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 accidentally only added 1/3 c brown sugar, but didn’t realize until it was too late. These muffins still came out AMAZING along with the addition of some mini chocolate chips ❤️
These are the best banana muffins I’ve had the pleasure of making to date. And I’ve made many. I use fresh milled flour and I simply ground 195 grams of soft white wheat berries for the flour. I used coconut oil and instead of 1 cup of nuts/chocolate chips, I added 3 tablespoons of chocolate chips.
The muffins rose SO well, were so light and fluffy. Not too sweet and had an amazing flavor.
If using fresh milled flour, don’t forget to let the mixed batter sit approx 15-20 minutes before baking. I like to mix up my batter. Set my oven to preheat, then portion batter out. That way the flour has time to absorb liquid properly.
5/5 recipe.
Thank you for your comment. I mill my own flour too and this is the exact comment I needed to read 🙂
I’m a terrible cook and an even worse baker. I often have a few bananas going brown and have tried to make banana bread or muffins countless times. They never rise or cook all the way through. I was so shocked when these muffins actually came out great! They were fluffy and tasty! I tried a second time and they were awesome! Thank you for a nice easy recipe!
How many calories are in one muffin?
Hi Kindel, 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
Can you make these as 6 jumbo muffins? Is so are any changes needed?
Hi Holly,, absolutely. You can use the baking times and instructions from these jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide.
I made these muffins with my daughters this morning. I accidentally added a tsp of cornstarch instead of baking soda (they were in similar containers). I decided to just go with it and added the baking soda and continued with the recipe. They still turned out great with a tsp of cornstarch added! The muffins were moist and not too sweet. We will be making these again!
If you ever thought that banana muffins were just ordinary you need to make these banana muffins! They were out of this world amazing, dense but light at the same time. I used the coconut oil and a cup of mixed chopped pecans and chocolate chips. Baked up perfectly.
I have tried many banana muffin recipes, this one is by far the best!
Have you tried these as mini muffins? What do you recommend?
Hi Jamie, For mini muffins, bake 12–14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C).
Calories/muffin ?
Thanks
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
These were so perfectly soft and flavorful! I even subbed maple syrup for vanilla extract because I was NOT going to the store lol
I keep coming back to this recipe because it’s the best!
So good
This was the best and easiest recipe for banana muffins i have ever used. Also like all the helpful hints.
Made these today and they’re now going to replace all the others in the file. They came out nice and dark, just the way I like banana bread or muffins. I had 2 ‘fresh’ bananas and 1 I thawed in the microwave and didn’t drain.
Delicious muffins I added chocolate chips on top in some and a cinnamon crumb on a few other others. I also added some crushed pecans on some as well. All in all a great recipe to follow.
My batter was a bit too thick for my liking so I added 1 more tablespoon of milk to the batter but it still came out great. My family loved them, will definitely be making these again soon. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Definitely 5 stars recipe!
I really liked the muffins. I did leave them on a cooling rack before “taste testing” and found them to be just right. My only suggestions are to serve them with either butter or cream cheese and either jam or marmalade.
I made these yesterday, adding a handful of chopped pecans. I’ve made a lot of banana muffins but these are the BEST so far. Light and buttery.
Just a great recipe!!
I baked them the first time as written! My girls devoured them in 24 hours.
I just made a 2nd batch replacing the brown sugar with maple syrup and the regular flour with king Arthur 1:1 Gluten free flour and they are just as good!
A little more brown arrive the edges, but still just as moist. I maybe would cut the time back by 2-3 minutes next time.
Also, used silicone muffin pans and they come out looking absolutely perfect!!
Cannot recommend enough!!!
Than you for sharing your talents Sally! My girls thank you and this momma too! <3
This is an excellent recipe, but I would suggest increasing the flour by 1/4c for those in Southern Alberta!
I have made this recipe for years, and it is not the first recipe I make with my two year old son. I would like to note that this takes approximately an hour with little hands involved, but it is still easy and amazing! Thank you.
Great recipe … thank you …. Off to order your book !
Absolutely decadent. My company loved these muffins, will definitely save it and make them more often!
Yum! These are so good! I used coconut oil and .5 cup chocolate chips.
SAVING THIS RECIPE!
I have made many banana muffins but these are the absolute best.
Thanks Sally!
These muffins were INSANELY good. The inside was super soft and fluffy, and the outside had the perfect crunchy crumb. I added chocolate chunks which resulted in some gorgeous chocolate wells. The entire house smelt divine as they were baking. I am SO making these for many years to come!
10/10 I absolutely love the recipes on this page. Funny thing, I didnt realize what page i was on when i started making the recipe, I googled what to do with a bunch of ripe bananas and this is the one I picked. At the very end when I read the baking instructions, yep I only read enough to see the 425 temp, set the oven to preheat and proceeded to make the recipe. But when I read the full baking instructions I though wow this is just like the healthy bran muffin recipe I make thats when i noticed its Sallys! I have been making the healthy bran muffins for over a year. My only swap is I sub a portion of the flour for flax meal. With this recipe I did use wheat flour, wheat bran and flax meal and I added nuts and blueberries just like i do with the other muffin recipe. But from experience I know these recipes are all perfect as written 🙂
Absolutely delicious! Moist, light, sweet and flavorful! Definitely making again!
I made these Banana Muffins
They are delicious and stand tall!! I put a few chocolate chips in the middle, they were moist my husband says 20 stars!!
Delicious, just made a full pan of mini muffins and 4 regular sized muffins with the rest of the batter. Thank you for the great recipe, these were so easy to make
Delicious! I also use frozen bananas and don’t strain the liquid. I defrost in the microwave and then beat in the mixer instead of mashing. I added sugar, oats and butter on the top of some and choc chips on others.
I’ve doubled this recipe. Using a 24 muffin tin. I use frozen banana every time. Never strained the liquid. Just calls for less milk added as it’s not too stiff of a batter. Also have used white sugar with a good tablespoon of molasses to mimick the brown sugar… turns out great.