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 really good! Every recipe I’ve tried of yours is delicious. The only thing I did differently is I added your cinnamon crumb topping on top ( from your cinnamon coffee cake recipe). Thank you so much for all of these recipes and your expertise! I’m totally enjoying them
My entire family loved this recipe! I scooped out 1/3 to add walnuts, 1/3 to add dark chocolate chips and the last third was just plain! Also.. did not have vanilla but oddly enough had banana extract on hand lol either way it was very good
This recipe is amazing, it’s my go to over and over again. Thank you for sharing
I made this recipe last night and it was super easy and the muffins taste amazing. I went with the option to add chocolate chips with 1 cup of dark chocolate chips and they satisfy my love of chocolate!
I’m 100% making these again.
I consistently make these muffins with my three and five year old. They both live to help and they both love the muffins. Thanks for the activity as well as the treat/breakfast/snack
These were extremely good and SUPER easy to make. I work from home and made them on my lunch break. I used 4 bananas. My husband and I loved them and I know my kids will when they get home from school.
I don’t even bother looking for other websites when I want to bake something anymore (maaaayyybe with an exception for King Arthur’s site). Every recipe I’ve ever made from this site has been the best I’ve made of it. Even when I tweak seasonings to my taste, there’s normally tips for what I want to do in the notes. Not a better site on the internet for baking.
I would like to try these muffins. I was wondering what is the best place to bake one tray of muffins in the oven: upper, middle or lower shelf? (I’m a beginner baker!)
Hi Annette, center oven rack is ideal when baking 1 batch of muffins.
Just pulled these out of the oven, the house smells amazing and they are DELICIOUS, thank you so much, wish I had a camera to take a pic because they are beautiful too, light , fluffy and SO banana-ey
Because I had 2 large over ripe bananas, I altered this recipe and it still was lovely. I added 3 large tablespoons of ricotta; not enough brown sugar, added a good slug of maple sugar. The smell of these baking was lovely. The taste was great and they were light and very moorish.
Some of the best muffins I’ve ever made!!! I added chocolate chips and they were awesome.
I have now been making these just about weekly for the last 6 months. My 8 year old son cannot get enough, quite literally. I’m making double batches weekly. I have to plan my banana buys so I have enough spotty ones left to make muffins. These come together easily and the recipe is foolproof.
Could I make this in a loaf pan? Would I need to adjust the temperature?
Hi Crystal, Sure! It won’t rise quite as high as banana bread. Bake at 350°F (177°C) in a 9×5 inch or 8×4 inch loaf pan. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but you can use a toothpick to test for doneness. Let us know how you like it!
This was a great recipe and delicious. I do have an issue with the muffins rising to a point in the centre though… i have no idea how to fix it.
Hi Lynz, If your muffins are forming a peak instead of a round dome, it could be a couple of things. First, be sure you are not over-mixing your batter. Also, check your oven temperature (we always suggest using an oven thermometer) and bake on conventional heat settings, not convection/fan heat. If you notice that your oven has hot spots or doesn’t heat evenly, rotate your pans half way through baking. We hope this helps for next time!
I added a little powdered sugar glaze to the top and it was amazing! Thank you for this recipe.
Super easy and delicious ! Any idea on approx calories ?
Hi Tiara, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I have tried multiple recipes of yours and I’ve loved them all. I was going to make banana bread last night and thought “I wonder if Sally has a banana muffin recipe instead?” of course you did! I tried it and they came out perfect. Thanks for sharing your recipes with us. You’ve helped reignite my passion for baking.
Easy and delicious. Loved the coconut oil oil swap for butter for the dairy free crowd. Makes a great muffin that is still full of flavor.
If i make this recipe with mini muffin tins, should i adjust the cook time and temperature?
Hi Tamara! For mini muffins, bake 12-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C) without the 5 minutes at 425°F. Just 12-14 minutes at 350°F!
these were soooo good! my husband is already asking when i’m going to be making them again
quick question – there was quite a bit of grease on the bottom of the muffins – is this normal?
Hi Maggie, so glad you enjoyed them. Using high quality grease proof cupcake/muffin liners will make all the difference for this problem. We love Paper Chef parchment liners!
These muffins are sooooo good and they are easy to make. I baked them in silicon muffin cups and they are moist on the sides and bottom. Thank you for the recipe. It is a keeper!
Thank you for a wonderful recipe. I use white sugar and molasses to substitute for brown sugar. I mix 125g of white sugar and 4 tbs of molasses. I use cashew nuts instead. The muffins are so fluffy with the right sweetness. My tummy says thank you to you every morning 🙂
Happened to have 3 ripe bananas I wasn’t sure what to do with so I made this recipe including walnuts. It was perfect! Starting with the high temp bake before lowering the temperature really made a difference. Highly recommend!
I made these with coconut oil and half white whole wheat flour. The texture is perfectly soft and moist!
Great recipe! I used gluten free 1:1 flour and they came out just as good.
Have made many of your muffins. My go to. General question. My oven temp is correct but muffins getting a bit too brown on sides. Might starting at 415 or 420 degrees instead of 425 before dropping to 350 help resolve this? Thank you
It definitely should!
I made this recipe and it was amazing! My fav one by far. I followed the directions and made something I enjoyed thoroughly. I added a brown sugar crumble on top and chocolate chips which was well needed.
These banana muffins are very moist, probably a tad too much for my liking. The taste was nice but I didn’t like the texture.
Love this recipe. I made it in eleven batches at one time as I had many bananas to use. Added the chocolate chips to mine.
This was not the easiest banana muffin recipe.
Just made these and omg !!! They look amazing. I haven’t even eaten one yet but these are the best looking muffins I have ever made
Can’t wait for them to cool
Lol
Just made this recipe with my son and omg, they came out absolutely perfect! They truly are a perfect easy muffin. They are just sweet enough without being overly sweet. Thanks for this recipe!
I just made these and they are awesome and easy! I didn’t even use my mixer just a whisk. While they were baking my husband could not stop telling me how good they smelled. And then they tasted even better. Very moist, but I did use 4 instead of three bananas.
Just made this recipe and added some cocoa powder and they were super yummy!!
What would be the timing to make mini muffins?
Hi Ashley, For mini muffins, bake 12-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C) without the 5 minutes at 425°F. Just 12-14 minutes at 350°F!
I love this recipe so much! The muffins came out just Perfect I follow step by step and every member in my family love them. Definitely saving the recipe.