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These easy and healthy Baby Banana Muffins are mini in size, soft in texture and naturally sweetened with banana and cinnamon. The perfect first muffin for babies.
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Reasons to Love this Recipe
- Fruit Sweetened - It is recommended that children under two should not consume any added sugar. Most muffin recipes are packed with sugar, maple syrup or honey. These are sweetened with banana and cinnamon - perfect for little ones.
- Texture - A very soft, spongy texture easy for babies to eat.
- Mini in Size - Making them perfect for little hands.
- Freezable - Who doesn't love a puree/finger food freezer stash, ready for their babies at any time?
Ingredients
This is what you need to make banana baby muffins...
Step By Step Instructions (with Photos)
- Mix together the lemon juice and milk - this is to add more acidity to the recipe for the baking soda to work. If you prefer, you can replace with buttermilk.
- Mix together wet ingredients - mix until combined.
- Add mashed banana and gently stir.
- Mix together the dry ingredients - It is important to distribute the baking soda and cinnamon evenly throughout the flour before adding to the wet ingredients. Sifting the dry ingredients helps with this.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients - do not be tempted to over mix, the mixture will be thick and lumpy (see picture)
- Transfer to Muffin Tray - work quickly and fill each muffin cup, to the top, with the muffin mixture.
- Bake - in a pre-cooked oven (160C/320F ) for 13-15 mins.
Storage Instructions
- Cool on a wire rack. Allow to cool in the muffin tray for a couple of mins and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Before you store your muffins you want to make sure they are completely cooled. Packing them away when they are still warm will result in compensation and soggy muffins.
- Storing at room temperature - Store in an airtight container for 1 day.
- Refrigerating - Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. I personally do not recommend this method of storing as it can change the texture of the muffin, making them a little dry for babies.
- Freezing - Freeze in an airtight container for 2-3 months. Allow to thaw on the counter or defrost in the microwave.
Recipe FAQS
This will really depend on you and your baby. Once your baby has progressed onto finger foods then they should be able to manage these muffins.
Personally, I recommend focussing on offering your baby lots of iron-rich food and cooked vegetables before moving on to muffins.
Although these muffins are healthier than most recipes I would still consider this an occasional food and not something you allow your baby to fill up on every day.
Of course, just because our kids are older doesn't mean we stop looking for healthier versions of recipes. These muffins are perfect for children of all ages and adults too.
They travel well and are great for popping into a lunch box or taking out and about for day trips.
If your children are used to sweeter foods then you may need to slightly adapt the recipe to appeal to their taste buds. You can add a little extra sweetness by adding some
Dates - Blend a couple of dates with the milk (see this banana bread recipe for more detail) or finely chop the dates and stir through.
Sultanas/raisins - Soak approx ½ cup sultanas in boiling water for a couple of mins. Drain and stir through just before transferring the mixture to the muffin tray.
Honey/maple syrup - Replace a little of the milk with some honey or maple syrup
Chocolate chips - A few chocolate chips can really increase the kid appeal!
Other Baby Muffin Recipes
- Sweet Potato Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- Fruity Egg Muffins
- Mini Blender Muffins
- Blueberry Baby Muffins
Full Recipe
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Banana Baby Muffins
Equipment
- Mini Muffin Tray
Ingredients
- 1 ½ teaspoon Fresh Lemon Juice
- 125ml (½ cup) Milk
- 80ml (⅓ cup) Coconut Oil
- 60g (¼ cup) Natural Yoghurt
- 2 Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 250g (1 cup) (around 2-3 ripe bananas) Ripe Banana, mashed
- 215g (1¾ cup) Plain Wholemeal Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160ºC (320ºF) and grease a 24 cup mini muffin tray with coconut oil or butter.
- Add the lemon juice to the milk and allow to sit for 5 mins.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the milk & lemon mixture with the coconut oil, yoghurt, vanilla and eggs. Mix together with a whisk.
- Add the mashed banana and mix through.
- In a seperate mixing bowl, add the flour cinnamon and baking soda and gently stir to mix through.
- Add the dry flour mix to the wet ingredients and fold in gently until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 24 muffin cups. Bake muffins for approx 13-15 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional facts
Adrienne
Hi Amy,
Thank you for your wonderful recipes that have allowed us to feed healthy food to our kiddos for several years now. We often use this muffin recipe. I was wanting to potentially use it for my son's birthday cake later this week since we still don't feed him sugar/sweeteners. Do you think with parchment paper on the bottom and a greased pan this would come out alright from a 9 inch round pan? I would plan to increase baking time, of course.
Amy Whiteford
Hi Adrienne, I'm so sorry for the late reply. Your little one may have already had their special day, and I hope it was absolutely lovely (with or without cake!).
You're right that the baking time would definitely need to change with a 9-inch round pan, but without testing it myself, I wouldn’t be able to say for sure how it would turn out.
If you're still on the lookout for a sugar-free option, I do have a No Added Sugar First Birthday Cake recipe that might be just what you're after. It’s been a popular choice for little ones and you can find it here: https://www.healthylittlefoodies.com/healthy-first-birthday-cake/
Thank you so much for your kind words, it means a lot to hear that the recipes have been helpful for your family over the years! Amy
Dedra
Toddler approved! These were so moist and flavorful, and my grandbaby loved them! They have just the right amount of sweetness without adding sugar. The only change I made was to substitute buttermilk in place of the lemon & milk since I'm allergic to lemon. I also appreciate that you include the weights of the main ingredients as I prefer that when baking to ensure an accurate measure. Will definitely make again!
Amy Whiteford
Hi Dedra,
I'm so glad you and your grandbaby enjoyed the recipe! I'm happy to hear you found the ingredient weights helpful too — I love using them for accuracy. Thanks for taking the time to leave such lovely feedback!
Catherine
I have baked these muffins a few times and I find them very wet. I use almond flour should I increase the amount to prevent them from being mushy. Thank you Catherine
Amy
Hi Catherine, I haven’t tested this recipe with almond flour, so I can’t give exact amounts—sorry about that. Since almond flour tends to be more moist than whole wheat flour, you might need to add a bit more if the batter feels too wet. Unfortunately, I can't say how much without testing it myself.
Yamini
I loved this recipe. It is perfect for my baby. It is soft. The process which you followed is unheard. But the cupcakes came out in good texture and tasty. The ripeness in banana made it enough sweet. Thank you for making this. I had a measurement issue with flour ( i used oat powdered into flour,) later i added self-raising flour 1/2 cup. The dough became good and muffins raised enough.
Amy
Hi Yamini, thank you for the feedback. I'm glad you managed to get the consistency right with the change in flour. 🙂
Sheryl
I love this recipe and so have my two daughters doing BLW. They always turn out light and fluffy. Sometimes I add mini chocolate chips for an extra treat. I get about 30 muffins per batch. I love to freeze them and pull out for daycare lunches or easy snacks. Can’t go wrong with trying this!
Amy
Thanks Sheryl 🙂
Tahlia
This was great! I ate one myself and outcome was soft, moist but not falling apart. Wish it were just a touch sweeter as I could only taste the banana it in the aftertaste (not sure if that's intended). I made half the batch and it actually yielded 16. Am I able to freeze these for storage? How long if so? Thanks!
Amy
Hi Tahlia, yes you can freeze them. Full instructions are under the section "storage instructions" 🙂
Leanne
Hi Amy. I love this recipe and had been making it for months for my little one but am now having some issues with the texture and I was hoping you might have some ideas! They used to be really light and fluffy with the most amazing texture, they are recently coming out a bit dry and almost rubbery, and the sides of the muffin are sucking in once dry - a bit like an hourglass shape. Do you have any idea what might cause this weird shape? Thanks!
Amy
Hi Leanne, that is strange that all of a sudden they are no longer working for you. I haven't changed the recipe. I'm trying to think what may be causing this....
1) Are you over-mashing the banana? I find if the banana is too mashed (to a puree consistency) that it can change the texture of the muffin.
2) Are you over-mixing? Over mixing can cause the muffin to have a rubbery texture rather than a light fluffy texture.
3) Are you letting the muffins rest in the tin for a couple of mins before transferring them to a cooling rack?
4) Have you bought a new muffin tray or started using a different brand of ingredients?
Leanne
Thanks for your reply and ideas!
I think it might be the bananas! I have been using frozen bananas instead and have been mashing them until very runny like a puree. Next time Ill try using fresh ripe bananas and mashing them less.
I don't think I'm overmixing but I'll try mixing less next time and I also haven't changed the brand of my ingredients. Yes I do let them rest in the tin for a little while. Thanks so much, I really hope I can fix them by mashing the bananas less and using fresh ones!
Amy
Good luck 🙂
Deborah
Can I replace the coconut oil with organic butter?
Amy
Hi Deborah, I'm sure that would work but as I haven't tested I can guarantee results 🙂