Easy Banana Muffin Recipe

When it comes to busy mornings, the last thing we want to do is put together an elaborate breakfast. Between the time spent and the dishes it creates in the sink, sometimes, it's just not worth it.

Luckily, there are plenty of hearty grab-and-go options for those hectic mornings (or for cozy mornings with a mug of coffee depending on your preference). And this banana muffins recipe may just make it to the top of your list.

While banana bread normally gets all the fame and glory when it comes to banana-focused baked goods, these muffins are definitely making their own case to take the crown. They're soft, moist, and jam-packed with delicious flavor to provide the perfect jump-start to your day. And the best part? There's no stand mixer or complicated tools required. With just a mixing bowl and spoon, you can whip up a batch of beautiful banana muffins in a matter of minutes.

The first step to making these banana muffins is to be sure you have all of your ingredients gathered on hand. For this recipe, you'll need, ¼ cup white sugar, ¾ cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup Greek yogurt, five tablespoons softened butter, two eggs, four very ripe bananas, mashed, 1-¾ cups flour, a teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon.

For the Greek yogurt, you can utilize a variety of flavor options. The main goal is to add moisture to the muffins here. Plain Greek yogurt works well, but if you have vanilla or even honey-flavored Greek yogurt on hand, feel free to use that instead.

For the butter, which serves as the fat for your recipe, but sure it's completely softened at room temperature in order to easily mix together this batter. You can certainly use a stand mixer if you prefer, but if the butter is soft enough, there will be no need.

First things first: It's important to prep the bananas before you dive into making this recipe. After all, the bananas are the star of the show!

For this banana muffins recipe, you'll want to be sure you're using incredibly ripe bananas. When bananas begin to turn brown and are over-ripe for eating, many people will put their bananas in the freezer to utilize later. This is the perfect recipe for those bananas! If you don't have any in your freezer, you can still use other bananas, but be sure they're showing brown spots on the peel. As bananas ripen, the sugar in the fruit develops even further, which gives this recipe great flavor.

In a small bowl, add your four bananas and mash them with a fork or a potato masher. You'll want to fully mash them ahead of time so there's no need to mash or mix the batter more once it's complete.

Once your bananas are mashed, it's time to start on prepping the batter for these banana muffins. First, start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prep a muffin tin with paper liners for your muffins. If you don't have paper liners on hand for your muffin tins, you can use cooking spray instead. Generously spray each well of the muffin tin to be sure your muffins won't stick to the pan while baking.

In a large mixing bowl, add in the white sugar, brown sugar, butter, and Greek yogurt. With a wooden spoon or another type of mixing spoon, mix the ingredients until well incorporated. The butter should be fully creamed into the sugar mixture.

Next, add in the eggs one at a time, and continue to stir the mixture until they're well incorporated. Lastly, stir in the mashed bananas until all of the wet ingredients are fully combined.

In another small mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients for your banana muffins. Measure out the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and stir until well-combined. 

Once your wet ingredients mixture is ready, gradually pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients mixture while stirring. You'll want to stir this mixture gently to be sure all of the ingredients are fully combined. But be sure not to stir too vigorously or too long so your batter won't be over-mixed. 

Once the flour has been added to the batter mixture, it's important to only stir until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Continuing to stir will further develop the gluten in the mixture too much. And if the gluten in the mixture develops further than desired, the finished batter will result in muffins with a denser, chewier texture rather than a nice light and fluffy crumb.

Once both the wet and the dry ingredient mixtures are combined, your banana muffin batter is ready to prep for baking.

Use a measuring cup or a large spoon to scoop the muffin batter into your prepared muffin tin wells. You'll want to fill each of the muffin wells until just below the top with the batter.

Once your muffin tin is filled to make 12 muffins, sprinkle the tops of each muffin with white sugar or brown sugar if desired. Then, put the tin in the oven at 350 degrees and bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes. Once the tops are lightly golden brown and no longer gooey on top, the muffins are done. Pull the muffins out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on top of the oven before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish cooling. 

Certainly, the banana flavor of these muffins is the star of the show. And truly, that delightful flavor stands on its own without needing any other flavor additions. However, if you want to add more to these banana muffins, this recipe is certainly easily adaptable to be able to do so.

Adding chopped chocolate is a great way to introduce another depth of flavor to these banana muffins. Simply chop up a semi-sweet baker's chocolate bar into rough, small pieces and add the chocolate to the batter before baking. Stirring in mini or regular-sized chocolate chips is another great addition.

If you want to add a bit more protein to these banana muffins, stirring nuts into the batter is certainly an option as well. Chopped walnuts and pecans add great flavor and texture. Dried flaked coconut or dried fruit are two other great options to dress this recipe up. The possibilities are seemingly endless. 

Before baking these banana muffins, we added a sprinkle of brown sugar on the top of each for a touch of sweetness and to give them a nice sheen on top. This step is certainly optional and can be omitted if you don't want to add the extra sugar. The muffins are just as delicious if they go in the oven without anything on top.

If you do prefer a muffin with a nice crumb, you could opt to sprinkle a streusel mixture on top as well. To make the streusel, simply mix together ¾ cup flour and ½ cup brown sugar in a small bowl. Melt four tablespoons of butter, and then pour it over the brown sugar and flour. Use a fork to stir the mixture well until clumps form.

Sprinkle the streusel mixture over top of each of the muffin wells before putting the pan in the oven for baking.