This recipe was actually a happy accident. I told my sister in law I wanted to bake her some banana muffins with my extra ripe bananas, and she requested that they be made without chocolate chips. Since I knew they weren’t going to have the sweetness from chocolate, I decided to naturally sweeten them with honey. After a few tests, these healthy banana muffins turned out PERFECTLY.
Since I was low on butter at the time, I made these banana muffins with a little bit of heart-healthy olive oil to keep them moist, and they ended up having BEST crumb texture. They’re seriously SO fluffy, tender, moist, infused with sweet cinnamon flavor, and a nice crunch thanks to walnuts (leave out if you aren’t into nuts). I found myself eating a few here and there throughout the day, some with peanut butter on top or even a little drizzle of honey + sea salt. SO GOOD.
Your fav banana muffins made healthier
These healthy banana muffins have everything you love about those nostalgic, fluffy, bakery-style banana muffins, but with a few tweaks to make them a little better for you:
- Naturally sweetened. Instead of using white or refined sugar in this recipe, we’re naturally sweetening these banana muffins with super ripe bananas and a little honey (or you can use maple syrup!).
- Whole grains. These healthy banana muffins are also made with my favorite whole wheat pastry flour for the perfect boost of whole grains.
- Dairy-free. You’ll just need a bit of your favorite dairy-free milk and olive oil to keep these muffins perfectly moist without using any dairy!
- Healthy fats. I love adding some chopped walnuts to the batter and on top of the muffins for a boost of healthy fats.
Ingredients in healthy banana muffins
As I mentioned, these delicious, healthy banana muffins are not only dairy-free, but also seriously moist, flavorful, and use honey as a natural sweetener. Here’s what you need:
- Overripe bananas: make sure they’re almost all the way brown so that these muffins have the right amount of sweetness.
- Honey: for a little boost of natural sweetness. I love the flavor that honey gives these banana muffins.
- Egg: you’ll just need one egg in this recipe.
- Olive oil: a bit of olive oil makes these healthy banana muffins super moist.
- Dairy-free milk: I like to use unsweetened vanilla almond milk for a little extra flavor, but you can use any milk you’d like!
- Whole wheat pastry flour: I love baking with whole wheat pastry flour because it adds a boost of nutrients while making these muffins perfectly fluffy.
- Baking staples: don’t forget the baking soda to ensure that these bake up properly, plus vanilla extract, a little salt, and cinnamon for flavor.
- Walnuts: I love to add chopped walnuts into the batter of these healthy banana muffins and on top!
Optional ingredient swaps
- For the flour: if you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, feel free to use all-purpose flour. You can also use a ratio of ¾ cup whole wheat flour + 1 cup all-purpose flour.
- For the honey: maple syrup will also work well!
- For the olive oil: you can also use melted butter or vegan butter, or melted and cooled coconut oil.
- For the walnuts: feel free to sub pecans if you’d like, or omit the nuts to keep them nut-free.
Can I make them vegan?
I haven’t tested these muffins using a flax egg in place of the regular egg, but let me know in the comments if you try it! You’ll then want to use maple syrup in place of the honey as well.
Can I make them gluten-free?
I have not tried making these healthy banana muffins gluten-free, so I’d suggest making one of my other gluten-free muffin recipes:
- Healthy Gluten Free Banana Muffins (dairy free!)
- The Best Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins (gluten free!)
- Heart Healthy Olive Oil Salted Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
- Blender Double Chocolate Spinach Muffins
- Vegan Paleo Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips
How to make healthy banana muffins
These healthy banana muffins are made in just one bowl for minimal cleanup and maximum deliciousness. Bake them up in a few simple steps:
- Prep your pan. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with muffin liners and spray the insides with nonstick cooking spray.
- Mix the batter. Mix together all of your wet ingredients in a large bowl, then mix in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until just combined. Fold in the walnuts.
- Divide & bake. Divide the muffin batter evenly into muffin liners, sprinkle each muffin with chopped walnuts, and bake.
- Cool & enjoy. Let the muffins cool, then devour!
Tips for making fluffy & moist banana muffins
- Use extra ripe bananas. Yes, I mean EXTRA ripe and almost brown. They’ll give these healthy banana muffins moisture and a natural 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 flour into your wet ingredients until it’s just combined. If you overmix the batter, your muffins may turn out dense and almost rubbery, which we don’t want.
Have fun with delicious mix-ins
Feel free to add your favorite muffin mix-ins! This healthy banana muffin recipe is a great base for delicious toppings, too. Here are a few suggestions:
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- a drizzle of homemade nut butter on top
Turn this recipe into banana bread
You could, of course, make my Best Ever Healthy Banana Bread Recipe, but you can easily turn these muffins into a bread, too!
- Make the muffin batter as directed.
- Pour into a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Freeze them for later
Yes, these healthy banana muffins are freezer-friendly! Simply 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.
Our fav tools for baking muffins
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More muffin recipes to try
- Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Muffins (dairy free + gluten free)
- Chai-Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins with Salted Honey Glaze
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Outrageously Good Pumpkin Protein Muffins
- The Best Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins You’ll Ever Eat
Get all of our amazing muffin recipes here!
I hope you love these healthy banana muffins! If you make them I’d love for you to leave a comment and rating letting me know how you liked them. Enjoy xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
The Ultimate Healthy Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 VERY overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 ⅓ cup mashed banana, make sure they are almost all the way brown)
- ⅓ cup (111g) honey or pure maple syrup
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (50g) extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup (60g) milk of choice
- Dry ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup (198g) whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Mix-ins
- ½ cup (56g) chopped walnuts, plus ¼ cup (28g) chopped walnuts for sprinkling on top of muffins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with liners and spray the inside of the liners to prevent sticking.
- Mix the batter: In a large bowl, mix together mashed bananas, honey, egg, vanilla, olive oil and milk until well combined. Add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and use a wooden spoon to mix together until the batter is just combined. DO NOT overmix. Fold in ½ cup chopped walnuts.
- Bake: Divide batter evenly into muffin liners, sprinkle each muffin with chopped walnuts. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out 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.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This recipe was originally published May 14, 2020, republished on April 21, 2021, and republished on January 3rd, 2025.
My go to banana muffin recipe! Love love love the addition of walnuts. Great for toddlers, moist and delicious! I weigh all purpose flour and it works great. Add chocolate chips because why not! I prefer using a mini muffin pan and it makes about 36! 15 min bake time. Toddler, hubby everyone gobbles them down.
So happy to hear that!!
So good! I made these last night and had one with some fresh strawberries this morning. They were super easy to make in a stand mixer, which also mashed my bananas for me. I also appreciate that I didn’t have to dirty five thousand bowls for this recipe.
The perfect breakfast!
These were fantastic!! I brought them over for a friend who recently had a baby and she said they were the perfect midnight snack!
So happy to hear that!
Nice way to use up bananas! I ran out of the whole wheat pastry flour, so I used Kodiak Protein Pancake Mix. The tops were super flat, but the flavor was great!
Fun swap! I’m glad it worked out well!
do you have a recommendation for making this gluten free?
I haven’t tested these with a gluten-free flour, so I can’t be too sure! Try out one of my other gluten-free muffins here 🙂
We make this recipe in our house weekly. I use maple syrup and avocado oil. No walnuts due to allergy. Chocolate chips are a must!
I go off memory for these now! Thanks
So happy to hear that!
Baked up beautifully with a flax egg. I used the baking method from the chocolate chip yogurt muffins recipe (7 minutes at 425, 9 minutes at 350, skip every other muffin slot in the pan) and they had beautiful domes. A keeper.
So good!! I’ve been on the hunt for a banana muffin that isn’t loaded with butter or added sugar and this hit the mark perfectly. Just sweet enough, fluffy, light, super tasty, and easy to make. My new go-to recipe!
Absolutely! Glad you found these!
It was ok. Some of the blender muffin recipes I’ve used had better flavor. They were a little dry, even though I added an extra banana beyond what the recipe called good. The whole wheat overpowered the banana. Maybe they will taste better tomorrow. :/
Sorry you didn’t love these! Did you weigh your ingredients?
This is it! The one recipe I will now grab for banana muffins from now on. One bowl, super easy and perfectly moist and delicious. But always with chocolate chips because… yum!
Amazing! One of my favs, too 🙂
So quick & delicious!!
Glad you enjoyed!
These muffins were a hit with the whole family, even the boss (my 4-year-old grandson)! I used white whole wheat flour and substituted the olive oil with unsweetened applesauce, and added walnuts. They came out moist and just sweet enough.
We’ll definitely be making these again.
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe!
Perfect! So glad everyone loved them!
So yummy!! I added a cinnamon sugar topping as well by mixing coconut sugar and cinnamon together, the perfect touch to these muffins!
That sounds amazing! Glad you enjoyed!
These muffins are fantastic!!!! The only changes I made were to use 1/4 cup white whites instead of a whole egg and to reduce the honey to 1/4 cup as I wasn’t looking for a super sweet muffin.
So glad you enjoyed!
These got a big thumbs up from hubby – eaten as soon as they were cool enough to manhandle! They are really tasty, and so easy to make. As I made them on a whim, to use up some bananas, I didn’t have wholewheat pastry flour so used All Purpose. For me, who hasn’t got a sweet tooth, I’d add a bit less honey next time, but not change anything else – perfect as they are. Many thanks.
Perfect! Glad they were a hit 🙂
Ok – I don’t normally bake this way but it worked out! I managed to FORGET the egg (realizing FAR too late) and only used about 80-85 grams of honey and they came out … perfect? What the heck? Not super sweet which is my preference anyway (I only had 80-85 grams of honey) and not dense despite the missing egg. I am shocked but definitely pleased with how they turned out. Happy accident for sure but won’t be trying any more crazy tricks.
Oh no way! I’m glad they still turned out haha the perfect snack!
Just made for my husband’s birthday and OMG so good!!! Used white whole wheat flour, 2 small eggs from my next door neighbor’s back yard chicken flock, and maple syrup as I had that and not honey. Husband, our Chiweenie Rocky, and I loved them! Thank you! I have your cookbook as well and have loved everything I have made from it.
Perfect! So glad you loved these and are loving the cookbook recipes, too 🙂
Delicious, very moist ! I replaced the egg with 1/4 cup apple sauce for a “more” vegan alternative (kept the honey, but I think it could be subbed by maple syrup). They turned out great 🙂 Thanks for the recipe
I’m glad that worked out well! Perfect snack 🙂
Can i use buttermilk instead? Will it be fluffier?
You can definitely try buttermilk!
Love these pictures
This recipe is amazing!! So easy to follow and the muffins turned out amazing❤️ I can’t wait to try out more of your recipes !
So glad you loved them!!
I made these with my 21 month old, and they were a hit! We did the whole wheat and all purpose flour option in the notes. Will definitely make again!
Perfect! So happy to hear that!
These are soooo good! Have made multiple times with some substitutions. I use 1 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour with 1/4 cup of ground flax seed, 1/4 cup of protein powder. I also add 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats and 1 tbsp of chia seeds. I use a mixture of honey and maple syrup and then I leave out nuts sometimes. 10/10 would recommend!❤️❤️❤️
I’m glad those swaps work out well! Such a great snack or breakfast 🙂
The banana muffins are fantastic. Could you please tell me the sodium content per muffin. Thank you LC
Hi Monique! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I tried it today with a few changes (to the ingredients that I have at home): I used all purpose flour, and semisweet chocolate chips for the mix-in.
I think it’s plenty sweet to my tongue, although I think it could be due to the chocolate chips. I think the sweetness would’ve been perfect if I use non-sweet mix-ins like walnuts.
So just sharing this here in case someone else wants to replace the mix in with chocolate chips. Next time, instead of 1/3 cup of honey, I would probably reduce it to 1/4 cup or a little bit lesser.
Anyway, the muffins’ texture is great and it tasted lovely as well! Would definitely keep this for repeat.
I’m glad that worked out well! Such a great snack or breakfast 🙂
I made the ultimate Healthy Banana Muffins this morning and topped them with a brown sugar walnut crumble topping. Very good!
That sounds delicious!
I love this recipe. I make these muffins ALL THE TIME. My kids and husband absolutely LOVE them. I make a crumble topping with brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, and flour to add on top! These are super yummy!
So happy to hear that! Great idea to add a crumble 🙂
I’ve been a baker for many years, but sorry, this recipe did not impress. I did not have pastry flour, so I used the all-purpose and whole wheat flour combination and regular milk as suggested in recipe overview. I followed the recipe with no other substitutions making sure I used the fully ripe bananas. The muffins were heavy and tasteless. It appears the substitutions suggested in overview don’t produce the marvelous outcome posted in the recipe. It pains me to toss our food, but at least the muffins were recycled in compost bin.
So sorry to hear that! I’m not sure what could’ve gone wrong here. Did the batter seem overly thick? Were the muffins dense? The 1/3 cup of honey and SUPER ripe bananas should provide the perfect amount of sweetness.
I made this recipe and another similar recipe from another influencer. This one was waaay better. Loved it. will make again
So glad you gave this one a try!
How do you store these please – countertop or fridge?
I typically store them on the countertop for a couple of days, then transfer them to the fridge!
These are so good! It’s my new go-to for banana muffins! I used bread flour (because that’s what I had), added chocolate chips and finely chopped walnuts (because my daughter won’t eat them if there are chunks! Ha!) I feel better (healthier) eating these instead of my usual recipe, which used organic sugar and butter. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Love that! One of my all-time fav muffins 🙂
After the great reviews thought I would give these a try and they did not disappoint and were very scrumptious. Love the use of olive oil which gives great flavour, very moist muffins, and a healthy choice. I substituted maple syrup for the honey as it’s too sweet for me. Used 1/2 pastry flour and 1/2 whole wheat which I find a nice balance in baking. Would love to try the whole wheat pastry flour but not available in my area. These rose beautifully and baked according to the temperature and time indicated. Very pleased with the recipe and picky hubby loved them as well. They go down quickly for sure. Recipe is a keeper. Thanks.
Perfect! So glad you loved them!
I love this recipe! Should I do 1/4 cup walnuts and 1/4 cup of oats if I wanted oats in it?
I haven’t tried adding oats so I’m not 100% sure how it’ll change the texture! Let me know if you give a try, or try out these banana oatmeal muffins and mix in some walnuts 🙂
Yummy! My toddler and I made these muffins today. I subbed maple syrup for honey since I was sadly low on honey, but they were still amazing!
Perfect! Such a great snack 🙂
So tasty! Added 2 tbsp of chia seeds and 1 cup of oats + sprinkled some oats and cinnamon on top!!! Definitely saving this recipe🍌
These turned out so amazing and so delicious!
I can’t believe there’s no sugar added, and my four year old loves them! Keeping it in my favorite recipe folder for sure. Thanks so much!
The perfect snack or breakfast!!
The best muffins, so yummy, always worried when something says healthy, but these were way better than the “unhealthy” ones. Doubled up on the cinnamon too. Thank you, now my go to muffins.❤
Love these! Such a great breakfast or snack 🙂
Love this recipe! Substituted all-purpose, used coconut oil instead of olive, and added just a *few* chocolate chips 😉
I love that there’s no extra sugar! I can feel good about feeding it to my toddler for breakfast!
Perfect! So glad they were a hit 🙂
My new favorite muffin recipe! I used King Arthur white whole wheat flour and subbed chocolate chips for the nuts. So delicious and easy to make.
Love it! Glad you enjoyed!
How could I change this recipe to make a banana walnut loaf? I love this recipe, but sometimes I want a banana walnut loaf, too. I like the olive oil, dairy-free milk, and honey that is in this recipe.
Feel free to add the batter to an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes 🙂