Easy 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.
I swapped the honey for xylitol, and added fresh blueberries. An edit I would make to the recipe, is that 15 minutes is not sufficient to fully cook these! We added another 30 minutes and they were perfect at that point!
Maybe your oven is a little off! We have never had to cook these for 30 minutes but I’m glad you made it work for you!
I made these for my boys and they loved them. I used almond flour instead of oat flour, added a second egg, and added chopped pecans. This made 11 muffins. In the future I am going to add a third banana and/or third egg and see what happens.
My husband is obsessed with these! They are his new “cheat” snack! I did make one adjustment, I use 3/4 cups of protein powder and 1/2 cup of oat flour. The switch made no discernible difference on the flavor nor the texture! They are still light, fluffy, delicious and have a higher protein count! Thank you so much for the recipe! I can make it with my eyes closed now as I usually make two batches a week!
I want to love this recipe so much since it’s really low in calories, but these muffins are VERY dry and need some moisture in the recipe.
Did you make any adjustments to the recipe? What type of protein powder did you use? I’m really sorry to hear this!
Turned out great! I used orgain vanilla protein powder as I can’t have dairy. They were easy and I made them jumbo sized, so they took about 18-20 minutes. They also freeze really well!
Can i use oats instead of oat flour please?
No, oats and oat flour aren’t the same. You can make your own aot flour from oats though! Check out this tutorial for How to Make Oat Flour
Amazing!!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wasnt sure about the ginger and cinnamon but i did it and added walnuts and semi sweet chocolate chips…i loved the outcome..great job!!
My daughter makes them all the time and loves them as well.
Loved added choc chips no added sugar turned out moist and yummy
This is an incredible recipe! I just finished baking them and I will definatly make them again and again! Thanks for making my day!
Can Almond flour be used instead of Oat flour?
Will it make a difference in the taste or batter?
We covered this in the substitutions section! Oat Flour – You can substitute oat flour with whole wheat flour. Coconut flour and almond flour can’t be substituted for oat flour.
Really delicious. I make these very slightly lower fat by substituting one of the tablespoons of oil with two tablespoons of applesauce (you’re going to want to put some oil in baked good recipes unless youre following specifically oil free recipe in my experience).
I also use pure maple syrup instead of honey based on what I have on hand.
I tend to add a little extra cinnamon per my taste.
I’ve done three different versions now with blueberry, apple and salted dark chocolate bar pieces. All sooooo good. I used frozen blueberries and learned that layering in the middle and top works out best vs folding into batter.(put a little batter in, some peices, top with more batter and top with more peices pushing them in slightly) just my opinion tho, perfect looking lil muffins bring me intense joy.
All are so good but I gotta say putting tiny apple cubes is probably the biggest winner. It’s crazy good in these omg.
Sometimes for extra protein I make a fluffy custard yogurt (mix teeny tiny dash of baking soda, Greek yogurt, pudding mix flavor of choice and some granulated sweetner like sugar,monkfruit or xylitol) and I either eat the muffin with it like a dip or use the mix as kind of like a frosting. Protein packed treat for desert or snack!
Everyone in my family loved these. Even the picky one who hates all protein recipes!!!
I made this exactly to the recipe except subbing cacao nibs for the chocolate chips. They were still plenty sweet. My vanilla whey protein powder is sweetened with monk fruit. They rose up very nice and have a pleasant spongy texture. They did seem to need some salt for my taste. I topped with a bit of salted pecan butter, and they were fantastic. Thanks for a baked-good recipe using protein powder that isn’t too dense. So many i have tried ended up like hockey pucks!
Just made these! Smelt delicious whilst baking, tastes just as good!
My only came out to about 50 calories each with no choc chips! An amazing snack!
I’m excited to try these. The high protein English muffins I’ve been eating for breakfast are getting impossible to find. Question: How should I proceed if I want to use blueberries instead of bananas. I’m thinking I’ll need more liquid as I don’t want to mash the blueberries . . .
Unfortunately we don’t recommend making that substitution. Blueberries have a different texture than bananas. We’re working on a blueberry protein muffin recipe but it isn’t ready yet!
My kids love these muffins! I swap chocolate protein for vanilla! They’re easy to make and come out perfect every time
i made this recipe into a loaf and added a peanut butter, dark chocolate ganache to the top just because I like something a little sweeter I also use coconut flour, and this came out amazing definitely going to be prepping a bunch of these for an easy snack
Scrumptious! Everyone loves them and immediately asks for the recipe!
These are so good! I substituted the coconut oil with half a can of pumpkin purée and they are so moist and delicious!
What protein powder are you using to make this dairy free since Whey comes from dairy?
There are notes in the blog post about which protein powder we use! They’re all linked there
Absolutely the best banana muffins ever! Been trying to eat a little healthier and these hit the spot every time. They are so soft and delicious and I have made this recipe more times than I can count!
Oh Yeah, YUM! Great recipe… made as written (but no chocolate chips in the house), perfect texture and tasty! Can’t wait to make again with the chocolate chips. Today I topped with chopped walnuts and a dusting of coarse cinnamon sugar. SO great, especially after cooling for several hours. Thanks for posting!!
I just made these muffins and they are awesome. I split the batter in half and used semi-sweet chocolate chips in one half and blue berries in the other.
So glad I found this recipe. I have a sweet tooth and what a guilt free recipe this is !
Excellent!
Great recipe. I used whole wheat flour instead of oat flour, unflavored whey and added vanilla bean paste, pumpkin pie Spice instead of cinnamon and ginger plus raisins instead of choc chip. Really tasty and flexible recipe and muffin had great height too. Thank you