April 20, 2021
Honey Cinnamon Walnut Banana Muffins
The ultimate healthy banana muffins are incredibly moist, dairy free and naturally sweetened just with ripe bananas and honey. This easy, healthy banana muffin recipe comes together in one bowl in just 30 minutes with options to add a delicious crunch from heart-healthy walnuts! The perfect healthy breakfast or snack that’s freezer-friendly, too.
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
35 mins
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Remember my very famous skinny banana chocolate chip muffins from a few years back? I’ve made them time and time again, but finally, I figured it was time for a new healthy banana muffin recipe that’s just as irresistible as my first born (muffin, that is!).
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 and they turned out beautifully AND incredibly delicious.
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. YASS.
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.
- 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. You can also try using a flax egg but I have not tested it.
- Vanilla: always baking with vanilla for delicious flavor.
- Olive oil: a bit of olive oil makes these healthy banana muffins super moist. Feel free to sub melted butter or melted and cooled coconut oil.
- 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. If you don’t have this 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.
- Baking soda: to ensure that these bake up properly.
- Cinnamon: a little cozy spice to make them extra delicious.
- Salt: this will help pull the flavors together.
- Walnuts: I love to add chopped walnuts into the batter of these healthy banana muffins and on top! Feel free to omit or sub pecans if you’d like.
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. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with muffin liners. This guarantees that the muffins will not stick to the liners or the pan.
- Mix the batter. In a large bowl mix together all of your wet ingredients until well combined. Then add the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to mix together until the batter is just combined. Fold in ½ cup chopped walnuts.
- Divide & bake. Divide the muffin batter evenly into muffin liners, sprinkle each muffin with chopped walnuts and bake.
- Cool & enjoy. Cool muffins for 5 minutes then remove and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy warm — they’re even more delicious the next day!
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 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
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
Don’t forget to check out all of our favorite kitchen essentials.
More muffin recipes to try
- Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Glaze
- Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Muffins (dairy free + gluten free)
- Strawberry Kissed Almond Butter Muffins
- Healthy Lemon Poppyseed Muffins with Lemon Blueberry Glaze
- Chunky Monkey Zucchini Banana Muffins
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!
The Ultimate Healthy Banana Muffins
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Serves 12
The ultimate healthy banana muffins are incredibly moist, dairy free and naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and honey. This easy, healthy banana muffin recipe comes together in one bowl in just 30 minutes with options to add a delicious crunch from walnuts! The perfect healthy breakfast or snack that's freezer-friendly, too.
Ingredients
- 3 VERY overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/3 cup mashed banana, make sure they are almost all the way brown)
- ⅓ cup honey
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or milk of choice)
- Dry ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Mix-ins
- ½ cup chopped walnuts, plus ¼ cup 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.
-
In a large bowl, mix together mashed bananas, honey, egg, vanilla, olive oil and milk until well combined. Add in whole wheat pastry 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.
-
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
*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.
To make gluten free: I suggest making my gluten free dairy free banana muffins.
To make vegan: I haven't tested these muffins with a vegan alternative, but let me know in the comments if you do!
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.
Nutrition
Servings: 12 muffins
Serving size: 1 muffin
Calories: 213kcal
Fat: 10.5g
Saturated fat: 1.2g
Carbohydrates: 29g
Fiber: 3.7g
Sugar: 11g
Protein: 3.7g
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This recipe was originally published May 14, 2020, and republished on April 21, 2021.
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126 comments
What great timing! I was just trying to figure out what to do with the ripe bananas on the counter. Problem solved!!
Perfect!! Enjoy 🙂
I would really like it if you could include the picture of your recipe in the Print Recipe tab. I seldom make a recipe if I can’t see the picture and when I print your recipes, the picture is left out. All other food bloggers have the picture included in the print out. Is this something I may be doing wrong?
Hi Julia! Thanks for the feedback – we’re working on this 🙂
Monique these are to die for!
So glad you love them!
These muffins are delish! So soft & flavourful!
I used maple syrup instead of the honey and spelt flour. So good, thank you!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Yum!! Made as written with 1C AP flour and 3/4C whole wheat flour. Delicious and perfect muffins. My kids gobbled them up. Made half with nuts and half for kids without topped with mini choc chips. Soft, perfectly sweet, and easy to whip up. 10/10 will make again.
Perfect! Happy to hear that!
These muffins are amazing! I left out the walnuts and added 1/2 cup chocolate chips and they tasted great. New fave muffin recipe.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Super easy and yummy! Great tips to make these perfect, like spraying the muffin liners so they don’t stick, genius! Awesome, thank you for this 🙂 I’ll be making these again soon!
Absolutely! So glad you loved them 🙂
I have a question about this… From the instructions it sounds like you spray the pan AND the cupcake liners. Is this correct? It’s so sad when the muffin sticks to either!
You’ll just want to use liners and spray the insides of the liners 🙂
WOW, incredible! I probably should have given my bananas another day to get browner but literally couldn’t wait to try these. Our new favorite muffin!!
So happy you loved them!
HI! I am so excited to try these. When you say almost brown bananas- when you peel the bananas, is it ok they are are all spotty and brown too then? Thank you!!
Hi! The outsides should be brown and spotty, but the inside is generally still normal colored (maybe a bit darker) and soft.
Delicious, healthy and easy! Used whole wheat flour (1cup) and all purpose flour (3/4cup). Added lots of chopped walnuts inside and on top. My new favorite banana muffins!
5 stars (star rating was not working…).
Perfect! So happy you enjoyed!
This recipe is delicious! Super easy to follow and fun to make! I added chocolate chips to mine which made them even better!
Great idea! Glad you love them!
These muffins are awesome so moist. I substituted honey(Little less since I added chocolate chips) for maple syrup and unsalted butter for oil. Totally keeper recipe!
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
I have been wanting to make these since you posted them, but it was impossible to find whole wheat pastry flour in the stores in my city for so long. I was able to make them this past weekend though, and they are amazing! The perfect amount of slight sweetness, and I love the crunch from the walnuts. I was worried that I did something wrong cause the batter was very thick, but they came out so good. A tip for any other readers: I usually plan meals and buy groceries a day in advance, which doesn’t give my bananas time to ripen to that perfect consistency. But I learned that I can ripen them in the oven by baking them at 300 degrees for 15-20 mins. The outside will get black and the inside will develop that sweetness for breads and muffins!
So happy you were able to make these! Such a great snack or breakfast 🙂 and great tip about the bananas!
Another tip for ripening bananas is 30s in microwave and it gets soft and outside brown.
Monique what size banana do I use or does the 3 bananas equate to measurement in cups ?
Very perfect
Glad you like them!
These muffins are great! So fluffy! I had to sub maple syrup for the honey and I used regular flour and still turned out AMAZING!
Perfect! Such a great snack or breakfast!
I made these delish muffins for a quick grab and go breakfast. I added a few dark chocolate pieces and almond nut butter on the top before popping them into the oven for 20 min, absolutely delicious! Thank you 🙏
Love that! Such a great breakfast or snack 🙂
This recipe looks really good. May I sub olive oil for coconut oil? Thanks,
Marcela
Yes that should be fine, just make sure all the ingredients are at room temp so the coconut oil doesn’t harden, or simply stir in the melted coconut oil last.
Hello, can I use the same exact recipe to make a banana bread instead of individual muffins? What would be the baking time? Many thanks!
Yes I think so. Baking time should be anywehre from 45 min – 1 hour.
Made these this morning and wow! Perfectly moist and sweetened. I used part whole wheat flour and part white flour. They tuned out great. I can’t wait to make these again.
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
Delicious!!!! Followed the recipe exactly except I didn’t measure my honey and most likely used a little less. I also didn’t have pastry flour so did the 1 cup white flour and 3/4 whole wheat flour substitution. Super moist and perfect muffin texture. My 2 little girls and I gobbled them up, my 5 year old said they were so amazing and she typically will only eat muffins with fruit so they definitely got the kid approval! Thanks for always posting delicious and healthy recipes!
Perfect! So glad they were a hit!
10/10 ! I was afraid that the muffins would be dry or taste a little too *extra-healthy*. They were just the right texture and using suuuper ripe bananas made them sweet enough for everyone ! I will make them again.
The ripe bananas are key! So glad you loved them!
Monique I love your recipes!! For one, they are SUPER healthy and 2) I don’t find it difficult to make substitutions!! These turned out great! My subs – regular whole wheat, instead of honey I used maple syrup and for the oil I used 1/4 applesauce and 1/4cup sunflower seed oil. Finally I crushed the walnuts and I had a bit more room and I threw hemp hearts in as well! They turned out amazing and my 2.5 year old daughter loves them!
I’m glad those swaps worked out well! Such a great snack or breakfast 🙂
Love these muffins! So easy and delicious. That flour ratio tip is also a game changer.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
So good
Made them twice in a week! So delicious!
Glad you loved them!
My new go-to recipe for using up overripe bananas!
These are SO GOOD!!! Made them while visiting my parents…and had to immediately make a second batch the next day LOL. Didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour so just used all purpose, can’t imagine them being even better. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
So glad you loved them!!
These were great! Prettiest muffins I ever produced. Not too sweet.
Love it! Such a great snack or breakfast 🙂
These muffins were good but I thought they didn’t have a lot of flavor and they were a bit dry at the 20 minute mark that I took them out at. The recipe was very easy to make though and didn’t require a lot of ingredients so that was a plus!
Oh no, sorry to hear that! It could be that your oven runs a bit hot. Also, did you use whole wheat pastry flour and extra ripe bananas?
These are delicious! I added about 1.5 times the amount of cinnamon since I’m a huge cinnamon lover, let the batter rest overnight, and topped with muffins with a little brown sugar along with the walnuts and they turned out amazing (they kept their dome top after cooling and everything!). I will definitely be making these again!
I forgot to add that I also used white whole wheat flour since I didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour and they still turned out super tender.
The perfect swap! So glad you enjoyed!
super moist and flavorful! will definitely make again!
Glad you enjoyed!
Hi!! Thanks for all the amazing recipes. Is there any way to add oats to this recipe? I’m wanting a mix of this and your banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and these muffins if it’s possible!
Thank you! !!
Great question. You could probably just add in 1/2 cup oats to the recipe and get good results. You may need to add a splash bit of milk!
Very yummy!
Glad you liked them!
My 4.5 year old picky eater actually liked these! I of course loved them. I did the flour substitution as suggested and it tasted great. I did half the recipe with walnuts and half without (for the little one) the half walnuts with definitely added more flavor.
Oh and I substituted almond extract (only 1 tsp) instead of 1/2 Tblsp vanilla mostly cause I am out of vanilla and almond extract tends to be overpowering. It ended up working out really well.
I will be making this one again, thanks Monique for another healthy alternative to sugar filled baked goods!
Perfect! So glad they were a hit!
These are delicious!! I omitted the nuts so I could send them to school and also added a little crumble on top. They came out really great.
Love it! Glad they were a hit 🙂
So delicious! The family can’t wait for breakfast tomorrow morning!
The best way to wake up!
I made these in the morning and by the evening, there was only one left! Major hit in my house. They’re just sweet enough, and I love the combination of flavors. Definitely using this again in the future!
So happy to hear that! Such a great snack 🙂
WOW!! I have finally found a healthy version of my favorite commercial bakery banana nut muffins. These were the exact thoughts that came into my mind upon my first bite. The only subs I made were pecans instead of walnuts and maple syrup instead of honey, and they still tasted incredible. I’m saving this recipe so I can use it again and again. Thank you for creating this recipe!! You nailed it.
Love that! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Loved how easy these were, using kitchen/pantry staples! I think I’ll try a bit more honey next time as I found they weren’t super flavourful. But my husband loved them as is, so I think it’s my own sweet-tooth personal preference! Definitely adding these to my weekly snack rotation – can’t wait to try them again and add some more mix-ins!
Such a great snack! I’d suggest making sure your bananas are super, super ripe, too, to help with the sweetness 🙂
These are the lightest muffins I’ve made it years and soo delicious!
Glad you liked them!
Hi there
Wondering what the volume or weight of the bananas are. . Three bananas can vary in volume or weight.
thank you
Hi! It’s about 1 1/3 cup mashed banana. Enjoy!
I tried this today using butter and whole milk because that’s all I had at home and it was delightful, thank you so much for sharing, best part is how accurate your recipes are. Well done 👏🏽
Perfect! So glad you loved them!
Could you use oat flour instead, that’s all I have at the moment.
I wouldn’t recommend swapping the flour in this recipe as the texture will change. Try my gluten free banana muffins instead!
Made these last night and they are SO good! Minimal ingredients and easy to make (easy enough that I did it on a Monday night while prepping dinner.) I wouldn’t change a thing. Can’t wait to try more recipes.
Love it! Glad you enjoyed!
Delicious! And so light and fluffy. THe only thing I added was some cocoa nibs I had in the fridge. I’ll make these again!
Ooh I bet that would be amazing with cocoa nibs! Glad you enjoyed these 🙂
My favorite go to recipe for using up bananas! I’ve used this recipe for mini muffins and in a 9×9 pan, didn’t really have to adjust the time too much. I love how simple this recipe is and in just one bowl! I use whole wheat flour and it turns out great! A perfect healthy treat for my family
So happy you’re loving them, Gigi! Great to know that it works just as well in a 9×9 pan 🙂
I shaved off a bit of honey, only put in about a 1/4cup. They were incredible. They looked like something you would get at a bakery and tasted delicious.
Woohoo! Glad that you loved these, Meghan!!
I’ve made these more times than I can count. Easy and delicious. My husband gets very excited when I make them for him as a breakfast meal prep for the week!
The best banan muffins ever! Not too sweet and super moist! Made them this morning! Thank you for sharing
Super easy to make and turned out delicious! I love how these muffins are not to sweet and a great breakfast option. Will make again!
I followed the recipe the first time and the muffins were yummy! But second time I used maple syrup instead of honey. The muffins turned out bitter. I’m new to baking so not sure what went wrong. Do you think it is the baking soda or I did not mix the batter well? I’m also using skim milk on both times.
Hmmm not really sure why they would have turned out bitter, as long as you measured everything including the baking soda correctly! Skim milk is totally fine in here. Maybe switch back to honey next time 🙂
These are quick and so good! I run a bed and breakfast and we try to buy local and when our bananas went bad, instead of buying store bought muffins, I used all the ingredients I already had at my work kitchen and whipped these up super fast. They are a crowd pleaser for sure and are great even frozen. Thanks so much!
Oh, that’s amazing to hear! I’m so happy these turned out perfectly and that your guests loved them 🙂 Yay!
Can I turn this recipe into Banana Bread?
I think so, but I haven’t tried baking it in a loaf pan so I’m not sure how long it’ll take!
Very happy with how these turned out. They were easy to make and tasty! Will def make again.
Another delicious muffin recipe! Great texture and just the right amount of sweetness. My teenage son also loved them.
Yay!! So glad you guys both enjoyed these 🙂
The best muffins I’ve ever made! Quick, easy and so tasty qnd hood the following days too. Highly recommend making them!
Delicious way to use ripe bananas and adds a hearty option to a quick breakfast!
So glad you love these!
So easy and my toddler loved helping (and eating)! Will definitely make again
These are excellent! Most of the recipes I found to use up old bananas only called for 1-2 bananas and I had a bunch so I love that this one called for 3. They are lighter and less dense than I expected, and bursting with banana flavor! Really, really good! I used whole organic yogurt, not nonfat, because it’s better for you and it’s what I had in the fridge. And I didn’t add as much of the sweeteners and they were plenty sweet enough.
Next time I’ll give them a generous sprinkle of flaky sea salt before they go in the oven. I ended up doing it after they were baked when I realized the taste was a bit flat and they needed some salt. The salt made all the difference and really accentuated and brought out all the flavor these muffins had! I highly recommend salting the tops generously to bring the flavor up several notches. I’ll definitely be making these again with that critical modification. I think they’d be excellent with a few dark chocolate chips too, so I’ll try that next time. Or a drizzle of melted chocolate on top with the sea salt.
Thank you so much for such an excellent and healthy recipe to use up all those old bananas! Will definitely be making them again.
I’m so happy you loved them, Jen! GREAT call on the flaky salt on top–love that 🙂
so yummy! didn’t have walnuts so put in some chocolate chips instead and they turned out great!
Nice! Happy you loved these!
These are amazing! Topped them with candied pecans, everyone I’ve shared with loves them! Such a perfect grab and go breakfast, snack, or dessert!
Perfect banana muffins! Definitely will be a new go-to recipe!
Made these last night using the 1 c AP flour and 3:4c whole wheat ratio and they came out perfect! I love that they are made with minimal ingredients and hit the perfect balance of sweetness with the banana and honey! Will be making these again!
Thanks, Celina! So happy they hit the spot!
This one is my favourite muffin so far, I tried it with chocolate chips instead of walnuts so it wasn’t as healthy but it was so tasty!
Yummmm love chocolate chips in here! I’m so happy you enjoyed these!
Going to give this a try. I wondered would you only have one muffin for your breakfast or something else with it? Thanks
Hope you love them! And that’s totally up to you. It would be great with some fruit or berries on the side, and/or with some nut or seed butter on top for extra protein 🙂
Absolutely delicious! These turned out great! I love how easy it was too make!
Turned out divine. I used butter instead of Olive Oil, and I used regular whole cows milk. I also added blueberries as well as sprinkled vanilla sugar and a little more cinnamon on top with the walnuts. Thank you for the recipe!