Moist Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 05/27/2016 - Last updated on 05/03/2023
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These moist whole wheat banana muffins with honey are easy healthy banana muffins with only 5 ingredients.
Plus, their tiny size makes them the perfect toddler banana muffin for snacks. No processed food here, only real food to create delicious, moist, and nut-free banana muffins for kids.
Moist banana muffins: healthy whole wheat muffins
What’s better than a moist, fluffy banana muffin right? Here I am going to show you how you can make delicious moist banana muffins with only 5 ingredients.
Plus, these are healthy banana muffins made with whole-wheat flour and honey, 100% refined sugar-free whole-wheat muffins for a delicious snack.
How To Make Moist Banana Muffins
The secret to making fluffy moist banana muffins is to use unrefined liquid sweetener and oil.
Very often banana muffins are too dense and heavy because they contain too much butter and lots of refined sugar.
These banana muffins with honey are made with oil, specifically coconut oil. The combo of the two natural wholesome ingredients creates the best moist banana muffins on earth.
Ingredients
So let’s see all the ingredients you need to make them.
- Ripe bananas – meaning the ugly bananas, the ones with black spots on the skin that you usually throw in the bin. Yes, this recipe is the perfect banana recipe to use overripe bananas.
- Whole Wheat flour – whole-wheat flour or wholemeal flour adds lots of fiber to this recipe. If you only have white wheat flour on your hands, the recipe will still work, but it will contain less fiber. You can also use half white wheat flour and half whole wheat flour if desired.
- Eggs – eggs add lots of moisture to these muffins, so don’t replace or decrease the egg amount.
- Baking soda – this gives a little rise to the muffins. Feel free to replace with half the amount of baking powder if preferred.
- Honey – it’s a natural unrefined sweetener that adds a light sweet flavor to these muffins while keeping them moist. You can replace it with maple syrup if desired.
What Are Toddler Banana Muffins
These are toddler banana muffins, meaning they are moist banana muffins easy to eat with little hands.
Bonus, they are naturally sweetened with honey and ripe banana and made with nutrient-dense whole-wheat flours.
Indeed, whole-wheat flour is made by grinding whole grains wheat, adding as much as 12 grams of fiber per 100 grams of flour.
Fibers are good for busy toddlers as they slow down the release of energy in their bodies, keep their tummy full for longer, and improve gut health.
They have energy for longer, and they won’t feel hungry just an hour after eating these banana muffins.
How To Store Banana Muffins
These banana muffins can be stored for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the pantry. Otherwise, you can freeze them in plastic bags or in a box.
You can place them frozen in your kid’s lunchbox.
They are mini banana muffins – I used a non-stick 24 mini muffin pan to make toddler-size banana muffins – so they will need only 1 hour to defrost at room temperature.
If you make a larger banana muffin, you will need about 3 hours to defrost them.
Muffin Size and Flavor Tips
This banana muffin recipe is cooked in mini muffin size. However, you can bake the recipe in a 12 non-stick muffin pan too.
It should be noted that mini muffins bake faster – only 12-15 min. A large muffin will require around 20-25 minutes of baking time at the same temperature.
Also, mini banana muffins are much moister and perfect for a toddler’s hands! It’s also a great way to control the portion you eat!
Finally, note that this recipe is very versatile, and you can create many different flavors like:
- Chocolate chips banana muffins – add between 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of chocolate chips.
- Blueberry banana muffins – add 1/3 cup frozen or fresh blueberries or check my blueberry banana muffin recipe.
- Cinnamon banana muffins – add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
I would love to hear what’s your favorite kids’ muffins flavor! Talk to you soon & enjoy this healthy recipe.
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Whole-Wheat Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup Whole-Wheat Flour
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil melted or vegetable oil like rice bran or virgin light olive oil, melted
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Bananas mashed with a fork, use the one with black spot on the skin
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ cup Honey or maple syrup or sugar free flavored maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Grease a 24-hole mini muffin tray or two 12-hole trays with coconut oil. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your food processor with the S-blade attachment, add all the ingredients in this order: whole-wheat flour, extra virgin coconut oil, eggs, mashed bananas, baking soda, maple syrup, and cinnamon (if desired).
- Blend until combined and smooth. It's ok if you still have bits of bananas, it's actually better as it adds lots of moisture to these muffins.
- If you are using a food processor it will not take more than 1 minute to prepare the batter.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin tray and bake for 10-15 minutes max or until a chopstick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
- Flip over the tray onto a cooling rack and cool at room temperature before eating.
- You can freeze these whole-wheat banana muffins in ziplock bags and defrost them for 3-4 hours before eating.
- Store in the pantry for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
Notes
Want My Kitchen Equipment?
Nutrition
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only. The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates.
You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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Hello,
I am looking forward to making these – are you able to advise if coconut flour would work instead? Also, wouldnrice malt syrup work instead of honey?
Thank you ????
Hello! I would not use coconut flour as it contains much more fibre than wholewheat flour and it may tryout the whole recipe or gets crumby. Almond meal should work well though as a low carb gluten free option. Brown rice syrup is all good as a sub to honey! Enjoy the muffins and all the recipe on the blog! XOXO Carine.
Hi ..i tried making muffins today as per your receipe …put some milk in addition. They turn out to be super moist n soft but started giving bitter after taste. ..what could be the reason? Thanks
Hello! You should not add more liquid in the recipe that is why your muffins are so soft and moist. The aftertaste could come from baking soda. Use baking powder instead if you don’t appreciate the flavor of baking soda. Enjoy the blog, XOXO Carine.
At first I was like nooooo there not sweet enough but on the second bite I was like…but they taste”real” I made some plain some dark chocolate some with pecans. My toddler demolished his plain one. I try to keep sugars to minimum. Great recipe. Nice and fluffy. I will also add I doubled the recipe to make 12 jumbo muffins for my teen boys. I only had one egg I added about 1/4 cup milk for a better consistency and still got great muffins. Didn’t realize I was out of eggs
What a lovely feedback! I love when my sugar-less recipe makes everyone happy. Thanks for sharing your lovely feedback and all your adaptation too. It is always useful to know that we can make those with only an egg if we run out 🙂 Enjoy the blog. XOXO Carine.
Hi just found this recipe on a Pinterest search and made using wholemeal spelt flour and date syrup instead of maple syrup. I added a handful of chopped pecans and made some minis and some big and they are absolutely delicious ? thank you very much.
So happy to read this because I wanted to try these for my son’s first birthday this Thursday, and I was wondering if I could use wholemeal spelt flour and date syrup, as I have those on hand. Good to know that it works 🙂 Thank you!
Sure! Those two are great healthy alternatives! The wholemeal spelt is probably a bit more rich in fibre so the muffins won’t raise as much but it will be as delicious and healthy for your kid birthday. I am very happy that you find my blog and making some of the recipe. Enjoy and happy birthday to your son ! XOXO Carine
Tried it. The muffins turned out great!
It’s the simplest and easiest recipe to follow.
Thankyou so much! I am the worlds worst baker.
And I could make these! I am sooo happy ?
This recipe is a keeper. Just made it to use up 1.5 very spotty bananas. Threw some raisins, unsweetened coconut and flax seeds into the batter and baked in a standard sized muffin pan for 19 minutes. Perfection. One cautionary note: I store my flour in the freezer and did not give it time to come to room temp. The minute my coconut oil hit the flour it hardened up. My bad! I thought I’d have to start over, but tried placing the bowl in a larger bowl of hot water and stirred vigorously. It loosened up enough, but won’t make that mistake again!
Thanks for this beautiful comment! I am so happy this simple recipe works for others too 🙂 Thanks for reading the blog and making my recipes. XOXO Carine.
Thank you.
Ended up using coconut oil. Mine didn’t look as fluffy as yours, not sure if it was the silicone patties or used fan force on over. Either way they still tasted delicious and my son loves them.
I am so happy that your son like them! Silicon mold are tricky indeed, but the most important is taste right! ? Thanks for following my blog and trying my recipes. XOXO Carine.
Hi
Can you use extra virgin olive oil instead of virgin light olive oil?
Can’t wait to try it out.
Sure, any light taste vegetable oil will work well in this recipe. Enjoy the muffins! xoxo Carine.
Hi Carine,
I love how simple this recipe is, but my muffins were super dense…any thoughts on why that is? I will admit, I didn’t follow the order of the ingredients – could this be why?
It didn’t stop my little guy from devouring them!
Will definitely try them again!
Thanks,
Sarah
Hi sarah,
Sorry to high jack your post but the first time I made them I used baking powder instead of bicarb soda (aus equivalent to baking soda) and it was dense (still tasted delicious). I made another batch today using bicarb soda and they turned out fluffy and delicious.
Hi, Thanks for helping other readers ! In fact, the recipe is calling for baking soda NOT baking powder! Baking powder is a diluted version of baking soda – mixed with other additives. If you replace the baking soda by baking powder – using the same amount it won’t raise as much. That is why I always love baking soda in my baking recipes, much healthier and the baked goods raise super well! Thanks, Carine.
Hi Sarah, maybe your wholewheat flour was slightly ‘heavy’. Some contains slightly more fibres than others and makes baking more dense. You can also try to use 50% regular flour and 50% wholewheat flour. I don’t think the order of ingredients will impact the recipe very much except that the baking soda must be in contact with liquid ingredient to rise well. As for any baking. I am so glad your little guy love them ! Thanks for your lovely comment Sarah. XOXO Carine.
Amazing my toddler loves them…thank you.
I am so happy for you ! Thanks for reading the blog and testing my recipe with your little one! Be assured that all my recipe are tested by my two kids – Emma is almost 5 years old and Luka is 8 months 🙂 Love, Carine.
All I can say is OHH MYY GOD!! these were very very yummy and the perfect consistency. I have tried the exact recipe and it turned out to be perfect and the best I have ever tried making a muffin!! My 2.5yr old loved eating them.. Am Soo glad I came up to this site while searching for kid approved muffins. Now I can be at peace for making my kid eat healthy yet full-filling full stuff at breakfast.
Thank you a TON Carine!! Love!!
Request – I wanted to incorporate some nut powder ( homemade crushed powder of walnuts, almonds etc ). How much do I be needing to add into this exact recipe? Any tip would help.
Thankyou, again!
You are the sweetest follower ! Your comment touch my heart, really! I am sharing those recipe for fun since my girl Emma was born 4 years ago. It makes me SO happy to know that other mums loves those recipes with their kids. Trust me, each recipe on the blog is tested by my picky little girl, so if they pass the test in my home your kids should love them too 🙂 Regarding the nuts, I usually don’t add any in this recipe as Emma’s daycare is nut free. But I would recommend to add 1/4 cup of almond meal (ground almond), not more or you may loss the lovely texture of those moist banana muffins. Sometimes I am also adding 1/4 cup dried raisins or seeds or coconut. You can even add 1/3 frozen berries in the batter to create different variety of muffins ! Enjoy the healthy recipes on the blog ! And again, thank you for reading me and trying my recipes! You are the best ! Love, Carine.
Made these tonight as I needed a quick lunch box recipe that was healthy for my girls lunch boxes …
They are so good I had to make a second batch as my hubby gobbled them up!! (He is a junk food lover I’m trying convert so it shows how’s amazing these are)
I did use butter instead of coconut oil and added vanilla essence …yum yum
Hello! I am so glad you love them! It is definitely my girl favorite sweet muffins for her lunchbox too. Your comment makes me smile as it reminds me and my husband 4 years ago when I tried to make him eat healthier. He was addicted to Nutella and all sort of candy bars but trust me after 4 years he loves all my healthy alternatives and homemade snickers bars, bounty bars more than those from the store. As soon as you get a good recipe it is pretty easy to convince them that healthy eating is delicious and not boring 🙂 I hope you find even more delicious recipe around the blog. Thanks for testing my recipes and following me. xoxo Carine.
Hello, it’s the first time I visited your website and I tried out the recipe. I was a bit skeptical since homemade banana bakery goods usually turns out pretty dense. These came out really fluffy and rose more than expected. I would use a little less honey next time (since my bananas were super ripe) and perhaps add a dairy ingredient to make it more rich. I ran out of coconut oil so I tried coconut extract and extra virgin olive oil, which still came out fine. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much for your nice comment. I am so glad you enjoy those banana muffins. That is also what I love the most about them – it is a light fluffy muffins not dense at all! Glad to hear it works well with olive oil as well! Thanks for testing my recipes! See you around very soon! Carine.
Hi Carine! I’d love to give this recipe a go for my kids but don’t have wholewheat flour at hand. Can I use regular flour?
Hi, yes sure ! it will perfectly work as well ! enjoy the muffins 🙂 My kid loves those banana muffins. Carine.
Oh, my goodness, I have tried many other healthy banana muffins before but this recipe was ultimately THE BEST. Using only whole foods, and one bowl? Complete winner. I substituted half of the oil for greek yogurt to make them extra moist.
Thank you for having strength after a busy day of work to come up with this recipe, your family is lovely in the picture 🙂 !!
Hi Maggie, Thank you for your lovely comment! I love sharing my fun experience in the kitchen with my kids – always shy to share pictures of us but now that Emma turns 4 she is always in the kitchen next to me. So if you keep reading my blog you might see her little face more often in the next recipes 🙂 I am now on maternity leave with my 2 months baby boy Luka but keep an eye on the blog I will post more recipe very soon ! I never thought about using yogurt in this recipe but it looks like a great addition to boost my kids calcium lunch box! I will definitely try next time. Thanks again for reading my blog and testing my recipes. It is great to have you around ! Carine.
I just made these and love them! I don’t have mini muffin tins so I did 12 standard size muffins and baked them for 20-25 minutes. I also used sugar free maple syrup in an effort to save calories. Of course, then I turned right around and threw in a handful of mini dark chocolate chips. Haha! So much for low calorie but I’m a sucker for dark chocolate and I think it goes so great with banana. Anyhoo, these are amazing! And they are going to be perfect for my daughter as a quick grab and go breakfast in the morning. Thank you for sharing!
Not sure where I went wrong. I tried the regular size muffins because I don’t have a mini muffin tin but they’re so dry and not very sweet at all. I used frozen bananas. I usually freeze them for banana bread when they start to turn brown. Perhaps that’s why? Plan to try adding more bananas next time to make them more moist. Any other ideas?
The recipe is made for mini size muffins they can be very dense and dry if you make large size muffin as wholewheat flour has lots of fibre. I recommend baking them in small size as recommended in the recipe. Enjoy! XOXO Carine.
Hi Jessica, thanks for your lovely comment. I agree, nothing can bet the banana chocolate chips combo! What a great idea! Thanks for sharing your positive experience making this banana muffin recipe. I hope you will come back here to make it again ! See you soon on the blog! Carine.
My son has a peanut, diary, and egg allergy. Do you think an egg substitute like applesauce would work okay.
Hi Jessica, I don’t like to approve an alternative recipe I didn’t try myself. I believe apple sauce will not work well as it will make the batter too moist and the muffins will also be very sweet as it is already using bananas. However, if you want to try something as a egg replacement I would recommend chia eggs -you can get more information about it on this lovely blog. Let me know if you try something ! I am always very keen to hear about any successful recipe alternative! Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you will find delicious recipe for your allergic son on my blog. Carine.
sooo good 🙂 Thanks for sharing
Thnaks for your lovely comment! I love those easy banana muffins too it was a pleasure to share the recipe ! Keep browsing the blog there is tons of over recipes you may like. Talk to you soon here. xoxox Carine.
Just wondering about how many calories in each one???
Hello, This banana muffin recipe makes about 24 mini muffins. Per muffins there is 60 kcal. Details appears below the recipe in the nutrition panel. Thanks for reading the blog. Enjoy the recipe !
Carine.
I made these with my 2 and a half-year-old! We love mixing and getting our hands in flour. These turned out SO good. Much better than some muffin recipes with twice as many ingredients. Thanks for this recipe. Will be making again!
Hi Anne, this is lovely ! I love to hear how people enjoy my recipes. As a mum of a 4 years old little girl myself I can share the feeling you had having fun with your kids in the kitchen. I really love simple recipes as well. Those muffins are so great to have fun with the kids in the kitchen and it is healthy and delicious. I hope you find even more simple kids friendly recipes on my blog – I have got a kids friendly section in the recipe browser if you like. See you soon on the blog and thanks for testing my recipes. Love from New Zealand. Carine.