The perfect solution for overripe bananas! This no-fail recipe for easy and healthy Banana Nut Muffins come out perfect. They're soft and dense, filled with ripe banana flavor and nutty goodness, and perfect for breakfast, snack, or dessert.
Looking for a quick and healthy treat? Check out my Healthy Blender Chocolate Muffins for a simple, chocolatey snack that’s naturally sweetened and gluten-free!
During the week, I am a happy camper with any of my make-ahead breakfasts like my frozen breakfast burritos, egg whites scramble with sweet potato hash, breakfast sandwiches, or my quick and trusty smoothies.
And a big cup of coffee. Duh.
However, there are times when I want something different for breakfast. Something that can easily pass as dessert, but it’s still healthy and nutritious. Something like my protein pancakes. Or like these healthy banana nut muffins or my Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.
These easy banana muffins are a wonderful use of extra bananas that are too ripe to eat raw but too good to be thrown away. So, if you have ever wondered what to do with ripe bananas, these banana muffins are your answer. It's basically what a ripe banana was born to become.
In This Post You'll Find:

Reasons You'll Love It
- Uses leftover bananas and turns them into greatness.
- Perfect texture.
- A good way to get healthy carbs and replace other muffins with too much sugar.
- It's a great meal prep idea.
These little banana nut muffins are great for grab-and-go breakfast, but they are also amazing for a sit-down and enjoy with a cup of coffee at breakfast, especially during weekends when mornings are less hectic.
This is a simple banana nut muffins recipe and the muffins come out perfect: soft but dense, filled with banana flavor and, of course, nutty goodness. Honestly, the muffin batter is simple to make - you're gonna love it. It's even easier than my peach muffins, and those are super easy!
Watch Me Make Easy Banana Nut Muffins
This recipe is quite easy to make—you don’t need a mixer or to dirty many dishes either. It’s an all-around winner for everyone.
If you’re looking for a twist on these tasty muffins that also happens to be healthy too, check out my Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe, too! So good!

Ingredient Notes
- For Gluten-Free Diets: Replace spelt flour with almond flour to make the muffin batter gluten-free
- For Vegan Diets: Replace egg with flax egg or an additional mashed banana
- For Paleo Diets: Replace spelt flour with Almond Flour
- For Nut-Free Diets: Replace walnuts with dark chocolate chips
- Don't Like Coconut Oil? Replace with additional mashed banana - it's hard to believe that you can simply mash bananas and it will replace oil, but it's true.
How to Make Banana Nut Muffins Healthy
Initially, this banana nut muffin recipe was not on the healthy side, but I revamped it and now the banana walnut muffins are totally healthy and nutritious.
Here's how I did it:
- I used spelt flour instead of all-purpose flour. (More on why here)
- I removed the butter and added one more banana.
- I used coconut oil to grease the muffin tin instead of butter or vegetable oil. (More on why here)
- I sweeten it with ripe bananas instead of added sugar. This recipe originally called for brown sugar, but I have realized it's just as delicious without any added sweetener. (More on why here)
The easy banana nut muffins remained easy to make. But now they are also healthy. I’d call that a happy win, wouldn’t you?
Walnuts Vs Pecans
Sometimes, I sprinkle some crushed walnut bits on top of a few of them before baking and that adds a nice little touch as well. And a crunchy texture. <-- LOVE
Pecans and walnuts are both healthy and yummy. Some people think they are the same thing, but they are not. There are a few differences between them.
- The first thing you’ll notice when you analyze walnuts vs pecans is the taste. Pecans are slightly sweet, while walnuts are slightly bitter. That’s why most people prefer roasted walnuts to raw walnuts.
- And, while both of these nuts bring amazing health benefits, particularly heart health benefits, their nutritional profile is not the same.
- Pecans have higher levels of vitamin E compared to walnuts. But walnuts are higher in Omega 3 and fatty acids.
- A cup of walnuts = 765 calories, 18 grams of protein, and 8 grams of fiber while a cup of pecans = 753 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 10 grams of fiber.
Depending on your flavor preferences, you can opt for either pecans or walnuts. I prefer raw walnuts in my banana nut muffins, but the choice is yours. Heck, you could even leave them out or replace them with chocolate morsels, if you'd prefer!

How To Make Banana Nut Muffins
Alright, so I am saying these banana nut muffins are easy and I mean EASY to make.
How to make banana nut muffins:
- Preheat the oven;
- Grease the muffin tin;
- Mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher;
- Add the egg and vanilla over the bananas and stir until combined;
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and sea salt until well mixed;
- Add the dry ingredients over the banana mixture.
- Stir to combine. Here comes the tricky part – do not over-mix. The less you stir the mixture at this time, the fluffier the muffins will be when baked. It’s not that tricky after all, is it?
- Fold in the nuts;
- Transfer the mixture to the muffin tin;
- Bake.
Woo-hoo! Your healthy banana nut muffins are ready! So. Easy.
They also make a great breakfast meal prep idea if you want to prep ahead.

How Long To Bake Banana Nut Muffins
Bake these healthy banana muffins for just 20-25 minutes. Use a toothpick to check if the muffins are done. That means you can be up and running with these babies in less than 40 minutes! Aaaaaaand, go!
If the toothpick comes out clean and tops are golden brown, your banana muffins are ready. The interior of the muffins has to be soft.
Make sure to not over-bake otherwise the muffins will be dry and not as good.


How To Store Banana Nut Muffins
You can store these simple banana muffins in 3 different ways:
- At room temperature. Wrap in plastic wrap or an airtight container to prevent drying. Stored like this, your banana muffins will last for 1 or 2 days.
- In the fridge. Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate the muffins for up to 4-5 days.
- In the freezer. To store the banana muffins in the freezer, cool them completely, wrap them in foil or place them in Ziploc bags. Banana muffins can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

More Healthy Muffin Recipes
Want more healthy muffin recipes? Duh, right?!? Here are my fave healthy muffin recipes from the blog. So many tasty muffin recipes to choose from! You might need another muffin pan!
- Healthy Blender Chocolate Muffins
- Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Healthy Egg Muffin Cups (Great for Meal Prep!)
- The Best Healthy Strawberry Muffins
- Peach Muffins (Video)
- Paleo Apple Muffins with Crunchy Crumb Topping
Are Banana Nut Muffins Healthy?
Generally, banana nut muffins are not very healthy. Muffins are one of my top fake healthy foods. BUT you can easily make them healthy and without sacrificing all the yumminess, like we did in this recipe.

Easy Banana Nut Muffins
Equipment
- muffin tin
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 5 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups spelt flour (can also use whole wheat pastry flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup raw walnuts, chopped
- ½ tablespoon coconut oil, for greasing muffin pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease muffin tin with coconut oil.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mash the bananas using a fork or potato masher. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the spelt flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and sea salt. Mix well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Do not over mix.
- Fold in the walnuts.
- Pour the mix into the prepared muffin pan, approximately ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and tops are golden brown.
- Allow to cool on a cooling rack.









Cori
Mine are in the oven right now, and I can't wait to try them. I used white beans instead of the butter, and substituted 1/3 of the flour with coconut four. I will let you know!
Laura
This recipe is easy and delicious! I made a few changes to make it healthier: substituted butter with coconut oil, omitted the sugar altogether (4 bananas is sweet enough!) and used whole wheat flour. Great for breakfast on the go!
Lacey Baier
Awesome! Yes, I actually have a clean, updated version of this recipe that I'll be sharing very shortly (been wanting to healthy it up for years now lol) so stay tuned for that, too. I used spelt flour, no oil, and no added sweetener and they're amazeballs good 🙂 Can't wait to share it!
Jennifer Cashman
Can you post the link to the healthier recipe here?
Lacey Baier
It's at the bottom of this post 🙂 (but here it is again: https://www.asweetpeachef.com/healthy-banana-chocolate-chip-muffins/
Shernal
This was my first time making muffins and these where absolutely delicious! Trust me, I'm not a baker. The recipe was very easy to follow. The muffins are sweet and moist. I make them only once in a few months. I feel very guilty eating them. They are so good I make them small so I can eat at least 3 while drinking my coffee and don't feel to bad. They will forever be my favorite!!! Thank you soo much for this recipe Lacey!!!:) You Rock!!
Lacey Baier
Yay! What a compliment 🙂 I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Shernal. Thanks for the feedback!
Dustin
Love these can't wait for the healthy chocolate chip version 🙂
Lacey Baier
yup yup yup! Hold onto that thought... 😉
Anna & Angelica
My daughter and I just made these and we LOVED them! This is the easiest muffin recipe ever! We will be making them again. Thank you.
Lacey Baier
Woohoo! So happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing how it went 🙂 <3
Sam
Hi I made these today and while they were truly easy, I manage to somehow end up with good and edible but slightly undercooked muffins even though I had them in for 30mins. Had to take them out because they were getting burnt. Can't think of where I could have gone wrong because I followed the recipe to a T, only possible variations:
I used 85g butter, melted
4 bananas, total weight of mashed about 460,g.
Any idea why? I am definitely trying this again!
Lacey Baier
Strange! It's possible your oven just is a little differently heated than mine. I'd recommend checking them earlier and, if a toothpick or knife comes out clean earlier, take them out before they burn. Because no one wants burnt muffins 😉
Tiffani
I came across your recipe in my Pinterest feed last night and I just so happened to have exactly FOUR overly ripe bananas sitting in my fruit bowl so it was fate, obviously. Made these muffins this morning and they are DELISH! Bringing them into work to share - I'm sure they'll go quick!
Lacey Baier
Awesome. It was so meant to be! 🙂
Sally Melanson
I have these in the oven right now. Can't wait to try them.
Lacey Baier
Yay! Enjoy 🙂
Nicole-Marie C
These are by far the best banana muffins I have ever made! I swear I have tried at least 20 recipes over the past 3 years, these take the gold.
My husband couldn't get enough and my 7 month old thought they were delicious too! I used coconut sugar instead of regular sugar and whole wheat flour. They turned out very moist yet dense, sweet, flavourful and nutty. I got 24 minis and 9 standard sized muffins out of the batch. I am forever making these, I'm going to try some chocolate chips next!
Thanks for having such amazing recipes 🙂
Lacey Baier
Yay! So glad they won the gold! 🙂 I've been meaning to try this recipe out in a cleaner format, too - thanls for letting me know they turned out well that way 🙂
steph
I made these the other day because I had bananas sitting on my counter that were almost completely black! It still worked and they were super yummy. I increased the salt to 1/4 teaspoon because it didn't seem like enough... I am very glad I did because I think they could even use a little more. We live in Denver so next time I'll try some high altitude changes and see if they're even fluffier. Thanks for the recipe!
Lacey Baier
Yay - no wasted bananas! lol. Thanks for the feedback!
Amber
I am trying to come up with something I can make for a breakfast at work tomorrow. Could I make mini-muffins with this recipe? Would that change the cook time?
Also, I have 4 bananas, but they're not overripe. Will that still be okay?
Lacey Baier
As long as the bananas are sweet and ripe enough to mash, they should be good to go, Amber. Yes, you can totally make them as mini muffins, but they will cook for less time. I'd start checking about 5-10 minutes sooner to see if they're cooked. 🙂
Cindi
Made these a couple of hours ago and they turned out great. Thank you for the very simple recipe.
Lacey Baier
Yay! You're very welcome- I'm glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Angela
I was looking for a simple yet healthy banana muffin recipe to make for my four busy boys who always love to snack throughout the day, and after reading recipe after recipe that was filled with tons of sugar and butter, I finally came across this one. I was pleasantly surprised but I put my own little twist on it and used 1/2 cup sugar instead of 3/4 cup, since I'm not big on using sugar, then added cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. I just took it out of the oven and tried a small piece and it tastes AMAZING! Instead of using muffin tins I put it in an 8x8 baking dish and after they were done I cut them into squares. I had to bake them for 40 min, but that expected sick I used a baking dish. I highly recommend this recipe and will use it over and over again. Thanks so much!
Lacey Baier
Wow, thanks so much for that feedback, Angela. I'm so glad you enjoyed the muffins 🙂
Angela
Sorry about the typos in my last comment box. I was using my phone when I was writing it, and sometimes my phone tends to have a mind if it's own. Lol... Making the muffins again for snack today. The kids can't wait! : )
Lacey Baier
No worries, Angela! lol
shilpa
Made these today with kids..super easy and delish! Thanks for sharing:)
Lacey Baier
Yep, my kids love making and eating these, too 🙂
Heidi
Oops-forgot to mention I made these with whole wheat flour and omitted the nuts. Delish!
Lacey Baier
haha - good to know! Thanks!
Heidi
Made these awesome muffins when I saw them posted under $5 Dinners. Holy cow. SO GOOD. My kids helped and they were gone in a day. My hubby is still talking about them. Yum!
Lacey Baier
YAY! That's so awesome 🙂 Thanks for sharing - I'm so glad you and your family enjoyed them!