Maple-Sweetened Banana Muffins
These whole wheat, maple-sweetened banana muffins are the best! So fluffy and moist, I bet no one can guess they're healthy muffins. Easy to make, too.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
Meet the banana muffins of my dreams. They’re fluffy, whole grain, naturally sweetened, totally delicious banana muffins. They’re also about as healthy as muffins can be. The recipe calls for basic ingredients and you can mix them all together in one bowl. Too much to be true? Nope.
These muffins are a derivative of my super popular banana bread and pumpkin muffin recipes. If you love these, you certainly don’t miss the blueberry muffins in my cookbook.
Muffins aside, can I tell you what else is exciting? I got a new camera! Can you tell? Bueller? Bueller? Well, that’s ok. I can, and I’m thrilled about it. I bought my old camera during my last year of college and it was the best investment I ever made. Eight years and 88,000 (that’s eighty-eight thousand) photographs later, it was time to upgrade.
My new camera and I are still getting acquainted. I haven’t found the best settings or figured out all the fancy-pants features just yet (anyone want video?). We’ll get there. Photographing these banana muffins was a learning experience. A very tasty learning experience.
The Best Banana Muffins
Here are a few reasons to love this banana muffin recipe (which happens to be more nutritionally redeeming than most):
- These muffins are easy to make with basic ingredients. Only one bowl required!
- They’re made with 100% whole grains, yet they’re fluffy and delicious. No one will know the difference.
- They’re also naturally sweetened with maple syrup or honey, rather than loaded with refined sugar. The maple syrup (or honey) offers a touch of extra flavor, which I love.
- A touch of cinnamon offers some warming spice flavor. These muffins will make your house smell amazing!
- These muffins freeze well, too. Just defrost individual muffins in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, or until gently warmed through. You don’t want to overdo it.
Please let me know how your muffins turn out in the comments! I love hearing from you, and hope these banana muffins are your new favorite.
Craving more wholesome banana treats? Don’t miss my banana oat pancakes, vegan banana scones, healthy banana bread and banana cake with cream cheese frosting.
Watch How to Make Banana Muffins
Maple-Sweetened Banana Muffins
These whole wheat, maple-sweetened banana muffins are so fluffy and moist, I bet no one can guess they’re healthy muffins. They’re easy to make, too, with basic ingredients and only one mixing bowl! Feel free to add mix-ins of your choice, like chocolate chips or toasted nuts. Recipe yields 12 muffins.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil*
- ½ cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 eggs, preferably at room temperature
- 1 cup packed mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
- ¼ cup milk of choice or water (I used almond milk)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats (optional), plus more for sprinkling on top
- 1 teaspoon turbinado (raw) sugar or other granulated sugar, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius). If necessary, grease all 12 cups of your muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and didn’t require any grease).
- In a large bowl, beat the coconut oil and maple syrup together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well. Mix in the mashed bananas and milk, followed by the baking soda, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon.
- Add the flour and oats to the bowl and mix with a large spoon, just until combined. If you’d like to add any additional mix-ins**, like nuts, chocolate or dried fruit, fold them in now.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a small amount of oats (about 1 tablespoon in total), followed by a light sprinkling of sugar (about 1 teaspoon in total). Bake muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
- Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. You might need to run a butter knife along the outer edge of the muffins to loosen them from the pan. These muffins will keep at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. They keep well in the freezer in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months (just defrost individual muffins as needed).
Notes
Recipe adapted from my healthy pumpkin muffins.
*Oil options: I love coconut oil here. I used unrefined coconut oil and can hardly taste it in the final product. Olive oil might lend an herbal note to the muffins, if you’re into that (although, I tested with California Olive Ranch’s “Everyday” variety and couldn’t even taste it). Vegetable oil has a neutral flavor but the average vegetable/canola oil is highly processed, so I recommend using cold-pressed sunflower oil or grapeseed oil if possible.
**Change it up: You could really go crazy with add-ins here. Fold in up to ¾ cup chocolate chips, chopped dried cranberries or crystallized ginger and/or chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts. With add-ins, your muffins might require the full 25 minutes in the oven. Another idea? You could top your muffins with my maple glaze from my pumpkin scones recipe to make them more decadent.
Serving suggestions: These muffins are great on their own, with a pat of butter, or spread with almond butter. They would also be fantastic with homemade pecan butter or coconut butter.
Make it egg free: Substitute flax eggs for the regular eggs.
Make it vegan: Substitute flax eggs for regular eggs, use dairy-free milk like almond milk and use maple syrup instead of honey.
Make it gluten free: Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose blend works well instead of the whole wheat flour.
Make it nut free: Use a nut-free milk.
Make it oat free: Simply omit the oats.
Make it lower in fat: I would argue that this bread contains a healthy amount of fat, but you can replace the oil with applesauce if you’re following a low-fat diet.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This post contains affiliate links to Amazon, which means I’ll earn a small commission (at no cost to you) if you make a purchase through these links. Thank you for your support!
This is our most favorite muffin recipe! My little and I make these once a week. Thank you for sharing :) Love your site, look + feel xo
Thanks so much, Amber! I’m glad you both love it. :)
I just finished the reciepy and they are out of the oven. We can hardly wait to taste them. :)
I hope they came out great, Rene!
These were superb! Kids loves them too! I added walnuts! Yum
Wonderful!
they are easy to make and delicious! In my case they took at lot longer cooking?
Hey, Becky! So glad you loved the muffins. Variations in cooking times are caused by lots of variables– light vs. dark baking pans, the type of oven you have, how old that oven is, or the altitude at which you’re baking. As long as they tasted great, you should be good!
I just made these with my 2 year old to share with people coming over. They were super easy to make and really yum. There weren’t any left over! Better make more.
I’m so glad these were gobbled up so fast, Dan! A double batch seems to be in order for next time. :)
The first time I made these, I used 2 bananas and it made 12 muffins. The second time, I used 3 bananas and kept the rest of the measurements the same (except I used a little less honey) and it almost doubled the muffins. I love these, they are so good and easy to make!
Great tip! Thanks for commenting.
I’ve made this recipe a few times with the flax eggs and almond milk. It is one of our favorite muffin recipes. Thanks for sharing it!!
Awesome! Thanks, Cheryl.
Great recipe! I used cup4cup wholesome flour, a pkg of instant oatmeal (ha!) and used olive oil and 2% organic milk — all worked out well; the BEST GF banana muffin recipe I have found so far. THANK YOU!!!
Wonderful! Thank you so much, Lisa!!
Hi,
I made these a month ago and they were absolute perfection. I froze them so my kids could have them as snacks. I’m going to make them again, however this time I have frozen bananas to use up. Do you suggest thawing the bananas before using them? Or just mashing them up frozen ( or just thawed enough to mash)?
Thanks,
felicia
Hi Felicia – just saw this comment. I also had some frozen bananas to use up. I would recommend thawing them first. If you need to do it quickly, place them in a bowl that can sit over a pot of simmering water on the stove (like a double boiler) and give them a few minutes to thaw out over top of the bubbling water. This only took about 10-15 minutes for me, I think. When they were mostly thawed (some still a bit frozen), I scooped out quite a bit of the juice that had come out of the frozen bananas, then mashed them up. Worked perfectly. I also measured out the mashed banana before adding it to the recipe and it was slightly under 1 cup, which worked totally fine.
Hi Felicia, that’s a good question. I know that frozen bananas release quite a bit of liquid as they thaw. Maybe just let them thaw until you can mash them easily? I’m not 100% sure that using defrosted bananas will work just as well as fresh.
These are so good! I make them for my daughter for a quick breakfast and I cant resist them myself. Last time I made these, I used almond flour. This was my first time using it and oh wow! Must try! They were amazing! I have a batch in the oven now, where I am using avocado oil (I normally use coconut) for the first time. Best muffins ever.
I’m so glad these worked out so well, Rebretta! Thanks for the comment.
I just made these muffins this morning. I used olive oil added craisins as a mix in. They turned out moist and delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Craisins sound delicious with these, Patti. Thanks!
Absolutely loved these! Super easy and quick to prepare, these will certainly be a go-to muffin for me now! Perfect level of sweetness and a gorgeous texture: light, fluffy, comfort food at its best. Made a few swaps based on what I had on hand: full-fat yogurt instead of milk, coconut sugar instead of regular sugar for sprinkling on top, olive oil instead of coconut oil, and sprouted whole wheat flour. It made 11 very generous muffins. I could have easily made it into 12 perfectly sized muffins. I also mixed the coconut sugar with cinnamon before sprinkling. 23 minutes was the perfect amount of time in my oven. Can’t wait to try your other recipes!!
Thanks for the suggestions, Vittoria! Your version sounds great.
I was looking for a breakfast muffin recipe that was healthy. OH MY GOD, this recipe is amazing! I am not exaggerating. I made these for my husband and myself and they were so moist, warm, and tasted amazing and so filling. I added some crushed pecans to the top. I was worried that they wouldn’t come out of the muffin tin, but after I greased it there wasn’t a problem.
Thanks, Stevie! I’m so glad the two of you loved them.
These are so yummy! I made some with dark chocolate chips and some with blueberries. My toddler loves them too. I also appreciate the extra notes and suggestions you added at the bottom of the page. :)
Yum! Those mix-ins sound delicious, Brianna.
I just made these with toasted walnuts and dried cranberries. They look beautiful and I can’t wait to try them (they’re baking now)! I plan to share these with our neighbors unless my husband eats them all. :-)
I hope they came out great, Jennifer!
They were wonderful! So moist, delicious and guilt-free; my new go-to recipe for muffins and quick bread every time we have overripe bananas. Thank you, Kate!!
Just made these for my toddler but my husband just left the kitchen with three (they’re minis) in his hand! Very good. My whole family loves them. Thanks so much!
Ha! It’s so great that he’s eating them by the fistful. Thank you for the sweet comment!
Hi Kate,
Greetings from Perth, Australia. I was just sitting at home today as my car is getting fixed. Felt like baking something healthy and googled up a storm. One of the recipes that emerged was yours.
So I have just made these. They are great. Even my muffin sceptic wife enjoyed them. I followed your directions pretty closely. At the last minute I decided to add some Pecan nuts for crunch.
Muffins were great, pecans were a great addition. Thanks for the healthy recipe. Will definitely make again.
:-) Jake.
Delighted to hear that you both enjoyed these, Jake. Pecans sound like a great idea!
I forgot to add milk to my muffins but they still turned out beautifully and delicious, although I do feel like they are lacking some flavor. Next time I will add in some nuts or other add-ins. The recipe also yielded 12 average sized muffins for me.
Thanks, Emily! I’m glad these still worked out.
Made these with regular 1% milk, and added chocolate chips! My picky kids love them, this recipe is a keeper, next time I think I will try them with berries.
Thanks so much for the recipe.
Oh, I’m so glad everyone enjoyed the muffins, Lise! Thanks for the kind comment.
I made this banana muffins today they are delicious!!!!
Hooray!
Great muffins! I never thought honey muffins can get so fluffy! Well, until last night, when I made them. They turned out perfect! Thank you, I will surely try other recipes,too!
I’m so glad, Isa!
My husband and I just loved these muffins. I’ve made them twice and both times I was able to get 12 muffins instead of 11. I did have a bit more banana mixture from 3 bananas so I put it in which could account for that.
Can you please tell me what is the calorie count for the muffins?
Hey, Laura! I’m so glad you liked the muffins. Unfortunately, I don’t have nutritional info available for my recipes just yet. I’m looking for a solution, and will update about it once I find one. In the meantime, here’s a nutrition calculator that might come in handy.
I have been making your healthy banana bread for a while now and just love it. I decided to try these muffins just for fun(and also because I am trying to push myself to move outside of my comfort zone) and they are so good! I really love the combination of coconut oil and maple syrup! Thanks so much:)
Yum! I’m so glad you tried these, Kristin. Thanks.
My toddler loved these! That’s a huge win in my book!
Great! Thanks, Kristin!
Made this today – so yumm! As an Indian who uses coconut oil a lot in her kitchen I love to find recipes for baked goods that ask for it. Thank you ! :)
You’re welcome, Mamta! You’ll find plenty of those recipes here. :)
Made these yesterday andI think these are the best banana muffins I have ever had! All three of my daughters love them including my incredibly picky 100 month old. Thanks so much!
11 month old*
I’m *still* laughing at the 100 month-old comment. I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it!
Absolutely love it. I put different sorts of nut in each time. I combine the 1/2 honey , 1/2 maple syrup my health contiguous kids love them. In 2 days I had to make 2 batches . Thank you so much.
Regards Sylvia
This is so great, Sylvia! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much.
I’ve been on the hunt for “healthy” muffins forever, happy to say I have finally found them. I didn’t have whole meal flour so I used whatever left over whole meal spelt flour I had and white flour (about 1 and 1/4 whole meal spelt and the rest plain white). I also added 1 teaspoon baking powder. I also used a regular muffin pan and got 13 serves.
SO GOOD! I AM SO IMPRESSED! I ONLY JUST BAKED THEM AND I ALREADY ATE TWO!
Success! Thanks, Katie! I’m so glad you’re happy with the result.
AMAZING!!!!!
:)
These muffins are amazing. Follow the recipe and you really can’t go wrong. I made them for a friend who has recently had a baby. I loved them so much I then made a batch for myself. I added some crushed pecans too. They are light fluffy moist and sweet. You would not know these are made without refined sugars. I definitely find many baking recipes always turn out different to what you expect / go easily wrong but these are so easy and so delicious. Definitely recommend.
This is so kind! Thank you, H.
Awesome recipe! Didn’t think it would work (mainly because I burn everything) but it did:D
Hooray!
Hi Kate,
What about using oat four instead? Any recommendations on ratio to regular flour?
Hi, Jennifer! Oat flour can be a bit tricky to use in recipes that don’t specifically call for it. Many resources recommend not replacing it fully with oat flour, but only 1/2 – 3/4. If you’re looking to make it gluten free, I’d suggest using Bob’s Red Mill GF Flour blend– that’s a 1:1 ratio!
Just made these muffins except i substituted quick oats for the old fashioned oats because that’s what i had on hand. i also added chocolate chips. they are delicious! had to stop myself from having 3 in one night :)
I’m glad that worked out, Tracee!
Made this for my boss and she raved about them.
Great recipe!
Awesome!
Thank you Kate! This was my first muffin recipe and I’m delighted at how round, puffy and moist it turned out. The maple syrup is a great touch for me being Canadian at heart.
One question for you – how do I go about making the muffin top more crackly and crispy?
Hi Rose, I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins. For a crisp top, sprinkle the tops of the muffin batter with turbinado (raw) sugar before baking.
Very moist and delicious!
Great! Thank you, Angelina.
Have you tried this using a gluten free flour mix?
I haven’t myself, but I know other commenters have had success with it.
OMG the recipe cannot get any better.
The muffins came out to be pillow soft & perfect.
I used 1:1 ration of the baking powder to soda, as i was a little suspicious of adding only baking soda.
Thank you so much for the recipe, it’ll stay with me for life.
Wonderful! I’m glad that worked out, Natasia.
Thank you for sharing your recipes. They are healthier than most recipes I’ve used. I have been making zucchini and banana bread for years and I would love to try your method. I have a husband who is a vegan and a niece who is allergic to gluten. So I am happy I can easily do substitute. Will let you know how it turned out. By the way I grow my own zucchini and some of the zucchini grows so big if I don’t harvest them early enough. Perfect for bread. Will have zucchini bread to share. Thanks again.
Homegrown zucchini sounds amazing! I hope you enjoy the muffins, Julia.
These are delicious! I didn’t have enough whole wheat flour so I used some white flour. I added blueberries as well. Amazingly good. They have replaced my old banana muffin recipe!
Great to hear this, Sue!
I came across these yesterday and made them last night!! I used almond meal flour instead of the whole wheat and it worked sooo well. very very moist so would probably need to add 1/2 a cup more of the almond meal.. also added carob buttons and used coconut sugar for sprinkling on top! Was a favourite amongst the family – WIN !!
will definitely be making these again! also made your coconut banana muffins :D will be sharing a photo in instagram shortly x
Thanks for these notes, Michay-Lynn! It seems those substitutions worked quite well. :)
Delicious! I used bob mill’s gluten free flour and honey bc/ that is what I had in stock. I also added in chopped walnuts. I stored in refrigerator. The taste was good right out of the oven but the texture was a little chewy (probably bc/ of gluten free flour). After set in refrigerator for about 4 hours, the texture was just right and the taste was even better. My family’s favorite. I am going to buy the recommended flour and try the recipe that way. I love these muffins.
Thanks for the note, Deb! It’s good to know that when using GF flour, letting them sit for a bit helps with the texture. I’ll definitely pass that tip on.
Hello, i cannot eat oats of any kind….what do i replace the oats with?
thank you!!
Rosemary
Hi Rosemary, you can actually just omit them without causing any problems. Hope you enjoy the muffins!
Too easy to make, and a very delicious use of the last few bananas nobody wants.
Yes, this one is great for those overripe bananas. I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Angel!
We officially have a new favorite muffin in our house! My husband and two-year-old daughter have requested this recipe three weeks in a row! Thank you for sharing this treasure!
Aw, I love hearing this, Aj! I’m so glad the family loves this recipe.
I know lots of people have said this already – but I calculated the calories via Wolfram Alpha (inputted manually, not scanned like some apps)
I got 140 calories (per muffin, for 12 muffins). However I used metric as well, so that might change some things.
They’re in the oven now and smell awesome, hope
I hope these came out great, Amy! Thanks for the nutritional info.
Great recipe, thanks so much! My two boys loved them. I added chocolate chips, figured there’d be enough sweetness with that so I omitted the sugar/oats topping.
I never leave comments on internet recipes but this one is the exception! I love this recipe! I’ve been looking for a healthy and tasty banana muffin recipe.and this is it! I mixed in walnuts and mini chocolate chips! I can’t wait to make it again with different mix ins! Thank you!
I love hearing this, Sandie! Thanks so much for commenting.
These muffins are delicious! I added mini chocolate chips and made them in a mini muffin pan. Yield was about 2 dz. My grand children loved them.
Awesome! I’m glad they were a hit, Judy.
Great recipe! I don’t give my toddler refined sugar, but these have enough sweetness to make her feel like she’s getting a treat. Good texture, too…sometimes I find refined-sugar free recipes to be overly chewy, but these turned out great. I subbed soy milk and regular unbleached all-purpose flour and the recipe made about 46 mini-muffins…her favorite morning accompaniment to almond yogurt and soysage. Thanks!
I’m glad the texture worked out so well for you, Summer! I know what you mean about the chewiness and density problem, so I try to test that out as much as possible.