One Saturday during my sophomore year of high school, my dad dropped me off at a friend’s house during the late morning. She lived three cities away, and because of the distance and our busy schedules—her with tennis and pole vaulting, me with band—we only hung out a few times during the school year.
That particular day, we headed out for a walk almost as soon as I arrived. With an extensive park and trails area near her house, we were gone for nearly two hours, spending all that time exercising and laughing and catching up… And smiling at the multitude of dogs on leashes excitedly pulling their owners behind them!
We started to feel a bit hungry by the time we returned, so we decided to bake muffins with some of the fresh fruit in her mom’s kitchen. My friend pulled out a recipe from her favorite cookbook, and we carefully measured and mixed together the ingredients before popping the pan in the oven.
When the timer rang, we giddily pulled out our muffin tray, and we barely waited two minutes before helping ourselves. We plopped right down in the center of the kitchen floor, each with a piping hot muffin in our hands, trying not to burn our fingers or tongues as we took our first sweet, buttery bite.
Within a few minutes, we each reached for a second… Then a third… And just like that, half the tray had disappeared. Those muffins were much too tempting and good!
Since then, I’ve realized one of the best ways for me to reduce that temptation is to make just a half dozen muffins—like with this Healthy Small Batch Banana Muffins recipe! They’re really easy to make, full of naturally sweet fruit flavor, and just 101 calories!
Plus with just six treats on the counter, it’s easier to slowly enjoy each muffin instead of rushing through every bite to grab the next one…. At least for a savorer like me! 😉
So let’s talk about how to make these healthy banana muffins! You’ll start with white whole wheat flour (like this!). It’s not a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and whole wheat flour! White whole wheat flour actually has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour. The only difference? Regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat, whereas white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a softer type of white wheat (hence the name!). This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, which is perfect for these healthy muffins!
Rather than traditional recipes that depend on lots of butter or oil to keep muffins moist, you’ll only use a mere ½ tablespoon in these! The rest of their tender texture comes from Greek yogurt and mashed banana. I love using Greek yogurt in my healthy baking recipes! It adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your healthy muffins a protein boost, too.
As for the latter, make sure your banana is really spotty and ripe! See those bananas above? That’s the minimum amount of brown spots I recommend… More is even better! That’s because brown bananas have a stronger flavor and more natural sweetness than the pure yellow ones. So you’ll only need to add a bit of pure maple syrup (like this!) to boost the sweetness level of these healthy muffins!
Time to put the batter in your muffin pan! This is the half-sized one I own. I love how it bakes muffins (and cupcakes!) much more evenly than traditional metal pans! Then set a timer and…
Enjoy your healthy banana muffins! 🍌 And when you make your own, 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!
| Healthy Small Batch Banana Muffins | Print |
- 1 cup (120g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ½ tsp unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp (30g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 6 tbsp (100g) mashed banana (see Notes!)
- 1 tbsp (15mL) pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60mL) nonfat milk
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and coat 6 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter and vanilla. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in the mashed banana. Stir in the maple syrup. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.)
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350°F for 20-22 minutes or until the tops feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
Use the spottiest, ripest banana you can find! The ones with more brown than yellow are ideal because they have a stronger flavor and more natural sweetness than the pure yellow bananas. (See my photo in the blog post above for more info!)
The mashed banana and Greek yogurt need to equal ½ cup. If you have slightly more mashed banana, decrease the Greek yogurt by the same amount, and vice versa.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the pure maple syrup. For sweeter muffins, replace 1-2 tablespoons with an equal amount of pure maple syrup.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
This is the 6-cup muffin pan that I use! I love how it doesn't over-brown the muffins' sides like traditional metal muffin pans.
This recipe is easily doubled!
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Small Batch Lemon Blueberry Muffins
♡ Healthy Small Batch Maple Peach Muffins
♡ Healthy Small Batch Blueberry Crumble Bars
♡ Healthy Small Batch Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Small Batch Fudgy Dark Chocolate Brownies
♡ Healthy Small Batch Apple Crumble Bars
Hi Amy, these look delicious! Thanks for the tip to use a silicone pan. Do you have to put a cookie sheet under it or do you put it straight on the oven rack?
My pleasure Manike! I don’t put a cookie sheet underneath my silicone muffin pan. I just put it directly on the oven rack! I’ve noticed that if I put a baking sheet underneath, the muffins’ bottoms turn darker brown, like when baked in a traditional metal muffin pan, and the 6-cup silicone muffin pan isn’t so floppy that it needs a cookie sheet underneath to stabilize it. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these muffins!
This makes me wish we still lived close to each other so that we could go on 2 hour power walk and talks!! Especially with the beautiful weather that is happening this weekend! I hope the sunshine is treating you well down there!! <3
YES!! We should have a phone call walking date sometime! Or… Just convince the hubby to move down here?? 😉 Either way, miss you like crazy sweet pea!!