The best of both worlds, Pumpkin Banana Muffins are moist, soft, spiced healthy muffins perfect for breakfast or snacks. Also so easy!
Also these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and pumpkin banana bread are always on my baking list as soon as the leaves change colors.
Table of contents
These pumpkin banana muffins are warm-spiced and full of sweet mashed banana. They are a hybrid of my favorite applesauce banana muffins and healthy pumpkin muffins.
I never thought of this delicious combination until recently and boy, is it ever good! And have you ever added a splash of vanilla to your pumpkin baked goods? It’s life-changing.
These banana pumpkin muffins are extremely versatile. I am giving you a base and you can add in chocolate chips, nuts, whatever your family likes. Whatever you do, your house will smell like heaven on Earth!
Not to mention you will have a healthier breakfast option or and afternoon snack, your kids will adore!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Real food: Wholesome ingredients including maple syrup, fruits (yes, pumpkin is a fruit!) and if you choose, whole wheat flour!
- Moist muffins: Mashed bananas and pumpkin purée add both natural sweetness and the perfect amount of moisture which mean no dry muffin results!
- Easy recipe: One bowl and no electric mixer is required!
- Versatile: For pumpkin banana chocolate chip muffins, add your favorite semi sweet or dark chocolate chips for some chocolaty goodness!
Ingredients and Notes
These pumpkin banana muffins are made with simple ingredients, many which are pantry friendly. Without much planning, you can whip these up and enjoy a delicious treat!
- Flour: Different types of flour to use include: all purpose flour, whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour.
- Bananas: 2 yellow, fully ripe to overripe bananas that equal 3/4 cup mashed banana. The spottier your bananas are, the more prominent sweet taste is. You can also use previously frozen bananas.
- Pure pumpkin puree: Canned pumpkin puree from a store, just make sure to read the label and don’t buy pumpkin pie filling. In fall, I also like to roast whole pumpkin, puree it in and keep it in the fridge for baking. Homemade pumpkin puree is fresh and so easy!
- Egg: Is used for binding. To make vegan banana muffins with pumpkin, you can use flax egg replacement.
- Liquid sweetener: Either maple syrup or honey are great as well as any other liquid sweetener should work but taste will differ. Granulated sugar or coconut sugar will not work.
- Oil: Any mild oil works. I used avocado oil but olive oil, melted unsalted butter, or melted coconut oil are great too.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Pumpkin pie spice: I use homemade substitute for pumpkin pie spice but store bought works too.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Leavening agents that give these muffins that nice round, domed top.
- Salt: Just a pinch for taste is necessary in baked goods.
Does Pumpkin and Banana Taste Good Together?
With a sweet banana flavor and warming pumpkin spice taste, the answer is a resounding yes!
Neither the natural banana or pumpkin flavor is overwhelming. The results are a light, fluffy muffins that are sweet and delicious, but do not taste artificially sweet.
How to Make Pumpkin Banana Muffins
This easy pumpkin banana muffins recipe is as simple as mixing your dry ingredients with wet ingredients and baking! I like to use just one bowl because we can! Let me show you how.
To start, preheat oven to 375 F degrees and spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
- Mash bananas: In a large mixing bowl, mash ripe bananas with a fork or a potato masher. You will know if your bananas do not mash easily, they are not ripe enough.
- Combine wet ingredients: Add pumpkin puree, egg, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. You need to do a thorough job of whisking it all together until no white lumps are left. This is why we can avoid a separate bowl for mixing dry ingredients.
- Fold in flour: Add flour and stir gently just enough to mix. Don’t overmix your muffin batter as gluten can develop and result in a dense muffin.
- Bake: Now scoop muffin batter with a trigger ice cream scoop or large spoon, and divide evenly between 12 openings of a tin. They should be filled about 3/4 full. Then bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
Tips and Tricks
- If you are out of pumpkin pie spice: If you don’t have any store-bought spice on hand or my homemade pumpkin pie spice ingredients, just add 1 teaspoon cinnamon. You can also add a pinch of other warm spices like nutmeg or dried ginger.
- To “ripen” bananas faster: Bake yellow bananas with skin on for 20 minutes in preheated 300 degrees F oven. Or place a few ripened bananas or apples with unripened ones in a brown bag, close tightly and wait 1-2 days.
- Muffin tin liners: These will make your pumpkin banana muffins much easier to remove! I love to use parchment paper liners and then spray them to ensure no muffin crumbs get stuck.
- Banana chunks: If you love chunks of banana in your banana pumpkin spice muffins, do not over mash them.
- Resting time: Let your muffins sit for at least 10 minutes after they come out of the oven, it’s important to let them set. Plus, as a bonus you won’t burn your tongue.
Variations
Jazz up your banana pumpkin muffin with any of the following additions. This recipe is very forgiving, so go for it.
- Nuts: Pecans, walnuts, pistachios, even macadamia nuts if you want to get fancy.
- Dried fruit: Raisins or dried cranberries pair perfectly.
- Chocolate chips: Pumpkin and chocolate are the perfect pair! Use mini chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or even chocolate bar chopped up.
- Cinnamon and sugar: Brush the top with a little melted butter and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon and brown sugar.
- Dessert: Transform these healthy pumpkin banana muffins into pumpkin banana cupcakes with a simple glaze or Greek yogurt frosting!
How to Serve and Store
Once your pumpkin banana muffin recipe has cooled for 10 minutes, they are ready to eat! You can also enjoy them cold.
They are perfect with a glass of regular milk or I love Califia almond milk. Cut in half, add a pat of butter and watch it melt into your muffins in front of your eyes. I love freshly baked homemade goods with butter. A home run!
- Store: Keep muffins in a cool dry place in a glass airtight container for up to 4 days. On a countertop is perfect. If by any chance it’s hot where you live, I would recommend to place them in the fridge on a second day. Also then keep them in a ventilated container.
- Freeze: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in a freezer safe container or freezer bag up to 3 months. Thaw on a counter for a few hours.
Storage Tip
For additional muffin storage tips and tricks, check out my posts how to store muffins and how to freeze muffins.
FAQs
Yes. Refrigerate the batter without leavening agents, covered tightly, for up to 24 hours. Add in baking soda and baking powder and bake as per recipe.
Yes. You can substitute pumpkin puree for pureed butternut squash, sweet potatoes or acorn squash.
Yes. Your baking time will decrease to 10-12 minutes. Alternately, you could make mini loaves of pumpkin banana bread and increase time to 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick and remove from oven when it comes out clean.
Not in this recipe. You may try to substitute all-purpose gluten free flour 1:1 ratio, however in my experience it needs a bit more liquids. If you try let me know!
I recommend to make these reader favorite almond flour banana muffins and replace half of the amount with pumpkin puree. Again, please let me know if you try.
More Pumpkin Recipes to Try
Fall is the perfect season for baking pumpkin recipes for family and friends! You may also love these healthy muffins recipes!
- Pumpkin cream cheese muffins
- Almond flour pumpkin muffins
- Air fryer pumpkin seeds
- Pumpkin pancakes
- Healthy pumpkin bread
More Banana Muffins Recipes
- Blueberry banana muffins
- Banana zucchini muffins
- Healthy banana oatmeal muffins
- Banana chocolate chip muffins
- Carrot banana muffins
- Oat flour banana muffins
- Banana protein muffins
- Vegan banana muffins
Pumpkin Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 large overripe bananas (yellow with brown spots) 3/4 cup mashed
- 1 cup pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 egg large
- 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 tablespoons any mild oil I used avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour or whole wheat flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray non-stick 12 muffin tin with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork or a masher.
- Add pumpkin puree, egg, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine until no white lumps.
- Add flour and stir gently just enough to mix.
- Distribute batter evenly between 12 openings of a tin (I used regular ice cream scoop) and bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
- Store: Keep in a cool dry place in a glass airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: Wrap tightly and store in freezer safe container up to 3 months.
- To “ripen” bananas faster: Bake yellow bananas with skin on for 20 minutes at 300 degrees F oven. Or place a few ripened bananas or apples with unripened ones in a brown bag, close tightly and wait 1-2 days.
- Don’t overmix the batter: If you overmix the batter, gluten develops resulting in tough bread.
- Don’t over bake: Remove muffins from the oven as soon as toothpick comes out clean.
I made these today. They are really good!
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Happy belated New Year Olena, I made these yesterday, they are much so very good & moist. I put in honey, used butter instead of oil. added chocolate chips, pecans, & vanilla Greek yogurt. For one cup of flour, I did a cup of rolled oats in the food processor to turn into flour. I used a half cup of batter in each of the 12 muffin cups, came out perfect. A single retired man reporting here. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe. And a PS, the day before, I made your one pot Turkey Tetrazzini recipe, it is so good, I’m going to have another dish of it tonight. Thanks again Olena
I’m so happy to read this! Thanks for your positive feedback! And Happy New Year to you as well, Crater!
I love these muffins! I used butter in place of the oil, and they came out delicious. Thank you for sharing these.
Melted butter sounds amazing in these muffins! Glad you have a new favorite, Laura!
Just made these muffins. They came out wonderful! I used honey, and the muffins are not very sweet which I like. I put pumpkin seeds on top. The muffins look very nice. Thank you, Olena.
My pleasure, Zarina. Wish I could see them!
Hi Olena thank you for the recipe for these lovely muffins I just found them a little too sweet I am not found of very sweet stuff.Is there anything else I could put in instead of maple syrup.
Thank you so much June.
You can try applesauce instead.
These banana pumpkin muffins came out very, very, very good!
I’m so happy to read this! Thanks for your positive feedback!