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.
Oh my gosh. These are amazing. I always try batter before I put the eggs in so I can see if I need to adjust. I just keep eating it. I don’t know that this batter is going to even make it to the pan. SO GOOD.
I absolutely love this recipe!!! It’s so good to find a healthy AND delicious muffin. I substituted sugar feee maple syrup and applesauce instead of the honey and oil and didn’t use chocolate chips to name it lower in calories.,I also added chia seeds. I did notice I had to cook a little longer 350 degrees for about 21 minutes but all ovens vary. Overall this is my favorite healthy muffin recipe ever!! Thank you for sharing:)
Made these for the second time this morning. They get two teenage thumbs up in our house! I love to be able to offer them something that they consider a treat and I consider healthy 😊
These are very Good!
Just made these and they are amazing!! Was a little skeptical at first but would 100% recommend!
Thanks, Meghan, so glad you liked it!
Love them! I added some walnuts and some chocolate chips. Guilt free snack for sure!
So glad you liked them, Irene
Super fast and delicious, I used whole wheat fife flour and maple syrup (three tblsp)
Glad you liked them, Carolyn!
Amazing! They’re so tasty! I have a question.. what’s the weight approximately of your baked muffin? Thanks 🙂
Thank you Aline!
Just made the vegan version and I’m obsessed! Thank you
So glad you liked them!
I made these with chocolate protein powder and no chocolate chips and they are so moist and absolutely amazing!!! Super easy to make, will definitely be making these again!
Glad you enjoyed!
Just made a double batch of these as my click and collect grocery order came with the yellowest bananas ever (I’m talking spotty the next day!)! I’m trying to find better things to snack on for my weight loss journey after having baby #2! These are actually really good! Even my 2 year old loves it! She devoured hers for lunch today! Thank you! I was worried they would have the typical gritty taste since the batter seemed to be gritty, but not the case!!
So glad you liked them, Richael! Thank you so much!!
This is the best tasting protein baked good I’ve ever made. Thank you!
So glad you like them!
Really liked this recipe and will make again!
Thank you so much, Natalie!
Can I omit the protein powder?
Thanks!
This is a protein powder muffin recipe so I wouldn’t recommend doing that. Try our instead!
Just made these and they are amazing! I didn’t have oat flour and used regular white flour.
Used 2 blocks of dark chocolate as I didn’t have chocolate chips.
So glad you liked them, Sylvie! Thank you!
Just made these for the second week in a row. An easy, yummy grab and go breakfast.
So happy you liked them, Erin!
Oh my goodness these are amazing! I can’t get my husband to stop eating them. 🤣 I used chocolate protein powder instead of vanilla because we were out, added a bit of chickpea flour and doubled the dark chocolate chips amount – and they still came out delicious! This is an easy recipe that can be adapted in so many ways. Thank you!
So glad you like them, MJ! Thank you!
These are delicious!!! Even my boyfriend who is resistant to “healthier” said they were good and asked for an extra bite. I left the protein powder out of one for his daughter to try and she loved it too. I’m so psyched to have a grab and go breakfast ready for the week!
So glad you liked it, Erin!
Lordy! These are goooooood. Substituted almond flour for the protein powder and used dark chocolate because I like it, and they were a HIT!!! Thank you guys!!!
So happy to hear this worked for you!
These are delicious! I substituted pumpkin for banana, maple syrup for honey, applesauce for coconut oil, and omitted the chocolate chips. I was low on ingredients and improvised. Thank you for the substitution ideas. They turned out amazing! I will be making more of your recipes in the near future!
So glad you liked it, Lisa! Need to try your version making them pumpkin 🙂
The most insanely good protein muffins ever! thank you for this recipe! I didn’t even add the ginger and they’re de-vineee!
So glad you liked them, Brooke!
This recipe was super easy to make and was delicious. I can see myself incorporating them into my weekly meal preps. I 100% recommend this recipe.
So glad you liked it, Kristin!
Hi. For some reason my muffins took twice as long to bake and then still didn’t come out as muffins. They were caramelized and gooey. Very good but not muffin like. Any thoughts?
Did you make any substitutions? What kind of protein did you use? Could be an ingredient!
We’ve made these twice – once exactly by the recipe, and once with 1/2 cup oat flour and 1/4 cup buckwheat flour (we had run out of oat flour and oats). They were excellent either way! These are our new favorite muffins.
so happy you liked them, Gina!
So funny story on this one….my daughter is in a very bad habit of making highly processed cookies 2-3 times per week. I asked her if she would make this recipe and she reluctantly agreed telling me that they would be “disgusting”. She made the muffins and took a bite. I asked her how they tasted and she said “terrible”. The next morning I went to the kitchen and noticed 4 of them were missing. I then went to her room and found the evidence….nuff said…haha. I also enjoyed this recipe. It has just enough sweetness without going overboard. I also recommended it to some of my clients and I can’t wait to see what they say. Keep up the great work guys! 🙂
This just made me laugh, Griff! So glad you both enjoyed them 🙂