Banana Protein Muffins
This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
These Banana Protein Muffins are the perfect nutritious breakfast! With 6g of protein per muffin, they’re delicious + easy to make!
This post was originally shared in 2015, but has since been updated.
If you want to eat more protein, these healthy banana protein muffins are for you!
This is one of the first healthy recipes I EVER came up with, and to this day – it’s one of my favorites (and yours too.. these have over 350 5 Star Reviews!)
These high protein muffins are made with real food ingredients, are low in sugar, and naturally gluten free!
Liz’s Tips for the Best Protein Muffins
- Don’t substitute coconut flour or almond flour for the flour! – you’ll be left with a mushy mess! I promise, it won’t work. Check out our substitutions below if there’s something you need to swap
- Use Whey Protein Powder: Whey protein powder works best in this recipe. Egg protein powder and beef protein have mixed results in this recipe, this whey protein powder works the best!
- Use Ripe Bananas. Your bananas should be brown and spotty. As bananas ripen they get sweeter and softer, making them perfect for baking! However, as long as your bananas aren’t green, you can make this recipe. Yellow bananas will work just fine. I recommend microwaving them for about 20-30 seconds so they are easier to mash!
Ingredients
It will also be helpful to have a nonstick muffin tin + silicone muffin liners – these are a must for your muffins not sticking!
Substitutions and Additions
Bananas – You can sub pumpkin, unsweetened applesauce, or cooked, mashed sweet potatoes for the bananas with a 1:1 ratio. We also have Pumpkin Protein Muffins, Healthy Pumpkin Muffins, and Sweet Potato Muffins recipes!
Honey – You can sub maple syrup with honey. I have not tried making this recipe without a sweetener and would not recommend it.
Oil – You can use extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil or melted butter in place of coconut oil.
Oat Flour – Oat flour is easy to make! Follow this tutorial for How To Make Oat Flour. You can use certified gluten free oats or certified gluten free oat flour. You can substitute oat flour with whole wheat flour. Coconut flour and almond flour can’t be substituted for oat flour.
Protein Powder – Whey protein will generally work better for baking compared to vegan alternatives. You can also use vegan protein powder to make these protein muffins. I would not use unflavored protein powder in this recipe.
More protein – You can increase the recipe to have 1 cup of protein powder in it. The muffins will be more dense + have a stronger protein taste. If you increase the amount of protein used, add 1/3 cup milk so the batter isn’t too thick. You can also skip the protein powder and make these Healthy Banana Muffins instead!
Dairy Free – Use a vegan protein powder and dairy free chocolate chips.
To make vegan- replace 1 egg white with 1 flax egg. Sub honey with maple syrup, use vegan protein powder.
To make lower fat- I haven’t tried it but others have recommended substituting applesauce for oil with a 1:1 ratio if you’re looking to make these muffins lower fat.
Additions:
- Blueberries: If you love bananas and blueberries, try our Banana Blueberry Muffins, or check out our Blueberry Protein Muffins
- Chocolate Chips: These muffins are great with or without chocolate chips. Feel free to substitute based on your preference.
- Apples: You may also like our Apple Protein Muffins.
How to make Protein Muffins
Making these protein muffins is seriously so simple. Anyone can do it!
- In a large bowl, mash bananas. Stir in egg, honey, and coconut oil until combined. Add in dry ingredients. Stir until combined.
- Pour batter into cups, filling 3/4 of the way. Do not overfill!
- Bake muffins at 350° for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Can I make this Muffin Recipe into protein bread? I have not tried making this into a loaf of bread but I think it might work. I would grease an 8×4 or 9×5 loaf pan well and add the batter. If you try it, let me know! If you want other banana bread recipes try these: Healthy Banana Bread, Zucchini Banana Bread Recipe.
Expert Tips
Don’t substitute coconut flour or almond flour – you’ll be left with a mushy mess! I promise, it won’t work.
Use Whey Protein Powder: Whey protein powder works best in this recipe. Egg protein powder and beef protein have mixed results in this recipe, whey protein powder works the best!
Storage
Storing: It’s best to store these muffins in an airtight container in your refrigerator. Keeping them in the refrigerator helps to maintain freshness. They will last for 3 days when stored on the counter and up to a week when stored in the refrigerator.
You can freeze these muffins. They freeze super well, so double the batch and freeze the extras! I like to store them in a ziploc freezer bag, or large container.
To defrost the muffins you can take them out of the freezer and put them in the refrigerator the night before you want to eat them, or you can pop them in the microwave for about 30 seconds until they are warm directly from the freezer.
Protein Muffins FAQ
Yes, you can add protein powder to a muffin mix, but it might not turn out well. Protein powder can make baked goods very dense or dry, so don’t add more than 1/4 cup of protein powder to your muffin mix.
No, you can’t use protein powder instead of flour. Flour and protein powder are very different and will give you a very different result. If you are replacing flour with protein powder, you may need to add extra fat/moisture to whatever you are making. They can’t be substituted 1:1.
Whey protein powder works the best in this recipe! I don’t recommend using egg white protein powder or beef protein isolate. Some vegan protein powders work ok in this recipe, but whey works the best!
Trying to eat more protein?
If you’re trying to eat more protein, check out our High Protein Dinners Ebook! It has 24 easy recipes you can make in under an hour with 25g+ protein per serving!
Here are some of our other favorite protein packed recipes:
Protein Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed banana approx 2 large bananas
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil melted+ cooled
- ¾ cup oat flour gluten free if necessary
- ½ cup vanilla whey protein powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a lined or greased muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, mash bananas until smooth. Stir in egg, honey, and coconut oil until combined. (You can also use a stand mixer with your whisk attachment)
- Add in oat flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger. Stir until combined. Fold in chocolate chips if using.
- Pour the muffin batter into muffin cups, filling 3/4 of the way. Do not overfill!
- Bake the muffins for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the muffin.
- Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the muffin tin.
We have been making these every other night because they go so fast! It’s so great to find a protein muffin recipe that actually tastes good!
So glad you like them, Kaylee! Double the batch and freeze some next time! They keep really well in the freezer 🙂
Great recipe. So far, this is the best protein muffin recipe I’ve tried. I followed the recipe as written, except for sweetener, I used maple flavoured syrup sweetened with stevia. Also, I added chocolate chips to half, and to the others, I topped with a few chopped walnuts and a sprinkle of brown “sugar” erythritol. They baked for 12 minutes and came out perfect. They were super moist and flavourful and for only 100 calories!? I’m going to use this as my new protein muffin base. Thanks so much for the recipe!
So glad you liked them, Jade! And that those substitutions worked. Enjoy!
I can’t wait to try these, thank you for the recipe! I usually make protein muffins from Kodiak Cakes, but they don’t have a banana flavor, so I’m stoked to give these a try!
Hope you like them! Thanks, Sandra!
I’ve found and have purchased the needed ingredients and am excited to try these out! I thought I should ask though, living in Denver, are there any specific high altitude instructions? I’m new to baking and have noticed in some cookie recipes, they’ve called for extra flour and then water?
Hi Kelly – I’m sorry but I don’t have high-altitude instructions. I do not know how altitude affects these muffins. Wish I could be more help!
Just made these for the first time tonight and they’re going to be my new go to banana muffin recipe!
I left out the honey because my bananas were almost black so they were sweet enough. I also swapped the oil for applesauce (1:1).
My oven is weird so I baked it at 160°C for 10 mins but next time I’ll lower my temp because the tops got dark quickly.
My muffins turned out to be 67 cals 6 carbs/1 fat/5.7 protein.
Highly recommend this recipe!
So glad you liked them, Suzie! Sounds great!
These were easy and awesome! My batter was a little wet (I didn’t measure bananas) so I added a bit more flour and some rolled oats. Also chia seeds and a few chopped walnuts. Will definitely make again.
So glad you liked them, Mary!! Sounds delish!
I just tried this easy and super yummy recipe and I totally loved it. These is perfect snack or breakfast! I didn’t have dark chocolate so I cut the honey and used M&M as topping. Also used coconut flour but 1/2 a cup since it doesn’t go 1:1 with oat flour. Can’t wait to try with different toppings next time.
So glad you liked them, Elinic! Love the substitutions and happy they worked out for you!!
Loved the banana muffins what a great way to have breakfast instead of processed breakfast cereals
So glad you liked them!
Hi? Do you think I could use casein protein powder, or would that be a bad idea?
Hey Alexa- I’m sorry but I’ve never tried that. I think it might work but I can’t be sure. If you try it let me know!
So easy to make and my kitchen smelt amazing. Can’t wait to try them.
So glad you liked them, Jemma!
These were SO delicious and fluffy!! I literally can’t stop eating them! Skipped the chocolate chips and topped with some sliced almonds. May or may not have slathered them with PB afterwards too 😋😋😋
So glad you liked them, Lisa! Thanks so much!
Cool recipe!. I added some coconut flakes on top as a nice little garnish. Metric measurements would have been useful and I think that it’s annoying that you have to scroll so far to get to the actual recipe!
Hi Johann – There’s a big blue ‘Jump to Recipe’ Button at the top of the page that allows you to skip the whole post and go right to the recipe. Our blog posts are intentionally written to only include helpful images and tips on how to make the recipe. We are a US based blog with 99% US Based traffic which is why our recipes are not in metric but there are lots of free resources to convert recipes to metric measurements. Have a great day!
I can’t find flour anywhere right now… all I have at home is all purpose flour and soft wheat flour. Can I use either of those instead?
Hi Shaheen – I haven’t tried it but I think that you can substitute oat flour for whole wheat flour and it would work!
Hope this helps!
This recipe is super delicious and easy to follow! For someone who doesn’t bake, these muffins were simple to make and tasted amazing, and best of all…protein included!! Thank you guys!!
So glad you liked them, Brianna! Thanks for the kind review 🙂
Can I use coconut flour or regular flour instead of oat flour ?
Hi! You can substitute oat flour with whole wheat flour. Coconut flour and almond flour can’t be substituted for oat flour.
I used this recipe, but I changed it a little – I used pumpkin instead of bananas and I used apple sauce instead of oil. I also used only egg whites and egg white protein powder. Even my six year old LOVED it!!
So glad you liked it, Tina! And love those substitutions – I’m totally going to try that with the pumpkin!
Can you replace the oat meal with almond meal? If so, does anything else need to be adjusted?
Thanks!
Hi May! I haven’t tried this but I think maybe a 1:1 ratio would work. I can’t be sure since I haven’t tried it. Sorry!
These are my go to comfort bake! I’ve made these muffins 6 times now! So tasty, and healthy enough to feel good about eating them.
So glad you like them, Amy!
Best muffins!
I’ve made these muffins on multiple occasions and they are such a good idea for a quick breakfast. IF they make it until then! My husband usually devours them way before that! Anyway give them a try, super simple to make and oh so delicious!!
So glad you like them, Crystal! They’re such a perfect breakfast or snack!
Simple and to the point. Love this recipe!
Thanks, Jordan! Glad you liked it!
These are so delicious! I didn’t have coconut oil so used the Avo/Coconut/Sunflower blend and they still turned out fantastic. Highly recommend. Super easy, nice flavor, moist and goes great with a cup of hot coffee in the morning. These will be made on the regular, so much so, that I’m making another batch right now. Thank you for such a simple, healthy, delicious recipe!
Thanks, Melissa! So glad you like them! They also freeze really well so you can double the batch and freeze half!
This has been my go to recipe!!! Is there any way to do a double chocolate version??
So glad you liked it, Ashley! I haven’t tried that but 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder might give it more of a chocolate-y taste! Let me know if you try it!
Love this recipe!! Super clean, high in protein and only gets one bowl dirty? What more could you POSSIBLY want?? These are so yummy and fluffy, definitely will be a staple in my meal prep from now on.
So glad you like them, Katie!
Hi there! I couldn’t find oat flour and got whole wheat flour instead. What is the ratio to substitute that for oat flour? Thank you!
Hi Nav – I’m sorry but I’ve never tried using whole wheat flour in this recipe. I would think a 1:1 ratio might work but I really am not sure. If you try it, please let me know how they come out!
Found this recipe really easy and it was great knowing they are healthy! Perfect with a cup of tea as they can be a little dry if not heated up, or for breakfast as recommended. Will be trying more recipes out soon for sure!
So glad you liked them, Francesca!