Banana Granola Muffins
Banana muffins are even better with crunchy granola and toasted walnuts! Enjoy these Banana Granola Muffins with your morning coffee.
By now, you are probably aware of my love of muffins. It’s rare that I don’t have a stash of them in my freezer, and I’m often developing new muffin recipes.
These banana granola muffins are a favorite! Ripe bananas add extra sweetness to banana muffins. This muffin recipe is extra delicious because the muffins have the flavor and crunch of granola and toasted walnuts. (If you don’t care for nuts in your muffins, you can leave them out.)
If you have any over-ripe bananas on your counter or in your freezer, now you know what to do with them!
I added some of my favorite homemade granola to the banana muffin batter and also sprinkled some granola on top for a little extra crunch.
I typically make this recipe with my basic granola recipe, but this peanut butter granola would also be so delicious in these muffins! Make a batch of granola for breakfast, and then bake up granola muffins the next day. Then you will have a few days’ worth of wholesome breakfasts ready to enjoy. 🙂
How to make Banana Granola Muffins
These muffins are easy to make. You can have them on your table ready to enjoy in just over 30 minutes. Here is a quick overview of the steps to making these muffins. You will find the full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions in the recipe card below.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix them together until they are just barely combined.
- Gently stir in the granola and walnuts.
- Scoop the batter into your muffin pan. A large scoop makes this job quick and easy.
- Bake muffins until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
How to Store Muffins
Muffins are a great make ahead breakfast or snack. These muffins can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, in an airtight container. You can also freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. The granola in these muffins will soften a bit after the first day they are baked, but the muffins will still taste delicious.
Recipe Tips
- The riper your bananas, the sweeter your muffins will be.
- Homemade granola is best in this recipe. Store-bought granola may work, but varies so much from brand to brand that I cannot say for sure how it would turn out.
- When mixing the dry ingredients into the muffin batter, be careful not to over-mix. Stop stirring as soon as all of the flour is incorporated. This will ensure that your muffins turn out light and tender.
- I recommend toasting the walnuts for the best flavor, but you do not have to. To toast the walnuts, put them in a skillet on the stove and heat over medium-low heat until fragrant. You can leave the walnuts out of the muffins if you prefer.
Banana Granola Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mashed ripe banana, about 2 large or 3 medium bananas
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup granola, plus more for tops of muffins
- ¾ cup chopped toasted walnuts, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 15 wells of two muffin pans with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the white whole wheat flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the mashed banana and melted butter. Add the eggs, milk, applesauce and vanilla. Whisk until well combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir until just combined and you no longer see streaks of flour. Be careful to not over-mix. Gently stir in the 1 cup of granola and the walnuts.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each well almost to the top. Sprinkle muffins with additional granola and bake for about 15 to 17 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- Muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Great idea with the applesauce and granola! I have to try your muffins as well, and the homemade granola recipe 🙂 Oh, and amazing pictures!
Thank you! You can never have too many great muffin recipes. 🙂
I followed the recipe exactly with one change to the procedure. I’ve always creamed the butter and sugar together for other recipes, so that’s what I did with these. Is there a reason you put the sugars with the dry ingredients? Regardless, we liked how the muffins came out. We’ll make them again when we have some overripe bananas.
Hi Ben, I’m glad you enjoyed these muffins! For cakes and cookies, I do cream together the butter and sugar. But when making muffins it’s not necessary to do so. Instead I usually use melted butter and just whisk it together with the other wet ingredients. 🙂