These perfectly delicious small-batch banana muffins can be made with one banana, one bowl, and half an hour.
I have two questions for you today:
Do you have one sad browning banana sitting on your counter?
Do you have a bowl and basic kitchen staples?
Yes and yes? Then you can and absolutely should make these small-batch banana muffins (or if you feel like chocolate, try these Small-batch Chocolate Banana Muffins)!
I’m all about recipes that solve problems, and this recipe solves two. It gets rid of that piece of fruit rotting on your counter and makes sure you won’t overindulge in a sweet treat because it only makes four muffins.
That’s right, just four perfect little moist and delicious banana muffins.
And they are so fast and easy to make. They literally go from banana-on-the-counter to in-the-oven in 5 minutes, because you just mash a banana, mix everything in one bowl, scoop into a muffin pan, and bake.
They come out of the oven so moist and soft and good. It’s the perfect impromptu baking project for a lazy Sunday morning or rainy afternoon.
Ingredient Notes
- One very ripe banana: Craving banana muffins but don’t have any ripe bananas on hand? Go read my post on how to quickly ripen bananas.
- An egg white: This recipe calls for just an egg white. Check out my post of Egg Yolk Recipes for ideas on what to do with the leftover yolk (I recommend a small batch of chocolate chip cookies.)
- Flour: I’ve always made these muffins with all-purpose flour, but I’ve had a number of readers tell me they turn out well with gluten-free flour, so if you’re gluten-free, measure for measure/1 to 1 should work great.
Banana Muffin Variations
- Chocolate chip banana muffins: This is one of my favorites, fold ⅓ cup of chocolate chips to the batter before you transfer it to your muffin pan.
- Cinnamon sugar crust: Sprinkle ½ to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar over the top of each muffin before baking.
- Streusel topping: If you’d like to add streusel to the muffins, go make my favorite streusel recipe. The half batch will make slightly too much for 4 muffins, so you can either freeze the leftovers for a later batch or eat it. 😉
More Small-batch Muffin Recipes
- Small-batch Blueberry Muffins
- Small-batch Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Small-batch Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Small-batch Pumpkin Muffins
- Small-batch Apple Crumb Muffins
FAQ
Can I double this recipe?
Absolutely! And if doubling the recipe, you can use 1 whole egg instead of 2 egg whites. To change the recipe yield, hover over the serving size in the recipe card below or click if you’re on mobile, and slide the slider.
Can I use a whole egg instead of just an egg white?
Yes. This is the modification readers most often tell me they’ve made with these muffins, so if you don’t want to go through the trouble of separating an egg, just use the whole thing.
More Banana Recipes
- One Banana Banana Bread
- The Best Banana Pudding
- My Favorite Banana Bread
- Banana Pancakes for Two
- 20+ Banana Recipes to Use Up Your Brown Bananas
Small-batch Banana Muffin Recipe Notes
- Freezing: Banana muffins freeze well! Individually wrap muffins in cling wrap and then store them in an airtight container or freezer bag in the freezer for up to 2 months. Allow them to come to room temperature before eating.
- Storage: Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Extra bananas: Have more than one sad brown banana? Freeze the rest! Bananas freeze super well for baking. Go check out my post How to Freeze Bananas for all the freezing tips and tricks.
One Banana, One Bowl Small-batch Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 large very ripe banana
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg white
- 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- ½ cup (60g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with four liners (or grease).
- In a medium bowl, completely mash banana with a potato masher or fork. Add sugar, egg white, and oil. Stir with a spoon until just combined (mixture will still be lumpy).
- Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir until just combined. If desired, stir in optional chocolate chips.
- Divide mixture between the four prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out mostly clean and the tops of the muffins begin to turn golden.
- Cool in the pan until cool enough to handle before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Doubling: If doubling, instead of using 2 egg whites, you can use a single whole egg.
- Storage: Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Freezing: Individually wrap muffins in cling wrap and then store them in an airtight container or freezer bag in the freezer for up to 2 months. Allow them to come to room temperature before eating.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using them. There is absolutely no additional cost to you.
Marla says
These turned out some of best muffins I have made! At home (So Oregon) not wanting to waste any food I googled muffin recipes for one banana. I added chopped pecans, few choc chips, 1/2 t vanilla and used a whole egg. My organic eggs are smaller. Now that I can go nowhere I am cooking from scratch more. When this was first beginning I bought organic white and wheat flour and yeast in case I wanted or needed to bake bread, haven’t done that in years. Hope you are safe!
Tracy says
Thank you, Marla!! I’m so happy you enjoyed them. Glad you got your yeast early, it’s still sold out all around here. Everyone’s stress baking bread apparently. 😉 Hope you’re doing well!
Karen says
I had one overripe banana sitting on my counter, and didn’t know what to do with it. So I googled and found this recipe. Made 4 wonderful little muffins. Thank you so much!
Dawn McWhorter says
Just made these for the first time! Followed the recipe exactly except I did not have nutmeg which I think would have made a great addition. They turned out perfectly and this was just the recipe I was looking for! Thank you so much. Next time we’ll be making with chocolate chips!
Tracy says
Thank you, Dawn!! So happy you enjoyed them!!
Devorah says
We love this recipe and often double it and make it all the time.
Recently my son had to go Gluten Free and I tried it with the Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 GF flour and my kids loved it as well… didnt even realize it was GF!
Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Tracy says
Thanks, Devorah! So happy to hear it’s an easy swap to make them gluten free!!
Michelle says
I made this recipe into mini muffins this morning. Took 13 minutes for them to bake and they were perfect. I added chocolate chips, which I cut up a bit as I did not have mini ones. Thank you Tracy my boys loved these. I will definitely make again. Have you made these with whole wheat flour?
Tracy says
So glad to hear your boys enjoyed them!! I haven’t done these with whole wheat flour before, but you could definitely give it a try. Depending on your family’s tolerance for the texture change that comes from using whole wheat, I’d probably start with a 50/50 mix of white all purpose and whole wheat and then increase or decrease the ratio depending on preference. Please let me know how they turn out if you give it a try!
JoAnne says
This was delicious and exactly what I needed, a recipe for one or two. I made this is a mini loaf, and it was delish! Thanks so much for you small recipes
Kim says
These are delicious! Completely devoured by my 5 year old. Made the following adjustments:
Used 1 large egg
Added 1.5 T additional flour, 1/2 t. vanilla
Decreased chocolate chips to 1/4 cup and reduced oil to 2 t.
Made 13 mini muffins. Baked for 14 minutes @350.
Great recipe for a single sad banana!
Tracy says
Thanks for the detailed comment, Kim! So glad your kiddo enjoyed them!
Steph says
These were perfect, I added dark chocolate chips to mine. I baked them in a babycakes mini cupcake maker for 6 mins. Delicious!
Kelley says
Perfect! I did walnuts instead of choc chips
Tracy says
Glad you enjoyed them, Kelley!
Muffin Maker says
This is my go-to recipe for banana muffins since my boyfriend likes them a lot and it’s so easy and straightforward. I made them again a few hours ago (I always double the recipe and use a whole egg), but I didn’t have enough baking soda for even the normal recipe. I was already about done with them so I just mixed everything else in with less than 1/4 of a teaspoon of baking soda. They came out much fluffier, with bigger shiny tops, and that’s what I prefer, so I think I’ll do less baking soda from now on. Thank you for posting!
Kelly Carlson says
Made these this morning because i only had 2 bananas (not enough for the banana bread recipe i use). I doubled the recipe and It made 22 mini muffins.:) absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Tracy says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Kelly!
Amanda says
Question how many egg whites if you wanted to do a 7 times recipe? I wanna make sure I’m gonna get the right ratio. The recipe is so good but I don’t wanna screw it up when I make a bigger batch
Tracy says
I’ve never made a batch that large, but this recipe’s pretty forgiving. You could probably get away with just doing 4 whole eggs.
Ann says
Perfect! I made this to the letter and they came out great. I used a mini muffin tin, and it was the exact amount to fill the tin (12 mini muffins).
Kate says
Extremely easy and quick! Within 30 minutes I had the idea and googled one banana left banana bread recipe, baked and ate one delicious muffin of the 4. I added about 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla and baked for 20 mins and here we are! Definitely will be keeping this recipe handy for the future. Thanks!
Tracy says
That makes me so happy to hear, Kate! So glad you enjoyed them!
Flygirl says
I had 1.6 overripe bananas. Found this recipe and doubled it. It was perfect for two mini loaf pans. I baked the 2 mini loaves for 25 minutes and they were exactly done. So easy and very moist and tasty. I followed the recipe to the T.
I’ll def use this recipe again! Thanks for posting it!
Tracy Robertson says
My goodness, these sound great and so easy to make and I always have the ingredients (except nutmeg) on hand. I will be trying these!
Tracy says
Hope you enjoy them, Tracy! And definitely feel free to omit the nutmeg. I love the flavor, but it’s not essential to the recipe.