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Healthier Banana Bread Muffins

Healthier Banana bread muffins scattered on table
Here’s my quick & easy, Healthier Banana Bread Muffins recipe. Using wholemeal flour, bananas & less butter & sugar, these will be your new favourite Banana Bread Muffin!
Caro @ Caroline's Easy Baking Lessons
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Cooling Time 10 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Serving Size 12 muffins

Equipment

  • Scales or measuring cups
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Medium to large mixing bowl
  • Bowl for flour
  • Sieve
  • Electric Hand/stand mixer
  • Wooden spoon or spatula
  • Fine grater (optional)
  • Fork
  • 12-hole Cupcake tray/sheet
  • 12 paper muffin liners
  • Timer
  • Cooling rack

Ingredients

  • 57 grams Butter, unsalted, cubed & softened (¼ Cup, ½ stick, 2 oz)
  • 170 grams Dark Brown Sugar (¾ Cup, packed, 6 oz. See notes)
  • 39 grams Pure Honey (40ml, 1 fl oz, ⅛ Cup, 8 tsp, or 2 tbsp + 2 tsp. See notes)
  • 2 Medium-Large Eggs (Large - XLarge US size eggs)
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract (for how to make your own Homemade Vanilla extract, see notes below).
  • 120 ml Greek Yoghurt (½ cup, 4 oz, Full or low fat, thick plain yoghurt)
  • 281 grams Wholemeal/Wholewheat Flour (2 cups + 1½ tbsp. *Plain/A.P. wholemeal/wheat version)
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • ¾ tsp Baking Powder
  • tsp Cinnamon, ground
  • ½ tsp Ginger, ground
  • ¾ tsp Mixed Spice (Or Pumpkin Spice - see notes above)
  • ½ Whole Nutmeg, grated (or 1 tsp ground nutmeg)
  • 178 grams Mashed Banana (6 ¼ oz, ¾ Cup, mashed)

Extras - optional

  • 100 grams Milk or Dark Chocolate Chips (3½ oz, Semi-sweet or bitter. Or a combination of both. Optional)
  • Sugar Nibs/Pear Sugar (optional)

Instructions

  • Begin by cubing your butter & letting it soften & come to room temperature. Cubing roughly to about 1cm (less than ½ inch) cubes as a smaller surface area will soften faster. (See ingredient photo before recipe).
    If you forget to take out to soften, here's a hack I reviewed to soften butter in about 10 minutes.
  • Once softened enough (see my video of how to check if it's soft enough), add the butter & your dark brown sugar to a large mixing bowl, and give a little mix with a wooden spoon. And then use a hand/stand mixer to 'cream' the butter and sugar together, for about 1 or 2 minutes. Do this until the mixture is smooth. See Photo 1 below.
    4 photo collage of mixing batter for banana bread muffins with twxt 'photo 1'.
  • Next mix in the honey, before breaking in one of the eggs, and mixing with the electric mixer only until the egg is completely mix through. Then repeat for the second egg & add in the vanilla. To make Vanilla, go to my Homemade Vanilla Extract recipe.
  • Heat the oven to 180°c/160°c Fan Oven/350°f/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12-hole cupcake tray with paper muffin liners.
  • Place to the side & in a separate bowl, measure out the wholemeal/wheat flour over a sieve, & then add the spices - cinnamon, ginger, mixed spice & also the salt and mix till evenly distributed. ( I like to tip the bran in to the mixture too, that's left over when sieving the flour. When I make for my younger son, I sometimes freeze the some of the bran and use for smoothies and protein shakes). See Photo 1 above.
    Collage of mixing in dry & then yoghurt - photo 2.
  • Add these dry ingredients to the mixture already prepared, firstly mixing a little by hand. Then fold in the yoghurt, & mashed banana, before using the mixer to mix through. (See Photo 2 above). You can even do by hand. Mix just until evenly distributed and don't over mix. The mixture will be quite thick.
    The banana bread batter ready - photo 3.
  • Grate in the nutmeg now too (if using ground nutmeg, add in with the other spices). You can also fold in chocolate chips now if using. See Photo 3 above.
    Close overhead shot of 12 hole cupcake tray filled with banana bread batter, labelled 'photo 4'.
  • Divide the batter up into the muffin cases (they will be quite full, at least 80%). Give the tray, a few bangs on the counter/worktop, before popping in the oven to bake. See Photo 4 above.
    Part baked banana bread muffins abd adding sugar nibbs - photo 5.
  • Cook for 15 - 20 minutes until risen and a deep golden colour. You can add sugar nibs/pearls to the top of the muffins if you like. You can add before placing in the oven, but I find they stay a nice white colour if you add after the half-way mark of baking (try at 11 minutes). See Photo 5 above.
  • Test the cakes are done by inserting a wooden cocktail stick in the centre most part of the biggest muffin, and it should come out clean of crumbs. See Photo 6 below.
    Baked banana bread muffins still in tray - photo 6.
  • Leave the muffins in the tin and place on top of the cooling rack for about 5 - 10 minutes, before transferring the muffins to the rack only, to cool down completely. See Photo 7 below.
    Banana bread muffins cooling on rack - photo 7.
  • Eat now, or store in an airtight container. I prefer cake tins and they can last at least 3 days. You can also freeze once cooled, by wrapping individually in baking/parchment paper, before adding some cling film/plastic wrap and a food baggie. They can be defrosted at room temperature.
    Extra close shot of 3 banana bread muffins with sugar nibbs.

Video

Notes

Instead of the Greek yoghurt, you can use any plain/natural, thick-set yoghurt.
The alternative to UK Mixed Spice, is US Pumpkin Spice.
To make Vanilla, go to my Homemade Vanilla Extract recipe.
Chocolate chips and sugar nibs/pearls are optional.
For more information, see the notes before the recipe.
Go to my Salted Caramel Sauce recipe, or the Salted Caramel Sauce Video.
Chocolate chip banana bread muffin cut in half with salted caramel on top.
There's also an older (ahh) video of my making the muffins a few years ago, using 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wholemeal/wheat flour.  This is ideal if you are not keen on tasting the wholemeal/wheat flour.   Go to older video of Banana Bread Muffins.