Banana Protein Muffins
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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.
They were very good. I actually reversed the protein powder and oat flour quantities. So I did 3/4 cup Pure Protein plant protein powder and 1/2 cup oat flower and it worked very well. The muffins rose and were fluffy and moist. I also added chopped dates, mini chocolate chips and raisins, as well as maple extract. They were delicious.
Glad that worked for you! Happy you liked them!
I make these just about every week. It’s the best guiltless snack around. So moist and delicious!!!
So happy to hear this, Liz!
These muffins were so good! I reduced the honey a bit and they were still plenty sweet! I also used white whole wheat flour instead of oat flour. Perfect consistency and so yummy
So glad you liked them, Mia!
Doubled the recipe exactly and ended up with 17 muffins instead of 24… not sure how that happened! Either way, they were quite tasty.
You might have over filled them. Either way – glad you liked them!
These are delicious, however, they are so soft thy fall apart. Unfortunately, I would not make again for that reason.
Hi Carol – did you substitute ingredients? These muffins should be moist but they definitely shouldn’t fall apart.
Love these muffins. With the 1/2 cup of protein powder they are delicious. I added nutmeg instead of ginger, and halved the cinnamon – I made it with 1 tsp cinnamon and it was too much for me. I also added 1/4 cup oats and half a shredded zucchini and they still came out great. Next time I will try 3/4 or 1 c protein powder and try with a little more zucchini instead of the milk to balance out the extra dryness.
So glad you liked them, Sara! Not sure if those substitutions will work but good luck!
So easy and filling!
Thanks, Lauren!!
You list nutmeg in one spot but ginger in another. Which should be used?
Hi Megan – Ground ginger is in the recipe and that is what you should use.
I have seen some muffins like this but they also include spinach for an extra healthy boost. Has anyone tried that with these??
I haven’t tried it so I can’t be sure how it would work. You’d need to finely process the spinach before adding if you’d like to try
Made without chocolate chips and only 2tbsp of honey. Very good taste and texture. I like that they were moist but not oily. I ground up rolled oats to make the oat flour, 66grams for this recipe.
So glad you liked it, Sam! Thank you!
I made these last night. So delicious and moist! I love the added protein and clean natural ingredients. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks, Jana! Glad you liked it!
These were a bit hit in the house. Everybody loved them and I have 4 adults, one teenager, and two under 8 in the house with very different food requirements and tastes. Thanks!
Thanks, Tammy! So happy you liked them!
These were so good! I am not a cinnamon/ginger lover, so reduced the quantities to 1/4 tsp and 1/8 tsp respectively. They turned out delicious! The chocolate chips were a nice little treat, and I added walnuts as well….so good! I imagine using chopped apple instead of the chocolate chips would also be yummy.
So happy you liked them, Keeley! Thank you!
I have made these muffins several times, and they are are delicious! I also add 3 tablespoons of ground flax seed and 1/4 cup ground walnuts to make them even more protein packed. They are a little more dense, but still moist. Thank you for the recipe!
So happy you like them, Julie! Thank you!
If I were to leave at the chocolate chips, how would this affect the nutrition value?
You’d need to put this recipe into an app like my fitness pal to find the exact nutritional value. I’d guess it will lower the carbs, calories and sugar a bit.
Hi wondering if you could sub almond or coconut flour?
I haven’t tried it and wouldn’t recommend it. Those flours are extremely difficult to work with!
These are so good and filling. I have made these several times and my family loves them.
So glad to hear this, Mary! Thank you!
I make this recipe every other week and everyone at home loves it!
Thank you so much, Catarina! So glad you liked it!
These were sooo yummy!! I subbed the coconut oils for margarine, and regular flour!! I also made with peanut butter protein powder!! It was delicious, I am so excited to make the next batch. (I subbed because my bf is super picky + didn’t have the ingredients on hand!!)
So glad you liked them,Serenity!!
Hello. I made this recipe and it was delicious. Can I use olive oil in place of coconut oil? Will it change the texture/taste if sub oil for applesauce?
Hi Tash – I haven’t tried subbing oil for applesauce so I can’t confirm that. You can sub olive oil for coconut oil, that should work no problem!
The tastiest banana bread recipe ever 🙂 (I popped the whole batch into a loaf tin instead of a muffin cases and it worked beautifully)
So glad you liked it, Charlotte!
Can you substitute the protein powder for Greek yogurt?
No you can’t. Those are two completely different ingredients that can’t be substituted.
I made these muffins using @Starseed Sacha Inchi Protein Shake Powder and they were delicious! My two kids , 9 and 11 years old, and husband , ate then up in two days. I will definitely make these again! Thank you!
So glad you and your kids liked them, Michelle! thank you so much!
Loved these muffins. I made a batch on Sunday and they are already gone. I asked my husband if he liked them and he said “no I loved them”. He’s kind of picky about his sweets. I was concerned they wouldn’t be sweet enough for him but not the case. I cut back on the honey but the vanilla protein powder and bananas were sweet enough for both of us. I ended up making a double batch Tuesday night so we’d have some to freeze.
So glad you booth liked them, Mary! Thank you so much!
My bananas weren’t ripe and we had some pumpkin frozen from Halloween that we needed to use. They took 20 minutes to fully bake, which I presume is the pumpkin substitute. We are also at 6,000’ so all cook times are different.
I made these with my 2-year old yesterday. She loved them. My 5-year old was expecting more sweet but he did like and eat them. Today we are adding vanilla. Bananas still green but we will get to them eventually.
For those wondering about oat flour or having trouble finding it: I take our oatmeal and put it in our blender until it is flour. Our muffins came out fluffy and moist. Oats are naturally gluten-free however if you were cooking for a celiac you want to make sure that you purchase the gluten free certified oats since they can be processed in facilities that also process wheat.
So happy you liked them, Kate! Glad the pumpkin worked for you!