I have no idea why I have been putting off baking these yellow bundles of joy bursting with fresh strawberries?! Made with only whole wheat flour, protein powder and no added sugar, you get a strawberry flavour with every muffin’s bite.
I know why. If you are a baker you know how hard it is to get goods made with only whole wheat flour to rise. And secondly, whey protein could make muffins dry and rubbery.
OK, you know how Lululemon bags say “Face one fear a day”?! Last Monday I faced some Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Protein Muffins and baked them 3 times until I (mother-in-law) was happy.
Moist, fluffy, bursting with strawberry flavour muffins! You want to taste the strawberries with every bite and not just “It’s a good healthy banana protein muffin, honey”. And these deliver just that!
And as for the fear of baking with whey protein powder, the trick is to incorporate a moisturizer like Greek yogurt or cottage cheese into the batter and not to over bake. Just insert a toothpick in the middle of a muffin at 18 minutes of baking time as ovens vary. It it comes out clean, it’s ready. You know the drill.
Very important: do not use muffin liners with this recipe as the batter contains no fat. They will stick to the muffins and you will have to eat them because you will have no choice! I promise you will want to eat this moist healthy muffin even with a red#40 dye on a $1 paper muffin liner hugging it snuggly. Instead, spray the sides and the bottom of each muffin “hole” with cooking spray and dust with flour.
The strawberry season is in a full bloom in Vancouver.
We have been enjoying these local red gems full of vitamin C, fiber and potassium raw, baked into a healthy cobbler, and chopped into blueberry strawberry salsa. So versatile!
You can use any other berries that are available in your part of the world to make these protein muffins. Raspberries, blackberries or blueberries will work great. Heck, mango would taste good in these too.
Oh, bananas. The best fruit ever! Delicious, affordable and already pre-packaged. Tell me, isn’t it the best fruit ever?! Bananas are full of potassium, fiber and iron providing energy, improving digestion and brain functioning. Check out my 10 healthy banana snacks.
A tip of the day: don’t bother buying organic bananas since their skin is so thick. Rather spend saved money on organic leafy greens that are directly exposed to pesticides.
Enjoy!
PrintWhole Wheat Strawberry Banana Protein Muffins
Whole Wheat Banana Strawberry Protein Muffins Recipe – no added sugar, moist and not rubbery at all. Made only with whole wheat flour, whey protein powder and fresh strawberries.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 egg, large
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt, plain & 0%
- 1/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened & vanilla (plain)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup whey protein powder, naturally sweetened, plain or vanilla
- 2 tbsp flax seeds, whole, roasted or raw
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced or diced depending on strawberries size
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F, spray regular size 12 muffin baking pan with cooking spray and dust with flour. Set aside. Make sure to cover the sides and bottom of each muffin “hole” completely. Do not use muffin liners.
- In a medium bowl mash 2 bananas with a fork until smooth. Add egg, Greek yogurt, almond milk and pure vanilla extract. Mix with a fork until smooth and all wet ingredients are combined.
- In another medium bowl add all dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, protein powder, flax seeds, baking powder and salt. Mix with a spoon or spatula to combine all ingredients. No need to sift the flour.
- Add dry ingredients to the bowl with wet ingredients and mix just enough to combine. Do not overmix! You don’t want the gluten starting to form and make the muffins rubbery. Add strawberries and give a couple of stirs just enough to incorporate the berries into the dough.
- Using 1/4 cup measuring spoon distribute the batter evenly among the 12 muffin forms. Bake for 20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I recommend checking the muffins for readiness at minute 18 of baking time as ovens vary. Cool completely before serving.
Store: Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or in a freezer for up to a month. To defrost, just thaw on a counter for at least 20 minutes.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
I have ground flax seed, will that work instead of whole?
Yes.
I love this recipe and so does my family. Could almond flour be used instead of the whole wheat flour? I would love to make this lower-carb if possible
Unfortunately, you can’t interchange almond flour and whole wheat flour.
Strawberries are in season now here in Ankara,Turkey so I had a lot of them and was struggling to find a healthy protein packed recipe so that I could use them up. I’ve made these muffins twice now and they are simply AMAZING!! Thank you so much! We love your whole blog (protein pancakes are also a weekly staple here!!). But these muffins are sweet and tart and theres no protein taste. Even the husband liked them 🙂
★★★★★
That is so great to hear! Can’t wait for strawberry season here.
Can you use thawed frozen strawberries?
I would just use frozen. Might be more wet muffins which is fine.
I have made these about 20 times. I often switch things up according to whats in stock (blueberries work well, or different flavoured protein powders, wholemeal spelt, flax egg, other types of milk etc). Each time they work well and i enjoy having them on hand because of their nutritional profile. One of the best nutritious muffin recipes i have come across- I have also added a dot of maple syrup and handful of choc chips for a less nutritionally-minded crew. Worked well.
Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
You are very welcome!
Delicious muffins!
★★★★★
I’m about to make these, do you think Coconut Flour + 1 tsp of baking soda as the rising agent will work ok?
No, won’t work because coconut flour is super thirsty and ratios will be off. It can never be substituted for whole wheat without changing the recipe.
Have made these twice, once with blueberries and the other with strawberries. Both times delicious, even my husband is addicted to them! I love all of your clean-eating recipes on this site. You’ve helped me out so much on my path to healthy living. Thank you!
Hi Jo. You made me think to remake these muffins and take new pics. I haven’t made these for years. Glad everyone is enjoying.:)
You are so welcome!!! As long as I can help in any way to eat anyone healthy, my heart is full!
Hi, would the recipe need to be re-balanced in any way if I left the strawberries out altogether?
I don’t think so. Maybe a tad bit more sweetener.
Just made this and they are FANTASTIC. Had 1.5 bananas on hand so added a bit more yogurt and did a mix of strawberries as blueberries. I was pleasantly surprised at how sweet this muffins still are without any sugar – still sweet enough to be a treat, I’m cut up some cheese to eat alongside it to balance it out. Can’t wait to make these again and try more recipes, thanks for sharing!
You are welcome, Rebecca!
In Canada the winters are long and fresh berries quite expensive. Do you think I could use frozen or will it be too wet?
Hmm I honestly don’t know. If you defrost strawberries and let them drain I think should be good.
Hey Olena. Have you ever made this recipe as a loaf of bread? I was all set to make them as muffins and just found out the place I’m staying at the moment doesn’t have a muffin tin… I’m not the best at baking so I’m not sure how to alter the baking temperature or time.
Hi Rachel. I haven’t but you can try. I’m positive it will work. T the same just longer baking time. I would say check after 35 minutes with a toothpick test. Let me know how it goes.
I just made these and they were great! I did substitute the Greek yogurt for unsweetened applesauce just because I had it on hand. I made blueberry, chocolate chip and strawberry-lemon muffins, so good!!
hi, tried these tonight and the strawberrys came out mushy and wet in side the muffins, had little flavor. Thoughts on what to do next time. The rest of the muffin was perfectly baked and moist and fluffy.
That is how berries usually are – moist. For flavour try to use ripe and organic strawberries. Those regular giant cardboard berries are not strawberries, I’m sorry they even sell them.
Hi Olena! I see this hit Buzzfeed today (Congrats)! I am actually looking for ways to add protein into my routine, wouldn’t have thought to add protein powder to muffins… I should buy some plain! I only have chocolate powder and that may taste funny. 😉
Hi Laura. Oh really, I haven’t seen them. Oh well…Protein powder in muffins is one of the easiest way to add more protein to your diet and enjoy a baked goodie at same time.:) Vanilla flavour or plain is the best for baking. I highly recommend plant based organic or non-GMO protein. Read my recommendations here and I also loved Oriya Organics.
Hello. I can’t wait to try this recipe! I am allergic to flax seed…can I replace it with chia seed?
Yes.
Thank you for always including instructions for freezing! I am always wondering about that especially when there are ingredients I don’t use often.
My pleasure. I do that because many of my recipes make large batches plus. You can freeze pretty much everything! Even cheese. Enjoy!
Hi, I found your recipe on pinterest the other week and have made it twice since! My partner loves it. We generally do not eat sweets/anything with a lot of added sugar so I love when I find baking recipes that tase nice with no added sugar or other substitutes! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Jessica. I have more muffins recipe you might like. I do not use any sugar and some of them are only naturally sweetened with fruit. We do not eat a lot of sweets ourselves, even healthy ones. And whenever I eat sugar (usually on vacation because unfortunately there are no healthy sweets around) my face gets an awful outbreak of acne and I feel like an addict. Sugar is evil!
Great recipe! I just made theese. But dont use protein powder with stevia. The stevia leaves a bad after taste. Next time I will use my hampa protein. And its true that they dont rise with gluten free flour but it doesnt matter!
Could I make these with sprouted wheat flour?
Absolutely!
I would love to send these out for Christmas, do you think they would be okay in a tupperware sent in the mail?
I don’t think so, sorry.:(
I’m so excited to make these! I do not have whey protein. Do you think it will be ok to remove from the recipe completely or do you think I need to substitute it?
You need to use protein powder in this recipe. Baking is very precise and I have not tested these muffins with any other substitution.
Can I use regular milk instead of almond milk?!
Yes!
I just made these and they taste great. I did make a few substitutions. I’m gluten free so I used my blend of Wholemeal flour and my bananas were on the smaller side so I added an extra for good measure. I added a few drops of sugarless sweetener and I used oat bran/flour in place of flax as I can’t get it locally. They’re slightly rubbery, but I was heavy with the whey and it’s barely noticeable when warm. I’ve stuck them in the freezer ready for breakfasts all week.
two table spoons is a lot of vanilla. Is that right?
Sorry, 2 teaspoons. Just fixed that.
I loved this recipe! Thank you so much for posting it for us to try! I didn’t have any flax seeds so I substituted them for two T. Of Rolled oats and they tasted yummy! Next time I’ll have to find the flax seeds to use though.
Welcome! Chia or flax would work. Or what you did was great.:)
I made these today and they were great! The added strawberry gives it an extra burst of freshness and flavor. I added a bit of cinnamon and 1/4 cup of agave nectar. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Awesome!
Do you think GF oat flour would work? They sound yummy!
These muffins rely on gluten in whole wheat flour to rise. But considering there is plenty of whey protein you might be fine using GF oat flour. They might not rise as much but still should hold and taste great!
I’ve made these muffins twice already and they are amazing!! I made them with blueberries the first time and strawberries the second and they were both equally fantastic! My 6yr old twin boys and I are gluten free so I used Pamela’s GF pancake mix in place of the flour and added 2T chia seeds and they were sooo good! I can’t believe that the 2 bananas were enough to sweeten the whole batch:) This will be our go-to healthy muffin recipe. Thank you!
Heidi
Hi Heidi. Pancake mix is an awesome idea. Love chia seeds, so versatile. Glad you liked these.:)
These look so yummy! Props that you made them 3 times to reach perfection! Way too many good fruit options in the summer to pick one. Strawberrys, peaches, plums, melons,and all berries are delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe + your tips!
Thank you, Rachel. I find baking needs to be tested and tested and tested in order to reach perfection.