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Just made these for me and my sister, and we both absolutely loved them! Perfect for university girls on a budget, especially on busy early mornings. (That is, if they last until tomorrow morning). We will definitely make these again!
Shayda
And the streak of new things continues with Caramelized Banana Can’t Stop Love Them So Much Naturally Sweet Oat Muffins.
But don’t think I’m getting all crazy with the new because you know I like routine and familiar and predictability something fierce. As a result, today my new food things are being delivered to your mouth in the form of an old, predictably delicious favorite: JUMBO MUFFINS.
Friends, I do not mess around with baby muffins. If you are a mini muffin baker, you win the Better Person with More Self Control and Cuteness award. I generally do not associate with any kind of mini muffinery. In my muffin-baking kitchen, we go big or we go muffin-less. 12 cup muffin tin? Try again, baby muffin lover. I bought this massive 6 cup muffin tin at a thrift store and I’ve never looked back. Jumbo muffins are where it’s at.
Also – caramelized bananas. LIKE WHAT.
If there is a better cooking color than deep golden brown, I haven’t found it yet. There is some inappropriately deep satisfaction that I feel when I look at those perfectly golden nuggets of sweetness.
And there you have New Thing #1: caramelized bananas. Eyeroll. I know, you’re a foodie and you’ve been doing this for years. Yeah yeah yeah. Just let me have my moment, okay? These are very new and very awesome to my world. The knowledge that you can just slice a banana and bake at 400 degrees for this beauty is possibly going to change the course of my life. It’s so simple and so, so sweetly good with just one feel-good ingredient. Hey look at me, Mom! No added sugar!
New Thing #2: oat flour.
Disclaimer – I do not have a background in hippie foods and therefore I don’t know if what I’ve created here would be technically considered oat flour. Alternative flour-ers and hippies alike are welcome to correct or confirm in the comments.
Here’s my definition of oat flour: I just basically took the rolled oats – PS. love using rolled oats here because they’re almost always in the pantry, right? requiring no trip to the store, right? WINNING – and pulsed them continuously through my food processor for about a minute until this flour-like meal formed.
Then I used that oat flour instead of a big yucky cup of whole wheat flour because, you guys, that stuff is not what my dreams are made of. I think I tricked myself into liking whole wheat flour and its related baked goods for a few years there, but yeesh. My more mature (because not liking whole wheat flour is obviously mature) older self says nooo thank you and please pass the friendly, yummy oats.
I can’t take all the credit for this deliciously and naturally sweet muffin recipe that you can feel good eating (even when it’s jumbo). Usually when I’m baking, I’m working off at least 52 other recipes and this was no exception.
There were two sources of inspo that stood out here: sweet Heather kind of made me obsessed with the caramelized banana thing in her no sugar added banana bread, and my new friend Lisa showed me how to make a really awesome whole wheat muffin that could be adapted any which way to get it just how I wanted it.
Friends are friends forever when they inspire these kinds of yums.
So the results are in: these caramelized banana oat muffins are naturally sweet yummification. They are slightly puffed and crisped on top and packed with bites of warm, sweet caramelized banana on the inside. They beg for a tiny little slab of melted butter and a vanilla latte. Do it now now now.
Plus that little oatmeal topping that gets crispy and perfect. Yeah, that.
Caramelized Banana Oat Muffins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 jumbo or 9–12 regular 1x
Description
These Caramelized Banana Oat Muffins are made with whole grains and without refined sugar for a super satisfying and delicious breakfast.
Ingredients
- 4 bananas, peeled and sliced (NOT overly ripe)
- 1 cup oats, pulsed through a food processor until coarse flour forms
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 eggs
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
- 2–3 tablespoons raw honey or real maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping
- 1/3 cup oats
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 tablespoon raw honey or real maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the bananas into rounds. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray generously with nonstick cooking spray. Place the bananas on the baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes, flipping once and removing from the oven when the bananas are deep golden brown on the outside. Transfer to a bowl and mash the bananas with a wooden spoon.
- Break down the oats in a food processor until a flour-like meal is formed. This should yield a little more than 3/4 cup. Combine the oat flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the half and half, Greek yogurt, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and honey until smooth. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet to the dry. Stir around the bowl just 10 times until the batter is just barely combined (if you stir too much during this step, your muffins are going to have a gummy, chewy consistency). Fold the caramelized bananas into the mixture, stirring just 5 more times.
- Transfer the batter to a greased 6 or 12 cup muffin tin. Mix the topping ingredients together and spoon over the muffins. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the muffins are puffed slightly and spring back when you touch the tops.
Notes
Nutrition facts are for 6 muffins.
Store these muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: banana oat muffins, banana muffin recipe, healthy muffin recipe
1/2cup half and half???
Of what?
Thanks for your recipes, ..so good!
My 4 year old grandson has juvenile arthritis so I’m looking for appropriate healthy low sugar recipes. Any recipes you could recommend for him, I would be grateful.
Thanking you
Marvelous post
Thanks
Hi there! I’m super excited to try this recipe. Bananas can vary greatly in size and I’ve had trouble in the past with other recipes trying to guess the right size. Any chance you can tell me an approx measurement in cups?
So sorry we don’t have that measurement, Hope. We’d recommend using 4 medium-sized bananas.
Can these be stored frozen and reheated?
Soooo good. Best muffins I’ve had. I did 3 tablespoons maple syrup (might add a tad more next time) and skipped the topping. I also added blueberries to half the muffins.
YUM! Sounds so good, Hannah!
Thanks For Sharing.
Could the bananas be carmelized the night before and refrigerated overnight or would they brown?
Hi, Jennifer! You should be a-okay to caramelize your bananas the night before. It’d be okay if they turned a little bit brown because they’ll be baked into a muffin anyway. š
Well, Iām not sure what exactly I did wrong… perhaps the bananas I used were too big, therefore changing the wet-dry proportions? They were very mushy. Seemed to wet before they even went in the oven. Sadly wonāt be using this recipe again.
Great muffins! Made them this morning. Opted from putting the topping on and they are still super delicious. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
If I didn’t have whole wheat flour on hand, could I just sub for an equal amount of oat flour?
A must try muffins š
Thank you for sharing!
I saw this dish first time and If nothing else, must be preparing the caramelized banana thingsā¦.as soon as I go for buy some bananas.
Hi Lindsay! I am writing you from BogotĆ”-Colombia, it is my birthday today and was looking for a healthy recipe to bake…love this one but I do not have butter at home…can I replace it with peanut butter? Or olive oil? Or sunflower oil?
Hmmm I think any could work – just depends on what kind of flavor you’re looking for!
Can I use purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour? Will this change the texture or flavor of the muffin I already have a ton of all purpose flour and would like to avoid a trip to the grocery store. Thanks!
Great question! Here’s a great resource from Food52: https://food52.com/hotline/8932-can-white-flour-be-substituted-for-whole-wheat-flour-or-vice-versa-in-a-1-1-ratio-in-recipes. If you’re using all purpose flour in place of whole wheat, they suggest increasing the amount of all-purpose. Hope that helps! š
Made these this afternoon and they were lovely! Didn’t wait for my oven to preheat and had trouble caramelizing my bananas, but that was my impatience, and the muffins were lovely anyways! That might be the trouble for some other commenters, if the oven isn’t quite hot enough to start, then the bananas bake and get mushy before they can start caramelizing!
Due to the low amount of gluten, these were very soft and did go flat when cool, but they were deliciously moist and yummy!
Thanks for the tips, Alexis! š
Loved this recipe as soon as I saw it but when I tried to bake them they came out very wet and sad? Any ideas? Does the oven stay at 400 after the bananas are done? Thanks, don’t wanna give up on this just yet..
Hi, Ashley! The oven stays at 400 degrees to bake the muffins. My guess is you needed a little more flour and a little more baking time. Each oven is a little different, so try baking them closer to 15 minutes (or even a few minutes past that) until they puff up and look dry on the tops. Hope that helps!
Hi there,
I am in Madagascar right now and don’t have access to half and half or greek yogourt. I have access to plain yogourt but it is not as thick a greek yogourt. Any ideas for substitutes? Thank you!
Hi, Akin. Half and half is essentially half milk and half cream, so you could use 1/4 c milk and 1/4 c cream in place of the 1/2 c half and half. For the yogurt, I think plain yogurt would work just fine in place of greek yogurt. Hope that helps!
my bananas did not carmelize… they got liquidy and mushy, even after a long time. eventually I broiled them š Anyway, I was mad at the recipe for a while but it turned out I was really just annoyed at my attempting to do anything when my kids were up and running around. always a disaster! Made the 12 muffins… which means I can go in for the other “half” of my not-jumbo-muffin, right??? it was super yummy. thanks!
Glad they turned out after the banana frustrations! Thanks for the comment, Alison!
Just discovered this recipe and made them this morning for our Muffin Monday breakfast. Yours sounded so good! Yours looked so good! Mine? Not so much. Not sure what went wrong. Bananas turned black rather than brown. Thought it would still be ok, so I continued with the recipe anyway. When I baked them, I tried a trick I learned at sallysbakingaddiction, which is to bake the muffins at a higher temperature first for 5 min then lower the temperature for the remainder of the bake time. I took them out when all signs were telling me they were finished, waited for them to cool a bit, and when I went to take them out of the pan, they sunk a little bit. When I cut into them, they were not done. Too much banana? Not enough flour? I still love the idea of this recipe, so I want to keep trying. I had also thought of the idea to brown the butter and use buttermilk instead of half-and-half. But why did my bananas turn black rather than brown? They weren’t overly ripe. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks! Love your website and started listening to Food Blogger Pro as well. Thanks for all your hard work!
Hey Sara! I have no idea – unless maybe they were in the oven too long or it was too hot? That’s the only thing I can think of. Mine were just as you see pictured. And as for the baking, it’s hard to say since you made a few substitutions.
Sorry to hear that, Sara! I’ll see if Lindsay has any tips to pass your way.
GIIIIRL!! So good! I love the ROASTING of the bananas.. I had to make another batch of bananas for the recipe.. I ate the first batch up!!
Thank you for the many good eats.. I make my favorites repeatedly.. Like a lot!! The 5 minute yummy sauce~favorite, the veggie pad Thai.. The chopped salads.. On and on!! You are appreciated!!
That’s awesome, Cynthia! I’ll pass along you kind words to Lindsay. š
I made a version of these tonight (I skipped the caramelization, which I realize is pretty much the point, but I had overripe bananas and I wanted to try a new recipe, so I just mashed and folded them in). Even with that mega-tweak, they were so yummy! I officially want crunchy buttery oats on all my muffins forever..
You and me both! š Good to know they still worked out with mashed bananas. Thanks!
Oops! Just seen the post two above mine!! Am off to try
Hi
I’d love to try making these but as I live in the UK I’ve no idea what half and half is or what to substitute for it. Help please??
I made these and they are so incredibly moist and yummy! I didn’t have half and half so I subbed 1/4 cup milk and an extra 1/4 cup Greek yogurt. Thanks for sharing š