Banana Muffins Recipe with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

This easy banana muffin recipe is a great thing to bake when you have very ripe bananas. I love banana bread but my kids will more likely eat muffins. I make these banana muffins and then add in walnuts and chocolate chips.

This is a versatile recipe. I love bananas because they are nutritious and sweet. You can make banana muffins healthy with some easy substitutions.

Add in nuts for fiber. You can replace the butter and make banana muffins with oil instead. Choose avocado or olive oil for healthier options over soybean oil or other vegetable oil. Making banana muffins with almond flour will add extra nutrition as well. 

If you want to make gluten free banana muffins, you can simply switch to gluten free flour. 

Whether you want chocolate chip banana muffins or simply banana nut muffins, this recipe is quick and easy. These are moist and dense. 

Banana Muffin Recipe

Making banana muffins is an easy way to add some fruit to a dessert. If you have picky eaters, they won’t even know it’s there. I have one child who won’t eat raw nuts but will eat walnuts in these muffins.

And if you’ve been following my blog, you know that we avoid palm oil. Most all banana muffins and all muffins actually — contain palm oil when you buy them premade from the grocery store. It’s so easy to make your own.

Enjoy this banana nut muffin recipe for a leisurely breakfast. They are also easy to grab and go and somewhat healthy. Banana muffins are also a great after school snack or anytime snack or dessert.

You can add more or less chocolate chips and more or less walnuts — or omit them entirely. You can easily make half and half as well by filling the muffin cups with the banana muffin batter and then add in the walnuts and chocolate chips to however many muffins you want.

It’s a flexible and forgiving recipe. This banana muffin recipe calls for 4 bananas and makes 16 regular-sized muffins. If you have 2 bananas, just half the recipe. A hand mixer will make it easy to mix but you can mix by hand as well. 

I think this is the best banana muffins recipe because it’s so easy and quick to make. It takes me 10 minutes to prep but experienced bakers will likely be able to do it faster. 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Bake time: 20 minutes

Banana Muffins Recipe

“Wet ingredients”

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter — Soften on the counter in advance or set in the microwave
• 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar or granulated sugar / white sugar — Sugar is sometimes considered a wet ingredient in baking
• 2 tablespoons whole milk so it’s palm oil free
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

“Dry ingredients”

• 2 cups all purpose flour — You can also use almond flour or Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten Free Flour or other flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips — Use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips for less sweetness
• 1/2 cup walnuts

How to Make Banana Muffins 

1. Soften butter on counter a few hours beforehand or when you are ready to make the muffins by putting the butter in the microwave.
2. Set oven to bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
3. Line standard size muffin tin with muffin liners or grease muffin pan directly. You can also use a silicone muffin pan. 
4. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) together in a medium size bowl. Add in chocolate chips and/or walnuts if using. 
5. Separately, in a large bowl, mash bananas. Whisk in eggs. Add in softened butter.
6. Then add brown sugar, milk, vanilla extract. 
7. Gently pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly by hand or with a hand mixer. Add an additional tablespoon of milk if the batter is too thick and lumpy. 
8. Fill each of the muffin cups 3/4 of the way. They will rise. 
9. Set in oven. Set timer for 20 minutes. 
10. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick or fork into the center. Add 2 more minutes if necessary.

Making Muffins With Very Ripe Bananas

I make these muffins often when I go to Costco and stock up on bananas. They are the perfect dessert to make when you have lots of ripe bananas. The riper, the better!

Walnuts are optional. I like adding them for some crunch and extra nutrition along with fiber. You can also substitute all purpose flour with almond flour.

For banana muffins with oil instead of butter you can substitute the 1/2 cup of butter with 1/4 cup of oil plus 2 additional tablespoons. 

If you want to add chocolate chips, read labels before buying. Choose real milk chocolate chips or semi-chocolate chips. It’s better-for-you when the chocolate contains cocoa butter instead of added fillers and chemicals. My family favorite is Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips.

Baking at Home

Bananas are healthy, sweet, and delicious. They are an easy fruit to bake with, and they work well in desserts. 

I bake muffins and all desserts palm oil free at home because my son has reactions to palm oil. In addition to making homemade banana muffins, it’s easy make a banana bread recipe as well as gluten free banana bread. For something quick and easy, try this banana bread without flour using a blender or food processor.

I also mix ripe bananas with eggs for pancakes (just those 2 ingredients!). I use bananas to make ice cream by mixing sliced frozen bananas in the Vitamix with cocoa (and sometimes pure vanilla extract).

These muffins aren’t overly sweet — especially if you use semi-sweet chocolate instead of milk chocolate — so they work well with black coffee or tea for the grownups and a glass of milk for the kids. Or water — our favorite!

I’d say these muffins have the consistency of a dense cake more than the texture of a dense banana bread muffin recipe. Learn how to freeze bananas so you will always have some on hand.

Love muffins? Check out:

• Cornbread muffins  
• Mini chocolate chip muffins 
• Blueberry muffins with fresh or frozen 

Need more inspiration? Here are other ideas of things to bake. 

If you make these homemade bananas muffins with chocolate chips and walnuts, let me know in the Comments below. 

Featured image credit: Dawn Head