These granola banana muffins are packed with bananas, nuts, and whole grains with greek yogurt to keep these Banana Oat Crunch Muffins moist and delicious! This recipe is vegetarian and easily dairy free.
Muffins = Comfort Food
What is it about them…. not quite bread, sometimes teetering between a dessert and breakfast food. Sweet or savory, they’re a grab-and-go snack. Forever comforting, and always crave-worthy.
Simple to make too, usually in just one bowl with pantry staples. Freezer friendly and at the ready for a quick defrost at room temperature. I love keeping them on hand for all things snack food!
A friend of mine shared a banana yogurt muffin recipe with me from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. I was smitten. But from the original recipe, I made some changes to include whole wheat white flour and oats. White whole wheat flour + oats replaces all purpose flour, coconut oil replaces butter, and brown sugar is used instead of white and reduced by 3/4 cup!
I also include more yogurt instead of milk, to add a bit of sourness and to tenderize the muffins. I love the subtle difference in flavor!
How to Make Greek Yogurt Banana Muffins
This easy banana muffin recipe comes together in one bowl, so clean up is a snap! Be sure you have a batch of granola ready to include in these whole grain muffins. Here’s how to do it.
- First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and either line the muffin pans or spray it with pan spray. You’ll need two muffin pans. If not using two pans, allow the batter to rest while the first pan bakes.
- Second, sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the oats and brown sugar.
- Third, to the dry ingredients, add the oil and mix well.
- Fourth, mash the bananas in a small bowl. Whisk in the eggs, yogurt and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix.
- Fifth, fold in diced bananas and granola (set aside 1/2 C granola to be sprinkled on the top of the muffins).
- Last, scoop the batter into the muffin pan, sprinkle granola on top of muffins and bake.
These banana yogurt muffins are big and the recipe yields 21 muffins. They’re a delicious choice for sharing at the office, with friends, or at brunch. They freeze beautifully too.
How to Freeze Granola Banana Muffins
Once completely cool, freeze muffins on a sheet pan. Once frozen, transfer the muffins to a freezer storage container. Individual muffins can be thawed at room temperature overnight.
Pro Tips
- For this banana muffins recipe, I include maple pecan Maple Pecan Granola because I almost always have some on hand. Store-bought granola can be used too, although the muffins will be sweeter due to the increased sugar content of commercial granola; just make sure it doesn’t have any dried fruit in it.
- You’ll need two muffin pans. If not using two pans, allow the batter to rest while the first pan bakes.
- Dairy free? Yes please! Instead of greek yogurt use your favorite dairy free yogurt.
- Freezer friendly? Oh yes! Cool your granola banana muffins completely, then freeze individual muffins on a sheet pan. Once frozen, transfer to a lidded storage container. Thaw individual muffins at room temperature.
More Banana Recipes to Love
- Brown Sugar Banana Bread
- Fluffy Sourdough Banana Muffins
- Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Breakfast Banana Nut Muffins – gluten free + vegan
Granola Banana Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 C (296g) White Whole Wheat Flour , aka Ivory Wheat
- 2 Tbs Corn Starch
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1 C (95g) Thick Rolled Oats
- 1 1/4 C (248g) Brown Sugar break up any chunks **See Ingrid's comment below about using maple syrup instead!
- 1 C (190g) Melted Coconut Oil Unrefined, warm to the touch
- 2 Large Eggs lightly beaten
- 1/2 C (136g) Unsweetened Greek Yogurt sub non dairy yogurt for dairy free
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 C (215g) Bananas mashed (about 2 bananas), overripe is good!
- 1/2 C (125g) Bananas diced (about 1 banana)
- 1 C (92g) Walnuts medium chop
- 1 1/2 C (170g) Granola divided* (see note)
- 1 C (95g) Coconut unsweetened shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (177C).
- Line two muffin pans with 21 muffin paper liners.
- Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the oats and brown sugar. Stir. To the flour/oat mixture add the melted coconut oil. Using a wooden spoon, mix well (the batter will be thick).
- In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, vanilla bean paste and mashed bananas until combined. Pour into flour mixture and stir in, gently, until ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Gently fold in the diced bananas, walnuts, 1 C (113g) granola and coconut until all ingredients are distributed. The batter should be thick.
- Using a measuring scoop, scoop 1/4 C (82g) into each muffin cup. Or use a overfilled large cookie scoop (#20) to make portioning a snap! Use the remaining 1/2 C (57g) granola to sprinkle about 1 Tbs over each muffin.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The tops of the muffins should be golden and some dark golden brown.
- Remove muffins from pan about 10 minutes out of the oven. Cool completely on cooling wrack.
- Store in a covered container for up to two days or freeze in a freezer proof container or freezer storage bags for up to two weeks.
Love, love these muffins. Will put in my favourites file :)
Best news ever, Denise! Thank you for your note!
I made these today and they are delicious! Small changes that worked well:
— I had 4 overripe bananas and none suitable for the sliced banana part so I used all four: the weight was about equivalent to your two different banana ingredients.
— I added cinnamon and left out the coconut.
— half white whole wheat, half regular whole wheat.
Might cut the sugar back next time to see how they fare. But it did make a big batch!
hello traci: i found a muffin tray, and in the absence of brown sugar used one cup of maple syrup and subtracted 3 tablespoons of yoghurt (with your recipe for maple pecan granola): the muffins are delicious and will be packed to go up north! are you really up at 4 am responding to our delish-delirious comments? thanks for being our in-house chef.
Haha… I am an early riser ;) but not that early lol. I think time differences may be reflected in the time stamps – IDK? So happy to hear your swaps and that you found a muffin tray! I looove these muffins so much… think I need to make a gf version. Thank you for your note, Ingrid. Have a great trip up North!
hello traci,
can i use this recipe to bake a loaf instead of muffins? i left my muffin trays in my classroom and it’s the summer holiday!
thanks,
ingrid
Hooray for summer holiday Ingrid! I’m sure it would be fine (although I’ve not tried it) but your bake time will be longer. Keep an eye on it… and do the toothpick test. Please let us know how you do!
I just made these and they are delicious. I was looking for a recipe to use up some of those over ripe bananas I had in the freezer and these were just perfect. I didn’t have any coconut and used homemade granola. Love the crunch.
Hooray! Thank you for your note, Mary! SO happy you enjoyed these muffins… it’s time for me to whip up another batch.. those over ripe bananas in the kitchen are calling! :D
To substitute back to butter, would it be a one to one ratio? Thank you!
Hi Rachel! I’m sure it would be fine, but keep in mind butter has a percentage of water in it where coconut oil does not, so this may impact the outcome. Please let us know how you do!
I have tried many many banana bread/muffin recipes and this one wins the race, hands down. These are THE BEST banana muffins I’ve ever had in my life. I used an almond vanilla granola (store bought) and reduced the sugar to 1 cup. I also used 1 cup of Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup of coconut oil. I was also very generous with my splash of vanilla extract. I didn’t have whole wheat flour, so I substituted with 1 1/2 cup of All Purpose flour and 1/2 cup of bran flakes. The muffins were moist and soft and with the crunchy granola topping, the taste and texture was just out of this world!! :) Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. :)
This is so great to hear Bubblybunny! Thank you for letting us know and sharing your modifications! It is a good recipe and the granola makes them extra special! I hope you were able to freeze a few for later… I’m ready to make another batch!