It’s the age-old question. What do I do with my ripe bananas? Make these Healthy Chocolate Banana Muffins! Added nutrition comes from Greek yogurt, coconut oil, and the bananas. Get some antioxidants by adding dark chocolate chips!

Have you ever had one of those really big chocolate muffins from Costco? Let’s face it. That’s just a small cake masquerading as breakfast food!

If you would rather have some healthy chocolate muffins for breakfast, this recipe is just the ticket. With less sugar than regular muffins, and healthy ingredients, you can feel better about eating them and feeding them to your family, even though they do have chocolate chips in them. If you want to be SUPER healthy, you can leave the chocolate chips out. But dark chocolate is actually healthy, so…).

Ingredients for Healthy Chocolate Banana Muffins

• whole wheat or enriched white flour (your choice)
• corn starch
• baking soda
• salt
• cocoa powder
• egg
• Greek yogurt
• coconut oil
• vanilla
• brown sugar
• bananas
• dark chocolate chips
• ground flax seed (optional)

How to Quickly Ripen Bananas

Let’s say you want to make these Healthy Chocolate Banana Muffins, but your bananas aren’t mashable (i.e. overripe). Well, you are in luck. There are two ways you can get your bananas into prime mashing state.

1. Bake them in the oven. Put the bananas on a parchment-lined or silicone mat-lined baking tray. Bake them at 350 degrees F. for 15 or 20 minutes, until the skins are black. Remove from the oven and let cool until you can safely handle them. Then just squeeze the banana flesh out of the skins and mash to your heart’s content!
2. Bake them in the microwave. Poke holes in the unpeeled bananas with a knife or a fork. Then put them on a paper towel-lined plate and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stop and give them a gentle squeeze to see if they are as soft as you want them. If not, microwave for another 30 seconds. Cooking your bananas this way won’t cause them to be as sweet as if they had ripened naturally, but they will be easy to mash and use in this recipe. 

How to Make Healthy Chocolate Banana Muffins

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

Now you need to decide what size muffins you want to make. If you have a jumbo muffin tin, go ahead and grease that generously. This recipe will make six large muffins.

If you are going with the traditional size, this recipe will make 12 regular-sized muffins. Just make sure you grease the tins very well so you can remove the muffins easily. You may want to also dust the greased tins with cocoa powder. 

Using cupcake liners is not recommended, as the muffins tend to really stick to those.

Measure out one cup of flour, and then remove one tablespoon. Replace that tablespoon of flour with one tablespoon of corn starch.

Add the flour and corn starch to a bowl and then add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) of cocoa powder, the ground flax seed (if desired) and 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips. (I recommend the Guittard brand, because they are super melty and delicious. But you can use any brand you like).

We are adding the chocolate chips to the flour mixture because coating them with flour helps them not sink to the bottom while baking.

Now you are going to mash two or three ripe bananas (if you haven’t already done it). You just need one cup of mashed bananas.

In another small bowl, melt slightly more than 1/4 cup of solid coconut oil. You need to have 1/4 cup of the oil when it is melted. Set it aside for now.

In a large bowl, mix 1 large egg, 1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt (unsweetened), 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar, and the mashed bananas.

Once that is all mixed, add the melted coconut oil and mix well.

Now add your flour mixture and stir just until the flour disappears. You don’t want to overmix these, or you’ll build up gluten and cause the muffins to be more dense.

Divide the muffin batter evenly between the cavities in your muffin tins. I like to use a large cookie scoop so I can make sure to get the same amount into each cavity.

Bake large muffins for 25-28 minutes, and regular-sized muffins for 18-23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs.

Allow to cool in the tins and then slide a knife around the edge of each muffin to loosen. I also slide the knife down to the bottom and gently rock the knife back against the side of the tin to get the muffins to release from the bottom.

Can You Freeze Healthy Chocolate Banana Muffins?

Yes! Just let them cool completely and then put them in an airtight plastic bag or container. When ready to eat, let thaw at room temperature. I don’t recommend microwaving frozen muffins, because it toughens them up. However, if you use the defrost setting for just as long as necessary and don’t overdo it, the muffins should be fine.

Recipe adapted from Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins on Chelsea’s Messy Apron.

Healthy Chocolate Banana Muffins

Yield: 12 regular-sized muffins, or 6 jumbo muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

It's the age-old question. What do I do with my ripe bananas? Make these Healthy Chocolate Banana Muffins! Added nutrition comes from Greek yogurt, coconut oil, and the bananas. Get some antioxidants by adding dark chocolate chips!

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Ingredients

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour or enriched white flour
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil (measured after melting)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 or 3 bananas, depending on their size).
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Generously grease your muffin tins with cooking spray or shortening. Dust the cavities with cocoa powder if desired. (Use a small sieve to sprinkle the powder. If you just try to sprinkle it with your fingers, you will get lumps).
3. Measure the one cup of flour and then remove one tablespoon of the flour. Replace that with one tablespoon of corn starch.
4. Add the flour and corn starch along with the baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, ground flax seed (if using) and chocolate chips to a bowl. Stir.
5. Mash your ripe bananas very well. Set aside.
6. In a large mixing bowl, add the egg and Greek yogurt. Mix together. Then add the brown sugar, vanilla extract and mix well.
7. Add the melted coconut oil and mix well. Then add the bananas and stir.
8. Add the flour/chocolate chip mixture to the wet mixture and stir just until the flour disappears. Do not overmix.
9. Divide the batter evenly between the greased muffin cavities.
10. Bake large muffins for 25-28 minutes, and regular-sized muffins for 18-23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs.
11. Allow to cool. Then run a knife around the edge of each muffin to loosen it from the tin. Gently remove and allow to cool, or eat while warm!
12. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Notes

Need to ripen your bananas quickly? Scroll up for two ways to do this so you can use them in these muffins!

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