These peanut butter banana muffins taste like a treat, but they’re made with whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt, and naturally sweet honey and bananas. Adding mini chocolate chips and drizzling with melted peanut butter is optional, but definitely recommended!
I’m bringing back a favorite that I originally published in 2013! Hard to believe these muffins have been a repeated staple in my kitchen for so long. I now exclude the added brown sugar and sweeten them exclusively with honey, which improves the taste and means there isn’t any added refined sugar. Except for those chocolate chips… a necessity! 😉
One reader, Sam, commented: “These muffins were DELICIOUS and SO EASY to make! I had all the ingredients already in my kitchen! They were so warm and best eaten right when you take them out of the oven! I melted peanut butter with some honey for added sweetness to add on top of the muffins! Everyone in my house loved them. ★★★★★“
Why You’ll Love These Healthier Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
- Made from basic ingredients
- Super moist with loads of peanut butter flavor
- Quick and easy, just like regular banana muffins
- Nutritional boost from whole wheat flour and Greek yogurt
- Naturally sweetened with bananas and honey
- Like banana bread, they’re a delicious way to use up your spotty bananas
Ingredients You Need & Why
- Bananas: Bananas naturally sweeten the muffins. Make sure you’re using super-brown-speckled bananas—the riper, the better. Same goes for regular banana muffins. You can use thawed frozen bananas in this recipe—read about how to freeze and thaw bananas for baking.
- Honey: I love honey and peanut butter together, and try to combine the two as often as possible. Feel free to swap maple syrup or agave in its place. Using liquid sweetener, as opposed to dry like granulated or brown sugar, also keeps the muffins extra moist and tender.
- Greek yogurt: I love to add protein-packed Greek yogurt to muffin recipes because it gives them a soft interior without all the fat from butter.
- Coconut Oil: Just a smidge! The muffins taste a little rubbery without *some* oil.
- Egg: An egg helps to bind the ingredients together. (Plus adds a little more protein!)
- Almond milk: Or any type of milk, dairy or nondairy, you prefer.
- Creamy peanut butter: You can use natural (with the oil stirred in) or processed peanut butter in these muffins, but stick to the smooth creamy kind. Crunchy peanut butter makes for crumbly baked goods.
- Cinnamon, vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, & baking soda: Flavor and rising essentials.
- Whole wheat flour: I like to use whole wheat flour when I can, particularly when I make healthier versions of my favorite treats, like this whole wheat banana bread. These muffins can also be made with all-purpose flour, or a mix of both. I usually make them with a mix of both, as pictured.
- Chocolate chips: Optional, but recommended! Grab a bag to make these muffins and then make a batch of Nutella swirl peanut butter banana bread to use up the rest.
Using Whole Wheat Flour Instead of All-Purpose
Whole wheat flour has a big nutritional advantage over refined white flour—it’s richer in protein, fiber, and minerals. It’s also heavier and heartier than white flour, so it works especially well in muffin recipes, which naturally have a denser texture than cake—take these morning glory muffins, bran muffins, or these applesauce muffins, for example.
Whole wheat flour absorbs a lot of liquid, so it can dry out your baked goods. But in this recipe we’re canceling that out with the super moist content of the mashed banana.
How to Mash Bananas
I started doing this a while ago and it’s been a total game changer whenever I make banana muffins, breakfast cookies, or banana bread. Just use your mixer to mash bananas! Peel and break the bananas into chunks, place in your mixer, and beat until mashed. Beat the rest of the wet ingredients right into this bowl, then beat in the dry ingredients. So easy.
If you’d rather not use the mixer (it really isn’t necessary for this recipe), just mash the bananas in a big bowl with a fork or even a potato masher. You need 1 cup (230g) of mashed banana, which is about 3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas.
How to Make Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
The process is really easy. Whisk the wet ingredients and dry ingredients together in separate bowls, then combine it all. Fold in the chocolate chips, if using. The batter is pretty thick.
Success Tip: When you fill your muffin liners, make sure you fill the cups until practically full. They won’t overflow (like if you overfill the liners for vanilla cupcakes), because you’ll bake them at two different temperatures. This is my high-temperature trick for sky-scraping muffin tops. Start baking the muffins in an extra-hot oven; the initial burst of high heat raises the muffin tops straight up. After 5 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to cook the centers of the muffins for the remaining bake time. It’s such a simple trick that produces beautiful, bakery-display-case-worthy muffins.
You are just going to love these muffins. They are PACKED with flavor, moisture, and warmth. Lightly sweetened, cinnamon-spiced, and enough peanut butter flavor to make a peanut butter cup jealous.
Are These Peanut Butter Banana Muffins Healthy?
I’d say these are a healthy-ish treat. Like my banana chocolate chip breakfast cookies, blueberry banana muffins, or these peanut buttery no-bake chocolate fudge oat bars, they are made with some healthier alternatives to traditional baking ingredients, but still include sugar. When it comes to labeling recipes as healthy, use the best judgment for YOU.
Print
Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These peanut butter banana muffins taste like a treat, but they’re made with whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt, and naturally sweet honey and bananas. Adding mini chocolate chips and drizzling with melted peanut butter is optional, but definitely recommended!
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220g)Â whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), or a mix of both
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (230g) mashed bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas)
- 1/2 cup (170g) honey (or pure maple syrup)
- 1/2 cup (120g) plain Greek yogurt (or regular yogurt; any fat content)
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80ml) unsweetened almond milk (or your preferred type of milk, dairy or nondairy)
- 1/2 cup (125g) creamy peanut butter (non-oily natural style is OK)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- optional: 1/2 cup (113g) mini chocolate chips
- optional: 1/4 cup (63g) creamy peanut butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. Set aside.Â
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the mashed bananas, honey, yogurt, coconut oil, egg, and milk together until combined. Then whisk in the peanut butter and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Pour in the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined—you can start with a whisk and then switch to a spatula if it becomes too thick to whisk. Try not to over-stir the muffin batter or your muffins will have a tough (not soft) texture. Fold in the mini chocolate chips (if using). The batter will be thick.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20 minutes, give or take. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, and then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- Drizzle muffins with melted peanut butter, if desired.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days, then transfer to the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked & cooled muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature before enjoying. Warm up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-Count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners |Â Glass Mixing Bowls | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer)Â
- Yogurt: You can use nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt, Greek or regular. You can also use sour cream.
- Milk:Â You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy.
- For a jumbo muffin pan: 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F for 22–25 minutes for a total of 27–30 minutes. Makes about 6. For mini muffins: 350°F (whole time) for 12–14 minutes. Makes about 36–40.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 225
- Sugar: 16.2 g
- Sodium: 214.7 mg
- Fat: 9.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 32.9 g
- Fiber: 3.2 g
- Protein: 6.3 g
- Cholesterol: 15.9 mg
Can I use applesauce instead of yougurt?
Also, how can I get peanut butter into your zucchini bread or carrot cake recipe?
Hi Darcie, plain yogurt or sour cream are best here. The taste and texture will be compromised with applesauce. We haven’t tested a version of our zucchini bread or carrot cake with peanut butter, but let us know if you do any experimenting.
Moist and flavorful! Made as directed and added the choc. chips and peanut butter drizzle.
These were a big hit. Very moist and the combination of the banana, peanut butter and choc chips is a winner. Will make again for sure.
Just made these and turned out beautifully! Followed recipe as written.
These turned out great, I swapped the peanut butter for 100g of tahini and 25g of powdered peanut butter to try and get it closer to the typical peanut butter thickness. I also used sour cream instead of Greek yogurt and that seems to have worked as well. My bananas also were not super ripe, they had some structure to them still but again it worked out. It seems to be a recipe that can take some variation well as long as the swaps aren’t too crazy.
This is exactely what I was looking for so yummy and healthy for kids and working parents :). Don’t forget to add semi-dark chocolat chips in the muffins and peanut butter on top as suggested miam miam. Thanks!
These are a TOTAL hit! I made them for my painfully picky 4 year old. he liked them, but everyone else LOVED them. he won’t eat chocolate so his were just the basic recipe, but the ones with the mini chips were so good we couldn’t stop eating them!
This recipe was exactly what I was looking for! I used cashew butter instead of peanut butter and they were delicious 🙂
If anyone is wondering, a flax egg worked great for me! Added chocolate chips. SO good.
Made these for my daughter’s birthday and she loved them! Not too sweet, really nice with dark choc chips.
The muffins are sooooo moist! Delicious! I filled the tops a bit too much because they didn’t come out very proportionate compared to the bottom but it was my first time making muffins so you live and you learn! Thank you for the recipe! It was super easy to follow and they turned out delicious 🙂
These were easy to make and delicious! My bananas were huge and I had a little extra batter – baked it in a mini loaf pan alongside the muffins. They turned out moist and tender. Will definitely make again!
Wonderful, moist and fast. I mixed up the fry ingredients and all the liquid ingredients (except the egg) the night before, added the egg and had them in the oven 10 minutes later. I also baked them for 10 minutes at 425 and 8 minutes more after turning the oven down to 350. I think even the fussiest person would be hard pressed to complain.
This was a great recipe, I opted out of the peanut butter and replaced with chocolate chips, and I had to use sour cream bc I didn’t have yogurt. The muffins came out really fluffy, I was worried about them being dense, but was very surprised:) Definitely will make again.
Just made these muffins , they are delicious!!!!!
These were delicious! I used sunbutter in place of peanut butter and added some chia seeds. My little one enjoyed helping me make them (and being my official taste-tester). Mini-muffins are a must-have in our household for those hectic school mornings and these are definitely going into the rotation!
These sound delicious! I love making mini muffins for my daughter’s weekday breakfasts and want to try these, but only have sunflower butter on hand. Would that work?
Hi Jess, that should work just fine!
These are the best banana muffins I have made! I ended up baking them at 425 for 10 minutes and then 8 minutes at 350. For me personally I have found this to get a better muffin top than baking at 425 for the first 5 minutes.
Can I make this without yogurt?
Hi Diana, you can use the same amount of sour cream instead, but do not omit it completely.