Even though my mom rarely baked, she occasionally bought a few extra bananas on her weekly grocery trips to leave on the counter to ripen during my early childhood. The following weekend, she pulled out a faded yellowing card with my dad’s special recipe scrawled across the paper for banana muffins that he developed in graduate school.
Although fairly basic, Mom insisted the muffins tasted better than anything store-bought, especially fresh from the oven, split it two, and with a small pat of butter placed on each half that melted down into the muffin’s crooks and crannies. However, I refused to try one for years because I was terrified that there would be chunks of banana in the muffins… And I hated “bits” like fruit and nuts in my food!
Eventually, after much coaxing and explaining that the bananas were fully mashed into a smooth paste, not chopped up into pieces to fold into the batter, Mom finally convinced me to try a muffin. With its sweet and cozy flavors, I was immediately hooked!
Shortly after, Mom started buying us jumbo-sized muffins from the grocery store bakery as a quick and easy breakfast for my brother and me during our road trips to Disneyland, San Diego, or the mountains for camping trips. Whenever I tagged along, I looked at the banana muffins first… But they all contained nuts both inside the muffins and on top!
Instead, I opted for the lemon poppy seed jumbo muffins… Because (a) poppy seeds were too small to count as “bits,” and (b) those only had slivered almonds pressed into their tops, not inside of the muffins, which I could easily pick off and hand over to Dad!
As I became older, “bits” started to grow on me, so earlier this year, I decided to try baking my first batch of banana muffins with nuts. After a few tweaks, I perfected this recipe for the Ultimate Healthy Banana Nut Muffins! Perfectly sweet with pecans sprinkled throughout, these muffins are as tender as cupcakes. Even better, they contain no butter, refined flour or sugar and only 125 calories!
So… Would you blame me for eating four in one day? Breakfast… Mid-morning snack… Mid-afternoon snack… Dessert… ? Guess it’s already time to make more?
To make these healthy muffins, you’ll start with white whole wheat flour. That sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? Normally white flour and whole wheat flour are two separate things! However, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of softer white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to that of all-purpose flour (and perfect for letting the tender texture of these muffins shine!), but it still has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour.
Whereas traditional recipes call for ½ to 1 full cup of oil (yikes!!), this healthier one only requires 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. That’s it! The rest of the muffins’ tender texture comes from Greek yogurt and mashed banana. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you know how much I love Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your baked treats a protein boost, too.
As for the mashed banana, it actually plays three roles: flavor (I’m sure you already guessed that!), tender texture, and natural sweetness. Try to use the spottiest bananas you can find! Those have more natural sweetness than pure yellow bananas, which means you’ll only need to add a few tablespoons of honey to the batter.
For the nuts, you’ll add finely chopped pecans to the batter. Both pecans and walnuts are traditional in banana nut muffins—and both will work!—but since my mom is allergic to walnuts, I opted for pecans so I could share them with her. You’ll want to chop the pecans to be about the size of miniature chocolate chips to ensure the muffin batter bakes evenly. And don’t forget to save some to press into the tops for a pretty presentation!
Ready to bake your own? ? And when you do, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your muffins and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| The Ultimate Healthy Banana Nut Muffins | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¾ cup (200g) mashed banana (about 2 medium)
- 2 tbsp (30mL) honey
- ¼ cup (60mL) nonfat milk
- ¼ cup (28g) finely diced pecans, divided
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat 12 standard-sized muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the mashed Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Mix in the mashed banana and honey. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Fold in 3 ½ tablespoons of pecans.
- Spread the batter into the prepared muffin cups, and gently press the remaining pecans on top. Bake at 350°F for 19-21 minutes or until the centers feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
For best results, use the ripest, darkest, most spottiest bananas you can find!
The mashed banana and Greek yogurt combined need to measure 1 cup. If you have slightly more than ¾ cup mashed banana, then reduce the Greek yogurt by the same amount, and vice versa.
Pure maple syrup or agave may be substituted for the honey.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
Walnuts (or any other nuts!) may be substituted for the pecans. To ensure the muffin batter bakes evenly, make sure the chopped nuts are about the same size as mini chocolate chips.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥ The Ultimate Healthy Blueberry Muffins
♥ The Ultimate Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
♥ Chocolate Chip Banana Mini Muffins
♥ Blueberry Banana Bran Muffins
♥ Strawberry Blueberry Banana Bread
♥ Chocolate Drizzled Raspberry Banana Bread
♥ Blueberry Buttermilk Banana Bread
♥ Strawberry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
♥ Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Brownies
Would it be possible for you to give the calories in your recipes. I’m getting ready to make them for my husband who is diabetic and of course for me who is trying to lose some weight?
Thank you for your reply.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipes Doris! The full nutrition information is already included beneath the recipe. It can be easy to miss! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you and your husband think of the muffins!
Hi Amy these look great! quick question white whole wheat flour is that plain flour to us in the UK? will it work just as well with plain flour or self raising flour? also can I take the nuts out for nut allergy sufferers?
Thanks Becca! Yes, you can easily omit the nuts for people with allergies. I’m not entirely sure what the UK calls white whole wheat flour, but I explain exactly what it is within the text of my blog post above the recipe. That should help give you an idea of what UK grocery stores call it! I’ve also included appropriate substitutions in the Notes section underneath the Instructions. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the muffins!
just made a batch of 12 in muffin cases and they are amazing. used self raising and flour and baking powder and they have risen perfectly. Only problem is they have stuck to the muffin liners or cake cases I did grease them too! x
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins Becca! 🙂 Did you use paper liners or metallic liners? I’ve often found that I need to “double spray” paper liners so they don’t stick. If you seal your current batch of muffins inside of an airtight container or zip-topped bag for 24+ hours, that often helps loosen the liners a little bit more! They won’t peel off perfectly, but there will be less muffin clinging to them after that time. One of the many tricks I’ve learned over the years! 😉
I believe in the UK whole wheat flour is referred to as “wholemeal” flour. Plain flour is what we call “all purpose” or white flour in the US. Amy, thank you for this recipe. I admit, I am not a believer in low fat or non fat products, so I used the whole milk counterparts for each (kefir instead of Greek yogurt) as well as whole eggs (I have 2 baby boys). However, I used 4 very over ripe bananas. The result was a muffin exactly as you describe – like an uber-moist cupcake! Thank you for the inspiration of your wonderful recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins Liz! 🙂
Hi Amy! This is a wonderful recipe. I would like to make only 6 muffins, in that case, should I just use half of all the ingredients?
Thanks!
Yes! That’s perfectly fine. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these muffins Gaby!
Made these yesterday, very tasty! and great texture. Will definitely repeat.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins Jasmyn! That means a lot to me that you plan on making them again — thanks for sharing that with me! 🙂
Amy, these were delicious! I did skip the nuts and I also veganized them by omitting the eggs, yogurt and honey. I just used an extra banana and Lakanto for a little sweetener. Oh I also made them into minis. So yummy!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins Alison! Thanks for sharing your recipe modifications with me — I always love to hear what tweaks work! 🙂
to make it more low calorie can i substitute the wheat flour for coconut or almond flour?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Andrea! I typically don’t recommend either flour for these muffins. Coconut flour will make the batter much too dry, and the muffins will turn out denser and may sink while cooling with almond flour. (Gluten is what allows muffins to rise and hold their shape; it’s a protein that provides structure!) However, if you’d like to substitute a no-calorie sweetener for the honey to reduce these muffins’ calories, that would definitely work! If you’re interested in that option, just let me know your preferred no-calorie sweetener, and I’ll give you the amount you’ll need! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try these muffins!
Me again! ??♀️ Made these for my family over the weekend, with a few tweaks. Found myself running out of honey, then out of agave! So mine were sweetened with 1 T honey and 1 T of an agave-molasses mixture, to perfectly lovely results. Maybe next time I’ll be saucy and add mini chocolate chips…in any case, I’m adding it to my ever-growing muffin repertoire! Thanks!
Hi again Celina!! I always love seeing your comments. They brighten my day every time! 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins too! I’ve definitely had ingredient days like that before… 😉 I love your idea of adding mini chocolate chips!!