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
Really yummy muffins with a mild banana and cinammon flavour. I added 1 cup of milk chocolate chunks too.
Help. My family has me pinned to the kitchen making batch after batch of your Quick and Easy Banana Muffins. They are by far the best muffins I have made. I even tried it with 1/4 cup wheat bran instead of 1/4 flour and added half cup each of walnuts and chocolate chips. Tastes dreamy. Thank you. Now I have to try more of your recipes.
Hi! Love the recipe!! I want to ask if I were to use a loaf pan instead of muffin tins, would the intergrity of the banana muf. change?
Hi Uri, you can bake this as a loaf, or here is our favorite banana bread recipe.
Absolutely delicious. Half white, half whole wheat flour, walnuts and chocolate chips and sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon on top. So. Good! Also got 12 largish muffins ♀️
I think the cooking temperature is too hot…muffins came out dark and hard on the tops.
Hi Andrea, are you using the conventional baking setting on your oven or do you use convection/fan? We always recommend conventional settings for baking (not convection/fan). The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake. Also, did you turn the oven temperature down after the first 5 minutes? They should only bake at 425F for 5 minutes, then the rest of the time at 350. And did you bake the muffins on the center rack? Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
So the first time I made these, I put them in the oven then turned around and saw I had left the melted butter sitting on the stove. Ugh! And yet, they were on the chewy side but still really good. Passed them off as ‘lowfat’ and the family liked them. makign them again today and know they’ll be amazing!
Excellent! Velvety with a slight crunch to the muffin top. I used generous measures for the spices and vanilla and so delicious. I do this for full flavor as husband doesn’t like nuts in muffins . Thank you Sally – I love this recipe (fast to mix up – I did with the whisk).
I just made your quick and easy Banana Muffins. I added 1 tbsp each lemon and orange zest along with a little more brown sugar. I didn’t have paper liners, so I really buttered well the muffin tins. Your timing was perfect. They came out beautiful after waiting for about 20 minutes to let them cool. They lifted out easily from the muffin tins and the taste was so yummy. I could pick up the fresh zest flavors along with the banana. I’ll definitely make these again. Thank you!
How long should I bake them if I’m making mini muffins?
Hi Claudia, For mini muffins, bake 12–14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C).
Can you sub milk with plain greek yogurt?
Hi Cindy, we don’t recommend using yogurt in its place—the milk provides necessary moisture and helps thin out the batter a bit.
I used Greek yogurt instead of milk and they turned out amazing!!! Moisture was still there!
THE BEST BANANA MUFFINS!
I measured very carefully, but I only got 8 regular size muffins.
And I didn’t make the cups really full.
That was disappointing as I needed the full dozen for an event.
Hi Linda, did the mashed bananas measure out to 1 and 1/2 cups? It sounds like an ingredient may have been undermeasured or left out by accident. We hope you still enjoyed them!
Linda, same here! I only got 9 muffins out of my batch, I used all the precise measurements and ingredients, along with 4 normal sized bananas. They were still amazing!
WOW!! These were PERFECT!!! Absolutely PERFECT! nk you for the recipe!
Wonderful recipe. Made with less sugar and chopped walnuts. Still a little bit to sweet for my taste. Next time will try without sugar at all. Thank you so much for sharing.
Absolutely Love this recipe! My go to! I made a double batch and it came out perfectly! So soft, moist and delicious. Never eating store-bought muffins; unless it’s fresh from a bakery ofcourse
These are the best banana muffins I’ve ever had. My kids prefer them to banana bread because you can just grab and go. So much flavor, moist, and easy to make. 6/5 stars
Can you make the mix and put it in the fridge until ready to bake the muffins?
Hi Madison, We do not recommend it. The leaveners are activated once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, so it’s best to bake the batter shortly thereafter. You can always reheat the baked muffins!
I didn’t have as much banana as I thought, so I had to substitute about 1/2 cup of banana with unsweetened applesauce. I also added chocolate chips. Even with less banana, they’re still PHENOMENAL, just a bit more subtle in flavor.
These were delicious! I added (unflavored) whey protein powder to mine. The muffins were so light and airy. Great recipe, easy to follow. Thank you.
I could barely read the recipe there are so many ads on this page! Can’t even close them out 🙁
The ads are hard, a trick I use is to hit the print button and then follow the recipe from there or screenshot it.
I know the ads pay the bills and keep this content available to us for free.
Exactly what I do. Hit the print version – magic, no ads!
If you are using Apple you are able to use reading mode which changes the screen to only the text and gets rid of the ads! I am sure Androids can do the same
Can I use any streusel topping for these muffins?
Hi Kathy, absolutely.
How many calories is one muffin?
Hi Monika, 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
Best banana muffins I’ve tried. Forever needing to use up bananas. Will definitely try these again with my grandchildren.
These muffins are wonderful!!! Soft, tender and delicious! I added chopped walnuts and chocolate chips. Decadent when warm!!
is it ok to make it without nutmeg?
Absolutely!
425 is too high, the bottoms burned
Hi CAJ, You only bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, 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.
Super easy to make and oh my goodness they have the best flavor!!! Love, love, love this recipe!
Would I be able to use lite milk instead of full cream milk?
Hi Stephanie, any milk will work.
Perfect recipe! These came out so fluffy and delicious! I added dairy free dark chocolate chips. This one is a keeper! Thank you!
I make these ALOT!! My son loves them