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This healthy banana muffins recipe with oatmeal is incredibly easy to make in a blender with oats, bananas, and a few other simple ingredients! It’s the best use for ripe bananas as a healthy breakfast or snack.
Here’s a fan favorite recipe that we make weekly to this day: Healthy Banana Muffins with oatmeal! Years ago a reader asked us, “Could you create more healthy muffin recipes?” We set about to create a muffin that was easy to make, healthy, and irresistibly good, and it’s still a favorite to this day! Get this: all you have to do is toss ripe bananas, rolled oats, and a few other ingredients into a blender (no flour!). Throw them in the oven, and they come out fluffy and delicious every time! This recipe is a standby: we make it on the regular and hear so many rave reviews from family, friends and readers.
Why make this healthy banana muffins recipe
What’s so special about these muffins? It’s truly the perfect use for those bananas blackening on your countertop: in fact, we make it on the regular! It’s always in our son’s school lunch and often serves as a snack for our daughter (plus, we love them too!). There are loads of recipes all over the internet, but here’s why you should add this healthy banana muffins recipe to your arsenal:
- They’re made with mostly Old Fashioned oats and bananas: no flour! That’s right, there’s no flour at all in these muffins! It’s basically like eating oatmeal and a banana. That makes this recipe naturally gluten-free.
- They’re lightly sweetened with maple syrup. Most muffins are like eating a cupcake for breakfast. Instead, this recipe is lightly sweetened with maple syrup.
- It’s quick and simple in a blender! If you haven’t made blender muffins before, it’s time to start! Somehow whizzing everything together in a blender makes for less mess than a normal muffins recipe. I can usually make these in about 10 minutes while the oven is preheating, since we also made the recipe quantities easy to remember (see below).
What people are saying
After trying this recipe out for us, the reader who requested these muffins loved them! In fact, she said,
- “The healthy banana muffins were great and super easy to make. So easy that I’ve made them multiple times already! The entire family enjoyed the recipe: it’s a winner!” –Lisa
Tips for making healthy banana muffins
We make these healthy banana muffins all the time and our kids gobbles them up! Several of our family and friends do the same. We love serving them since it’s basically like eating oatmeal and a banana, with a few added seasonings. Here’s how to make banana muffins, our way (or jump to the recipe below):
- In a blender, add all ingredients: 3 ripe bananas, 2 eggs, 2 cups Old Fashioned oats, ¼ cup each neutral oil and maple syrup, 1 teaspoon each baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and vanilla, and ¼ teaspoon salt. (You’ll notice the quantities are easy to memorize: that is intentional!)
- Blend on high for about 1 minute until the batter is smooth. Pour into 9 muffin cups.
- Bake: Bake 30 minutes at 350°F until fluffy and baked!
A few notes: this recipe is very forgiving! We’ve found that it even works with 2 ripe bananas. It’s not too touchy and it’s hard to mess up. Just make sure that you blend everything as much as possible since you’ll be grinding the oats into oat flour in the process. It’s the perfect go-to healthy snack or breakfast!
Variations on healthy banana muffins
There are lots of ways to mix up these healthy banana muffins with oatmeal! Here are a few ideas:
- Allspice, ginger or cloves: If you’d like, add ½ teaspoon allspice to add even more flavor to this muffin. You can also add ½ ground ginger or ¼ teaspoon cloves for a bigger spice kick.
- Nuts: You can add up to ½ cup chopped pecans, walnuts or nuts of your choice to this recipe.
- Blueberries: This recipe also works with blueberries: go to Healthy Blueberry Muffins.
Storage and freezing info
These healthy banana muffins store well. Place them in the refrigerator and store for up to 10 days. They’re best at room temperature, so allow them to fit for a few minutes before eating.
These muffins also freeze well: place them in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Take out a few and pop them into the fridge for use in lunches throughout the week.
More healthy muffin recipes
Over the years, we’ve found readers love the healthy banana blender muffin concept. So of course we had to create a few variations on this recipe! Here are a few different flavors using the same blender muffin idea with rolled oats:
- Add blueberries for Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- Use applesauce and oat for these Favorite Applesauce Muffins
- Try it with zucchini for Healthy Zucchini Muffins or Apple Zucchini Muffins
- Make Apple Gluten Free Muffins instead!
This healthy banana muffins recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free. For vegan and plant-based, substitute 2 flax eggs for the eggs.
Healthy Banana Muffins (Fan Favorite!)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 muffins 1x
Description
This healthy banana muffins recipe with oatmeal is incredibly easy to make in a blender with oats, bananas, and a few other simple ingredients! It’s the best use for ripe bananas as a healthy breakfast or snack.
Ingredients
- 3 large very ripe bananas (about 1 ½ cups mashed*)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups rolled oats, plus more for topping
- ¼ cup neutral oil (sunflower, vegetable or grapeseed)
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon**
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place all ingredients in a blender, breaking the bananas into pieces as you add them. Blend everything on high for a minute or two until a smooth batter forms.
- Place 9 muffin cups into a muffin tin and pour the batter divided evenly between the cups; the amount of muffins will depend on the size of the bananas and type of oats (we like filling them as full for a tall muffin). Sprinkle the tops with extra oats and gently press them down.
- Bake for about 30 to 33 minutes* until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the muffin tin and allow them to cool a few minutes before serving. Store refrigerated for up to 10 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Notes
*Note: The amount of muffins can depend on the size of the bananas and the type of oats, and it’s a forgiving recipe (it even works with 2 large bananas). With large bananas and rolled oats, we typically get 9 muffins. We’ve had readers get 10 or even up to 12. The 30 minute bake time typically works for any amount of muffins, but you may want to check them at 25 minutes if you’re baking 10 to 12 muffins.
**If you’d like, add ½ teaspoon allspice to add even more flavor to this muffin. You can also add ½ ground ginger or ¼ teaspoon cloves for a bigger spice kick.
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
These are one of our go-to muffin recipes! I’ve shared the recipe with so many people! 25 mins for 12 muffins seems to work :) I love that I can “casually” measure the ingredients and they always turn out. This time I added ground flax seeds, hemp seeds and protein powder to beef them up and still turned out great (slightly less delicious though).
Thank you guys!
Love this! Thanks for the comment.
Delicious! I used walnut oil, added ground flax, and sprinkled mini chocolate chips and chopped walnuts on top. I’ll mix the chocolate chips in next time. Definitely recommend adding walnuts. I’ve avoided blender muffin recipes to avoid cleaning the blender, but I am a convert after these – SO much easier to pour the batter rather than scooping!
Loved the recipe but without the salt, they came out a little too salty for my liking. Other than that these were great
These are really good. Even better is that they were a cinch to make–loved that they were made in the blender. Will definitely make again!
Could these be made as pumpkin muffins by subbing canned pumpkin for the bananas? The original version is fabulous, but it would be fun to change things up a bit.
We have tried this with applesauce and it works, so pumpkin should work too! You’ll just need to double the sugar because banana has so much sugar in it. Here’s a template, I would think you could substitute 3/4 to 1 cup pumpkin puree in this recipe and get it to work. https://www.acouplecooks.com/applesauce-muffins/
Kids love it. Using 3 Costco bananas tends to give us 12-18 muffins however. Good problem to have
Your whole website with recipes is gorgeous and very easy to follow. I just made these muffins this morning and they are delicious! :-)
Thanks for this recipe! We all loved it and I was happy to use oats instead of regular flour.
These are delicious muffins. Grandkids loved them!!
I make these muffins at least once a month when I have ripe bananas that need to be used. I love them!! SO easy to freeze as well
Can you substitute oat bran for the oats?
Just wondering if in the Healthy Banana Muffin recipe, the one Tablespoon of vanilla is an error and should be one teaspoon.
I made them and added blueberries and some lemon zest – DELICIOUS!
We like the full tablespoon! You can add as much as you like.
These muffins are magnificent! I have tried so many “healthy” muffin recipes and they were all lacking. Happy to have found this recipe and your website. I didn’t have maple syrup so substituted with two tablespoons of raw, local honey. My bananas were really, really ripe so I didn’t use 1/4 cup.
I made the muffins using the applesauce instead of oil and didn’t blenderize, just used a spoon to mix well. They came out moist and the texture was awesome! Also, it made 12 delicious muffins!
I’m making these right now using applesauce instead of oil and a little honey. No syrup or any other sweetener
🤞hope they come out good!
This recipe defies the order of nature, being both DELICIOUS and SIMPLE. I would add “forgiving,” since I realized about 5 minutes into the cooking time that I had forgotten the maple syrup . . . I yanked the pan out of the oven and stirred a half teaspoon of syrup into each muffin. They still rose beautifully and tasted amazing, despite this screw-up and despite the total amount of maple syrup ending up only half of what is called for (in 12 muffins). They have a beautiful natural sweetness and wonderful crunchiness from the oatmeal on top. This recipe is a winner! I’ve been cooking for more than half a century, and I’m sharing my careless mistake so the less experienced cooks know that mistakes are part of the game, and there are few mistakes that can’t be remedied. Just smile and act like whatever came out of the oven is EXACTLY what you planned.
Hahah! So glad they turned out :)
Thank you for this recipe. I love love love it and so do my family and friends. It’s my go to when baking as we have quite a few gluten intolerant people at our church, it means they can eat morning tea. And our daughter who is gluten intolerant can also have a treat. I change out the maple syrup for honey and don’t use the allspice. I have passed this recipe onto so many people because, after all, if you find something so good you need to share it. I’ve also shared your website. Thank you so much again.
With kind regards
Meg Riley :)
So glad you are loving it! Thanks for the comment :)
Made these for breakfast this morning. 2 out of 3 kids actually ate them, which is saying something—my kids have never eaten any of the healthy things I make! I enjoyed them too. Thanks for the recipe!
Haha! Thanks for making!
These are great!! Will make them again! I used applesauce as another person suggested instead of oil and it worked really well, much healthier than other recipes. I used the Large silicone muffin pan and made six nice sized muffins. Thank you for the recipe!
I have made these muffins many times. They’re a crowd pleasure and great for breakfast or a snack. I like them best when the bananas are large.
New favorite muffin recipe! It’s been hard finding good GF baking recipes but this one is a winner! So delicious and satisfying. Like mini banana breads. I could see walnuts being a great addition. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed!
I am so happy with these muffins! Muffins are tricky and you’re never sure exactly what the texture is going to be. But these are chewy, very flavorful, and moist. I really love them! I also love whipping them up in the blender. I added a half cup of raisins and a half cup of pecan pieces; and the third banana I folded in at the end so there would be bigger pieces. Not only do they make good breakfast, they also make good supper with, maybe, cottage cheese or yogurt and fruit. Thanks for this!
So glad you are loving them! Thanks for making :)
Just made these because I happened to have 3 large bananas that needed to be used. Very easy and quick to throw together, taste delicious!
As a newly vegan family it was hard for us to find a dessert we’d like that wasn’t filled with too much flour or sugar. These muffins, along with the blueberry muffin recipe, are so clean and were a HUGE hit in my family. We had to substitute the egg for flax eggs but it was still sooooo delicious. I even made one of these batches with chocolate chips and my kids ate them up either for breakfast, snack, dessert… however they could lol. I just had to contain myself from eating the whole batch. Thanks so much for this!!
So glad you loved them! Thanks for making.
These are so easy and so good! Love that they’re *just* sweet enough.
What can I sub for the egg? My son is allergic to dairy.
You can substitute with equal amount of flax eggs! Here’s how to make it: https://www.acouplecooks.com/flax-egg/
I’ve made these muffins a few times now and they are just wonderful!!! I do add crushed up walnuts and put extra walnuts on top with cinnamin and they are delicious!! Thank you so much!!
These are now my go-to for weekend baking with my toddler! I’ve found that you can easily do variations by replacing 2 of the 3 mashed bananas with some other healthy option: for pumpkin muffins, I replace two of the mashed bananas with a cup of pureed pumpkin. For sweet potato muffins, a cup of pureed sweet potato. For chocolate banana muffins, I replaced the 1/4 cup oil with 1/4 cup melted butter + 1/2 bar of unsweetened baking chocolate, melted together in a double boiler. Options abound! Thank you so much for this perfect and versatile recipe.
So glad you are loving them! :)
Made this using a loaf pan. Came out great.
The easiest, tastiest muffins ever!
( and so moist)
Such a good way to add those extra over ripened bananas and oats! I threw in some raisins and subbed sugar free maple syrup.
All your recipes are amazingly easy, seem to always come out just right
( cause they’re so simple ) and taste so good!
Thank you for sharing such a diverse amount of recipes
( loving the healthy vibe ) that I can actually ace, with me!
I can see it’s a real labor of love for you guys!
Thank you! So glad you love them.
These are amazing! I made these for my one year old and he really enjoys them. He can’t have egg so I substituted them with 2 heaped tbsp of presoaked chia seeds. I also left out the vanilla and spices. I managed to make 26 mini sized muffins and added some blueberries to some and sultanas to others. As I had to cook in batches, I actually found that the longer the mixture sat, the fluffy the muffins became. Very happy and will continue using this recipe :)
So glad you enjoyed the muffins! Love the mini idea.
What if I don’t have maple syrup??? What should I use?
You can use honey instead!
These were sooo delicious. Used flax eggs to make it vegan, subbed coconut oil, and sprinkled a few chocolate chips on top. Definitely the best healthy baking recipe I’ve tried yet. Looking forward to making these again – and also will be trying your oat applesauce muffins asap.
So glad you enjoyed them! :)
This is probably a silly question – but in 2 of your recipes it calls for “rolled oats – save some for toppings.” My question is- does this mean the oats need to be cooked first? I’m a terrible baker but after 2 years of gluten free- I can’t eat any more scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, smoothies or gluten free toast and jam! I need variety in my life :)
Haha!
We just put the raw oats on top. Since it’s just a sprinkle, the texture doesn’t really matter.
You should also check out our classic oatmeal for breakfast: https://www.acouplecooks.com/best-oatmeal-recipe-vegan-gf/ The oats are toasted and delish. We make it most everyday.
These are AWESOME! So glad I found your website. I used old fashion oats that had already been ground to flour. Added everything to my food processor, blended about 30 seconds. That was all that was needed. The muffins came out soft and moist just the way I like them. Not chewy at all. Now to try something else.
I made these and they came out sooooo good!! I did accidentally buy steel cut oats and wasn’t sure how that would effect the final muffin, so I used 1 cup quick cooking steel cut oats, and then used half cup rolled (cause that’s what I had) and half cup flour. I used flax eggs and coconut oil. I also added chocolate chips and pecans! I ended up with 12 small perfect muffins that I can throw in the freezer and then take with me!! Anyway, they’re so much better than I could have imagined even though I had to alter the recipe a little. The steel cut oats definitely add texture!! Can’t wait to try another muffin recipe!
So glad you loved it and that the steel cut worked!
I love this recipe and have shared these muffins with lots of friends and family, I’ve also shared your website. The only thing different that I do is add some dried fruit and nuts.
Thanks so much for sharing!
I only had 2 bananas so I added 1/3 cup applesauce. I love how easy this was (I used a food processor). The texture is so nice and they’re really tasty. Thanks!
Look delicious! Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe.
You made me so happy! I’ve been on a strict elimination diet for 18 months now due to eosinophilic enteritis. After reviewing your recipe with all allowed ingredients, I made them. It was like heaven to me since I haven’t eaten any baked goods for so long. I even gave one to my registered dietician and gastrointestinal doctor and they both loved them.
I also started following your podcasts and enjoying them greatly. Your son is a doll!
Thank you again for making my stomach and heart so happy!
Oh wow, this makes us SO so happy to hear! It makes our day to know that these muffins are one baked good you can enjoy! So glad your doc and RD loved them too :) Thank you for listening to our podcasts! And Larson says hi too :)
These are incredible! Super easy to make, not a bunch of ingredients are needed. I didn’t add any maple syrup and they turned out prefect. Next time I’ll add Walnuts!
Hi! When making mini-muffins, how long should I bake them? I can’t wait to make these!! Yum!
We haven’t tried this as mini muffins! We’d suggest taking a look at 15 minutes, then checking with a toothpick every few minutes after that until they are cooked through. (This type of muffin takes longer than the standard muffin to bake because of the dense oat batter, so keep that in mind!)
These are so good! My husband came home and said the house smelled like banana bread, haha. I always make mini muffins for my 2 and 4 year olds, to make the muffins stretch for a while, and I got 24 minis with a little batter left over. I also was curious how they’d do as pancakes, because we make pancakes every other day and these are similar to the banana pancakes I make often. These were great as pancakes, too! These will be on repeat in our house, both ways!
What a great idea to try them as pancakes! Now we have to try it too. I’m so glad to hear that minis work well too! Thank you so much for making the recipe.
Yum! The whole family loves these. I added flax seeds because I add flax seeds to everything, haha. My 18 month old daughter is a FEIGN for these. She knows some basic signs, including “thank you.” We usually have to tell her to “say thank you,” but when I give her one of these muffins she does it automatically, haha. We’ll definitely make these again.
Oh we are SO glad to hear this! I love hearing that your daughter says thank you automatically for these. SO CUTE!
These are great. My kids (4 & 8) love them. My 8 year old son actually made the recipe himself, except the oven. A great recipe for cooks young and old and a great healthy muffin.
Awww you are kidding! This warms our hearts to hear! Thank you for sharing that :) Hi to the kiddos!
These look so good! Do you have any suggestions if I don’t have a blender? (I know, I know…). Would a food processor work?
Haha! Yes a food processor should work! Just blend for quite a while until all the oats are pureed and the dough is smooth. I saved my Instagram Stories of making the muffins so you reference that for the consistency! It’s here in my Story highlights, called Banana muffins.
Thank you!! Can’t wait to try these. :)
These are delicious! I added walnuts and raisins to the batter just before pouring, ended up with 12 muffins (I had 3 super sized bananas), and the texture is very satisfyingly chewy. What a great use for the brown bananas I had in the fruit bowl :) It’s currently too cold to be making smoothies so this was a quick and tasty recipe. Thank you!
Oh, so glad you loved these — and glad it filled up a pan of 12! Thank you for making them!
These are amazing! I used coconut oil as it’s what I had; I’d like to try subbing flax eggs but love the texture and flavor so much I’d hate to change it.
Easy. Hearty. Good for you ingredients. ??
Coconut oil is perfect! I think flax eggs would work well. Thank you for trying it out!