These Healthy Banana Muffins are soft, fluffy and naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and honey. They’re perfect for breakfast or a snack.
Looking for more ways to use up ripe bananas? You’ll love this Healthy Banana Bread and Strawberry Banana Smoothie!
The Best Healthy Banana Muffins
These healthy banana muffins are my all-time favorite muffin recipe! I’ve been baking a batch of these muffins multiple times a month for years, and they are always devoured in record time. My kids love them in their lunchboxes, and I like to enjoy one for a mid-morning snack with a cup of tea. I hope you’ll love these banana muffins as much as we do!
Why I Love This Recipe
- So Delicious. Spiced with cinnamon, the muffins have lots of sweet banana flavor and they bake up soft and fluffy.
- Wholesome Ingredients. I love that this recipe uses whole wheat flour and honey or pure maple syrup instead of refined sugars.
- Regular Size or Mini Muffins. Make regular size muffins or mini muffins in a mini muffin pan. The mini muffins are perfect for lunchboxes.
- They Freeze Wonderfully. I like to make a double batch to stock my freezer.
- One Bowl Recipe. This recipe is incredibly easy! It takes just a few minutes to mix up the batter in one bowl.
- Great Way to Use Ripe Bananas. If you’re like me, you often have a few over-ripe bananas sitting on your kitchen counter. This recipe is my favorite way to use them up!
Muffins are sooooo moist and delicious! Will make again and again.
Judy
Tip: Use Very Ripe Bananas
The secret to making the best banana muffins is to use extra-ripe bananas, ones that have lots of brown spots on the peels. Very ripe bananas will be nice and soft and extra sweet, perfect for baking. If you don’t have time to bake with your ripe bananas right away, you can freeze them. When you’re ready to bake, thaw the bananas on your kitchen counter, drain off excess moisture and use them in your recipe.
Healthy Banana Muffins Recipe Ingredients
- Butter: You can’t beat the flavor that real butter brings to baked goods. In this recipe, we’re using just 4 tablespoons of butter.
- Honey or Pure Maple Syrup: To sweeten the muffins.
- Ripe Bananas: The riper, the better!
- Milk: I use whole milk. Use whatever type you prefer: lowfat milk or nondairy milk such as almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk or oat milk.
- Vanilla Extract: For added flavor.
- Eggs: Two large eggs provide structure and help the muffins to rise.
- Cinnamon: For warm spice.
- Baking Soda: To help the muffins rise as they bake.
- Salt: The salt enhances all of the flavors.
- Whole Wheat Flour: I like to use white whole wheat flour because it has a more mild wheat flavor, but regular whole wheat works well too. You can also use all-purpose flour if that’s what you have on hand.
Find the full printable recipe with ingredient amounts in the recipe card below.
How to Make Banana Muffins
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, honey or maple syrup, mashed banana, milk and vanilla. Then whisk in the eggs.
- Add the dry ingredients. Sprinkle the cinnamon, baking soda and salt over the wet ingredients. Whisk until very well combined. You don’t want any clumps of baking soda left in the batter. Finally, add the flour and mix it in with a rubber spatula until just combined, being careful to not over-mix. Overmixing can lead to dense, tough muffins.
- Scoop the batter into the pan. I use a nonstick muffin pan and lightly spray it with coconut oil spray before adding the muffin batter to the pan. You can sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a little ground cinnamon for more cinnamon flavor, if desired.
- Bake the muffins at 350 degrees F. Regular sized muffins will take about 15-17 minutes to bake, and mini muffins will take 10-12 minutes.
- Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. The muffins are delicious served warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Variations
- Add nuts: Mix up to 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans into the muffin batter.
- Add chocolate chips: Add 1/2 cup of regular or mini chocolate chips to the batter.
- Add blueberries: Add 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries.
- Swap applesauce for the butter: Readers have substituted applesauce for the butter with good success.
- Gluten-free: Readers have successfully substituted a 1:1 gluten free flour blend for the wheat flour.
- Egg-free: I’ve made this recipe with flax eggs instead of regular eggs and it works well. Instead of the 2 large eggs, stir together 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed meal and 5 tablespoons of water. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes before adding to the wet ingredients.
Storage Tips
- To Store: Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- To Freeze: Once cool, store muffins in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature, overnight in the refrigerator, or using the defrost setting of a microwave. You can put frozen muffins in lunchboxes and they will thaw by lunchtime.
More Banana Muffin Recipes
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
- Apple Banana Muffins
- Blender Banana Muffins
Looking for even more healthy muffin recipes? Try Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins, Chocolate Chip Muffins or Pumpkin Muffins next.
Healthy Banana Muffins
These Healthy Banana Muffins are soft, fluffy, full of banana flavor and spiced with cinnamon. This easy one bowl recipe is quick to make and can be used to make regular sized or mini muffins. The muffins freeze wonderfully, too!
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup honey, or pure maple syrup
- 1 cup mashed ripe banana, about 3 medium
- ¼ cup milk, whichever kind you prefer (dairy, almond, etc.)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling muffin tops if desired
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour, or regular whole wheat flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper liners. (I use a nonstick muffin pan and lightly spray it with coconut oil spray.)
- Place the butter in a large bowl and melt in the microwave. Add the honey or maple syrup, mashed banana, milk and vanilla to the bowl. Whisk to combine. Whisk in the eggs.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon, baking soda and salt over the wet ingredients. Whisk until well combined. Add the flour to the bowl and stir with a large spoon or spatula until just combined. Be careful to not over-mix.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each well about 2/3 full.
- Optional: Sprinkle tops of muffins with cinnamon.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. (Mini muffins will take about 10-12 minutes to bake.)
- Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- Recipe makes 12 regular sized muffins or 36 mini muffins.
- To Store: Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Muffins freeze well. Cool completely and then store in an airtight zip-top bag for up to 3 months. Thaw individual muffins at room temperature, overnight in the refrigerator, or in a microwave using the defrost setting.
- Recipe Variations:
- Add nuts: Mix up to 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans into the muffin batter.
- Add chocolate chips: Add 1/2 cup of regular or mini chocolate chips to the batter.
- Add blueberries: Add 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries.
- Swap applesauce for the butter: Readers have tried this with good success.
- Gluten-free: Readers have successfully substituted a 1:1 gluten free flour blend for the wheat flour.
- Egg-free: I’ve made this recipe with flax eggs instead of regular eggs and it works well. Instead of the 2 large eggs, stir together 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed meal and 5 tablespoons of water. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes before adding to the wet ingredients.
Serving: 1muffin, Calories: 144kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 38mg, Sodium: 202mg, Potassium: 109mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 177IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 26mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is an estimate.
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I doubled the recipe and made jumbo muffins. Absolutely delicious
I made these instead of traditional muffins that have sugar, I used the honey, which I would rather from the farm, adding cinnamon is a great idea. Love cinnamon took longer to cook in my new oven about 25 minutes great recipe!
Can I use oat bran instead of whole wheat flour?
I haven’t tried this recipe with oat bran so can’t advise. If you decide to try it, let me know how the muffins turn out. 🙂
Can you use coconut oil instead of butter?
Yes, you can. Enjoy!
Love these!
Love that they’re so easy to make.
Love that they’re not too sweet.
Made an even dozen using two large bananas.
A keeper for sure.
These muffins are great and a wonderful snack for my toddler. I used paper liners and baked mine at 350 for 17 mins. All my muffins stuck to the liners. Is there a way to prevent them from sticking?
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! Instead of using paper liners, I use a nonstick muffin pan (I love USA pans) or spray a muffin pan with cooking spray. If you want to use a liner, parchment paper liners are best for nonstick.
So GOOD! Thank you!! Thaey came out perfectly the first go 😊
Super easy delicious muffins! I only had regular flour, was out of vanilla extract so just put a little extra honey and they were amazing!
These were really good and not dry. I thought the cinnamon would be overpowering but it wasn’t at all & these were perfectly sweetened . I didn’t have whole wheat white, so I used 1.25 C white & 1/4c ground flax seed & they came out perfect. I will have these on my family’s muffin rotation. Thanks for sharing these!
Super soft and yummy. Husband and 6 year old son loved them as well.
For those with egg allergies- I totally goofed and forgot to put in the eggs and they still turned out great! I also doubled the cinnamon because I love cinnamon and have no regrets 🙂 Definitely going to make these again and put in the eggs (haha!)
These are delicious 😋
Although I took them to the next level accidentally but using one cup of flour and half a cup of almond meal as I had run out of flour… best mistake I ever made!
These are easy to make but have very little flavor unfortunately.
I’m sorry that was your experience. These will be the sweetest and most flavorful if you use very ripe bananas. Also double check that you added the salt – I’ve made the mistake of forgetting it in baking recipes before and it causes the baked goods to turn out flavorless. I’m confident in this recipe, since it’s one I’ve made dozens of times for my own family.
Just made this recipe with the help
Of one of my daycare boys. Sooo delicious! It was easy and the children loved them. Will make again soon in my solar cooker to keep from turning oven on.🥵
I forgot to mention that I used date syrup as the sweetener and carob chips. So delicious! I plan to experiment with different kinds of baking flour.
My kids just gobbled these up. Nice to have a change and use honey instead of sugar.
What a beautiful banana muffins, easy to make and very tasty 😋
These turned out great! I made 24 mini muffins and had a small amount left for a couple of big muffins. My kiddos loved them! I will make them again for sure! Thanks for sharing!
I have tried countless recipes for ‘healthy muffins’ and these are by far the best! They taste just as yummy as regular banana muffins, I found mine didn’t go as golden on top as regular ones, but that’s just for aesthetic appeal. I added dark chocolate chips to mine and they were amazing! Highly recommend x
So quick and easy, minimal mess and absolutely delicious (and they’re sugar free!!) Mine came out a bit dense and more like a thick pancake but it still tasted amazing so we’re fine. Thank you so much!!
Can you use self raising flour I don’t have any plain ?
Self rising flour contains baking powder so I don’t recommend using it in this recipe since the recipe doesn’t call for baking powder.
I made these using gluten free flour instead and they still worked out incredible.
They came out very nice. My children loved them and they tasted even better the next day – I live in hot humid climate. I got 12 mini muffins and a sort of sheet cake in a loaf tin
I put some oil so it doesn’t stick to the paper tray
They came out beautiful. Didn’t have butter so I used apple sauce
Can I substitute gluten free flour for the white whole wheat flour?
Try substituting a 1:1 gluten free blend and let me know how it turns out!
These muffins were delicious! I will be making these again and again. Thank you for the recipe!
I have made this recipe many times and love the texture and flavor. However, there have been a few batches I’ve made that I’ll bite in to them and get a super bitter, metallic taste. Has anyone experienced this? I’m wondering if I’m not mixing in my baking soda enough (although I’ve tried to pay attention to it!). Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Hi Caitlin,
So glad you’re enjoying these! I think you’re probably right about the taste being from a clump of baking soda. You can always turn this into a two bowl recipe, where you whisk together the dry ingredients separately and then add them to the wet ingredients to see if that will help. 🙂
I have had that experience recently and resorted to getting a small metal strainer and use that for all baking soda and powder. Extra step, but solved the problem.
7000 ft elevation, muffin parchment and I added ½ cup of chocolate chips. I used 1/3 cup to scoop into large size muffin tin. I got 6 med/large muffins. Needed 5 more minutes.
Side bar: I would recommend you put all dry ingredients together because it did not combine all the way. I have chunks of baking powder that are baked in place. I’m going to try that next time!
Can you reduce the pop ups? They are really intense and made it difficult to just get the recipe (on my phone). I kept getting sent to sites when trying to scoot up and down the ingredients and recipe.
Just made these and they were great. I used milled whole wheat flour & added some chopped walnuts. My only problem is I need to double the batch next time.
These are delicious! I used skim milk, egg substitute, and 1cup almond flour + 1/2 cup white flour. I also added a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. They are so moist but not dense. Just heavenly. They will definitely be a staple at our house
Can I use oat flour instead of regular flour?
Oat flour will not work with the recipe as written. You might try my blueberry oatmeal muffins.
This recipe only made 9 muffins
It sounds like you made your muffins larger. If you have a regular sized muffin tin and divide the batter between the 12 wells, they won’t be filled to the top, but the muffins will rise when baking.
I made these this morning. Substituted the maple syrup for Monk Fruit. (Trying to get off the sugar). OMG these were so good. Will definitely be a go to recipe.
Hi! This looks great! I am wondering if I can replace the maple syrup with granulated sugar? And keep it at 1/3 cup of sugar?
Yes, that should work. Honey also works great in this recipe. Enjoy!
Made these gluten free – added a little extra flour and did 3 parts GF flour blend and 1 part almond flour. Turned out nice! Thanks for the recipe!
Made these on a whim! Only had two bananas and white unbleached flour & they still turned out amazing 🤩🤩🤩
Good recipe!
SO GOOD! added pecans and chocolate chips!
I made these for my after school program kiddos. I used applesauce instead of butter and all purpose flour instead of wheat- they were a big hit – everyone asked for seconds and kept telling me how amazing they were. Will definitely make them again!
Delicious banana muffins.
I have never made one of your recipes that was not delicious
This makes me so happy to hear! Thank you for trying my recipes.
Made these today! And will be making again. Super easy. I actually forgot to add the milk (mom brain) and they are still great and moist. I made mini muffins and baked for 15 min. Kids and husband gobbled them up. Thanks!
Very nice healithier recipe. I used maple syrup and did not add cinnamon. I added about a 1/4cup of pulverized oatmeal to make up the 1/4 cups of dry ingredients.
This recipe is amazing! I accidently forgot the oil/butter
I added twice the amount of milk called for
Made up for the extra milk with about 1/4 cup protein powder
AND
they are AMAMZING
SO moist and flaverful!!!
Thank you
My fiancé and I loved these muffins!!
These are good! I was looking for a no sugar recipe and came across this. So glad I did!! Will definitely be making these again!
taste amazing, but did come out really flat. may have been my error though, i may have not filled the pan enough, and i used self raising flour which may have played a part. still delicious and a healthier alternative!!
These were really good! I subbed vanilla Icelandic Provisions skyr for the butter. It cut the calories down to 110 per muffin and the fat to close to 1 gram (as calculated by Myfitness Pal). Thanks for a great recipe!
I made these today, but modified some ingredients for what I had on hand. They rose beautifully in the oven but when I took them out, they flattened out a bit. I used 1.5 cups of flax flour, avocado oil instead of butter and egg replacer instead of eggs. They tasted really good actually. I don’t know why they sunk. Should I have used actual eggs and 2 cups of flax flour instead? I will use this recipe again until I figure out where to make the adjustment. Would you happen to know why they sunk? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
I think they most likely sank because of the flax flour. Since flax flour lacks the gluten found in whole wheat or all-purpose flours, it does not provide structure in the way that a wheat-based flour would, which can cause the muffins to sink. It’s recommended that you replace no more than 25% of the flour with flax flour when baking.
This is the best healthy banana muffins recipe I have tried yet! It has the perfect amount of fat and sweetness. I’ve tried other healthy muffin recipes that never turn out right, flavor and texture-wise. This one was wonderful! Thank you!
Absolutely wonderful recipe!!
I’ll make the blender version for myself next, as I am dairy and gluten free. My boys love banana muffins and with whole wheat, it’s too for a momma! Thank you!
I made these once; then I made them twice; then…well, now I make them once a week. I have never, ever (in nearly 30 years of baking) found a recipe so simple and so amazingly good. These muffins are not-too-sweet, so you can eat more than one. I haven’t tried any additions yet (because I was learning how to make them without the recipe…wink), but I plan to add a few chocolate chips in the next batch! ◡̈
Oh my goodness, this is the best! I am so happy to hear that you love these banana muffins so much. I think they will be absolutely delicious with chocolate chips!
Just took these out of oven,they are perfect…. Big hit & they look exactly like yours….thank you for this great recipes
The Banana Muffins were fabulous!!! Very easy recipe. Loved the sub of honey for sugar. Just the right amount of sweetness. Needed a little extra time in my oven – 20 minutes was perfect. Will be making these again for sure.
Love this classic! Great recipe with health in mind.
These were so delicious!! And I was able to repurpose what I already had at home rather than just throw away the over ripe bananas, which turned into a teaching moment for my daughter the sous chef 🙂
Delicious! The muffins were moist and full of flavor. My family loved them. I had enough batter to fill the cups to the top. They came out beautiful. I added some chocolate chips for the grandkids. Thank you for a great recipe.
How much applesauce do I substitute for the butter?
I would try an equal amount, 1/4 cup (which is the same as 4 tablespoons).
Have made these several times and they always turnout great! I sprinkle som raw sugar over the top before baking and usually add craisins or blueberries.
I added chocolate chips into these muffins and they were delicious! I used four bananas and accidentally forgot to add the vanilla extract (but I did add some nutmeg), and they were delicious! Will definitely be making these again! 🙂