My healthy banana oatmeal muffins are a sure fire winner. These banana oatmeal whole wheat muffins are the ideal antidote to the 3:30 munchies and have gotten me through many a boring zoom meeting.
Check out the recipe below to make some for yourself!
Do you struggle to come up with healthy and filling snack ideas? Well, these healthy banana oat muffins might just be the answer you’re looking for.
What makes this the best banana oat muffin recipe?
- They are crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Thanks to the coconut oil and baking method, the texture of these muffins will not disappoint.
- Full of whole wheat and oats. There is no white processed flour in this recipe. The muffins don’t need it.
- Not too sweet. Some muffin recipes call for a whole cup of sugar! Not this one though. We’re only using 1/4 cup, and you can make them sugar free too (see my substitution suggestions below).
- No Butter needed. We’re using yogurt & coconut oil instead. It tastes better, and your arteries will thank you too!
Ingredients
To make this healthy banana oatmeal muffin recipe, you’ll need:
- Bananas: you want really overripe bananas for this recipe. I’m talking bananas that’s are so over ripe they have black skins and you can smell them in another room (see my hack below for how I always have overripe bananas on hand).
- Whole wheat flour: you can replace with white flour if you have no whole wheat flour.
- Oats: soaking the oats in milk before they’re added to the batter gives them a soft texture (these muffins are not at all dry or chewy despite the whole grain flour and oatmeal).
- Coconut Oil: adds extra flavour to the muffins, and helps contribute to crisp outside of the muffin tops.
- Milk, Yogurt & Eggs: make sure you use room temperature ingredients, so that they combine nicely with the coconut oil (the coconut oil will solidify if you try to mix it with cold milk).
How to make Banana Oat Muffins
These quick and easy banana oatmeal muffins can be whipped up in under an hour.
Step 1: Preparation
- Put your oatmeal and milk in a bowl and set aside so that the oats can absorb some moisture and the milk can come to room temperature. Giving the oats time to absorb some moisture before they’re added to the batter is what gives these oatmeal muffins their soft texture.
- If you haven’t already, pull the yogurt and eggs out of the fridge and place them on the bench to warm up. If they are super cold, you can speed up this process by putting the cracked egg and yogurt in a bowl, and placing this bowl in another bowl of warm water.
- Pre heat your oven to 430 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius) and line you muffin pan with liners (if you’re using them).
- Chop up your walnuts.
Step 2: Sift the dry ingredients
- Place a mesh sieve over a bowl. Place the whole wheat flour, baking soda nutmeg, cinnamon and salt in the sieve and push the ingredients through the sieve to break up any lumps. (using a flat based glass to push the dry ingredients through the sieve will help speed up this process).
- You will likely find that the wheat hearts will stay in the sieve. If so just tip these into the bowl of sifted flour.
- Give the dry ingredients a gentle stir with a whisk to make sure they are evenly combined.
Step 3: Mix the wet ingredients
- Add the yogurt, vanilla, egg, melted coconut oil, oatmeal, milk, mashed banana and sugar to a second bowl and mix together using your whisk. Using a whisk or a fork will help break up any lumps of sugar.
Step 4: Combine it all together
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients, add the walnuts and fold the batter together until everything is just combined.
PRO TIP: stop mixing as soon as everything is combined. Over mixing the batter will give you dense, chewy muffins.
Step 5: Bake
- Spoon the batter into your prepared muffin tins.
- Optional step: add a slice of banana and a walnut to the top of each muffin as a garnish.
- Then transfer the muffins to your preheated oven. This recipe calls for a short 5 minute blast of high heat at the start of baking, followed by 15 minutes at a lower heat to finish the muffins off.
- Following this method not only reduces the overall baking time, it also results in muffins that have a lovely crispy outer layer of their muffin top, but also have a deliciously soft inside.
Nifty Tips to Nail these Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Use the right Bananas
Almost all banana baking recipes call for using overripe bananas. This is because over ripe bananas have a stronger flavour than yellow bananas.
The downfall of using overripe bananas however, is that this requires a little early planning. You need to buy bananas a week early and set them aside so they can ripen up. Even if you’re lucky enough to have an overripe banana on hand at the time you want to make banana oat muffins, often you might only have 1 banana, not the 2 that is needed.
My hack for always having ideal bananas on hand is this. If I notice on a given week that my family has not eaten all the bananas, I will peel any left over overripe bananas, put it in an air tight container and store them in the freezer. When I’m ready to make these banana oat muffins, I will bring the bananas out of the freezer and let them thaw before mashing them up.
This way overtime, I can collect enough overripe bananas for these banana oat yogurt muffins and save them from going to waste.
Use Room Temperature Ingredients
The temperature of ingredients really effects not only the chemistry of turning batter into baked goods, but also the ability for these foods to mix and combine evenly.
It is especially important when using butter or coconut oil, to have all the other ingredients at a similar temperature to the oils.
As both butter and coconut oil solidify at lower temperatures, if you were to add cold milk to a bowl of either melted coconut oil or butter, the fat would go hard and you would not be able to mix it together with the milk.
My hack to quickly warm up ingredients that are kept in the fridge is to place them in a warm bowl that is sitting in a second bowl filled with warm water.
I don’t recommend warming the ingredients up in the microwave (unless a recipe specifically suggests this). As it’s very easy to warm up the food too much by doing this.
Substitution Suggestions
- Coconut Oil: If you do not have coconut oil, this can be replaced with the same amount of room temperature butter.
- Brown Sugar: I personally prefer dark brown sugar in this recipe, but I have successfully made these banana oat yogurt muffins with white sugar and also stevia. Bear in mind if your using a sugar substitute like Stevia to refer to the packet and take into account the extra sweetness of sugar alternatives. You may for example only need 1 or 2 tablespoons of stevia (depending on the variety you are using).
- Eggs: I haven’t tried it with this particular recipe, but I have had success with similar recipes replacing the egg with 1 tablespoon of chia seeds that have been soaked in 3 tablespoons of water.
- Self Raising Whole Wheat Flour: If you can only find all purpose whole wheat flour, add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to this recipe. You can also use white flour if you prefer.
Storage Recommendations
Store these muffins in an airtight container to lock in their freshness. These banana oatmeal muffins will keep for 1-2 days in your cupboard at room temperature or can be frozen for up to 3 months.
My hack to always have fresh muffins on hand is to place them in an airtight container in the freezer as soon as they have cooled from the oven. Then when I feel like a muffin I will take one out and either let it thaw on the bench or zap it in the microwave for 30-60 seconds to thaw it quickly.
You will fall in love with these healthy oatmeal banana muffins. If you love my recipe, please leave a review below (it means a lot!)
This recipe is part of my everyday bakes series. If you loved this one, check out the other muffin recipes in this series
BLOG: Berry Oatmeal Muffins
BLOG: Low Sugar Pumpkin Muffins
Happy Baking xx
Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup full cream milk (room temperature)
- 1 cup oatmeal (whole rolled oats)
- 160 grams self raising whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 110 ml Greek yogurt
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 110 grams melted coconut oil
- 2 overripe bananas (mashed)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 75 grams chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the milk and oats in a jug and set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 430 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius). Prepare a 12 count muffin pan by placing liners in each hole, or grease each hole with a little coconut oil.
- Place a mesh sieve over a bowl. Place the whole wheat flour, baking soda nutmeg, cinnamon and salt in the sieve and push the ingredients through the sieve to break up any lumps.You will likely find that the wheat hearts will stay in the sieve. If so just tip these into the bowl of sifted flour then stir the ingredients with a whisk to make sure they are all evenly combined.
- Add the yogurt, vanilla, egg, melted coconut oil, oatmeal, milk, mashed banana and sugar to a second bowl and mix together using your whisk. Using a whisk or a fork will help break up any lumps of sugar.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients, add the walnuts (if using) and fold the batter together until everything is just combined.
- Spoon the batter into your prepared muffin tin and place it in your pre heated oven.
- Bake at 430 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius) for 5 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) and bake for a further 15 minutes.
- Once cooked through, remove the muffin tins from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes. Then gently remove the muffins from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Related Recipes
