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 muffins are so delicious! I’ve tried different recipes. They are so moist and flavorful!
Super easy and DELICIOUS! I’ve made a lot of recipes but this one nails it. I put chocolate chips in half of them and it made them even better. Def saving!
I had 3 bananas which were so spotty almost on the brink of throwing away and was too lazy to do banana bread. Decided to give this a shot and I’m in love!! So moist and very easy to prep
This recipe turned out great! Loved the extra spices not in most recipes. I actually rehydrated banana chips then processed them to use in place of mashed bananas (drained off excess water).
Best banana muffin recipe ever. I’ve made it dozens of times now. FOOLPROOF
Great tasting recipe and a big hit with the kids
I made these and used oatmilk in replace a regular milk. I love all your recipes.
This recipe was great! The muffins are moist and packed with flavor.
This has been my favorite recipe by far. Only thing in tweak is we like to add about a 1/3 cup of apple sauce and skip the milk. But that’s a personal preference.
Love this recipe! I love the fact that all her recipes are accurate and dependable. If you have leftover bananas that have ripened, run, don’t walk to make this recipe!
This was a great and easy recipe. I just did it all in one bowl. Wet ingredients first then added the dry and I substituted with vegan butter and used yogurt instead of milk. Turned out great! Also added pecans and chocolate chips. Great additions and a adaptable recipe
these are great. however am disappointed i only got 8 muffins. next time i will double recipe. I used coconut oil and coconut sugar and 3 frozen bananas.
I baked this today with my kids. They love how they taste and we added chocolate chips as well. Thank you for sharing!
I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I was making these muffins on Halloween and in the middle of handing out candy and making the muffins, I forgot the melted butter! I noticed it on the counter when they were already in the oven . Surprisingly, they rose and browned as usual. I made my husband taste one and he said they were pretty good, so I tried one too. The texture is a bit off and I’m sure the flavor could be better with the butter, but it’s a recipe that I will definitely make it again.
The banana muffin recipe was delicious….I added a little bit of olive oil and more milk for smoother consistency for my liking….it was still delicious!
Just baked your delicious banana muffins. Taking a break from weekend housework and enjoying them with a coffee. So easy to put together …and I like the spicy flavour. Thanks for your extra tips. I’ll add walnuts or chocolate chips next time.
I’ve tried just about every banana muffin recipe on the internet and this is by far the best one! I usually use butter in my recipes but I decided to use coconut oil and I’m really happy with my decision. I also added walnuts, chocolate chips, and a tsp on banana emulsion to the batter and….. yummyyyyy!!!!
so easy and for once with a great rise! oh, did I say they taste great too! made plain and chocochip…delish…
Super easy recipe. I subbed equal parts avacado oil for butter and they weren’t greasy at all. I want to make again with protein powder, any suggestions?
I’ve been using this for a while now and it’s a family favourite. We add frozen raspberries for a lighter taste.
Very tasty, easy, especially since I had all the ingredients. I sprinkled a little dry oatmeal over the top before baking. I did add some mini chocolate chips. And my oven baked them perfectly at 15 minutes – ovens can vary, obviously. Thank you for posting this very delish muffin recipe!!
I have done this recipe a few times now and they turn out SO good! It’s so simple and I barely dirty any dishes! I’m going to try the coconut sugar with it this next time and see how it turns out. If coconut sugar is technically healthier, than it’s worth a shot. (: Anyways, love this recipe and highly recommend trying it!
These were INCREDIBLE. Moist, fluffy, buttery and best of all, super easy to make. Perfect balance of ingredients. Will save and make forever!
My favorite go to recipe. When I am short a banana I sub in a shredded apple or carrot and still amazing. Always add the chocolate chips. These rarely last two days in our house.
I have an extremely picking toddler who is allergic to eggs. He also won’t eat any vegetables. I used 1/4 of Greek yogurt instead of the egg and added 2 tablespoons of peanut butter for protein. Blended some spinach with the bananas when mashing. Delicious, healthy, and met the needs of my family!
How can I make these pumpkin banana muffins ?
Hi DBs, we haven’t tested it but you should be able to replace some of the mashed banana with pumpkin puree. Let us know if you give it a try!
Oops, another salty recipe! I added the salt before realizing it calls for UNSALTED butter…ugggg. I almost never buy unsalted butter, usually just omit the salt and forgot! ugggg
Fabulous! These were devoured. High crown, moist inside, delicate crisp on the edge. Winner!
Seriously, the best banana muffin recipe ever.
I have tried so many either muffin or bread recipes, and they’ve just been so-so. Either they are on the dry side or gooey in the center.
My oven runs a little high, so I took he time down to 15 minutes when it came to switch to 350.
These are so moist and absolutely perfectly cooked throughout! There is no need to try any other recipe.
Thanks for a truly fantastic recipe!
These muffins are buttery, not too sweet, and perfectly spiced- delicious! They cooked perfectly, too. I used gluten free flour, and it worked great. Thank you for sharing!