SKINNY BANANA BREAD MUFFINS that are so flavorful and moist you would never know they are healthy (er). These banana muffins have no oil, are low sugar, and just over 100 calories each.
If you’ve followed along on TBFS you may already know my adoration for quick-bread and muffins. I’m always coming up with ways to make them healthier, so I don’t have to feel guilty eating one or giving my kids a muffin for a snack.
I find these healthy applesauce oat muffins and these skinny pumpkin chocolate chip muffins completely irresistible.
I also love how well muffins freeze. They make my life easier when I need a quick and easy snack for my family, or something to add to my kids school lunch.
Since this skinny banana bread recipe is such a fan favorite, I wanted to show you the easy steps for making the same recipe, into muffins!
How to make banana bread:
Start by adding mashed bananas, egg, a little spoonful of white and brown sugar, and cinnamon to a mixing bowl. Then add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then stir in two tablespoons of melted butter. Don’t over-mix the batter (you can read more about that in my notes, below).
Divide the batter evenly into a standard 12 cup muffin pan.
Once the muffins are baked you can enjoy them plain, or with a thin spread of butter.
They freeze really well if you want to make a big batch for easy on-the-go snacks or breakfast.
Tips for perfect banana muffins:
Use extra-ripe bananas:
I like to use really, really ripe bananas. Like, so ripe that the skin is black, and my husband is begging me to remove them from our kitchen counter :-). The riper the banana, the sweeter it is, the easier it is to mash, and the more sweetness it adds to the bread.
This recipe calls for 4 large bananas, which I love because it makes the muffins really moist, flavorful and sweet.
If you don’t have ripe bananas for banana bread, use this trick:
Place the bananas, peel on, on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degree F for about 6-8 minutes, or until the banana skin is dark.
Don’t over-mix the batter:
When you combine the dry and wet ingredients, you only want to stir them together until the flour is mostly incorporated. The more you mix the batter, the more gluten will develop, which will make the muffins more rubbery and dense –yuck! So, for super tender muffins, just stir the batter until the ingredients are just combined.
LOOKING FOR MORE HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS? TRY SOME OF MY OTHER FAVORITES:
- Healthy Applesauce Oat Muffins
- Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie
- No-Bake Granola Bars
- Healthy No-Bake Granola Bites
- Tomato Avocado Melt
- Citrus Fruit Salad
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SKINNY BANANA BREAD MUFFINS that are so flavorful and moist you would never know they are healthy (er). These banana muffins have no oil, are low sugar, and just over 100 calories each.
- 4 bananas , about 1 1/3 cups, mashed
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (white or whole wheat)
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
Grease a standard muffin pan (or line with paper muffin liners). Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mash bananas in a mixing bowl. Add egg, vanilla, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon and stir well to combine.
- In a separate small bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to banana mixture and stir, just to combine.
- Gently stir in melted butter. Don't over-mix the batter.
- Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pan and bake for 18-25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.
To freeze:
Allow muffins to cool completely. Store them in a freezer-safe ziplock bag or air-tight tupperware.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Kim says
Hi, can I use coconut flour in this recipe?? I’m tying to stay away from wheat and white flou?
Lauren Allen says
I think that should work fine 🙂
Katrina says
Kim,
You could use coconut flour to substitute for wheat/white flour but you would need to look up the proper substitution amounts. Coconut flour is extremely absorbent so a little goes a long way, it would not be the same amount as wheat/white flour and you may need to add additional eggs or a liquid ingredient to balance it out and keep it from becoming overly dry or dense. Good luck!
Lauren Allen says
Thanks for you advice!
Dora Flores-Gomez says
3/4 cup of coconut flour instead of 1 1/2 cup of all purpose or wheat. With almond flour no change is made. You might need to add 1 tbsp of psyllium powder to help with the texture. If not the muffins would be really dry. I’ve made coconut roti and without it there were hard.
Rose says
I baked them with gluten free flour (and guar gum) and vegan margarine. Baked at 350 for 15 minutes and they were divine!
Lauren Allen says
Thanks so much for sharing! I’m so happy to hear you were able to make it gluten-free and vegan!
Johanna says
Followed the directions exactly as written but omitted cinnamon and added mini chocolate chips. I used white whole wheat flour. Perfect texture, sweetness, and flavor! So yummy fresh out of the oven!
Lauren Allen says
Yum! Love you adaptions!
Elizabeth says
I made this recipe last week and unfortunately it was raw in the middle even though the cake tester came out clean. It did have a great taste so I will try it again and maybe do the muffins then give the loaf another try. Thanks
Lauren Allen says
Hi Elizabeth, that’s strange that a cake tester came out without crumbs if the batter was still raw…Are you sure it wasn’t a large piece of unmashed banana you were tasting?
Lisa says
This seemed like a great recipe at first. When the muffins came out of the oven, they looked great. However, when I peeled off the muffin liner, half of the muffin stuck to it so I could only eat basically half of the muffin. Also, I used 4 bananas for this and the banana flavor was barely tasted in the cupcake.
Annika Mayer says
How many grams of mashed banana should I use,I googled an all of the converters say different things.
Lauren Allen says
I think about 400 grams.
Annika says
Thank you:)
LindaRose says
I Made these and they turned out Absolutely beautiful.. I Brought them to Our Vintage Tea Morning for Charity & Everyone loved them. My Husband Brought some to work& they all loved them also.. Thank u so much for a lovely recipe. I wondered if u know the Smartpoint Values Hope its ok to ask that. ?
Lauren Allen says
Thanks for you comment. I’m so happy everyone at your event loved them! I just used the WW website and it calculated 5 smart points per muffin. Hope that helps.
Lindarose says
Thank you so much.. 🙂
Sylvia Esqueda says
Made these for breakfast this morning. Added a few chopped walnuts for crunch; turned out yummy! Will definitely make them again! ☺
Amanda says
How long does it take to cook the mini muffins
Lauren Allen says
Mini muffins would probably bake in 8-11 minute or so. 🙂
Amy Killian says
I’ve cut way back on added sugar and needed a new recipe for banana bread. My first attempt at low/no sugar banana muffins was almost inedible so I cautious about these. I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out absolutely delicious, with a nice crumb and yummy bits of banana inside. 5 tablespoons of sugar for 12 muffins means 5.2 g of added sugar per muffin which isn’t bad for something that tastes like a treat. Next time I want to try an alternate flour, I picked up barley flour at the Asian supermarket today, I think I’ll give that a try at 50% (recommended by King Arthur flour). Thanks for the great recipe!
Cathy says
Not being a cinnamon fan, I omitted this ingredient and the muffins were delicious with a rich banana flavour! I appreciate your cautionary note about over-mixing the batter. It can become thick quite easily.
amy says
My toddler son and I made these this weekend, and they were fantastic! I was surprised because of the so little sugar but they were moist and tasty. Will definitely make these again!
Hannah Rose says
If I only have two bananas do I need to divide the rest of the ingredients by two?
Lauren Allen says
I would, or add something to help make up for them, like a big scoop of greek yogurt or applesauce 🙂
Rebecca says
Can I replace or omit the butter somehow?
Lauren Allen says
You can omit it 🙂
Diane says
These are truly the best reading banana muffins I’ve ever made. Sweet, most, incredible. Followed recipe as is. Great even a couple days later out of the fridge.
Serena says
Very moist and not too crumbly. Love the low sugar amount. My kids gobbled them up! We will be making these again. Thanks!
Beth W. says
I’m making these this afternoon. Will putting chopped walnuts in them interfere with the baking time at all?
Lauren Allen says
Nope! Sounds delicious–hope you love them.
Beth W. says
Made these this morning (things came up yesterday…LOL) and they are awesome! I only had 3 bananas and I added chopped walnuts but other than that never changed a thing. They only needed 20 minutes in my oven. Will definitely make this my go to banana muffin recipe!!
RoxyT says
My batch turned out so awesomely delicious and scored big points with my hubster! I was a half-cup short of bananas, so used avocado. Didn’t have brown sugar; honey worked perfectly. Thanks so much. This recipe is a keeper!
Lauren Allen says
I love those adaptions! I’m so glad you liked it.