Healthy Banana Muffins

4.86 from 7 votes
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These healthy banana muffins are unlike any you’ve made before! Moist and rich with a subtle banana flavor, then topped with a delicious cinnamon crumb topping. Not to mention—these banana muffins are healthy and low fat, thanks to a surprising oil substitute. 

Healthy Banana Muffins spread out.
Featured with this recipe
  1. Easy Banana Muffins Ingredients
  2. Simple Steps to Healthy Banana Muffins
  3. Tips and Modifications for Banana Muffins
  4. Frequently Asked Questions
  5. Storing Healthy Banana Muffins
  6. Other Banana Recipes
  7. How to Make Healthy Banana Muffins
  8. Healthy Banana Muffins Recipe

There are few things that are tastier for breakfast than banana muffins! I love them warm right out of the oven, with a teeny bit of butter spread over them. These are delicious and nutritious!

These banana muffins are delicious. They are soft and sweet on the inside, with a crumb topping that gives a bit of crunch to the top. This is all accomplished while making it a healthy banana muffin. These are the best muffins!

Easy Banana Muffins Ingredients

Make a batch of muffins with these simple pantry ingredients. These are healthy muffins because the ingredients are perfectly placed to make them moist, soft, and delicious but without all the fat. They are amazing!

  • Dry ingredients – Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together to make the muffins rise and are soft.
  • Bananas – Overly ripe bananas are easier to mash. Mashed bananas are thick and add all the flavor.
  • Sugar – Added for a hint of sweetness!
  • Egg – Leave large eggs out at room temperature and crack to bind the ingredients together and make these healthy muffins fluffy.
  • Applesauce – This is a great substitute for oil. It helps reduce the fats and adds flavor.
  • Brown sugar – The muffins are moist with added sweetness.
  • Cinnamon – A hint of savory flavor.
  • Butter – Soften the butter ahead of time. It helps to avoid any lumps in the batter. Using unsalted butter helps control the amount of sodium in the recipe.
Ingredients to make Healthy Banana Muffins including bananas, flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, applesauce, egg, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.


Simple Steps to Healthy Banana Muffins

These healthy muffins are so simple to make and come together quickly! Have these for a delicious and easy breakfast morning as well as a snack later in the day. They are always a yummy treat for kids and adults alike!

  1. Prepare – Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tins or line them with muffin paper liners.
  2. Combine – In a large bowl, whisk together 1 ½ cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, and applesauce. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin liners.
  3. Topping – In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons. flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon of butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
  4. Bake – In a preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Peeled liner on a Healthy Banana Muffin.

Tips and Modifications for Banana Muffins

This banana muffin recipe requires brown bananas mashed together in a medium bowl, healthy wet ingredients, and a delicious combination of moist and soft muffins. Add in your favorite mixtures, vanilla, or other flavors to make this sweet and savory muffin to the next level! You can also use a bread pan to make a healthy banana bread.

  • Muffin tin – Use cooking spray to fill each muffin cup or brush them with olive oil, and coconut oil, for the 12-cup muffin tin pans.
  • Vanilla extract – Add a tablespoon of pure vanilla extract to blend the ingredients and flavors together.
  • Mini muffins – Make these cute and adorable by using a mini muffin tin.
  • Add in – Chocolate chips, almonds, chopped walnuts, pecans, other nuts, chopped apple, raisins or a handful of oats for extra flavoring and texture.
  • Flour – Make it even healthier with whole wheat flour, coconut flour, oat flour, or almond flour instead of all-purpose flour.
  • Cooling rack – Remove the muffins from the muffin pan and place them on a wire rack.
  • Drizzle – maple syrup, honey, peanut butter or melted butter over the top for a delicious flavor.
Hand grabbing a Healthy Banana Muffin.

“Oh my goodness these are so yummy! My boyfriend just gobbled one up for dessert. I used ½ C of unrefined sugar instead of the ¾ C, and they were PERFECT! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂”

-Ali

Frequently Asked Questions

Why my banana muffins don’t rise high?

This usually means that there is too much flour in the muffin batter. The ratio of liquid to leavening ingredients to flour changes the texture. This will change the texture, and how long the muffins bake and rise.

How do I get my muffins to rise higher?

One option is to bake the muffins at 400°F for the first 5 minutes, then drop the temperature to the more standard 375°F for the remainder of the bake time.

What are the health benefits of bananas?

Of course, the star of these banana muffins is the bananas themselves, which are incredibly healthy. This sweet fruit is rich in vitamin B6, manganese, potassium, and fiber. Plus, they are loaded with natural sugar, which is much healthier than piles of white processed sugar.

If you are using bananas that are overly ripe to make the banana muffins, you can cut down the sugar in this recipe even more. Some readers have reported being able to cut the amount of sugar by 2/3 when using ripe bananas!

What makes these banana muffins healthy?

There are a few components that make these banana muffins healthier than their counterparts. You can enjoy them guilt-free! Firstly, applesauce is used instead of oil, which makes this recipe low-fat. 

I love recipes that are low-fat but don’t TASTE like they are, don’t you? This recipe has no oil whatsoever, so it definitely qualifies as low-fat. Secondly, bananas are used to sweeten the muffin, which allows us to put less sugar in the banana muffins.

Are banana muffins high in fiber?

Yes! Fiber comes from bananas and flour. Add in walnuts and can also have more fiber added in.

Cut open Healthy Banana Muffin on a plate.

READ NEXT: 33+ Breakfast Ideas

Storing Healthy Banana Muffins

Store extra banana muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator, the pantry at room temperature, or the freezer. They can freeze for up to two months. When ready to enjoy you can thaw and reheat in the microwave for 10 seconds.

Other Banana Recipes

Bananas are full of flavor and taste delicious baked in bread and desserts. Try some of these banana favorites and choose which one is your favorite!

How to Make Healthy Banana Muffins

Healthy Banana Muffins spread out.

Healthy Banana Muffins

4.86 from 7 votes
Applesauce replaces the oil in these delicious Healthy Banana Muffins. They are moist and rich with banana flavor and a cinnamon crumb topping.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 28 minutes
Course Bread, Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 12

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups or line them with muffin paper.
    Cupcake pan with greased liners for Healthy Banana Muffins.
  • In a large bowl, mix together 1 ½ cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
    Mixing bowl with dry ingredients combined for Healthy Banana Muffins.
  • In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, and applesauce. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened.
    Mixing bowl of Banana Muffin batter.
  • Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
    Spooning Healthy Banana Muffin batter into cupcake liners.
  • In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons. flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon of butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
    Sprinkling crumb topping onto filled muffin cups for Healthy Banana Muffins.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
    Cooling Healthy Banana Muffins on a rack.

Notes

  • Use cooking spray to fill each muffin cup or brush them with olive oil, and coconut oil, for the 12-cup muffin tin pans.
  • You can use a bread pan to make healthy banana bread with this same recipe.
  • Add in chocolate chips, almonds, chopped walnuts, pecans, other nuts, chopped apple, raisins or a handful of oats for extra flavoring and texture.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 175kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 3gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 205mgPotassium: 173mgFiber: 1gSugar: 23gVitamin A: 68IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 25mgIron: 1mg

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Comments

  1. 4 stars
    Hello Ladies. LOVE the fact that these are low fat. Not keen on type of flour used or the sugar content. I started out with really really ripe bananas. Bananas, as we know, grow sweeter the longer they ripen. I adjusted the flour to ¾ c All Purpose and ¾ c Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (Bob’s Red Mill). I decreased the sugar to ½ c and used unsweetened applesauce. I overfill muffin cups (I like ‘em LARGE) and so I got a half dozen out of this recipe. I made only ¼ of the topping which equaled 1t of topping per muffin. They looked, smelled and above all tasted GREAT!!!!!

    1. Wow, thank you for sharing! YUM! Great ideas switching up the flour and sugar options!

  2. 5 stars
    I made these and made the mistake of adding the brown sugar into the recipe. I also didn’t do the crumb topping. I decided to bake them to see if they would turn out. They baked up great and the family loved them! Will definitely make these again.

  3. 5 stars
    Oh my goodness these are so yummy! My boyfriend just gobbled one up for dessert. I used 1/2 C of unrefined sugar instead of the 3/4 C, and they were PERFECT! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂

  4. 5 stars
    I just tried these this morning and they are great! I used 1 cup white flour and 1/2 cup rye flour and put the crumb topping on partway through baking so it wouldn’t sink down into the batter. Yummy!