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Delicious and fluffy, Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are the perfect tasty whole-grain breakfast. Made with 100% whole wheat, they’re super fluffy and packed with amazing banana flavor and a kiss of chocolate chips.
Pair the natural sweetness of bananas, with healthy and filling whole wheat flour, add a few chocolate chips, and ta-da, breakfast is served!
You’re going to love these healthy banana muffins for a fast make-ahead breakfast. Park the extras in the freezer and sit back and watch while your family gets their own nourishing breakfast in the morning.
And if you’re a fan of whole wheat baked goods, check out my Chocolate Zucchini Muffins and Whole Wheat Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins.
Healthy Banana Muffins Ingredients & Substitutions
- Bananas – we’re looking for overly ripe bananas with black spots on the skin. They should be soft without being completely mushy.
- Eggs – two big ones, room temperature
- Greek yogurt – plain full fat works, but you can also do reduced fat and/or vanilla Greek yogurt
- Butter – salted or unsalted. You get to choose
- Flour – whole wheat pastry flour works the best
- Lifting squad – baking soda, baking powder, and vital wheat gluten (<–gives whole wheat flour the heft it needs to get fluffy)
- Sugar – white or raw works, as would brown sugar
- Milk – I love using buttermilk because it gives the muffins a great texture
- Vanilla extract – try homemade vanilla if you’d like
If you have more ripe bananas to use up, check out our Banana French Toast.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes:
- Allow the batter to rest a bit after mixing. By allowing the batter to rest for 5-10 minutes after creating it, you let the glutens do their sciencey thing and produce air bubbles. Those bubbles are the difference between a fluffy and a dense muffin.
- The natural sweetness of the bananas means very little added sugar is needed to make these delicious. You could leave it out entirely if you’d like, but after so many variations of this recipe, I found a scant 1/4 cup of organic sugar was a perfect balance.
- Feel free to add up to 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts with the chocolate chips.
- Store at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to two days. The natural sugars in the bananas will cause these muffins to get funky after 48 hours unless they’re in the fridge or freezer. We freeze extras in these reusable silicone bags. A quick 20-second zap in the microwave or an hour sitting on the counter will thaw them out, and allow them to be enjoyed morning after morning.
- If you do use buttermilk, save the extras for future batches. Learn more about it in this post on freezing buttermilk.
MORE AWESOME HEALTHY BREAKFAST Ideas
- Brown Sugar Banana Bread
- Fluffy Whole Wheat Waffles
- Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread
- Easy Instant Pot Yogurt
- Frozen Berry Cake
- Easy Make-Ahead Scrambled Eggs
- Strawberry Waffles
- Chocolate Porridge
- Fluffy Whole Wheat Apple Pie Pancakes
- Peanut Butter Brownie Overnight Oats
- How to Bake Bacon
- Check out all my Make-Ahead Breakfast recipes
Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Delicious and fluffy, healthy banana muffins are the perfect tasty whole-grain breakfast. Made with 100% whole wheat, they're super fluffy and packed with amazing banana flavor and a kiss of chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 2 cups very ripe bananas {~3 medium-sized bananas}
- 2 eggs {room temperature}
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp butter {melted}
- 1/4 cup milk {room temperature}
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips {optional}
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the bananas until mostly smooth.2 cups very ripe bananas
- Add the eggs, Greek yogurt, butter, vanilla, and milk, and mix to combine.2 eggs, 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 3 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup milk
- In a separate bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients, excluding chocolate chips.2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp sea salt
- With the mixer on low/stir, add the dry ingredients, and mix until barely combined. There may be a bit of flour mixture left unincorporated; that's ok.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer, and fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula, gently making sure all the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.1/4 cup chocolate chips
- Set the bowl aside and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place cupcake liners in a muffin pan, or grease the muffin pan. Fill each section of the muffin pan three-quarters full with the batter.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove and place on a cooling rack.
Notes
- To store the muffins: allow muffins to fully cool and transfer them to an air-tight container. Store at room temperature for 1-2 days, and then in the fridge or freezer after that.
- Allow the batter to rest a bit after mixing. By allowing the batter to rest for 5-10 minutes after creating it, you let the glutens do their sciencey thing and produce air bubbles. Those bubbles are the difference between a fluffy and a dense muffin.
- The natural sweetness of the bananas means very little sugar is needed to make these delicious. You can leave it out entirely if you prefer.
Nutrition
Serving: 1muffinCalories: 126kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 4gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 24mgSodium: 152mgPotassium: 229mgFiber: 2gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 113IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 52mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @sustainablecooks or tag #sustainablecooks!
I forgot how good these are but was reminded when I made them again yesterday. I made them as mini muffins and did a mix of cinnamon and chocolate chips. Delicious. I had to stop the kiddo after he had 6.
And I only had enough bananas to make a half batch, but can testify that wasn’t a problem. Now I have to make sure to add some extra bananas to my shopping list so I can make them again soon.
Thanks for the awesome recipe Sarah!
These are amazing! One of the healthiest breakfasts my picky 2 & 3 year old kids will gobble up. Both times we made them I had to guard them from becoming lunch and dinner too. We’ve made them twice now and they will be on weekly rotation!
I’m so glad they enjoyed them, and hurray for a healthy breakfast that everyone can agree on!
Another winner thanks Sarah 🙂
We made it dairy free with oat milk and coconut yoghurt, added in some cinnamon and a couple sad looking pears finely diced.
Diced pears! You always come up with the best ideas Kezia. I’m so doing this next time.
I just made these again and they are so freaking amazing even with all my crazy substitutions! I think next batch I will skip the chocolate chips and try adding Emma’s chocolate protein powder. And maybe a little zucchini. Maybe.
Here are the GF/DF substitutions:
Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 flour
No vital wheat gluten
Dairy free butter
Daiya plain yogurt (I was out for this batch, so I used some coconut oil????♀️)
Cashew milk
Maple syrup instead of sugar (a glug, so maybe 1 tbsp?)
I refuse to buy vanilla (thanks to you) and I didn’t bring any, so I skipped that but added 3 tsp (I think) of cinnamon.
Now I need to buy more bananas to have at the ready for the next batch!
love this recipe!
Thank you, Tina, for sharing your subs! I will have to give it a go for my GF/DF husband.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for adding your substitutions! I’m sure others will find it helpful.
And I love anyone who uses cinnamon like a condiment. Samesies. 🙂
I used this recipe as a lose guide to magic up some gluten and dairy free chocolate chip banana muffins and even with all the substitutions they came out amazing! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction ????
Hey Sarah – not surprising that these were awesome and my kiddo cannot stop eating them. I may have to hide them. I also didn’t fill the muffin tins very full so I got 1 dozen regular and 2 dozen minis – but they’re already half gone.
We had some toasted walnuts, from earlier in the week, so I added them and we also used mini chocolate chips (because I always feel like you’re getting more chocolate with them).
Sooo good!
Awww, so glad to hear that! My kids would never eat walnuts in muffins, so I’m super impressed with your kiddos!
I’ve made these muffins a few times now, and my whole family loves them! I use spelt flour rather than whole wheat since that’s what I typically have on hand, and toss in a handful of frozen blueberries instead of chocolate chips (I’m a mean mom). Love that it’s an easy enough recipe that my kids can help out too!
Even though you’re a super mean mom, I love the changes you’ve made to the recipe!
These are VERY good! In love with the texture, so airy and fluffy, not dry at all…Amazing for whole wheat! I skipped the chocolate and added chopped dates, raisins and walnuts llus a dollop of peanut butter in the moddle of each muffon. Also skipped the sugar, they still tasted wonderful. Will make these very often. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe ❤️
Marina, I LOVE your additions/substitutions! They sound delicious and I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
Soooo good!
Wait, what happened to the lady with no tact? We have bananas coming out of our butts here in Hawaii, so thanks for the recipe.
Aloha
She eventually left the company, but I’m not sure why. Everyone knew by then that she was pretty selfish.
I hope you like your bags! 🙂