Pumpkin Banana Muffins
This post contains affiliate links. Read the full disclosure here.
These pumpkin banana muffins are the perfect Fall twist on classic banana muffins. They’re soft, fluffy, warm-spiced, and filled with gooey chocolate chips. So easy to make and ready in no time!
Ah Fall – the season for all things pumpkin! I usually kick off the season with pumpkin cake or even pumpkin ice cream, but these pumpkin banana muffins are so good, I actually bake them year-round!
These pumpkin banana muffins can be made with dairy ingredients or can be made dairy free, and they’re a perfect way to use up those over-ripe bananas too!
Why You’ll Love These Pumpkin Banana Muffins
- They are so easy to make and require just a few simple ingredients
- The combination of pumpkin and banana makes the muffins ultra-moist and fluffy
- They can be made using whole wheat flour if you want to make them healthier!
- These pumpkin banana muffins aren’t too sweet, so they are perfect for an on-the-go snack, breakfast, or for serving at brunch.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter: you can use any kind of softened butter (regular or dairy free) or you can substitute with an equal amount of neutral oil. You can also substitute for unsweetened applesauce to make them a little healthier if needed.
- Flour: this pumpkin banana muffin recipe uses all-purpose flour, but you can also use a combination of whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, and all-purpose flour. Be sure to properly measure your flour using a kitchen scale or the scoop and level method!
- Banana: this recipe calls for 1 cup of mashed banana. Ripe bananas are best – I usually use frozen bananas in my baking. Thaw them in a bowl in the fridge or at room temperature for 1-2 hours before baking.
- Pumpkin Puree: Be sure to use pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling has added sugar and spices, so the flavor and sweetness of these muffins will be affected if you use it.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can buy pumpkin pie spice online or in the spice aisle of most grocery stores, or you can make your own! See the Recipe Notes below for homemade pumpkin pie spice recipe.
Step By Step Instructions
Note: Full ingredient measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
Step 1: Combine all the wet ingredients!
Step Two: Mix in mashed banana and pumpkin until combined.
Step Three: Mix in all dry ingredients.
Step Four: Add chocolate chips then fill your muffins liners. Bake!
Expert Tips
- Use overripe bananas: When baking with bananas, the perfect bananas are the ones that are very overripe, covered in big black spots. Bananas at this stage get extra soft, mushy, and sweet. I always have a huge stash of these in my freezer. When I’m ready to bake with bananas I just remove them from the freezer about 1-2 hours before and let them thaw in a bowl.
- Blend the ripe bananas: Instead of mashing the bananas up with a fork, try blending them in a food processor or blender until they are super smooth. A simple tip, but it definitely makes a difference. The banana flavour is there, but it’s so smoothly incorporated with pumpkin flavour that the flavours blend seamlessly. If you prefer to mash them with a fork – that’s fine too.
- Measure out the bananas after blending them: These pumpkin banana muffins only need 1 cup of banana and 1 cup of pumpkin, for 2 cups total. To get an accurate measurement, make sure you measure the bananas after blending them. If you are a little bit short of a full cup of bananas, just top up the remaining amount with pumpkin purée.
- Properly measure your flour: Over-measuring your flour will lead to dry muffins. I strongly recommend using a kitchen scale, but you can also use the scoop and level method if you don’t have a scale.
- Don’t over-mix: Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until they are just combined, no longer. Over-mixing will affect the texture of the muffins – we want light and fluffy muffins right?!
- Add chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter, or sprinkle them on top before baking if you’d like to add some crunch to these pumpkin banana muffins!
Storage Instructions
The pumpkin banana muffins will last for 2-3 days at room temperature in an airtight container. But for the ultimate freshness, I actually like to freeze them in a ziploc bag as soon as they have cooled completely.
Whenever I want to eat one, I take it out of the freezer bag and microwave for 20-30 seconds for warm muffins, or let the muffins thaw at room temperature. If you want to serve them all at once you can take the whole bag out and thaw for a few hours at room temperature.
More Fall Recipes You’ll Love
If you make this recipe, let me know how it went in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!
Pumpkin Banana Muffins
These pumpkin banana muffins are the perfect Fall twist on classic banana muffins. They’re soft, fluffy, warm-spiced, and filled with gooey chocolate chips. So easy to make and ready in no time!
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (70 g) butter, softened, (regular or vegan)
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240 g) mashed bananas, (2-3 bananas)
- 1 cup (240 g) pumpkin puree, (SEE NOTES)
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice, (SEE NOTES)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour, (SEE NOTES)
- ⅓-½ cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, (regular or vegan)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with 12 liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl of a standing mixer or handheld mixer, beat together butter and sugar. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until just combined.
- Mash the ripe bananas either with a fork or in a blender, then measure out 1 cup. Only use one cup. If you are a little bit short, just top up the measuring cup with pumpkin puree to reach 1 cup.
- Add the 1 cup of blended/mashed bananas and 1 cup pumpkin puree into the large mixing bowl and mix.
- Add the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl every so often. Stir in the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips.
- Scoop roughly ⅓ cup of the batter into each muffin liner, the liners should be about ¾ full. Sprinkle with more chocolate if desired.
- Bake for 19-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the muffins cool in the muffin tray for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Equipment
Video
Notes
BUTTER: Butter can be substituted with an equal amount of a neutral oil or unsweetened apple sauce.
BANANAS: You can use bananas that have been previously frozen and thaw them out at room temperature before mashing, or you can use bananas that aren’t frozen. Overripe bananas are best, and the more overripe they are the sweeter the muffins will be.
PUMPKIN PUREE: Please note that this is not the same as pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling has spices and sugar added into it, so it will affect the spice and sweetness of the muffins.
PUMPKIN PIE SPICE: If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can use the following combination of spices: 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, and 1/4 tsp ground allspice
MEASURING FLOUR: Properly measure your flour using the scoop and level method or a kitchen scale.
OPTIONAL MIX INS: If you’d like, you can add chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter or sprinkle some on top before baking.
Storage and Freezing Instructions: Store muffins for 2-3 days at room temperature in an airtight container.
Freezing is my favorite way to have fresh muffins on demand! Freeze the cooled muffins in a ziploc freezer bag for up to 2-3 months. When ready to eat, take one out of the freezer and microwave it for 30 seconds (which makes them taste fresh out of the oven), or let it thaw at room temperature.
Calories: 258kcal, Carbohydrates: 43g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 28mg, Sodium: 277mg, Potassium: 193mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 23g, Vitamin A: 3474IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 41mg, Iron: 2mg
Did you make this recipe?Please let us know by leaving a star rating and review!
The calorie information provided for this recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.
If I was going to make these, but instead of muffins do mini loaves, what would you recommend the bake time be?
Start checking them after 14 minutes and then keep checking from there.
Absolute perfection. Making a double batch next time to share at work.
Thank you for your review ✨
Even the ones in my house that don’t like pumpkin, loved these muffins! They even asked for seconds. I did add a streusel topping, but that was my only change. Delicious.
YAY I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for the review 😀
These muffins were delicious and the kids absolutely loved them! I used canola oil instead of butter because that’s what I had on hand. Will definitely be adding these to the muffin rotation!
Hi Sharon! I am so happy to that you loved the muffins! Thanks so much for the review!
One of my favorite muffin recipes!
Hi Karin! I am so happy to hear that you loved the muffins! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
These are the bomb! Super delicious and less sugar than a lot of other recipes. A perfect way to use up overly ripe bananas that isn’t banana bread. I’ve doubled the recipe with much success. When I do this I find one stick of butter and one can of pumpkin purée is enough. ? I always end up sharing the recipe. I bake them at 375, but that’s my personal muffin baking temperature preference.
Hi Melissa! Yay I am so happy to hear that you love the muffins! Thanks so much for sharing and for taking the time to come back and leave a review! 😀
Delicious super moist muffin So good. Next time I would add the walnuts or pecans and a few more chocolate chips. Thanks for sharing. A keeper for sure
Hi Joanne! I’m so happy to hear that you loved the recipe! Walnuts and pecans would be delicious additions too 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a review!
YUM! I make banana muffins weekly and these are a wonderful fall addition! I did end up getting 18 muffins out of the batch ?
Hi Kristina! I make muffins weekly too, they are so great to have as a snack! So happy you loved these and thanks for taking the time to leave a review 🙂
This recipe is amazing! Perfectly moist muffins every time, I can’t stop eating them!
Hi Kelly! I’m so glad to hear that you love the muffins – thanks so much for the review 🙂
These muffins are spectacular!! Perfect for the seasonal autumn flavours I was craving. I made them several times because they never lasted long in our house! I also tried the chopped chocolate rather than chocolate chips and, as promised, it made a world of difference. Would absolutely recommend giving these a try!
Hi Ellen! Yay! Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try, I’m so happy to hear that you loved the muffins 🙂
What a great idea adding pumpkin!
I’m making these right now! I always have over ripe bananas in the freezer to make banana bread or muffins. I find they are so easy to blend when they defrost.
Hi Viri! I do the same! Thanks for giving the recipe a try, can’t wait to hear what you think of it 🙂
Hi there! I loved your muffin recipe and was wondering if you thought that same recipe would work if I wanted to make cookies instead of muffins?
Hi Melissa! I’m so happy you love the muffins! I wouldn’t recommend making these into cookies, as the texture is much different than cookie dough. I would recommend trying out these soft and chewy pumpkin cookies instead!