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.
These are NOT dairy free, they have whey protein in them which is dairy. Also some dark chocolate has diary too so if youre going to claim these are dairy free, then you need to mention ingredients need to be checked.
There are extensive notes in the blog post on substituting ingredients. If you are dairy free, it’s your responsibility to look at the ingredients you’re cooking with!
Thanks for the wonderful recipes, and free at that. Much appreciated! 😀
I used regular flour and added two finely chopped dates for added fiber and sweetness! So delicious! Will make again!
Delicious! Used olive oil, maple syrup, whole wheat flour and ActiveStacks chocolate protein powder. Will definitely make again.
Can I use whole wheat flour. I have never cooked with Whey powder What does it do and is there a substitution for it.
Hi! Whey protein powder is what makes these protein muffins. If you don’t have whey powder and don’t want to make protein muffins, you might just want to make these Healthy Banana Muffins instead. All of our blog pots have a green substitutions box where we cover substitutions. For the flour, here’s what we wrote: 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.
I only have unflavoured whey protein powder, is there anything I can do to make that work in the recipe?
I’m not sure how that will work in this recipe without trying it, I’m sorry! It might turn out ok if you add a little bit more honey and some vanilla extract, but without trying it I really don’t know.
Delicious muffins! I’ve made these three different times and it is a no-fail recipe. Today’s batch I doubled the recipe, used 5 bananas (they were on the smaller side), and omitted the honey, as I was out, and they still turned out delicious.
Always searching for healthy breakfast/snack options — these are delicious!
So easy to prep and so delicious! I’ve substituted the honey for half monk fruit and they were tasty. Coconut oil definitely helps keep them moist and gluten-free flour from Trader Joe’s gives it a nice light cake texture.
I have been making these for months and love them! Mini muffin tins make the perfect bite size pieces. I use unflavored pea protien powder so I add a tsp of Vanilla and Almond extract.
Healthy and delicious
Great recipe! I used sugar free honey and sugar free chocolate chips from choc zero and otherwise followed the recipe and I got 12 beautiful muffins and Will totally put this in the rotation! We just found your site and are super excited to make more recipes soon!
Easy and delicious. I also replaced the honey for maple syrup. I think the quantities are off though, I made the recipe twice and every time I end up with ~6 muffins. I recommend doubling the recipe if you really need a dozen
are you over filling the muffin tins? Or making any other swaps? I have never gotten 6 muffins out of this!
These are my go to breakfast muffins. I use maple syrup instead of honey. I have substituted pumpkin for the bananas and added pecans. I’m eager to try applesauce next. A very versatile recipe. I love all the different options and information with each recipe. It’s extremely helpful!
These are delicious! I made two substitutions: I used maple syrup instead of honey and vegetable oil instead of coconut oil, because it is what I had on hand. I also used very ripe bananas that had been previously frozen, which I think adds to the sweetness. I am definitely making these again.
So glad you liked it, Beth! Thanks for trying them!
I just made these tonight! YUM!! I will definitely be making these again! Thanks for the recipe!
So glad you liked them, Kimberly!
Wow.. I used the chickpea four instead of the oat flour. They are totally different type of flour, but it turned out to be so great. It is moist and tasty. I used chocolate whey protein for vanilla one since I do not have any vanilla whey protein. I also used one tablespoon of honey since my bananas are so riped. I changed for my experiments, but i based upon this receipe. Thank you for sharing this receipe!
I’m so glad to hear all those substitutions worked for you! I’ve never baked with chickpea flour before! Enjoy
Best healthy muffin recipe I’ve ever tried!
So grateful I found this – I’m looking up other recipes on your site as we speak!
So happy you like them!
Great recipe, just made them for the first time and wow ! Finally a healthy delicious snack with protein Thank you !
So glad you liked them, Maria!
I’ve made this recipe many times and we always love them! Today, I subbed a drippy peanut butter for the coconut oil and it worked well! Thank you, Liz!
So glad you like it, Taylor! Thank you!!
I love these! I eat them as an easy grab and go breakfast every morning!
So glad you like them!!
I have tried protein muffins before and did not like them as I always found them dry !!! These however were so good!!! Very moist!!! I made them with apple sauce and chocolate protein powder to make a double chocolate muffin!!! I also made them with vegan chocolate chips!!! They were so good even my husband loved them and ate 3 right out of the oven!!! Now I have to make a second batch!!!
These were really good! I did add a 1/4tsp of salt and a splash of vanilla for extra flavouring and some extra chocolate chips on top before baking for a nicer look.
My muffins tins are a bit small so the recipe made 12, and all together I’d definitely recommend!
Amazing! Loved them! I make a lot of protein recipes and this was my favorite!