These tasty Greek yogurt banana muffins are perfect for breakfast, lunch boxes or a mid afternoon snack. Sweetened naturally with applesauce and banana and topped with crunchy walnuts, these whole wheat muffins are made without butter, oil or refined sugar for the ultimate sweet, yet nutritious bite. Get ready to enjoy these fluffy, moist and healthy muffins! {Vegetarian & no refined sugar}
If you’re frequently on the hunt for delicious yet healthier muffin recipes, these Greek yogurt banana muffins are always a guaranteed hit!
They’re so easy to make and have just the right amount of sweetness and crunch from the walnuts — I guarantee they won’t last long!
Thanks to the applesauce and Greek yogurt, these lightened up banana muffins are also incredibly moist and fluffy, while being lower in sugar and saturated fat than your typical muffin.
Perfect to enjoy as a grab and go breakfast on those busy mornings or a mid-afternoon snack, these whole-wheat banana muffins contain a good amount of protein, fibre and healthy fats that will keep you feeling satisfied.
Such a delicious and healthy banana muffin recipe to keep on hand!
For more tasty banana muffin recipes, be sure to try my Banana Protein Muffins, Green Smoothie Muffins and Mini Blueberry Banana Muffins too!
Table of Contents
Why we love these Banana Walnut Muffins
- Low sugar: Your typical medium-sized muffin can contain anywhere between 20-40 grams of sugar. These banana muffins are made with ripe bananas, applesauce and honey so they contain no refined sugar. With only 10 grams of sugar per serving, they’re much lower in added sugar than your average muffin, but you’d never guess because they’re super tasty!
- Quick and easy: It takes no more than 10 minutes to whip up the muffin batter before they get baked in the oven. Made with simple everyday ingredients, there’s no excuse not to whip up a batch!
- Make-ahead: Make up a batch for easy breakfasts or snacks throughout the week. They’re also freezer-friendly too.
- Kid-friendly: Muffins are super handy to bake up and store in the freezer for ready-made snacks for the kids. My kids always gobble these muffins up!
Ingredient notes
- Flour: Whole-wheat pastry flour is perfect for these banana walnut muffins. It’s higher in fibre and nutrients, so it’s a better choice than all-purpose, while keeping your muffins light and fluffy in texture.
- Baking soda: Helps the muffin batter rise for a fluffy bite.
- Seasonings: Salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract provide additional flavour to the muffins.
- Walnuts: Chopped walnuts add a great crunchy texture as well as some healthy fats.
- Bananas: Use overly ripe bananas for the best results. They’re naturally sweeter and easier to combine with the other ingredients.
- Honey: To add some extra sweetness to the muffins. You can also sub in maple syrup if desired.
- Applesauce: Use unsweetened applesauce to limit added sugar. The applesauce helps to keep the muffins nice and moist and replaces the oil and butter found in typical muffins.
- Egg: To help bind the ingredients together. Use an egg at room temperature for best results.
- Greek yogurt: In addition to adding moisture, the yogurt also results in a delicious texture and you get a boost of protein too. Use plain Greek yogurt with 0% milk fat.
- Milk: You can use regular dairy or a plant-based milk alternative.
How to make banana muffins with yogurt – step by step instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or line with silicone muffin liners.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.
- Next, add the bananas, honey, vanilla, applesauce, egg, milk and yogurt to a blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy.
- Add the banana mixture to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do no over mix.
- Evenly distribute batter across 12 muffin cups and top with remaining chopped walnuts.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean or has just a few crumbs attached. Cool muffins in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the pan and allow them to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Recipe Notes:
- Use overripe bananas (the brown spotty ones) for best results since they’re naturally sweeter and will contribute more sweetness and flavour to these muffins.
- I recommend using whole-wheat pastry flour as opposed to regular whole wheat flour. It’s more finely ground than whole wheat flour and therefore produces lighter and more fluffy muffins.
- If desired, you can also add some chocolate chips to these muffins either instead of, or in addition to the walnuts.
- Do not over mix the muffin batter as this can cause the muffins to turn out tough and bake unevenly. Instead, mix the batter until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined.
- If possible, keep your egg and milk at room temperature before adding to the batter. It helps form a smooth mixture that traps air and expands when heated in the oven, which can help keep your muffins light and fluffy.
- I like to make these muffins using silicone muffins liners. They help prevent sticking and no cooking spray is required. I use them whenever I bake muffins…so handy!
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Greek yogurt is a great ingredient to add if you’re looking to bake moist and tender muffins and cakes. It’s a game changer!
Greek yogurt adds extra moisture and often can be used to replace butter and oil in muffins. The acid in the yogurt also helps the baking soda to activate which means extra fluffy muffins!
Muffins made with yogurt can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge. I prefer to keep them at room temperature so that they don’t dry out. They typically keep well at room temperature for about 4 days.
These Greek yogurt banana muffins are perfectly moist thanks to the banana, applesauce and yogurt. The ratio of flour is just right so there’s really no need to add any oil or butter like traditional recipes.
Your muffins may be denser than you were expecting due to over mixing. When you add the dry ingredients to the wet, combine them until there isn’t any dry flour left, but then resist the urge to continue mixing. If you overwork the batter, it can result in extra gluten development which can lead to gummy and heavy muffins.
Allowing the muffin batter to rest can result in a better overall muffin texture and presentation. This is because when the batter rests, the starches in the flour have more time to absorb the moisture from the eggs and liquid ingredients, allowing the starches to swell, which provides a thicker batter consistency. This can help create taller muffins without a crumbly or cakey texture.
Serving suggestions
These Greek yogurt banana muffins are great for a grab and go breakfast or snack! Or enjoy them for a healthier treat!
You can serve these banana breakfast muffins along with any of the following recipes to create an even more balanced and satisfying meal:
- Strawberry Banana Smoothie with yogurt
- Spinach Zucchini Frittata Fingers
- Egg Bites
- Homemade Raspberry Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt
Recipe variations
- Add more fibre: Replace 1/4 cup of the whole-wheat pastry flour with ground flaxseed.
- Use different nuts: The walnuts can be swapped for other nuts like sliced almonds or pecans if you prefer.
- Add dry fruit: Instead of nuts, dried fruits like cranberries or raisins can be used.
- Add chocolate: Love chocolate? Fold in some chocolate chips into the batter for a real treat!
More Healthy Muffin Recipes
- Bran Muffins with Applesauce
- Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe
- Blueberry Kodiak Cakes Muffins
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
- Almond Butter Muffins
- Gluten-Free Apple Muffins
- Mini Strawberry Muffins
- Gluten-Free Peach Muffins
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a rating and review!
Greek Yogurt Banana Muffins with Applesauce
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts plus 3 tablespoons for topping the muffins
- 3 very ripe bananas (about 1 1/3 cup mashed bananas)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon milk or milk alternative
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or line with silicone muffin liners.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.
- Next, add the bananas, honey, vanilla, applesauce, egg, milk and yogurt to a blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy.
- Add the banana mixture to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do no over mix.
- Evenly distribute batter across 12 muffin cups and top with remaining chopped walnuts.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean or has just a few crumbs attached. Cool muffins in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the pan and allow them to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Notes
- Use overripe bananas (the brown spotty ones) for best results since they’re naturally sweeter and will contribute more sweetness and flavour to these muffins.
- I recommend using whole-wheat pastry flour as opposed to regular whole wheat flour. It’s more finely ground than whole wheat flour and therefore produces lighter and more fluffy muffins.
- If desired, you can also add some chocolate chips to these muffins either instead of, or in addition to the walnuts.
- Do not over mix the muffin batter as this can cause the muffins to turn out tough and bake unevenly. Instead, mix the batter until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined.
- If possible, keep your egg and milk at room temperature before adding to the batter. It helps form a smooth mixture that traps air and expands when heated in the oven, which can help keep your muffins light and fluffy.
- I like to make these muffins using silicone muffins liners. They help prevent sticking and no cooking spray is required. I use them whenever I bake muffins…so handy!
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted December 2015 and was updated February 2022 to include better tips and photos.
Very disappointed. They came out very hard and gummy. Nothing like an actual muffin at all. I’ll stick to a traditional recipe next time.
Sorry to hear they didn’t work out for you! I’m wondering if you perhaps over mixed the batter? That’s the only reason I can think of as to why they might have turned out hard and gummy. It’s hard to know what went wrong without seeing how you made them.
These came out tasting great!!! Im on a weightloss journey and i love the healthy substitutions for sugar in these!! my 3 year old and 1 year old loved them too!! i used sugar free syrup instead of honey.
i just have a question, it was really hard for me to peel the paper wrapper off and it seemed to get the better stuck. As in, i couldn’t get a clean peel. any suggestions?
That’s amazing!! So glad you and your family have been enjoying the muffins! I typically avoid the paper wrappers for this very reason. I much prefer the silicone baking cups because the muffins pop right out no problem. I’d recommend trying those out next time. I use them for so many recipes! :)
I made these for my 1 year old today. I changed a couple of things though. I ground up old fashioned oats to use in place of the flour and I added 2 Tbsp. milled flax seed and 1 Tbsp. milled chia seed. Just to add some more nutty flavor and extra nutrition. I also increased the cinnamon to 1tsp. (My daughter really likes cinnamon) and I used whole milk and whole milk Greek yogurt. They are so light and fluffy and delicious with just a touch of sweetness. I’ll be freezing most of them so we’ll see what the defrosting process does to them. Hopefully they will remain as good as the are now. Thank you for the healthy recipe!
Thanks so much for leaving a review and sharing your modifications! I’m happy to hear that these muffins worked out well with oats and also love the extra nutritional boost with the flax and chia seeds! So glad you and your family enjoyed the muffins :)
These muffins turned out great! This was my first time baking with yogurt and applesauce and they were a great healthy swap. I traded walnuts for dried fruit and added a few chocolate chips too, but otherwise didn’t need to adjust anything. Thanks for a tasty recipe!
My pleasure!! So happy you enjoyed the muffins! The yogurt and applesauce are definitely a game changer. I love the dried fruit and chocolate chip combo that you used too. I bet that was delicious! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review :)
These are perfect for a mid-day snack! I added 1/4 cup flaxseed and decreased the flour to 1 1/4 cup. As well I mixed 1/4 cup walnuts into the mix as well as adding a few on top of each muffin. Turned out perfectly!
Yay! So happy you enjoyed the muffins! Love the addition of the flaxseed and walnuts! Can’t go wrong with some extra healthy fats ;) Thanks for stopping by to comment!
muffins are a big hit at my house as well, and I prefer my kids NOT eat a giant cupcake before school, so these sound perfect for busy mornings
Thanks Heather! Yes — banana walnut muffins sound like a MUCH better option than a giant cupcake for breakfast ;)
Banana walnut muffins are probably my all-time favorite muffin! Love that you made them so much healthier.
Thanks Carol! I’m glad they’re your favourite! Hope you enjoy the healthier spin :)