Healthy Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
These absurdly moist and flavorful Healthy Whole Wheat Banana Muffins are my current make-ahead breakfast obsession. Packed with a double whammy of whole grains, these tasty treats are also entirely free of oil and refined sugar. Paired with a tablespoon of nut butter, they are my favorite post-workout snack!
Equipment
- Paper Muffin Liners (Optional)
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ C Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2 large Bananas
- ¾ C Greek Yogurt non-dairy works here too
- 1 large Egg or sub flax egg
- ½ C Unsweetened Applesauce
- ¼ C Agave or maple syrup, honey or date syrup
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Non Stick Cooking Spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Peel the bananas into a medium mixing bowl. Using a regular ol' table fork, mash them until pulpy.
- Add remaining liquid ingredients to the bowl - applesauce, egg, yogurt, vanilla and agave. Stir vigorously with the fork until your batter is mostly uniform with a few chunks of banana.
- Add your dry ingredients to the batter. Stir everything together until mixed well and there are no pockets of dry ingredients left.
- Finally, stir in your add-ons. I added just the oats at this step, but if you're using nuts, seeds, granola or berries, this is a great place to fold them in.
- Line a muffin tin with paper liners (optional, but it makes clean up easier) and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Portion batter evenly between the muffin cups.
- OPTIONAL: Once the batter is evenly distributed, you can either bake the whole wheat muffins straightaway or opt to top them with a little more good stuff. Below I sprinkled half with rolled oats and the other half with walnut pieces.
- Bake at 375F for 20-23 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. TIP: Check several muffins from different spots on your pan to ensure that they baked evenly. If some are still gooey, simply remove the "done" ones to a rack to cool and return the pan to the oven for another minute or so.
- Allow muffins to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then remove the muffins to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Notes
- I might get in pastry trouble for saying this, but I often don't mix my dry ingredients in a separate bowl before adding. I don't want to have to clean the extra bowl! I personally sprinkle the cinnamon and salt over the wet ingredients and stir them in first. I then toss in the whole wheat flour and sprinkle my leaveners on top.
- I find that using a disher makes the portioning job faster and more accurate.
- I love eating these healthy whole wheat banana muffins while they're warm (especially if I add a bit of nut butter). That said, it's important to let them cool entirely before storing them. If you don't, the heat will cause condensation in your container which will then rain down on the muffins and leave them soggy.
- Nuts & Seeds - Add some extra protein, fat and fiber using nuts or seeds! I love adding walnuts, pecans, peanuts, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, flax seeds or chia seeds to my muffin batter. You can also add a dollop of nut or seed butter on top of the muffins before baking to create a little pocket of yumminess!
- Oats - I usually toss a few extra oats on top of the muffins before baking just because it looks cute, but don't feel like you have to stop there. If you're looking for a healthier alternative to streusel or crumble toppings, turning to oat based granolas is an easy swap to make!
- Coconut - If chewy texture is what you're after, some unsweetened flaked or shredded coconut could be a great solution. Coconut and banana also taste really great together, so it's a match made in heaven.
- Cacao - Whether you opt to add crunchy nibs for some crunch or prefer to use ground cacao to give the muffins a chocolate-y makeover is entirely up to you.
- Berries - Berries are an awesome addition to muffins! Try folding in some fresh or frozen blueberries or raspberries prior to baking.
Nutrition
Calories: 96kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 4gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 337mgPotassium: 159mgFiber: 2gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 42IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 46mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!