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.
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Made these for breakfast this morning— AMAZING! I only had two bananas so I added some grated green apple. So delicious and not just for a “healthy” recipe. I’ll definitely be adding this recipe to my make-ahead weekday breakfast routine! Xo
Thank you, Becca! Grated apple sounds great to me.
These look so yummy!! Have you tried making this with less sugar? If I used 1/4 c sweetener would they still be sweet? TIA!
No, I haven’t tried that. If your taste buds are accustomed to less sweet treats, I think you’d enjoy them with just 1/4 cup since there are bananas in there, too. The more ripe your bananas are, the sweeter they will taste.
Wow! I made these exactly as written, with dark chocolate chips mixed in. I am a professional baker and have starting playing with coconut oil vs butter. These muffins are perfect!
I took a photo to share but nowhere to post it here. Next time i will make these in mini muffin tins and package them up in ziplocks for my 5 kids to pack in school lunches.
Thank you, Christina! Happy to hear that these met your standards. Love your mini muffins idea!
Stumbled across this muffin recipe when I googled “healthy banana muffins”. Wow. These are sensational. I have tried countless recipes with similar ingredients, most of which had the texture of cooked wallpaper paste or zero flavor. Have a feeling I’ll be making these again tomorrow!
Cooked wallpaper pasta, haha! I’m glad this recipe did the trick for you!
I agree. Just found this recipe as I’m finding healthy alternatives for us. Wonder if you have an estimate of calories per muffin with this recipe? Thanks! Shannon
I’m sorry, I don’t!
158 calories. I used myfitnesspal calorie counter. You can put the url of the page with the recipe, it scans the page for the recipe and then does the calculations. You can edit the recipe too. Pretty handy.
Looking forward to trying these :)
Thank you, Janna!
I tried using the URL in myfitnesspal and it didn’t work for me. Thank you though! Your post was helpful
They are actually 233 calories…I just used My Fitness Pal
I just used my Spark People Calculator (which is usually very accurate because you can put in name brands that you use, been using it for many years) I came up w/201.7 calories per muffin.
Not bad. That’s in between the two previous figures.
CORRECTION: I made the recipe to specs and it yielded 12 generous muffins! So that brought down the calorie count I got to 185. They look beautiful! I haven’t tasted them yet, they just came out of the oven.
OMG had no idea MyFitnessPal did that, thanks so much! I’m following macros so this is ideal for me, thanks!
Amazing recipe! Thanks for sharing :)
I don’t have whole wheat flour but I have A LOT of Wheat Bran. Any substitutions for using wheat bran and all purpose flour or oat flour?
Hi Margaret, I’m sorry, I’ve never given that a shot! I don’t know how wheat bran would work as a sub.
Hello, I made your healthy banana muffins(exactly as written) this morning, they were unbelievable! I have never used whole wheat flour before. I have been a die-hard Better Homes & Gardens banana muffin recipe follower for about 35-40 years, but never again!
Thank you for this special treat.
Just goes to show you, “You can teach an old baker (73) new recipes”
Meemaw
Thank you for your note, Marge! Delighted to hear that you enjoyed these. :)
Great recipe: excellent flavor. I used avocado oil instead of coconut and added 1/4 cup of cocoa powder for a chocolatier flavor.
Thank you, Elliot! Your bread sounds awesome!
These muffins are fantastic and while you are a dog person, consider these cat approved…my cat is licking the muffin wrapper as I type. I added espresso powder and mini chocolate chips to mine and can’t wait to make these again.
Haha, love that! Your version sounds awesome.
Great recipe! Simple and came out wonderful!
Awesome, thank you, Kathy!
Wow! These were spectacular! I made them this weekend following the recipe exactly and folding in a handful of dark chocolate chunks (the trader joes kind) and we’ve eaten up the whole batch! I also was able to get 13 large muffins from the recipe. Will definitely be making them again. Thanks!
Thank you, Matthew! Really glad to hear it!
Thank you for the recipe! There’s only one muffin left after my little boys (ages 6, 4, 2) went through it. I used honey instead of maple sugar and toasted walnuts. I love your recipes!!
Delish thanks and my kids like them hooray!
Hi Kate! I just made these muffins for breakfast this morning. I was attracted to this recipe because of all the wonderfully nutritious ingredients, but honestly didn’t think they would be nearly as tasty as they are!! My children are fighting over who gets to have a third muffin! I am normally a recipe changer but followed this exactly and wouldn’t change a thing!! It made 12 delicious muffins that all disappeared in 10 minutes! I am always in search of new flavours and recipes so barely bake something twice, but this will definitely make my recipe book!! Thanks heaps, from Australia :)
Thank you, Kaylene! I’m so glad these surpassed your expectations in the flavor department!
I agree these are yummy. I used bobs red mill 1/1 GF flour instead of whole wheat, added 1/2 c. applesauce, handful of toasted walnuts and topped with coconut flakes. Delicious! And the muffin pan you suggested is great, thank you!
Thank you, Jennifer! So glad you’re enjoying the bread and that pan!
I typically never remember to go back and comment on a recipe I tried- but I had to this time. These muffins are amazing!! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this.
Yay! Thanks for taking the time, NateJ. I appreciate it.
Hello, Do you know the calorie count by chacnce?
Hi Brandy, I’m sorry, I don’t offer nutrition details for my recipes since there are so many variables in home cooking. Please feel free to run this one through a nutrition counter like myfitnesspal.com.
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe. It’s so amazingly flexible: I didn’t have enough of anything so used lots of your suggested swaps and they still turned out beautifully. I suspect that if I used another variation next time they’d also be great! Am looking forward to browsing further.
Thank you, Iman! I’m happy to hear it. Hope you enjoy my other recipes just as much!
This is the 3rd time I’m making these in the past two weeks! These muffins cannot make it past day 1in my home! They are so good and everyone I my family loves them! Thanks for sharing this scrumptious recipe!
Thank you, Emily!
Tasty! I added some toasted pecans and topped w a few chic chips. I baked only 20 min and they were over baked.
I’m sorry yours were over baked, Lorraine! Are you using a dark muffin tin? Dark surfaces bake their contents faster.
It is medium gray-ish. Maybe that’s it! I’ll watch more closely next batch.
Made the vegan version of these muffins with flax eggs and they turned out great! Perfectly moist and flavorful! This is my new go-to banana muffin recipe. I am so glad my aunt sent me your banana bread yesterday to try and then introduced me to your blog.
Thank you, Molly! Please thank your aunt for me, too! :)
Just made these with gluten free flour. These are awesome! This recipe is definitely a winner.
Thank you, Candy!
Hi Kate,
Baking them tomorrow for my daughter. Just want to know the measurement of flax seed in this recipe. I want to make them egg free.
Thank you
Hi Bhakti, here’s a guide to making flax eggs. You’ll need to make two “eggs” for this recipe.
Almost didn’t comment because you have SO MANY COMMENTS, but I figure a positive review is always welcome! This was my first time on your site and your recipe didn’t disappoint. :) I made these muffins this morning and loved them! I like having some type of sweet to eat with my morning coffee, and these were perfect! I only had two bananas, so I used that, used 1 cup white and 3/4 whole wheat flour, and added blueberries. I am loving reading everyone else’s suggestions for mix ins. Espresso powder? Amazing idea!
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Laura! I’m so glad you found my site and enjoyed these muffins.
my sister attempted this recipe however she could not follow the simple instructions given this therefore led to her produced bad muffins I hope this helps with producing more of your recipes in the future!
I’m sorry to hear that, Rebecca!
Found your recipe with a google search! Added a bit of applesauce and a large handful of spinach(chopped in the food processor) and some benefiber powder and they turned out great! I almost regret adding chocolate chips because it takes away from the banana flavor. *Almost being the key word* Great recipe and easy to follow, will try more of yours! Thank you so much!
Thank you, Rachel! Glad you found my site! :)
They are soon delicious!!!! :) could eat all of them at once ;)
Thank you, Lisa!
Kate, thanks so much for sharing this recipe! Made these today-watch out folks these are dangerously delicious and you won’t want to stop eating them! My whole family loved them! I made them with gluten free pancake and baking mix and honey. I also used 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites to reduce the fat a little bit. I want to make them again as well as the other recipes. In my muffin tin I needed to use all 12 of the cups.
Thank you, Eva!
A friend made these and I liked them so much I got the recipe and made them for our family adding chocolate chips and they turned out so good!! I used ingredients I have never used before like coconut oil and white whole wheat flour! I made these again just now for a teacher appreciation breakfast! Thanks for a great healthful delicious recipe!!
Ruth
Thank you for letting me know, Ruth! I’m so glad you have been enjoying the muffins. I have lots of other recipes that call for coconut oil and white whole wheat flour!
I made these for the first time last Friday and have made another 2 batches since. My whole family love them, even the children. You would never know they were sugar free. Thank you so much, will be my breakfast of choice for the foreseeable future :-)
I have baked these today ….halved the recipe because I only had 1banana…really good I used molasses which I love in a recipe. That is the only sugar I used added walnuts pumpkin seeds ..they were awesome very filing and not cake like .i also added wheat germ maybe 2 table spoons .
Thanks
Made these “as-is” recently – delicious.
Today, a snow day here in CT, I was craving banana-chocolate something and since I’ve also been dying to use some of my frozen from-the-farm-in-summer raspberries, I made them again, and threw in 2 cups of berries and a cup of chips (Ghiradelli ftw). The recipe made 3 short of 2 dozen and holy wow, the taste!
Great recipe! I made these, added some raisins to mine and it was just amazing!! Next time I want to try adding some coconut, I think that will give it a nice zing! :)
Hi-just made these but used applesauce instead of oil and they are delicious!!!! My kids generally don’t like “healthier muffins” because they are less sweet, so applesauce adds that little extra sweetness and less calories/fat.
I just made these and they were super easy and delicious! Great way to get rid of overripe bananas. Thanks
Very easy to make and smells wonderful. For me I feel like it’s lacking in flavor just a bit. I’m trying really hard to find healthy alternatives to satisfy me sweet tooth. Do you have any other recipes that are a bit sweeter and healthy?
Making these muffins as I write. These are super yummy.. I did make the mini muffins and made some regular and the others with walnuts and blueberry.. OMG So Good.. I also added flax seeds to the batter.. I only had all purpose flour on hand.. I ended up using about 1 1/2 cups I added slowly till I liked the consistency.. Thank you great recipe like the rest of the world my hubby and i are looking to be a bit healthier and recipes like this make it a bit simpler.. Thanks again..
I’ve made banana bread probably a thousand times but this recipe is by far my favourite one! They melted in my mouth! I added pecans and a 1/2 tsp of cardamon and I would HIGHLY recommend it. Thanks for the delicious recipe :)
Hello! Just wondering, did you use unrefined or refined coconut oil in this recipe? Not that I mind, but I’m curious to see if it will have a slight coconut taste when I make these.
This is a fabulous recipe, made the best banana bread muffins I’ve ever made, even though I made them gluten free! I used a gluten free rice flour mix, and added one and a half teaspoons of baking powder. For my own guilty pleasure, also added chocolate chips and sprinkled cinnamon on top. They rise and tast just like wheat muffins. Thank you for posting this amazing recipe.
These muffins are great my family loves them thanks so much for the recipe. I’m going to let everybody know.
Great recipe! I’ve made it several times now. I like to half the maple syrup (1/4 cup) and add a full tsp of salt and cinnamon. Also, because I never remember to measure the dry ingredients first, and my 1/3 measuring cup is dirty from the olive oil, I do 1/2 cup oats and 1-1/2 cups flour. I also add in some chocolate chips. It’s my new go to recipe for when the bananas go brown before they get eaten :)
These are so delicious! Made them with honey, avocado oil (all I had) quick oats and brown sugar on the top instead of white. I also used whole wheat bread flour (all I had). They came out perfect, moist and tasty!
Just made these. A HUGE hit!! Will probably be making these at least once a week! I got 18 muffins out of your recipe! Thank you!!!
LOOOOVED these muffins and so did the whole family. Made a double batch and came out with 31 muffins. With a family of 5 that will last only a few days. Next time I will triple it to have it last all week. Will try adding Blueberries or Strawberries now that summer is almost here.Thank you!!
This is the best banana muffin recipe I’ve ever tried! (And I’ve tried a bunch over the years!) I added 1/4 cup roasted walnuts because I love the flavors of bananas and walnuts combined. Perhaps next time I will try chocolate chips. This is a keeper recipe!
Oh, and thank you so much for this recipe!
Made these yesterday, they were delectable! So moist and easy to make. I added walnuts and raspberries at the end and it turned out beautifully. Will definitely make again.
– you can see the finished product on Instagram @evanthia_m – :)
I love how the sweetness is just right in this recipe- usually when baking from a recipe, I’d have to decrease the sweetener amount – but this one is just right! I only had all-purpose flour so that’s what I used, and I subbed the oil with melted butter, and the muffins turned out very well! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.