These are the muffins that officially gave me the Muffin Queen title. Back in 2014, I posted the recipe on my Instagram for the first time and everyone basically went nuts over them. Fast-forward almost 10 years and they’re still one of the most popular muffin recipes on my site (and in your hearts!)
These healthy banana chocolate chip muffins were a blissful experiment that came to life as a result of me always trying to make something new for my mom for breakfast. I used to make her muffins every week so that she could bring them to work and these healthy banana muffins became one of her favorites in the entire world. We’d make them together, often adding in heart-healthy toasted walnuts for a dose of healthy fats. To this day, they still make an appearance in my kitchen every month or two.
Safe to say my muffin obsession started with these babies. Fast-forward to today and I bake them up for my kids, who are equally as obsessed!
The queen of all muffin recipes
Did you know that for YEARS these healthy banana chocolate chip muffins were the MOST POPULAR muffins on Pinterest? I couldn’t believe that’s how much they’re loved! And while Pinterest has grown and changed a lot since then, these glorious muffins have remained absolutely phenomenal.
Ingredients in the best banana chocolate chip muffins
There are a few special ingredients that lighten up these muffins and make them a bit more nutritious than standard bakery-style muffins. Don’t worry, they’re still just as fluffy and perfectly sweet! Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Whole wheat pastry flour: these muffins get their wonderful texture and a boost of whole grains from whole wheat pastry flour.
- Sweetener: instead of using regular sugar, these muffins are naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and honey.
- Oil: you’ll just need 1 tablespoon of olive oil or coconut oil to provide extra moisture.
- Egg: you’ll also need an egg to help them bake up properly. I haven’t tested these muffins using a flax egg, so I’m not 100% sure how they would turn out. Let me know if the comments if you try it!
- Greek yogurt: yogurt takes the place of butter in this recipe and helps keep the muffins super moist. Plus, it adds a lovely boost of protein! You can use a low fat or full fat greek yogurt in these.
- Milk: a little milk will ensure that the batter isn’t too thick. Feel free to use any milk you’d like!
- Baking staples: don’t forget the baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract. Learn how to make your own vanilla here.
- Chocolate chips: because what’s life without a little chocolate? I love using dark chocolate chips but feel free to use any you’d like.
Can I make them gluten free?
I have not tested this chocolate chip banana muffin recipe using a gluten free flour substitute, so I can’t be 100% sure how they’ll come out. Feel free to try any of these gluten-free muffin recipes instead!
Try some delicious mix-ins
I, of course, LOVE the chocolate chips in this healthy banana chocolate chip muffin recipe, but they’d also be delicious with:
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- a slather of homemade nut butter on top (my personal fav)
Healthy banana chocolate chip muffins in 4 easy steps
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Blend the wet ingredients. That’s right, you’ll add all of the wet ingredients to a blender and blend until nice and smooth. It’s so much easier than mixing by hand!
- Make the batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with your dry ingredients and mix until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Bake & devour. Finally, divide the batter into a prepared muffin tin, sprinkle each with a few extra chocolate chips, and bake them until a toothpick comes out clean! Let the muffins cool on a wire rack and devour with a little nut butter on top.
Turn these muffins into banana bread
Easily make healthy banana chocolate chip bread with the following instructions:
- Make the muffin batter as written and pour it into a 9×5-inch loaf pan lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean!
The secrets to perfect banana muffins
- Use extra ripe bananas. Because these muffins are sweetened just with ripe bananas and honey, you’ll want to make sure the bananas are VERY ripe to provide enough sweetness.
- Use fresh baking soda. This will ensure that the muffins rise properly. If your baking soda is more than 3 months old I’d suggest swapping it out.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined. If you overmix the batter your muffins may turn out dense and almost rubbery, which we don’t want.
- Use muffin liners & cooking spray. I recommend both adding muffin liners to your muffin pan AND spraying them with nonstick cooking spray so that the muffins don’t stick.
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: let the muffins cool completely, then keep them in an airtight bag or container in the fridge for optimal freshness (especially during summer months).
- To freeze: wrap muffins individually in freezer-safe bags or store them in a large freezer bag. When you’re ready to enjoy them, reheat for 30-45 seconds in the microwave or simply thaw them at room temperature.
Recommended tools for baking muffins
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More muffin recipes you’ll love
- The Best Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins (gluten free!)
- Chunky Monkey Zucchini Banana Muffins
- Healthy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Grandma’s Healthy Bran Muffins
- Chai-Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins with Salted Honey Glaze
Get all of my muffin recipes here!
If you make these healthy banana chocolate chip muffins, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe! You can also snap and picture and post it on Instagram using the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
30 Minute Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 ripe bananas (about 1 ⅓ cup mashed banana)
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon olive or melted coconut oil
- 1 egg
- ½ cup nonfat plain greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk (or milk of choice)
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
- Add bananas, honey, vanilla, oil, egg, milk and yogurt to a blender. Blend on high for 1 minute or until well combined, smooth and creamy. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
- Divide batter evenly into muffin tin, sprinkle each muffin with a few more chocolate chips and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- Cool muffins for 5 minutes then remove and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Muffins are best served warm and even better the next day. Makes 12 muffins.
Love this recipe!!How to store the these muffins?
I recommend keeping them at room temp for 1 day, then transferring them to an airtight container and storing them in the fridge for up to 4 more days!
I made these twice, two days in a row. The second time I added 1/2 cup of walnuts. The first batch just tasted like something was missing. Also, both times the muffins were spongy. I really wanted to like these, but I won’t make this recipe again. I DO love your Honey Cinnamon Walnut Banana Muffins though and will go back to that recipe.
Sorry to hear that! Did they seem overly moist? I’m glad you love the honey cinnamon ones!
I love all of your receipes, but this one tasted gummy!
I used all the above ingredients. I don’t understand what happened.
Maybe you can enlighten me😊
Sorry to hear that! When baked goods turn out gummy, it’s usually because the batter was overmixed.
They turned out great! I can stop making those weekly and the whole family loves them. Fluffy, soft, a bit moist, light and delicious. I used all purpose flour and they turned out perfect. 20min is the perfect baking time to get golden muffins without overdrying.
So happy to hear that!
Hi! Could I use maple syrup instead of honey?
That should work!
Had some bananas I wanted to use, and these turned out great. I didn’t have Greek yogurt, but they still tasted great, and my kids liked them too which is always a bonus.
Perfect! Glad they were a hit!
This is my go to whenever I have 3 ripe bananas. I’ve even made mini muffins (1 Tb scoop) baked at 350F for 10 min. for my little one and she loves!
YES they’re the perfect snack for kiddos!
My go to muffins. Everyone in my family, including my two year old, gobbles them up.
This is the most delicious banana muffin recipe! And I’ve tried many. My muffins always collapse until this one! I substituted for einkorn flour because I didn’t have wheat on hand. They came out perfectly – moist, tall rising and delicious fresh out of the oven. Thank you so much!
So happy to hear this is a favorite! One of my all-time favs, too 🙂
Didn’t rise or brown and are dense and chewy, disappointing after going through all the effort to make them as a gift
Sorry to hear that! Did you follow the recipe exactly? If they were dense, it sounds like there could’ve been too much flour. Did you use the spoon-and-level method for measuring the flour? And is your baking soda fresh? Over-mixing can also lead to dense muffins.
One of my families all time favorite muffin recipes. A great way to use leftover bananas and is quick when using the blender. I usually make a double batch and freeze them to have for a quick, easy breakfast before school.
So glad it’s a favorite! One of my all-time favs, too 🙂
I made this recipe with 2 bananas I had in the freezer and 1 fresh banana. They turned out SO delicious! Super moist, perfect amount of sweet, and makes me feel better knowing they are healthier than other recipes out there. Thank you!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
I’ve been making this recipe for about 7 years now. We just love it! It turns well pretty much every time, despite me tweaking to according to what we have on hand.
I don’t add any sweetener, it’s sweet enough for our family. We do add lots of dark chocolate chips though 🙂 thank you so much for such a great recipe that has become a part of our family
Amazing! So happy to hear that this is a family favorite!
I just finished baking these and found it difficult to tell if they were done
I wanted to ask you if you meant to say 1 teaspoon of vanilla instead of 1 tablespoon. The batter was quite runny and the muffins are spongy instead of fluffy.
So strange! These are vanilla-forward, so the tablespoon is correct here. Any chance the batter was over-mixed? That can result in a gummy texture.
Easy to follow recipe, healthy ingredients, and kid approved! Usually my muffins are dry or flavorless but this was delicious 🙂
I’m so glad!!
Hello! I haven’t made these yet but I’m a huge fan of your recipes so I’m confident they will be delicious! Can I use regular flour instead of whole wheat with the same measurements? Thankyou!
Hi! Yes, that should work 🙂 Let me know how you like these!
This recipe is perfect! I love the convenience of using a blender for the wet ingredients. I baked mine up for 22 min and they are just delicious. I used paper liners and didn’t spray and had no issues with sticking. Also used whole wheat AP flour and Lily’s chocolate chips. Thanks for a great, fool-proof recipe!
Absolutely! So glad you enjoyed!
These muffins exceeded my expectations! SO good, will be making again soon!
So happy to hear that!
Love these! I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make and they’re the perfect little treat when I want something sweet.
Absolutely!
These are so yummy and healthy. No refined sugar, makes great quick breakfast or healthy post workout treat!
Excellent! My 5 year old said they are “super, super, super good!”
So happy to hear that!
Love these muffins. I make them with gluten free flour and oat flour, they turn out great!
Perfect! Glad they’re a favorite 🙂
I also swapped 1/2 cup of flour with Oats, used vanilla activia yogurt instead of plain Greek and added a bit of cinnamon. They came out great!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
So delicious, so moist! A great breakfast option for the whole family! Will definitely make these again. Thanks for sharing.
Mine collapsed like people are saying. I realized I used baking powder instead of soda 🤦🏻♀️
Let me know how it goes with baking soda!
I can’t find the flour anywhere in the UK. What flour can I use alternatively?
Hi! All-purpose flour should work just fine – they just may not be quite as fluffy.
These were awesome! I rarely comment; however your muffins are/were spectacular. I made half the recipe for our lunch with baking in the air fryer. Turned out fantastic….baked at 325 degrees for 8 minutes and then rotated the muffin pan on the rack, baked an addition 3 minutes. Removed the muffin pan to the counter for several minutes before placing on plate. Thank you for the outstanding recipe.
Amazing! So glad you loved them!
These muffins are seriously THE best!! I’ve been making them for about a year now as my go-to healthy muffin recipe and they do not disappoint !! I love how all of the ingredients are natural and healthy, especially with my son who’s 15 months old! He loves them too, bonus !!
Amazing! So glad you both love them!
I have been wanting to comment on these muffins for a while now! They are simply the BEST! And you can easily modify the recipe to suit your own taste. For instance, I always add 1 Tbsp of chia seeds + probiotic to my dry ingredients – they bake right in and the kids don’t even notice them! Speaking of kids, they love these muffins so much and they are packed with healthy goodness! I also sometimes do half honey, half pure maple syrup. Sometimes I swap the banana for pumpkin. Today I did 2 bananas, 1/2 cup applesauce, I threw in a bit of lemon juice, and used blueberries instead of chocolate chips – they came out AMAZING! I also have fun with toppings. The kids like a cinnamon and brown sugar combo. My husband and I like flaked coconut and sliced almonds. Honestly, these muffins are so good. Just follow this recipe and play around with some modifications. They are filling, healthy, and delicious! Thank you AK! Your recipes are my favorite!!
Amazing! So glad these are a hit – perfect for customizing with your fav add ins 🙂
Very moist! I love them. Next time, I plan on trying with pecans and cinnamon.
Perfect! Pecans sound delicious 🙂
These are the new favorite banana muffin in my house now. And with great ingredients! I make them in mini muffin tins . Also add chopped pecans . My kids ask for these all the time . I have some baking in the oven as I write this. Thanks for this great recipe!!
Amazing! So glad they’re a hit!
I made these with regular white flour and added a 1/4 cup of JIF peanut butter, and the muffins came out great as always.
Perfect! I’m glad those swaps work out well 🙂