Best Banana Muffins Recipe (Easy and Super Moist!)

Breakfast is served! This best banana muffins recipe is so easy, delicious, and dare I say nutritious? Great for using up overripe bananas and an (optional) swirl of cinnamon and sugar mixed right into the top makes every bite as good as the last. 

Want all the muffin recipes? Me too! Start with these popular muffin posts: Carrot Cake Muffins, Raspberry Crumb Muffins, and Baked Cinnamon French Toast Muffins. 

Is there a better grab-and-go treat than banana muffins? I think not. And I simply do not make them enough, that’s all there is to it! But this past weekend I wanted to make up a big batch of easy banana muffins because we needed a few morning’s worth of simple breakfasts. 

I started with bananas as a main ingredient because I had quite a few overripe ones sitting on the counter and I hate to waste them. From there it was just a matter of tweaking a banana bread recipe to create banana bread muffins and ta da – the best, most moist banana muffins were created! 

Here’s How You Make It  

Preheat that oven to 425 and let’s get going on these deeee-licious banana muffins! 

1. Go ahead and grease a 12-spot muffin pan or line the muffin holes with paper or silicone liners. Then, mix together ¼ cup of sugar and the cinnamon and set it aside for that beautiful swirl in later. 

2. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, and the salt. Take out another larger bowl and mix the mashed bananas, Greek yogurt (or sour cream), brown sugar, ⅓ cup of granulated sugar, melted butter, egg, vanilla, and milk. 

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until they’re all combined. Fill the muffin liners only about ⅔ full at this point. Add about ½ teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar mixture to the top of the batter of each muffin. Use a toothpick to swirl a figure-8 back and forth of the cinnamon-sugar mixture in each batter cup.

4. Add more batter to the top of each muffin, covering the cinnamon-sugar swirl. Then — and here’s where we get crazy — add another ½ teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar, swirling that figure-8 again on top. 

5. Put the muffins in the oven for 5 minutes to bake, then change the oven temperature to 350 and let them bake for another 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted to the center of a muffin comes out clean. 

6. Let the muffins cool before you serve. You can store them in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days or wrapped up individually and chilled for 2 weeks. 

Why This Recipe Works 

Use up those bananas – We all have bananas going bad in our house right now. You know, everyone in your house swears they’ll eat them, but then they don’t and they ripen so fast! So why not make the best banana muffins out of old bananas? 

So easy – If you think you don’t have time to bake these, you’re wrong! They go from batter to baked in just 35 minutes! It doesn’t get much faster. 

Cinnamon swirl – It’s optional but recommended. A little swirl of cinnamon in each muffin just takes these banana muffins with oil to the next level! 

Healthier – These banana bread muffins are made with less sugar than most banana muffin recipes and have Greek yogurt for added protein, plus an optional swirl of cinnamon, which is a great anti-inflammatory spice! 

What Ingredients Do You Need to Make Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins?

• Flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Bananas
• Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
• Brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Butter
• Egg
• Vanilla extract
• Milk
• Ground cinnamon

Customization Ideas for Banana Muffins 

And now for my favorite part — customization ideas for this banana muffins recipe! Who doesn’t love to add a little of this and a little of that to mix up baked goods now and then?

• Add cream cheese frosting to the top of these banana muffins with a cinnamon swirl too! 
• Or, use a pastry bag to pipe in a dollop of the icing inside the muffin for an additional sweet treat. 
• Want to make these even more sweet? Consider adding in mini chocolate chips — about half a cup will work. 
• Or add cinnamon chips (again a half cup) to this easy banana muffin batter for all you cinnamon lovers out there. 
• Chopped walnuts or pecans would make a wonderful addition to these easy banana muffins. 

Can You Freeze Banana Muffins?

Yes, you can freeze these muffins if you like. Sometimes I make a double or even triple batch so I can have a bunch in the freezer for those unexpected guests or for when we are running out of breakfast foods. 

Wait for the muffins to cool all the way before individually wrapping each muffin in plastic wrap. Then put the muffins in a Ziploc bag or other air-tight container before putting in the freezer. 

These muffins will keep for about 3 months in the freezer. Allow them to thaw on the counter before eating. 

How Many Mashed Bananas Make a Cup?

Three average-size bananas mashed up will amount to about 1 cup of banana total. Of course, if yours are larger or smaller this will change a bit but you can count on about 3 bananas to equal 1 cup. If you actually measure for this best banana muffins recipe and you are a little over or under, that’s okay! Three bananas total will work just fine. 

How Can I Make My Muffins Lighter and Fluffy?

A couple tips for making the lightest, fluffiest muffins:

• Add the ingredients at room temperature. Let the yogurt, butter, egg and milk all sit out for a few minutes before mixing together. This will allow these moist banana muffins batter to remain more smooth while you mix, allowing air to be trapped in the batter and released during baking for a fluffy, light banana bread muffin. 
• Only mix until ingredients come together. No need to over mix – doing that makes the mixture too dense and won’t allow for much expansion – i.e. that light and fluffiness you love. 
• Try to scoop out the banana muffins with oil batter evenly into the muffin tin. If you have some smaller ones and some big ones baking at the same time, you’ll have to keep baking till the larger ones are done, which means the little ones will be over baked. 
• Allow your banana muffins to cool down before putting them on the cooling rack, this allows them to “set” into their shape a bit and can keep them from deflating outside of the tin. 

Should Banana Muffins Be Gooey?

No, generally speaking, banana muffins shouldn’t be gooey. If they are gooey, that means they haven’t baked long enough or you haven’t mixed the banana in to the other ingredients enough. Be sure to mix in the order explained in the directions below, and mix the banana to incorporate throughout but avoid overmixing. 

Also, you can check for doneness in the muffins at about the 15-minute mark. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean when they are done baking. 

Another tip for making sure you don’t have gooey banana muffins is to make sure you don’t overdo it adding bananas. It might be tempting to add more than 3 medium bananas because you want to get rid of them, but they won’t bake right in this banana muffins recipe. 

How Do You Keep the Top of Banana Bread Moist?

If your banana bread muffins tend to dry out on the top, maybe your container isn’t airtight enough. Make sure you have a tight-sealing lid or plastic wrap that covers the muffins tightly enough so as to not allow air in to dry out the muffins. You can also keep the banana bread muffins in the fridge. 

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Did you make this Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins recipe? YAY! Please rate the recipe below!