We may earn a commission when you click on the affiliate links in this post.
Moist, fluffy, and low-fat, these healthy banana muffins feature applesauce instead of oil and a cinnamon crumb topping you’ll love!
Table of Contents
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.
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!
- Prepare – Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tins or line them with muffin paper liners.
- 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.
- 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.
- Bake – In a preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Tips and Modifications for Banana Muffins
Add in your favorite mixtures, vanilla, or other flavors to take this muffin recipe 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.
“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
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.
There are a few components that make these banana muffins healthier than their counterparts. First, applesauce is used instead of oil, which lowers the fat content. Second, bananas are used to sweeten the muffin, which allows for less sugar in the banana muffins.
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
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 bananas mashed
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups or line them with muffin paper.
- In a large bowl, mix 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 cups.
- 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.
- Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
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
Hello, i kind of have a dumb question. Do you put the topping on while they are still hot or let them cool
Hi Karen – not a dumb question at all! The topping goes on before the muffins bake. Add the batter to the muffin tins, then sprinkle the topping on top. Thank you for asking!
Are the nutrition facts per muffin or per the whole 12?
It is per muffin!
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!!!!!
Wow, thank you for sharing! YUM! Great ideas switching up the flour and sugar options!
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.
Do you have the nutrition information information for these muffins?
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 🙂
What is the calorie count of these muffins?
We should have all the calorie counts up on my recipe magic soon! Check myrecipemagic.com
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!