Sweetened with brown sugar and ripe bananas, these little guys are super moist with so much delicious banana flavor. Mini banana muffins are great for little hands and toddler snacks, and easily fit into school lunches or to take on the go in the morning!
Table of Contents
A Bite-Sized Snack
Mini banana muffins are exactly cute as they sound. They’re bite-sized versions of traditional banana bread muffins and they’re so easy to make with even faster baking time.
Plus, smaller muffins just means you can eat more of them, just like with mini silver dollar pancakes, right?
Leave them as is or add some chocolate chips like I do in zucchini chocolate chip muffins or pumpkin chocolate chip muffins or even try a different add-in for texture. With just a few baking staples and the bananas you’ve been wondering what to do with, you can have an entire batch ready in just 35 minutes!
Why This Recipe Works
- Feeds a crowd. Banana mini muffins are great for potlucks and parties. It gives people a little sampling or two of a muffin while leaving room for other treats.
- Fun to make. Kids get a kick out of these cute little muffins! If we’re headed on a road trip or to the kids’ activity, I usually whip up a batch because they travel well.
- Customizable. Add some dried fruit, chocolate chips, or nuts to the batter.
- Tasty! If you love a traditional banana bread recipe or any kind of banana-flavored muffin, you’ll love the taste of this mini banana muffin recipe.
Recipe Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Butter: You’ll need unsalted butter that’s been brought to room temperature and softened ahead of time. If you’ve forgotten to do this, here are some tips on how to soften butter quickly.
- Baking staples: Granulated sugar, packed light brown sugar, large eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Sour cream: When added to baked goods, the acidity reacts with the leavening agents making the muffins nice and soft. The fat helps to keep the mini banana muffins moist.
- Bananas: You’ll need 3 ripe bananas. The riper the better, even if they’re brown on the outside! It gives the muffins added moisture and sweetness.
Mix-Ins
Add some tasty extras to your mini banana bread muffins.
- Blueberries for a twist on my blueberry muffins recipe
- Raisins
- Cinnamon
- Coconut flakes
- Mini chocolate chips to make chocolate chip banana bread muffins
- Butterscotch chips
- White chocolate chips
- Shredded zucchini makes banana zucchini muffins even moister!
- Chopped walnuts
How to Make Mini Banana Muffins
- Mix wet and dry ingredients separately. In a large mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and both sugars with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Then, add the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream and mix until just combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Combine the muffin batter. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, but by bit, stirring with a wooden spoon, but being careful not to overmix. Once combined, fold in the mashed banana and any add-ins, if using.
- Divide batter into the tin. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the mini muffin tin liners 2/3 of the way full. Sprinkle in remaining mix-ins over the tops of the muffins.
- Bake, cool, and enjoy. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 12-15 minutes until lightly brown. Transfer mini banana muffins to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Don’t skip using cooking spray to grease your muffin liners. It’ll help avoid them sticking to the paper.
- Keep an eye on them. They bake quicker than regular muffins, so don’t stray too far from the oven.
- Test for doneness. Stick a toothpick into the center of the muffin. If it comes out clean, they’re ready.
Recipe FAQs
Swap the sour cream for Greek yogurt and applesauce for butter. Both are 1:1 ratio, so there’s no change in the amount of ingredients.
If you’re planning ahead and have a few days to spare, you can place your bananas on the counter to ripen on their own. Placing them in a brown paper bag with an apple can also help speed this up.
If we’re talking minutes, then you can ripen them even faster than that. Place bananas, skin on, onto a baking tray. Bake at 350°F until the skin has turned black. This should be about 10-15 minutes.
Once they are cool to the touch, slice open the banana and expose the soft, mushy, sweet banana on the inside.
These should take anywhere from 12-15 minutes. However, because all ovens are different, and you don’t want to overbake them, check on them around the 10-minute mark.
Storing
Keep muffins stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 4 days. To avoid excess moisture, place a couple of paper towels in with the muffins for absorption.
Freeze them for up to 2 months.
To reheat, place them in the microwave for 10 second intervals to warm up.
For more banana recipes, check out my banana bars, banana pancakes, banana cream pie and my double chocolate banana bread.
More Muffin Recipes
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Mini Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter , softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar , packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt or fine sea salt
- 1 ¼ cups ripe banana , mashed (about 3 medium bananas)
Optional: 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners. Spray with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar using an electric mixer. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream until just combined.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined, being careful not to over mix. Fold in the banana and 1 cup chocolate chips, if using.
- Fill the muffin liners 2/3 of the way full. If adding chocolate chips, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup evenly over the top of the muffins.
- Bake 12to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
- Recipe can be lightened by using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and apple sauce in place of butter in a 1:1 ratio.
- Can add in extras like chopped nuts, cinnamon, and coconut.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
The entire time I had these in the oven until they reached my mouth, it was watering! They were gone within the same day, and I will be making these a lot more! It was also a very easy recipe to follow, and I had full confidence the whole time!
So glad you enjoyed the mini banana muffins!
I needed just this recipe this morning! Mini anything, goes very quickly in this house. These muffins smell heavenly right now! My kids are waiting in anticipation to eat the bananas they refused to eat earlier. LOL