Whole-Grain Banana Yogurt Muffins

By Genevieve Ko

Whole-Grain Banana Yogurt Muffins
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
30 minutes, plus cooling
Rating
5(6,120)
Comments
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Whole-wheat flour gives these muffins a rich, nutty flavor that’s extra satisfying on fall days. Even though this recipe uses all whole-grain flour, the muffins stay light and tender in texture and delicate in taste. Combining the dry ingredients with a large proportion of wet — bananas, yogurt, oil and honey — keeps these from being dry and heavy. Plus, the acidity of yogurt and honey help mellow out the tannic taste of whole wheat. Because these muffins are so tender, their flat tops crack a bit instead of doming. You can adorn them and add crunch by sprinkling with oats, seeds, chopped nuts, grated coconut or cacao nibs before baking.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 muffins
  • 1¼cups/150 grams whole-wheat flour
  • 1teaspoon baking powder
  • 1teaspoon baking soda
  • 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1cup mashed ripe bananas (from about 2 large bananas)
  • ½cup/120 milliliters plain whole-milk yogurt
  • 1large egg
  • ½cup/110 grams packed light brown sugar
  • ¼cup/60 milliliters neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola
  • ¼cup/60 milliliters honey
  • Old-fashioned oats, seeds, chopped nuts, grated coconut or cacao nibs, for sprinkling (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

170 calories; 6 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 29 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 18 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 157 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners or generously grease (with nonstick cooking spray or butter).

  2. Step 2

    In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the bananas, yogurt, egg, brown sugar, oil and honey until just smooth.

  3. Step 3

    Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir with a silicone spatula just until no streaks of flour remain. Divide the batter evenly among the muffins cups. Sprinkle on toppings if you’d like.

  4. Step 4

    Bake until a toothpick inserted into a center muffin comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Cool in the tin on a rack for 5 minutes, unmold and cool completely or serve warm.

Tip
  • The muffins can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. If frozen, thaw and reheat in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes before serving.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
6,120 user ratings
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Comments

Lori

In an attempt to make these super healthy, I used 1/3 c applesauce in place of the 1/4 c oil and skipped the honey. I also used Greek yogurt as I couldn’t find regular yogurt at my grocery store, and it worked great. A fun recipe to play with. The second time around I used just one banana and a cup or so of berries that were slightly past their prime. Delicious.

Spoons

Excellent recipe. Endlessly adaptable. You can easily reduce the sweetener by half. I rarely add the honey and cut the sugar by 1/3-1/2. Adding lemon, coconut and blueberries is delicious but adding frozen raspberries is my house’s favourite variation.

Susan

I omitted the honey because I was reading off my phone and missed it. But they were very good, and sweet enough without it. Nice texture, good flavor, freeze nicely. I'm going to add a note that up to 1/4c honey is optional, and I'm going to make this my "go to" muffin recipe.

Deirdre

Made exactly as directed (as I normally do when making a recipe for the first time). Delicious. Really glad I bought whole wheat flour instead of just subbing the all purpose I already had in hand. Was skeptical about the use-the-flat-tops-for-toppings thing (figured it was gimmicky/for the photo) but actually it works really well - the toppings stay put. I’d make these for brunch/company with a little assortment of toppings for people to customize as they want. Now I’m curious to see how they are frozen and then reheated…

Ted

Made this vegan to serve to someone with allergies. Subbed egg with 1 tbsp ground flax powder, subbed whole milk yogurt with a cashew yogurt, and skipped honey altogether. Came out great! Although for this version, make sure to bake as soon as wet and dry are combined, since the crumb structure is more likely to deflate quickly and become dense without the egg.

Brett

This came together quickly. Based on reviews, I used a mix of yogurt and buttermilk (what I had on hand), 1/3 C sugar, 1T of maple syrup instead of honey (still plenty sweet). I made 10 muffins instead of 12, preheated the oven to 400, turned to 375 after I put them in. Baked for 18 minutes (almost too long). They ended up with a decent dome and a lovely texture. I topped them all with walnuts and added dried cherries to four of them (didn't like that as much).

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