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.
Is the nutrition panel calculated with or without the optional chocolate chips? Great recipe!
Nutrition facts include chocolate chips
i put oats in them and it helped them solidify better.
Delicious and so easy!! Will definitely be making these again
Hello,
I see in your post that these muffins have 15g of protein, but at the nutrition information it is listed as 4g per muffin. Could you clarify which one is correct, or am I reading this wrong!
Also can I put fruit into this recipe?
Thanks for pointing this out, but I don’t see where in the post it says they have 15g of protein, we say that they have 15g of carbs. The nutrition facts are an estimate- but the actual macros will vary depending on the ingredients you use/protein powder you use. They have between 14-18g of carbs, and 4-8g of protein per serving. If you strictly count your macros I’d recommend weighing out all the ingredients and putting this into a tracker like my fitness pal. Hope this helps!!
I made these with white flour and olive oil (it’s what I had on hand) and instead of chocolate chips, I added blueberries. They were delicious! Thank you!
The best oat flour recipie I’ve used! Swapped coconut oil for vegetable oil because it was all I had on hand.
Hi there! I stumbled upon your blog about a month ago, thanks to Pinterest ;), and have been eager to try a bunch of your recipes. I have a bunch printed out already! 🙂
FINALLY, last night after dinner, I had a little window and was able to make these muffins you advertised in the latest email and boy, am I glad I did! My husband and I were not able to wait until this morning after our workout and gobbled up two of them last night! We can’t believe these are healthy! It’s definitely a keeper!
I am SOOO glad Pinterest brought me to your blog and so is my husband! 😉 Thank you for your time and effort into these healthy recipes! Your website is aesthetically pleasing and very easy to navigate, too. You have a new fan!
How much applesauce do you use to take the place of the 1 cup of mashed bananas?
1:1 substitution
Usually I don’t comment on recipes but these were pretty good! I used pistachios instead of chocolate chips. Definitely a keeper!
A new twist to banana muffins in our home. This recipe is absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing it with the world.
It only made 8 muffins. I’m thinking it may be because I used cup for cup gluten free flour. I didn’t have oat flour. Batter was thick. I used maple syrup and applesauce instead of the oil. I didn’t have ginger either. They still tasted good. Was a little mushy on the bottom of the liner with some sticking.
You made a lot of substitutions to the recipe so I’m guessing all those substitutions led to the muffins having a different texture. The mushy-ness is probably also to blame because of the substitutions. Glad you liked them either way!
I have made these twice with the same result- they are undercooked at 15 minutes and they deflate and fall apart when I take them out 10 minutes later. I follow the recipe as written, but I sub blueberries for chocolate chips. What am I doing wrong???
Blueberries have more moisture and release moisture as they cook so that could be part of the problem. It also could be the protein powder that you’re using!
I am obsessed with these muffins, I make them weekly
These were INCREDIBLE! I literally never bake because it’s too complicated but this was easy to follow and came out delicious. I meal prepped them for breakfast through the week and it literally tastes like banana bread 🙂 thank you sooo much and will be back for more recipes!
PS- I did have to bake them for about 20 mins, at 15 they were still not completely done!
I haven’t tried these yet but I plan on making them tonight, I’m waiting for the bananas to finish up with the ripening, I have found out that when I have a recipe that calls for ripe bananas, I just cut up what it calls for and place them in the freezer till the next day then place them in the fridge to thaw.
Fabulous! Used egg white w/flax and it was super moist. Amazing flavor!
Quick, easy and delicious!
My schedule is so busy it’s hard to find quick and easy recipes for meal prep – but this was perfect. Quick, easy, and delicious!
Very dense and tasty, chocolate chip add made it really a treat. For some reason my batter didn’t expand to fill cups when baking. I used a different protein powder. Maybe that’s why. But I will make them again.
These were so moist and delicious
Definitely will make again and again!!
Yum and so easy!!
Did in the air fryer in ten mins
I think the nutritional info is a bit off. Each banana has the approx equivalent of 2 tbsp of sugar so with 4 tbsp of honey you have 8 tbsp of sugar or 120 grams of sugar for the whole recipe. That would equal 10 grams of sugar per muffin. Pretty high in sugar for a healthy protein muffin, in my opinion.
I used a nutrition calculator. i can’t adjust the sugar content of a banana..it’s naturally occurring sugar. this comment really doesn’t make much sense because 1 tablespoon of honey doesn’t have the same nutritional value of a tablespoon of white sugar. but i guess don’t make them if you don’t want 🙂
These are some of my favorite muffins! I subbed the oat flower for almond flour (it’s what I had in the pantry) and I used chocolate peanut butter whey protein. They were delicious!
I make banana muffins all the time. These are just as good! Just added a few more chocolate chips for the kids. Definitely will make again.
I think this is an amazing recipe. The texture is so light and fluffy, and it’s so healthy in comparison to regular muffins I just have one issue my muffins burn, a few minutes after I put them in the oven. I have already tried this recipe 4 times. And they were burnt immediately, every single time. I tried reducing it to 150 degrees Celsius. But I was hoping you could suggest something? For context, my oven is tiny, has two rods (electric) one above one below and has degrees Celsius.
I’m really sorry to hear this, but this seems like an issue with your oven. Muffins shouldn’t be burning after only 4 minutes. Are you sure it’s on bake and not broil?