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}
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!