Banana streusel muffins provide an easy to make snack that packs a bit more health into a dessert than the average tasty treat. You can easily whip up the batter in minutes, use up those brown bananas you probably thought needed to be thrown out, and make enough to last an entire week!
Better than Starbucks, the best banana streusel muffins
If you can hold off from the urge to eat three or so at a time! Not going to lie, that part is much tougher than making these quick and easy healthy banana muffins.
I love muffins so be sure to check out all my muffin recipes!
Are banana muffins actually healthy for you?
Many times recipes for banana muffins include nuts. Nut do have beneficial fats and proteins, but this recipe doesn’t have nuts, so you can’t count on that part for nutrition. Of course you are welcome to add nuts if that is your preference.
If you do want to include nuts, then I suggest grinding them up and making them part of the streusel mixture. Streusel is the mix of butter and flour and sugar that is crumbled over the top of the muffin.
Just add some crushed nuts, like walnuts or pecans, or whatever nuts you have handy, (not including your partner if applicable), to the streusel and bake it on top.
On the other hand, bananas are a rich source of potassium and they do actually contain some protein too, which is nice to know. They also are very high in fiber and low in fat. In terms of heart and cardiovascular health as well as digestive health are concerned, yes, bananas are great for you!
Relative to many other banana mufffin recipes I see, this is lower in sugar, because it takes advantage of the unprocessed natural sugars in the bananas. So who says sweets can’t be healthy too?
There has to be a catch… are banana muffins fattening?
No! Unless you spread it with a ton of butter, this healthy banana streusel muffin is low fat, high fiber, contains protein, iron, potassium, and is actually pretty good for you as far as snacks are concerned.
What is the healthiest muffin? If you want to add protein and more healthy omega 3 fatty acids to this dessert then I recommend adding crushed walnuts or pecans to the streusel topping.
I also have some very healthy other muffin suggestions to check out too if you want good low fat muffin ideas.
- Sunshine muffins – these carrot muffins are delicious and one of my most nutritious healthy muffin recipes
- Zucchini chocolate chip muffins – Super healthy and yes… they even have chocolate!
- Mini egg muffins – tons of protein and a new take on the venerated princess of foods, the muffin
How long are muffins good for after you bake them?
If you store your streusel covered banana muffins properly, then you can make them last all week long and not lose any of that moist yet fluffy quality that makes muffins the healthier alternative to cupcakes.
To save and store muffins for later, then directly after they cool down thoroughly, take them and place them in an airtight container. If the container is big enough to stack a few rows, then make sure to put a piece of paper towel or parchment paper between layers.
The muffins will start drying out immediately, so don’t delay getting them into a lidded container or a large zip lock style bag. Store properly in this manner you get about four days of storage. I would recommend refrigerating.
You can actually freeze muffins and save them for about two weeks. If you do freeze them, then thaw them in a microwave or in the oven on very low heat. Wrap a very lightly damp paper towel loosely around them individually and that will help them avoid drying out.
What else can I add to the banana muffin if I want to dress it up a bit?
If you want to add a bit of sweet, then you can certainly add things like peanut butter, chocolate, butterscotch, or caramel chips. All of those will be close to each other on the baking aisle in the local grocery.
More importantly, all of them work amazingly well with bananas too!
Also, feel free to add other chopped, diced, or sliced fruit into the batter, like strawberries, blueberries, or apples. Keep in mind that those add some water content too so you want to make sure to adjust the cook time for just a few minutes longer to let that moisture stream out.
When do you suggest serving banana streusel muffins?
Truthfully, the streusel banana muffin works for any meal. For breakfast, it is a good way to start the day by adding some protein and fiber to the morning and some carbs to get everything jump started. For lunch, or midday snack, it provides an easy to eat and clean up treat to the meal.
Even for dinner, you can easily serve a streusel banana muffin just as you would add a slice of bread. Of course it works any time as a simple snack or dessert too!
Useful Tools that I use and love for this recipe:
- 12 Cup Muffin Tin
- Medium Ice Cream Scooper
- 5 quart Kitchen-Aid Mixer
Here’s the recipe for these amazing muffins:
The Best Banana Streusel Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin tin
Ingredients
- 4 small bananas ripe and soft
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup butter melted (can also use melted light butter spread)
- 1/4 cup sugar substitute, such as Truvia (can also use 1/2 cup granulated sugar)
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup light sour cream
Streusel Topping
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup butter softened
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF and place muffin liners into each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin. Using cooking spray, spray the outer rim of each muffin cup. (This is to prevent the muffins from sticking to the tin since they raise and become nice and tall and spill over the rims.)
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the soft bananas with the back of a fork. Add in oil and butter and blend with a mixer (I use my Kitchen-Aid Mixer).
- Add sugars to banana mixture and combine. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each one.
- Now add vanilla extract and sour cream and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet batter and lightly mix, only until barely mixed together.
- Scoop mixture with an ice scream scooper into each of the 12 muffin tins, evenly. They will be almost full.
- To make streusel: combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add in softened butter and mash together with the back of a fork or using your fingers. Top each muffin evenly with streusel mixture.
- Place in preheated oven. Bake for 8 minutes at 425ºF and then reduce the heat in the oven to 350ºF without opening the oven door and bake for another 7 minutes. Use the toothpick test to make sure the middle is cooked through.
- Let cool for a few minutes and then use a knife to run around the base of the muffin top before pulling each muffin out and placing on a cooling rack. Serve and enjoy!
My fussy 23yo son loved this. . He tried one immediately and insisted on taking one more to work. Only change … I topped it off with oat struesel. Thanks Jen
These really are the best! I did use 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and they were perfect, not too sweet. Thank you for the recipe.
I’m so happy you liked them!!