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
I made these gluten and dairy free and they were amazing!
recipe area is very faded compared to rest of the page. how do i fox this.
Hi Lisa, on your web browser, or on a printed recipe?
Amazing muffins! I usually make my own adjustments to recipes, but followed this recipe to a tee, except I reduced the sugar by a third, and added dark choc chips. It came out so light and fluffy, thanks!
Dear Sally, Thank you so much for the recipe. Amazing banana muffins! I made it twice. I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour and also added some linseed meal and sunflower seeds when I made it second time. It came out so soft and nice. Thank you again.
Can I add a handful of cranberries?
Absolutely!
Doubled the recipe.. used one cup walnut and a cup of choco chips (not the best kind.. whatever is available in Kathmandu!) .. yet to taste it. But I know it will be great. Just like your other muffin suggestions! The banana and blueberry muffin using whole wheat and all purpose flour turned out great too!! Thanks sally!
Best Banana Muffins I’ve had in a long time. Easy, simple, and all the ingredients were in my pantry except for the bananas. I added the pecans to my batter. After I put the batter into the large cupcake liners I added 1 whole pecan on top of the muffins. 20 minutes later they were out of the oven and I had to sneak 2 while they were still warm. I hope there will be some left for breakfast tomorrow morning. Thank you Sally and team for another great recipe.
I really love this recipe. I have made it twice now. Once as a double batch. I used half butter and half coconut oil in the last batch as I didn’t measure the melted butter correctly and it turned out just as good. The first time I made it with the Kitchen Aid and the second a food processor. Just as good. I made a crumble topping for the top with oats, sugar, coconut oil and cinnamon. Turned out so well!
Looks easy. Got bananas in freeezer and will use.
I was looking for something different to do had some older bananas so started looking for a banana muffin recipe found this one. Glad I did! It’s awesome I made the muffins following the recipe exactly. They turned out very well extremely tasty and of course moist. Thank you for the recipe! I saved it to my file and I will be making this again!
This is now my new favorite recipe! I actually put 5 very ripped bananas and it was ON POINT! Perfect texture, absolutely delicious. I have another batch going in right to this minute!
I have officially made this recipe enough times now that I have it memorized. These muffins are my toddler’s absolute favourite snack. I’ve taken to buying a larger bunch of bananas than we can eat before they start to go brown, so we always have bananas ready to make muffins with.
Hello. Is there some type of alternate I can use if I don’t have any nutmeg?
Thank you.
James
Hi James, you can omit the nutmeg if desired. Enjoy!
So yummy! Best banana muffin I’ve ever made!!
Love love love! Added chocolate chips to half and blueberries to the other half. I only got 11 muffins when filling tins to the top. Only suggestion would be to add a “baking mode” button to the bottom of the recipe 😉
Hi Lila, the cook mode is temporarily disabled. The plugin we use for that feature is being updated. Sorry for the inconvenience!
I realized too late that I forgot to put in the brown sugar, after I had already spooned the batter into the muffin cups. (*I had added the optional chopped walnuts to the batter.)
So I topped each cup of the batter with a large pinch of chocolate chips and pushed them in a little bit, then I topped each cup with another large sprinkle of the brown sugar, and then baked them.
They turned out super fabulous!! Even though I messed up the recipe!
Made these. Love them! Used coconut oil and added choc chips
An absolutely amazing recipe ! So easy to do & I’m so impressed our muffins came out moist and flavoursome ! My other recipe has always given me dry banana muffins .. but I think this will be my new one moving forward ! Thank you for sharing Sally !
Sally,
Can I use 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup honey for this recipe?
Hi Bob, yes, that should work!
These are such delicious muffins! I will definitely make them again.
I make these as is- with the expecting of adding a couple of tablespoons of sour cream to the wet ingredients, which I find helps keep the moisture in the muffins.
I had the idea from Sally’s banana bread that I make loads, where she adds sour cream, and I just love the extra bit of love it adds!
These are the best banana muffins I have ever made. I make mini muffins for lunches and they just disappear!
Thank You
These were lovely! So moist and fluffy! I had to substitute for regular sugar and also used half and half instead of milk. Came out great still!!
Absolutely love this recipe! The muffins are so soft and moist.
Out of curiosity, can I make these egg-free? Is there any substitution?
Hi Banush, we haven’t tested this recipe with any egg substitutes, but let us know if you do. We’re so glad you enjoyed the muffins!
Love! Love! Loved these!!! I made these this morning. They are the perfect consistency. I didn’t think I would care for light banana muffins, but I am a fan now. It’s difficult for old school women like me to find a recipe they make twice. Not only is this a favorite now, it’s also a website I will reference from this day forward. Thank you Sally!
`jules
Amazing! so risen. Is there a recipe to make them rise without bananas?
Hi Lynne, we’re so glad you enjoyed them! The bananas are key to this recipe, but here are all of our other muffin recipes if you’re interested in browsing.
I made this using gluten free flour today and it turned out amazing
Excellent! My new go-to! I even baked them in the Air fryer. 400 degrees 17 mins. Lowered the temp to 350 for the last 5 minutes. These are so perfectly moist and tender. May try this in a mini loaf pan in the Air fryer next time. This is definitely a keeper! Been looking for a recipe since 1985 that is close to what my Nana used to make me. I think I found it. Thank you thank you thank you Sally!
These were a dream! Moist yet super fluffy.
Do you allow the butter to cool slightly after melting it?
Hi Vicki, we tend to have all of our ingredients ready when we start prepping, so the butter does cool slightly while the dry ingredients are mixed.
Can you add protein powder?
Hi Jenny, we haven’t tested adding protein powder to this recipe. Let us know if you do!
These are really good, and i recommend following this recipe to the letter and it will be delicious. my mom screamed “this is sooo good!”, so thanks. all sally’s recipes are delicious