Soft and tender banana muffins with delicate moist crumbs and full of banana flavor! Simple one-bowl muffins in less than 30 minutes!
I halved my popular banana bread recipe, which makes 2 loaves, and made it into muffins!
The same amazing flavor, but in a convenient, portable size.
Muffins (regular and mini ones!) are especially popular among young kids!
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Simple pantry ingredients
- Quick and easy to make – no special equipment required!
- Undeniable banana flavor
- Moist and tender texture
- Reduced sugar and butter without compromising on flavor
What’s the secret?
Using a frozen banana is the secret to moist and tender banana muffins.
As you may have noticed, my recipe doesn’t call for any liquids. And that’s not a mistake!
When you defrost frozen bananas, you’ll get lots of flavorful liquid along with mashed bananas. And that’s GOLD!!
Tip
Do NOT drain excess liquid from thawed bananas. Use it all in your batter for extra moist and flavorful muffins.
How to make banana muffins:
- Thaw frozen bananas (watch the video below for my preferred method of thawing) and mash them well.
- Add sugar, melted butter, egg and vanilla extract into the mashed bananas.
- Now, add flour, baking soda and salt. Stir until just combined. If desired, add in chopped nuts and/or chocolate chips.
- Divide into a muffin pan (12 regular muffins or 24 mini muffins) and bake.
I love adding toasted walnuts for added texture. However, my boys love it with chocolate chips. Naturally!
Why do you use baking soda in banana muffin?
So, it may sound weird that my banana muffin recipe calls for baking soda instead of baking powder while there’s no acid to react with in order to raise the batter.
Here’s the thing, baking soda is here not only as a leavening agent, but it also helps to brown the muffins beautifully.
So next time you have ripe bananas with black spots laying on your counter, throw them into the freezer. And then enjoy delicious banana muffins (or bread) later.
Easy Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 4 frozen medium-to-large bananas thawed Note 1
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg lightly beaten, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup toasted chopped walnuts optional
- ½ cup bittersweet chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners and lightly spray with non-stick spray. (See note 2)
- In a large bowl, mash thawed bananas with a fork or wooden spoon.
- Add sugar, melted butter, egg and vanilla extract, and mix everything until combined.
- Then add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine.
- Add walnuts and chocolate chips, if using.
- Divide the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
- Bake for 21-23 minutes, or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before serving.
- Store muffins, covered, on the counter for up to 3 days.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Facts:
Tungalag says
Hi Shinee, my Vanilla extract is expired, do you think I can still use it in the muffin?
Shinee says
Hi, Tungalag! Yeah, I’d say you can still use it. Typically vanilla extracts have indefinite shelf life.
Cee says
Hi there – can I cut the sugar from 3/4 cups to 1/2 cup? Wpuld I need to make any other adjustments? We are using hersheys mini semi-sweet chipits. Figured that should be sweet enough for us.
Shinee says
Hi, Cee. These banana muffins are not sweet at all. I’ve reduced the sugar amount to the lowest possible. You can, of course, lowering it to 1/2 cup, if you want to. But it might affect the texture, rise and look of the muffins.
Thelma says
Can I use “frozen” bananas and do use that liquid, before adding them to the batter? Thank You.
Shinee says
Not sure what you mean by “frozen”? My recipe calls for frozen banana and yes, including all the liquid.
Thelma says
You answered my question – Thank You. ( I meant once I defrost the bananas, do I use the liquid) .
Thelma says
Hi…Going to try these muffins, for the 1st time.. (for a Christmas plate giveaway) I would like to add crushed pineapple. Do I have to substitute something to do that ??? Many thanks !!
Shinee says
Hi, Thelma. I don’t have an advice on this, as I’ve never tested the recipe with crushed pineapples. You may want to use crushed pineapple for half of the banana?
Thelma says
Thank You…. I’ll do that !!
Jordan says
I love this recipe! I’ve made it as muffins and as a loaf. For the loaf, I took the suggestion of another commenter and baked at 350f for approximately 45 minutes. This is a perfect use for all the frozen bananas I’ve been storing up for smoothies!
Shinee says
So happy to hear you loved the recipe!! It’s our family favorite too! Thank you for your feedback, Jordan!
Lisa says
These were absolutely delicious and moist, using toasted walnut and semi sweet mini chips.
I will be making these again and again. Thank you for sharing your recipe with us.
Shinee says
Hi, Lisa. So glad you tried and loved the recipe. Thank you for your feedback.
Menam says
made this recipe as a loaf and baked for ≈45 minutes tasted amazing! i loved the overall taste and everyone else did too! It was gone in less than a day!
Shinee says
Yay, so happy you enjoyed it, Menam. Thank you for your feedback!
AP says
Delicious 😋 😋
Shinee says
Thank you!!
Dor says
Just wondering if “¾ cup 150gr sugar” means 3/4 cup sugar + 150g sugar… Thanks!
D says
The reasons I am asking are 1. 1.5 cups of flour seem to be 128 grams and 2. when I adjust the # of muffins, only the cups/tsps changed. It’d be great if you could confirm if the grams are there to correspond the amount for 12 muffins.
Sorry for asking this silly question, I’m new to baking.
Shinee says
Hi, Dor. Sorry for confusion. Not a silly question at all! You’ll need only 3/4 cup of sugar, which is 150g in metric system. And as for flour, you’ll need 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour, or 190g.
(We recently switched our recipe display system, and things are a little wonky! I so appreciate your question, because you brought the issue to my attention. 🙂 And I just fixed everything. It should look better now. Let me know if you have any questions.)
Dor says
Thank you for answering Shinee 🙂 I shall try the recipe soon!
Su says
I’ve never baked anything that turned out to be good–I’ve always been under the impression that baking is not for me. This recipe changed that! It is simple and the muffins turned out amazing!!! thank you!!!
Shinee says
Hi, Su! Yay, so happy you made these muffins and loved them! I truly believe anyone can be a good baker, and I’m so happy to read your comment. Hope you’ll be baking more and more. And thank you for sharing your feedback!