These are the best healthy muffins with my favorite ingredients: chocolate chips and bananas! Made with no butter or refined sugar, they will be a great nutritious snack during the day or as to-go breakfast. Plus, you also can make them vegan!
If you have over-ripe bananas at home and don’t know what to do with them, don’t throw them away! You can use them to bake these amazing Banana Muffins or One Bowl Banana Bread!
They are a perfect nutritious snack, made with no butter or refined sugar. Also, you can make them vegan!
I like to have them for breakfast with a cup of coffee. I bake them a couple of times a month and like to have them oh hand, like my Healthy Morning Glory Muffins or Carrot Zucchini Muffins.
Why this recipe works
Did it happen to you, when you bake muffins and they come out dense and dry? Well, it’s not going to happen with this recipe!
I’ve made this recipe so many times and came up with the perfect ratio for fats, liquid, and dry ingredients to keep these mini cakes soft and moist.
How to make them
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Mix Dry Ingredients.
To start, we need to mix all the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon) in a mixing bowl and set aside (Photos 1-6).
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Mix Wet Ingredients.
In a separate large mixing bowl, place well ripe bananas. Using a fork, smash them until even consistency (Photos 7-8). Though, I like to leave a few larger chunks to have more texture.
Add the rest of the ingredients (melted coconut oil, maple syrup, egg, vanilla extract, and milk) and whisk well (Photos 9-14).
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Mix Wet and Dry Ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, fold it in until combined (Photos 15-16). Try not to over mix the batter!
Add chocolate chips and fold them in (Photos 17-18).
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Bake!
Using a large ice cream scoop (3 tablespoons), scoop the batter into the muffin tin (lined with muffin liners or just greased). You should have exactly 12 muffins.
Bake at 350°F for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Take them out of the oven and let them sit in a muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
How to make them healthy
To make these banana muffins healthy, I swapped a few ingredients to bring the calories down.
- Use coconut oil instead of butter. It provides pretty much the same amount of fats to make them moist but has fewer calories. Also, it’s much more nutritious!
- Use Honey or Maple Syrup instead of sugar. In most of my baking, I started to use maple syrup as a sweetener. It’s not just a natural and healthier way to sweeten up your baked goods, but also provides additional flavor.
How to make them vegan
If you want to make these muffins vegan, you can just make a FLAX EGG instead of using a regular egg.
1 EGG = 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 2 ½ tbsp water
Just mix them together and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
Also, make sure you use a plant-based milk and vegan chocolate chips.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
How to store?
I like to keep the muffins in an air tight container. At room temperature, they will last for a few days. Though, if you refrigerate them, they will be good for a week.
Can you freeze them?
If you want to freeze the muffins, you can wrap them individually with plastic wrap, then place in a zip-lock bag or an air tight container. They will stay fresh for up to 2 months.
Did you make this recipe?!? I’d love to know how it turned out! leave a comment and a rating below👇 thank you!
Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 ripe bananas ripe
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons milk dairy or plant based
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside (1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt, and 1 tsp cinnamon).
- In a separate large mixing bowl, place 3 well ripe bananas. Using a fork, smash them until even consistency. Though, I like to leave a few larger chunks to have more texture.
- Add the rest of the ingredients (1/3 cup melted coconut oil, ½ cup maple syrup, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 3 tbsp milk) and whisk well.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, fold it in until combined. Try not to overmix the batter!
- Add 1 cup chocolate chips and fold them in.
- Using a large ice cream scoop (3 tablespoons), scoop the batter into the muffin tin (lined with muffin liners or just greased). You should have exactly 12 muffins.
- Bake at 350°F for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Take them out of the oven and let them sit in a muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Video
Notes
- Use coconut oil instead of butter. It provides pretty much the same amount of fats to make them moist but has fewer calories. Also, it’s much more nutritious!
- Use Honey or Maple Syrup instead of sugar. In most of my baking, I started to use maple syrup as a sweetener. It’s not just a natural and healthier way to sweeten up your baked goods, but also provides additional flavor.
- Make them VEGAN. If you want to make these healthy banana chocolate chip muffins vegan, you can just make a FLAX EGG instead of using a regular egg. 1 EGG = 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 2 ½ tbsp water. Just mix them together and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken. Also, make sure you use a plant-based milk and vegan chocolate chips.
- How to store banana muffins? I like to keep the muffins in an air tight container. At room temperature, they will last for a few days. Though, if you refrigerate them, they will be good for a week.
- Can you freeze banana muffins? If you want to freeze the muffins, you can wrap them individually with plastic wrap, then place in a zip-lock bag or an air tight container. They will stay fresh for up to 2 months.
These turned out great. If you freeze them, what’s the best way to defrost?
Hi Frances! Glad you liked these muffins! To defrost, you can leave them in the fridge overnight or just leave on a counter for a couple of hours. Then you can reheat them in the oven or microwave.
I love these muffins!! My sons whousually don’t finish the whole muffin, and my husband who usually don’t like muffins finished the while muffins in a jiffy, and my Korean neighbor’s elder son finished two in one go— Thank you!!
Thank you, Wai! I’m so happy you and your family loved the recipe! It’s one of my favorites too! 😉
I was looking for that recipe a long time ago. Those banana chocolate muffin are so amazing at the store, i wish it will taste the same.
I really loved these muffins and my kids did too! They were perfectly sweet.
These look so delicious and decadent but I love that they’re really guilt free. Can’t wait to give this recipe a try! It’ll be perfect for those mornings where I’m running behind and need something I can take with me.
Really like how detailed your steps are – makes it super easy to follow the recipe and enjoy the muffins like never before!
Incredible how many great options you have with these muffins. One of my favorite ways to start a day! And great tips on storage – two months is a great time.
Banana and chocolate chips are my favourite combination! I often have it for my oatmeal flavour, but I have got to try it in muffins!!
Banana bread is my weakness honestly and whenever there’s chocolate chips involved it’s even better. Your muffins are the perfect guilt-free treat for the mornings or as an afternoon snack ^_^
How scrumptious looking are these little muffins!? Love that there are no processed sugars in the recipe and it’s all sweetened with bananas and maple! Yum!
Yum! This Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe looks really mouth watering. This will be perfect for our breakfast. It’s best to know that these are made with no butter or refined sugar. Thanks for sharing!