These Chocolate Banana Muffins are one of our all-time favorite baked goods. They are a delicious chocolate muffin, with a dose of nutrition and whole grains (and even spinach if you decide to add it.) They’re a perfect breakfast or snack option for the whole family.
Chocolate Banana Muffins
These moist little muffins have a base of oats, bananas, eggs, and either cocoa or cacao powder. They are gluten-free if you use certified gluten-free oats and they’re nut-free. But best of all, the baked muffins are super moist and seriously delicious, which makes them easy for toddlers to eat.
We like these muffins warm out of the oven for breakfast or chilled for a snack or a cold packed lunch. I like adding rolled oats to muffin recipes like this one because they almost dissolve right into the batter when they bake. But, even though they are texturally not that obvious, they add fiber and B vitamins.
And they help to make the muffins a little bit more filling—which can keep those little bodies from running on empty so quickly!
(You may also like my Fluffy Chocolate Muffins and my Chocolate Protein Muffins.)
Your toddler won’t eat? Help is here!
Sign up for our email updates to get tips and ideas sent to your inbox.
Ingredients You Need
To make this recipe you’ll need to have the following ingredients on hand and ready to go. Most of these are pantry staples, and you have some options for substitutions if needed, too.
- Very ripe bananas: The more brown spots the better, as that will ensure that the banana flavor comes through and that the muffins have a lot of natural sweetness.
- Eggs: I use large eggs in my baking and in this recipe, and here they provide structure and lend a nutritious base to the muffins.
- Unsalted butter: Melted and slightly cooled butter OR almond butter works here to add moisture and tenderness.
- Honey or maple syrup: Use either of these to enhance the sweetness of the banana.
- Pure vanilla extract: A little vanilla rounds out the flavor profile of the muffins nicely.
- Rolled oats: Sometimes called “old-fashioned” oats at the store, this ingredient adds whole grains, fiber, and B vitamins—but blends in nicely to the batter.
- Whole wheat flour: A little flour helps ensure that the muffins hold together nicely.
- Cocoa powder: I add a little unsweetened cocoa powder for chocolate flavor here. You can also use cacao powder if that’s what you have on hand.
- Baking powder and baking soda: The combination of these two ensure that the muffins rise and cook through properly.
- chocolate chips, optional
TIP: You can add a handful of baby spinach when blending the wet ingredients to add a veggie into the mix if you use a blender.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here’s a look at the process of making these healthy mini muffins. Scroll down to get the full recipe with the amounts and timing.
- Preheat oven and grease a mini muffin tin well. Mash the banana smooth.
- Add the wet ingredients to a bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to a bowl.
- Stir together the contents of each bowl.
- Add the wet to the dry to combine the batter.
- Divide among a muffin tin and bake. Cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature, slightly warm, or chilled.
TIP: You can blend the wet ingredients, including the banana, in a blender and then stir in the dry ingredients if you prefer. This is the way I prefer to do it if I’m adding spinach.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store these at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 24 hours or in the fridge for up to 5 days. Heat briefly to serve from warm to make them nice and moist!
To make these gluten-free, use cup-for-cup gluten free flour blend and certified gluten-free rolled oats.
To add spinach, you can blend the bananas, baby spinach, and the rest of the wet ingredients in a blender. Then stir in the dry ingredients and proceed with the recipe.
How to Store
Store in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container or in a zip-top freezer bag for up to 3 months. Find more info about How to Freeze Muffins.
Best Tips for Success
- Mini muffin tins sometimes have a tendency to stick, so be sure to grease them well.
- I like this mini muffin tin from Wilton.
- Very ripe bananas with brown spots have the most natural sweetness and will make these muffins taste best.
- Stir in 1/4-⅓ cup mini chocolate chips for added deliciousness!
- Top with nut butter, cream cheese, or a drizzle of honey if you’d like.
- Add a big handful of baby spinach to the blender and blend well with the rest of the wet ingredients to add some veggies to these muffins.
Related Recipes
I’d love to hear your feedback if you try this recipe, so comment below to share!
Favorite Chocolate Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sliced bananas (very ripe with brown spots; from about 3 medium bananas)
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup melted and slightly cooled butter OR almond butter
- 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups lightly packed baby spinach (optional)
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a mini muffin tin.
- Mash the banana well.
- Stir together the wet ingredients, including the mashed banana.
- Stir together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. (Or, to do this step with a blender, place the bananas, eggs, butter, honey, and vanilla into a blender. Add the spinach if you plan to use it. Blend well.)
- Stir in the oats, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips, if using, to the wet ingredients.
- Fill prepared muffin tin about to the edge of each cup.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly. Use a paring knife to remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack.
- Serve at room temperature, slightly warm, or chilled.
Notes
- Store in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container or in a zip-top freezer bag for up to 3 months.
- To make these as full-size muffins: Use about ¼ cup batter per muffin cup and bake for about 18-20 minutes.
- Gluten-free: Use certified gluten-free rolled oats and cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend in place of the whole wheat.
- Add a handful of baby spinach to the blender in Step 4 to add a veggie.
- Some mini muffin tins have a tendency to stick, so be sure to grease them well. (I like this mini muffin tin from Wilton.)
- Very ripe bananas with brown spots have the most natural sweetness and will make these muffins taste best.
- Stir in 1/4-⅓ cup mini chocolate chips for added deliciousness!
- Top with nut butter, cream cheese, or a drizzle of honey if you’d like.
Nutrition
This post was first published March 2018.
These turned out amazing! My recently picky eater was a huge fan and being nut free we froze some for daycare meals in the future. I didn’t have spinach but used zucchini for some extra veggies. Thanks for the recipe!
Love the flavor and texture of these mini muffins!!! The banana and cocoa blend together very well. I made them with spinach, so these muffins also have a lot of iron packed in. Awesome way to get your kids nutrition in a yummy way!
Great recipe- for some reason for the mini muffins it takes them around 20 minutes to cook. All ovens are different 🤷🏻♀️, all of the other muffins recipes are done at the time on the recipe. Thanks for all the amazing toddler muffin recipes!
Big hit with my selective eater! Great texture (I also blended the oats) and flavor. Freezes great. Thank you!
Wonderful like all your stuff! Added a lil frosting on top for the husband and everyone wins lol
How long will it bake using standard muffin pan? Thanks.
Can I still add spinach if I don’t have a blender?
I don’t think I would since there would be larger pieces which may not be very appealing.
Oh, these are good! I did have to use an egg replacer but find if I do more than 2 it gets weird so I did two “eggs” with Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer and the third with 1/4 cup applesauce. I also had to use natural creamy peanut butter instead of butter or almond butter. Also I only had old fashioned oats instead of rolled. I cooked the mugfins in a standard sized muffin tin, with the egg replacements it’s usually longer and took 24 minutes. Even with all these subs I really love them!
I love it. My 1 year old does too. Used agave instead of honey/maple.
Also used spelt flour instead of the whole wheat but absolutely delicious and healthy. Not too sweet. Love your recipes. X
So yummy! The whole family loves these!
Can I sub flax eggs for eggs or anything else?
Hi-
I haven’t tested that here, but I think it should work fine. Enjoy
Could i use instant oats?
These are delicious! Healthy but taste like a brownie. Toddler, kid, and adult approved! Thank you.
Great recipe! Mine do take about 30 min in the oven, though. I swap out 2/3 bananas for a cup of pureed sweet potato and make them every weekend with my toddler. We’ve actually had to take a break from them though because the obsession level he has with them is SO HIGH. He wakes up demanding them, comes through the door after daycare asking for them, yells for them in his sleep, and prefers them to all other foods, insisting he have one instead of dinner, breakfast, or lunch. They’re pretty healthy, so the insanity has been so far tolerable, but the muffin hysteria has reached a peek lately so we have take a break for a bit! IOW, they’re a huge success, but almost too much so!
Do I have to put oats in?? I put whole rolled oats and did not like its texture in the muffins.. or was I supposed to grind them ?
You could use oat flour instead if you prefer.
Are you sure the baking time 10-12 minutes is correct? The muffins definitely needed more time.
That’s what I’ve done for mini muffins with this recipe, but there could be some variation with any one oven.
Amy is using a mini muffin tin in this recipe which calls for less time. It needs about 20 min or more for regular muffin tin.
Soooo good! Thank you fir the recipe!
For *
My almost two year old loves these muffins!!! He’s been very picky lately so that’s not an easy thing to accomplish! I love them too! Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
These were a big hit with both parents and the 2yo! Relatively few crumbs = easy cleanup, and the texture was lovely.
Additional recommendations to streamline/speed up the process: silicone mini muffin pan and 1TB cookie scoop.
Your blog is quickly becoming a favorite reference in our household! Thank you!
Made yesterday for my picky 3 years old and He loved it! I will make again for sure!
Hello. Can I NOT grind the oats and use whole ones instead?
I think so!
Can I use frozen spinach? Would I do anything differently with it if I do? Thanks!
Yes, I would thaw it, squeeze it very dry and use about 1/4 cup at most since it will be much more concentrated.
These were a hit with my 18 month old (and my husband)! I used maple syrup and added both the spinach and chocolate chips. I’ll definitely be making again — thanks for a great recipe!
Can we use vanilla essence instead of vanilla extract for this recipe?
I haven’t tried that so I can’t say for sure.
Hey we don’t need to grind the oats for this recipe?
No you don’t have to
Vanilla extract is designed for liquids – like smoothies, but can also be used in baking. It just has less alcohol.
Would it be the same if I switched it to oat flour instead of wheat
I haven’t tried it that say so I can’t say for sure, but let me know if you do!
Can I replace the bananas with something else if I don’t have any on hand? I’d like to make them with bananas as well but in cases when I don’t have any, I’d like to see what I could sub them with.
I haven’t tried these any other way, but typically applesauce or mashed roasted sweet potato work well in place of bananas in baked goods.
These are delicious! A massive hit with my 2 year old, me and my husband!
Will be trying some of the other recipes soon!
I’m so glad to hear that!
These are nice and fudgey. I made them vegan by substituting applesauce for eggs and peanut butter for butter. I also blended the oats with the liquids so they wont get hard when baking. I also leave them in the tray for some time to cool so they get a nice shape. Healthy and easy muffin recipe.
This is my second time baking these: Went with cacao and raw almond butter, added some dark choc chips- yum! They are very dense and fudgy but mine didn’t come out dry . My 2 year old loved them.
This time I took an idea from another muffin recipe and soaked my oats in milk first— it makes the tops rise and the muffin less dense. I had become used to my healthy muffins not rising much, but woah, this really makes a difference! I adjusted the recipe and used two bananas instead of 3, and added chia and hemp seeds too.
Thanks for posting!
Unfortunately, these came out awful for me. They were super dry and I ended up throwing them out. I’ve had success with a lot of the muffin recipes on this website, but not this one. Flavor was great but consistency was not. I may try again with maple syrup instead of honey and maybe less baking time?
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll check the baking time too.
My 22 month old and I just made these this morning. It was hard to get the batter in the muffin pan because he was scarfing spoonfuls out of the mixing bowl! We did end up getting some in the oven and just enjoyed them for morning tea. Definitely a winner! I didn’t have cocoa so I used cacao and they are still sweet enough!
I’m so glad you both enjoyed them!
Could you substitute raw sugar for honey? If so, equal amounts?
Yes, that should work just fine!
Can you substitute honey for raw sugar? (If yes, how much should I add?)
I would love to make these. At the top of the recipe it mentions subbing oats for coconut. But I don’t see coconut in the recipe. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. Thanks!
Oh sorry, I fixed it. I recently simplified the recipe and forgot to adjust that!
Hi! I made them yesterday but they were very dry.. and the next day impossible to eat so i put some coconut milk to make them soft. Taste wise they were amazing! I put ginger syrop insteas of maple. Any ideas how to make them more juicy & soft?
Hi! I’m not sure how ginger syrup would impact them but maybe try them with the maple syrup next time?
Could you substitute sunflower butter for almond butter? If so, equal amounts?
My 3 year old and I made these today. They taste yum but the consistency is more fudgey than muffin/cakey. Is this normal?
They are pretty fudgey!
Have you ever estimated the calories/breakdown per mini muffin? I’m making for the preschool classroom and one of the children is diabetic. His mom says knowing carb count is helpful.
I have not, sorry!
I am interested in using this for my little one’s first birthday smash cake in a couple of weeks… i have 4" pans and was going to make a double-layer cake. the internet seems a little divided on temperature/cook time and i was wondering if you had any thoughts on whether i should keep the same 350 degree oven temp or increase/decrease? and any guesses on when to start checking doneness? Thanks!
Ooh, I love that idea! I would keep the baking temp the same and start checking at 10 minutes. The thickness probably won’t be that different than that of a mini muffin tin so it might wind up being right around the same time—the edges will cook faster so focus on the very center being cooked through (use a cake tester). I’d also let them cool in the pans to help ensure that they stay together well. Maybe pop them into the fridge to chill them a bit before frosting or if you have to store them for any amount of time. Happy almost birthday to your little one!
What baking time would you recommend for a regular size (12 muffin) pan?
I’d start checking them at 18 minutes. I’d guess between 18-22 but a cake tester inserted into the center coming out clean would be the best way to know for sure.
I just timed mine at 18 minutes and they are done! I didn’t quite fill each "cup." They smell amazing; I can’t wait to taste it!
is that the correct amount of cocoa? just seems like a lot for the amount of ingredients
It is!
I didn’t see I needed to refrigerate… Til now. Too late? They were left out all day 🙁
They will be fine! They just last longer if you put them into the frigde.
possible to sub maple syrup with coconut nectar syrup and sub almond butter with sunflower seed butter?
Yes, those should work fine!
Can you substitute almond butter for peanut butter?
Yes!
Can I omit the coconut or do I have to replace it with another ingredient?
You could use more oats instead, which would keep the consistency/cooking time the same.