Fun chemistry fact: sugar with salts or proteins added(like in baking!) can also undergo Maillard reactions during cooking and this can make it even more acidic. If you replaced the brown sugar with white sugar then that may explain the lack of rise and the sponge-like texture you experienced!
I replaced the bananas with pumpkin in this recipe since we were out of the nanners. The muffins turned out great! They were a bit dense, which makes sense between the pumpkin and the coconut oil, and my kids ate most of the batch in a single day.
Hi Sally, thank you for your wonderful recipes. Can you tell me if it okay to substitute brown sugar with raw sugar in this recipe?
Hi Shruthi! I haven’t tested it, but that should be just fine.
Made these today. So delicious and so easy to make. Just used my whisk to mix the ingredients. Love the idea of a 2 bowl easy muffin recipe. I did use 100g all purpose flour and 90g whole wheat, and added chopped walnuts and golden raisins to the batter. This will definitely be my “go-to” recipe for all of those overripe bananas!