Healthy Banana Protein Muffins
These chocolate chip banana protein muffins are the ultimate meal prep snack. They’re healthy, sweetened with just honey, made with almond flour and ready in under 30 minutes.
I’ve been on a bit of a protein powder kick lately. I love adding it to smoothies of course, but lately I’ve been loving it in pancakes and now these banana protein muffins.
These muffins are the perfect recipe to have on hand for quick snacks, whether after school, post-workout or when the late night chocolate cravings hit.
Protein powder is great for baking because it can help turn a very non-nutritious recipe into a very nutritious one! As far as which one is best, I like pea protein, but if you are not dairy free, whey is great too!
They’re naturally gluten free, dairy free, oil free and ready to eat in about 30 minutes. Try my protein cookie dough, healthy chocolate chip cookies or protein overnight oats next!
How to make banana protein muffins
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with 10 liners and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients.
Whisk in the dry ingredients, aside from the chocolate or nuts if using. Fold in the nuts or chocolate chips.
Scoop into the prepared tray, filling each liner about 3/4 of the way up. Bake for 18-24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before serving.
Key Ingredients & substitutions
Banana puree. This is one of the key ingredients that add moisture to these banana protein muffins and help naturally sweeten them. Be sure to use very ripe and spotty bananas and puree them instead of mash them. This is key for the texture- same with my mini banana muffins!
Almond & oat flour. We’re using half almond flour and half oat flour, but you are welcome to use all of one or the other if you prefer. The texture is best with half of each, but it will work with all of one. Same with my gluten free chocolate muffins!
Honey. Honey will help add some sweetness to the muffins without tons of added sugar. I have not tested these with maple syrup, but I imagine that would work as well.
Protein powder. I use a vanilla pea protein for this recipe, which I recommend. You can use other kinds of protein such as whey, but I recommend sticking with vanilla for the best flavor. You want to make sure it has stevia or some kind of sweetener for the best flavor. We’ll be using 1/2 cup of protein powder, which adds just the right amount of protein, but not so much that the texture is negatively impacted.
Eggs. The eggs help bind all of the ingredients together, add moisture and add some extra protein!
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Can you bake with protein powder?
Yes! I love adding protein powder into pancakes, baked protien oats, muffins, protein donuts, cookies and even chocolate cake. I don’t recommend adding it into a traditional recipe, it’s important to follow a recipe that already calls for protein powder for best results.
Protein powder sort of acts like flour in baked goods, it will absorb excess moisture and add structure. When used in the right amount, it will keep the recipe nice and fluffy and flavorful.
How to store and freeze
To store: Once prepared, these banana protein muffins will keep at room temperature for 3-5 days. I like to store them in a container or a ziplock bag to keep them moist.
To freeze: I have not tried freezing them, but I do think that would work well! Be sure to let them cool completely, then transfer to a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 1 month.
To reheat: If frozen, let the muffins defrost in the fridge, then reheat until warm through the center at 300. If they were simply in the fridge or at room temp, just pop in the microwave for a few seconds to warm them up!
Can I make them vegan?
I have not tested these without the eggs, and to be honest, I don’t think the texture would turn out very well. If you do choose to make them vegan, my suggestion would be to use two flax eggs or add in an additional 1/2 cup of banana puree.
They won’t rise as much as they do with eggs or be quite as fluffy, but the flavor will still be delicious.
Try these next!
- Matcha Muffins
- Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins
- Gluten Free Zucchini Muffins
- Sweet Potato Muffins
- Gluten Free Banana Bread Cookies
- Carrot Cake Muffins
- Protein Brownies
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
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Banana Protein Muffins
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet
- 1 cup banana puree
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry
- ½ cup blanched almond flour
- ½ cup oat flour
- ½ cup vanilla protein powder see notes
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips or chopped walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a muffin tin with 10 liners and set aside. It helps to *also* spray the liners with oil as the protein powder can cause the batter to stick after baking.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients.
- Whisk in the dry ingredients, aside from the chocolate or nuts if using.
- Fold in the nuts or chocolate chips.
- Scoop into the prepared tray, filling each liner about 3/4 of the way up.
- Bake for 18-24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely before serving.
Notes
Comments
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If I have 1:1 gluten free flour how much should I use?
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This recipe is not designed for a 1:1 flour. I’d probably recommend 3/4 cup but I can’t guarantee the results with that!
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My muffins turn out very dense. What am I doing wrong?
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Did you make any subs? Banana muffins are naturally more dense than other types of muffins, but they should still have some fluff to them.
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Delish
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Would these work with just regular flour substituted for the oat/almond?
Thanks!-
You can try! I can’t guarantee the result though.
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Did you try with flour, Aerial? I don’t want to go back out to the store to get the right flour. 🙂
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I made this with all-purpose flour instead of the almond flour! I used 0.5 cup all-purpose flour and 0.5 cup oat flour. The only other substitutes I did was used banana flavoured protein powder from good protein, and I didn’t actually measure the 2 bananas (mashed with a fork, not pureed). I followed the rest of the directions exactly. Turned out great! They were still moist and fluffy!
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Can I use my egg white protein?
I’m excited to make these for my husband to take golfing for him and his buddies!-
Is it an egg white protein powder? I’m not sure how well that would absorb the wet ingredients but you can certainly try! I do recommend a vanilla flavored protein.
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These muffins are so good! Just tried out the recipe since I had overripe bananas and they came out perfect. I didn’t have a few things the recipe called for so — I didn’t 1 cup of gluten free all-purpose flour (Trader Joe’s brand) and I didn’t have baking powder so I just did 1 tbsp of baking soda instead.
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So glad you made it work for you!
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Best banana protein muffin recipe YET! It’s moist, sweet and great texture! I used half almond and half oat flour and made the recipe exactly as written! Saving for my favorite recipe for my over ripe bananas!
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Thank you, Christine!
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Hey! My oven has multiple functions. What setting do you use?
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Just the regular bake setting, not convection.
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I’ve made these protein banana muffins a couple of times and absolutely loved them! Very easy to make, love the fluffy texture 💗
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Hi! Do you think I could just use oat flour and leave out the almond flour? I don’t have any on hand!
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That should be fine!
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Our protein powder is a mix of pea, bean, etc. It has no added sugars. I don’t livlke artificial sweeteners, so would adding some brown sugar work? If so, how much?
The protein content is much lower volume wise in my vegan pea+ protein powder versus the whey protein. (2 scoops to 1 scoop for same protein). Would this effect how much protein powder is added?
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You still want 1/2 cup of protein powder, regardless of the scoop. You should be ok to add in maybe 1/4 cup of brown sugar to sweeten in addition to the honey. You may need to increase the bake time by a few minutes so keep an eye on things!
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Hi,
I have naked pea protein powder (plain pea protein powder with nothing added). Would it be ok to use this? Would you recommend I just add more honey and vanilla?-
You can! I don’t recommend more honey because it is a liquid, but you can add a bit more vanilla or a few drops of stevia.
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10/10 These were perfect!!
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Hi Claire,
Love your recipes, and this one is my new favorite. I’m curious— would you recommend eliminating the honey if we wanted to make this free of sugar? My protein powder has stevia and I find the sweetness from the bananas could be enough. I just worry the lack of honey may affect the moisture— they come out so moist and I love that!
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They should be ok! You can maybe just add another two or so tablespoons of mashed banana to make up for the moisture!
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Hi, just curious how you are calculating the calories ans protein. I get 155 calories and only 6g of protein per muffin.
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It’s an automatic calculation so there is room for error!
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