Learn how to make these easy and delicious Pumpkin Banana Bread Muffins with simple ingredients and one bowl in 30 minutes from a dietitian!
Have you noticed how much quicker bananas ripen when it's warm outside? Crazy!
Thankfully it's almost that time of year for pumpkin season and yummy Fall recipes, so I figured why not make a tasty pumpkin muffin recipe that will help you use up overripe bananas so you can add it to your list of favorite pumpkin recipes! 🎃
That's right, these delicious muffins have all of your favorite pumpkin spice flavors and the natural sweetness from banana in one!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy Recipe There is no need to use separate bowls to keep the wet ingredients separate from dry ingredients. You just add all of the ingredients in order, whisk together and pour into the muffin tin to bake.
- Simple Ingredients The ingredient list may seem long because of all of the yummy spices. Check out the notes section for a tip on how to shorten the list by using pumpkin pied spice instead, if you prefer.
- Meal Prep This recipe makes 12 muffins, so you'll have muffins for days. Plus, this recipe is easily doubled, which means you can make enough to freeze some for later.
- Kid-Approved I've made these with varying amounts of flour and applesauce instead of oil, and my pickiest muffin eater loved them all. 😍 I'm pretty sure it's the chocolate chips that make or break it for her, lol!
- Dairy-Free Unlike most recipes, this one is dairy free, so kids with milk allergies can enjoy them too! To keep them dairy free, be sure to use dairy-free chocolate chips.
Dietitian Tip
Muffins are an easy way to help your kids meet their fiber needs and adding variety to their diet. For instance, the addition of pumpkin and banana in this recipe adds moisture along with fiber and a variety of vitamins and minerals.
Pumpkin and banana also add natural sweetness that helps to give a sweet flavor that kids love without overdoing it on added sugar.
Recipe Variations
- Use toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts instead of or in addition to chocolate chips.
- Stir in one-quarter up of raisins instead of mini chocolate chips.
- If you don't like chocolate in your muffins, make this recipe as is but leave out the mini chocolate chips.
Ingredient Notes
Here are a few notes on key ingredients in this recipe for pumpkin banana muffins
- Pumpkin Puree Use unsweetened pumpkin puree. The only ingredient should be pumpkin. Do not use pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin is an excellent source of fiber and vitamins, specifically beta carotene (that turns into vitamin A).
- Bananas Use overripe bananas.
- Flour Use white whole wheat flour, which has since been renamed as Golden Wheat Flour by King Arthur Baking Company. It's higher in protein and fiber than all-purpose flour and not as dense as traditional whole wheat flour.
- Maple Syrup Use pure maple syrup. one-third of a cup might not seem like much, but with the added sweetness of banana, it is!
- Eggs Use large eggs. Eggs are a good source of protein and help bind muffins together.
- Vanilla Use pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Mini Chocolate Chips Some get mixed in, and the rest get sprinkled on top so the kids can see that them 😉
How to Make Pumpkin Banana Bread Muffins
Here is a summary of how to make these healthy pumpkin banana muffins. For the complete list of ingredients and instructions, scroll down to the recipe card.
- Mash the banana in a large mixing bowl. Add the pumpkin puree to the mashed banana and continue to mash.
- Stir in the remainder of the ingredients in the order listed in the recipe card.
- Evenly distribute the muffin batter among the 12 lined muffin cups, using a 12-cup muffin tin.
- Sprinkle the remainder of the mini chocolate chips on the tops of the muffins and bake at 350 degrees for 22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Helpful Tips
- These are moist muffins that are slightly sweet.
- These muffins have a noticeable pumpkin flavor and less of a banana flavor.
- Melted coconut oil, avocado oil, or another neutral-flavored oil can be used in place of olive oil.
- I don't recommend using applesauce instead of oil for this recipe. When I did this, they turned out gummy. The muffins weren't bad; they just weren't great.
- All-purpose flour can be used in place of white whole wheat flour. The fiber and protein content will be less, but they will still taste great.
- One and three-quarters teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice plus one-half teaspoon of cinnamon can be used in place of the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
- If you want the banana flavor to stand out, mash the bananas just enough so that there are still chunks of banana left.
- Let the muffins cool completely, to room temperature, before storing in an airtight container.
- If you don't have muffin liners (also called cupcake liners), you can grease the muffin cups in the muffin pan instead.
- If you look closely at the step-by-step instructions above, you'll see two different kinds of bowls. This is because I forgot to take a picture of the final bowl of batter before I poured it into the muffin tin. So, I took the picture the next time I made them using a different bowl.
Questions You May Have
Yes, absolutely. In fact, I've made multiple batches of these muffins since I had so many overripe bananas to use up.
Once they cool to room temperature, I place them in a freezer bag then freeze. I typically use the gallon sized freezer safe resealable bags to freeze muffins. Be sure to squeeze as much of the air out as you can before closing the bag.
You sure can! Just pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake at 325 degrees for about an hour. An inserted toothpick should come out clean when it's done.
While I haven't tried it, I would think you would get great results by using a gluten free 1:1 baking flour in place of white whole wheat flour.
More Muffin Recipes
Did you make these Pumpkin Banana Bread Muffins and love them? Please let me know by leaving a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review below. A 5-star rating is the best compliment!
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📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Banana Bread Muffins
Equipment
- 1 Mixing bowl large
- 1 Food masher optional
- 1 Muffin tin 12-cup muffin tin
Ingredients
- ½ cup pumpkin puree canned pumpkin. the only ingredient should be pumpkin.
- 2 bananas small, overripe bananas
- 2 eggs large
- ⅓ cup maple syrup use pure maple syrup
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ cup olive oil extra virgin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1¼ cup golden wheat flour Also known as white whole wheat flour. I used 170 grams of flour.
- 6 tablespoon mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add bananas to a large mixing bowl and mash well.2 bananas
- Add pumpkin to the mashed banana and continue to mash.½ cup pumpkin puree
- Add the remainder of the wet ingredients to the mashed banana and pumpkin mixture. Whisk well.2 eggs, ⅓ cup maple syrup, ⅓ cup water, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add the salt, spices, and baking powder to the wet ingredients. Mix well.1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Add the flour and stir just until all of the flour is combined.1¼ cup golden wheat flour
- Add 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) of the mini chocolate chips and gently stir in. Be careful not to overmix the muffin batter.6 tablespoon mini chocolate chips
- Evenly distribute the remaining mini chocolate chips by sprinkling them on top of the muffins.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Let cool and enjoy!
Notes
- Use the scoop and sweep method or a scale to measure the flour. To use the scoop and sweep method, spoon the flour into a measuring cup and then level it with a knife. I did this using a one and one-quarter cup measuring cup and the flour weighed 170 grams.
- I tried using unsweetened applesauce instead of oil and the muffins turned out gummy in texture. They weren't bad, they just weren't great.
- In my opinion, these muffins have a noticeable pumpkin flavor and less of a banana flavor.
- I tried increasing the amount of ginger and nutmeg and it was a little much for me. If you know you like more of the pumpkin spices, go ahead and add more.
- Let the muffins cool completely, to room temperature, before storing in an airtight container.
- All-purpose flour can be used in place of white whole wheat flour. The fiber and protein content will be less, but they will still taste great.
- If you don't have muffin liners (also called cupcake liners), you can grease the muffin cups in the muffin pan instead.
- One and three-quarters teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice plus one-half teaspoon of cinnamon can be used in place of the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Melted coconut oil, avocado oil, or another neutral-flavored oil can be used in place of olive oil.
Sabrina says
Great simple to follow recipe that makes muffins my whole family enjoys! Thanks for sharing!
Kristi Ruth RD says
So great, Sabrina! Thank you for letting me know!