Avocado Banana Muffins
These avocado banana muffins are a great way to get your kids to eat nutrient rich avocados and bananas. They are one of the most moist muffins we have ever made!
Yes, we did add avocados to these muffins! What a terrific super food to include in your family’s diet. A friend of mine who tried this was excited about the avocado because she has been wanting to eat them, knowing how good they were for you, but she couldn’t handle the texture of avocados! So, these muffins were the perfect answer for her!
A while back we posted, 20 Avocado recipes for kids, which has been very popular because so many of you are looking for ways to include avocados because you know the health benefits of them.
The health benefits of avocados for kids include:
- healthy fats that are important for cell walls and brain development.
- vitamin C & E which promotes healing and boosts the immune system.
- fiber, particularly soluble fiber, helping kids with digestion.
- naturally occurring folate
- potassium (which is also included in the bananas of course, making these muffins great for growth and building muscle.
- iron (carries oxygen throughout the body),
- phytonutrients that protect against cancer and cell damage.
How to Choose a Ripe Avocado
The first and most important thing is to find a ripe avocado! Bananas that are overripe are perfect for baked breads and muffins, but avocados can be too. You want to blend the avocado and banana together until it’s smooth, so the softer they are the easier it will be.
When I’m at the grocery store, I do like to assess how soon we need the avocado. They can ripen quickly on your counter, so if it will be a few days before we need it, I will get one that is under ripe. On the day you want to use an avocado, you will know it’s ripe when:
- You give it a soft squeeze, and it feels firm, yet gives a little to the pressure.
- If the skin is black it is likely too ripe. (the skin can be very dark green depending on the variety, and still may be OK)
- If the skin feels dry and brittle, it’s over ripe.
- If the flesh inside is brown, it’s overripe.
So, with a ripe avocado, and even an overripe banana, you are ready to make muffins!
If you make half a recipe, or have a reason to save half of an avocado, you can do that! The top layer of the avocado may oxidize a bit and turn grey or brown, but it’s easy to just skim the top layer of flesh off. The avocado underneath should still be a bright greenish yellow.
Peel the banana and put in a blender or food processor. Cut the avocado lengthwise, and take the pit out. Then, I like to scoop the flesh of the avocado out with a spoon, and add it to the food processor. It’s ideal in the food processor unless you have a small jar for your blender, because there isn’t much liquid yet. Once smooth, then add your eggs, honey and vanilla and mix again.
With the wet ingredients, gently fold into your dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon, just until moistened. Fold in your chocolate chips!
What kind of muffin papers are the best?
Although muffin papers are great, easy to use, and helps avoid washing, I prefer silicone muffin cups! Healthier muffins tend to stick to the paper so much that you lose half your muffin peeling off the paper. But with the silicone muffin cups, you can pop the whole muffin out of it’s wrapper.
Another tip is to spray the inside of your muffin papers and even the silicone cups. Your muffins will come right out and you won’t lose any delicious muffin!
I also like to use an ice cream scoop with a spring loaded handle to scoop out the exact same amount of batter for each cup. If you are in a hurry, you could also make mini muffins, and they will bake quicker.
Avocado Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 medium avocado
- 2 medium bananas
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour white whole wheat
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray your muffin tin, or place muffin papers in the cups.
- Peel the avocado and bananas and add to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Add eggs, honey and vanilla; mix again.
- Spoon flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl and whisk together. Add banana mixture and stir gently until combined. Add chocolate chips; scoop into cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Nutrition
www.superhealthykids.com
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
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This is the first baking recipe I’ve seen that from seen that doesnt have salt, is there a reason for that?
Hi Toni! We were modifying a different recipe and it didn’t have salt either. They turned out OK without the salt, so we just left it out. (in other words.. no reason!)
Can you substitute the whole wheat flour 1:1 with oat flour and the honey with maple syrup?
What can you use instead of eggs? My daughter is intolerant
Just tried these and they are so good! Was unsure what to expect, as I’d never tried a muffin recipe without butter or oil. The texture is really soft. They are barely sweet, so the choc chips are a nice surprise in each bite. Totally going to make these again. I’m sure my toddler will enjoy them tomorrow morning. Thanks for the recipe!!
Made these tonight and doubled the recipe. They came out delicious. They were moist and just enough sweetness.
Hi can you freeze these?
Hi,
I was so excited to make these but and thought I could make it a little healthier by substituting half whole wheat flour instead. I have done this before without any problems but this time the muffins came out gummy and dense. I haven’t baked the entire batch yet and I’m wondering if there is a fix for this?
It’s possible with the whole wheat flour, there is too much levening. Perhaps cut back on the baking powder to 1 teaspoon.
Let me know if this works!
The recipe turned out great! I used almond flour instead of regular flour and added an egg.
I have made this recipe at least 10 times and it comes out perfect every time! I make these and put them in a large zip lock bag for our busy family to be able to grab on the way out the door for breakfast. My teenage daughter and husband love them. I made some for my brother-in-law who LOVES banana bread and he actually ate them for his dinner one night because he “could not wait until breakfast”. Thanks for sharing this quick, inexpensive and delicious recipe.
I’m so glad you like it April! Thank you for sharing.
Hi Amy, I just tried this recipe of yours. The taste is great, however the texture is not quite muffinish – it’s dense and not fluffy. I used spelt flour and noticed the dough was a little too gooey. Should I cut down the baking powder or add more bananas or avocado to make the dough less gooey? Thanks.
Hi Curtney, the dough is a little different from typical muffin dough because of the texture of the avocado. Spelt flour may not complement the creamy ingredients as well– if the muffin seemed too dense for you, I’d try it with all-purpose flour next time instead. I hope this helps!
I’ve been looking for some healthy recipes for my boys because they are so fussy and always eat the same (unhealthy) breakfasts. I just made this recipe for them and they actually loved the muffins! Thank you! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
I’m so glad to hear this, Gina! Since your kiddos love muffins, here’s our most popular healthy muffin recipe: https://www.superhealthykids.com/recipes/sweet-spinach-muffins/
Mine looks like dough?? Is it supposed to be like this. Should I add something to make it thinner
Hi Carolyn! The batter for these muffins is quite thick, but they should cook up just fine. I hope you enjoy them!
Super simple recipe. I did 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup almond flour. I did add almond milk to mine as I thought the batter was too thick and my muffins came out super fluffy and moist.
Do these freeze well ?
Yes!
Delicious! The banana flavor comes out a bit stronger than the rest of the ingredients but still great!
I’ve made these a few times now, perfect for school lunch boxes. I make mini muffins and freeze them. Thank you for another great recipe!
Awesome, thanks for sharing Ali!
Can I use frozen bananas?
Yep! Just thaw before using. 🙂
We made these today and we were very disappointed. My kids wouldn’t eat them after there initial bite. They were extremely dry and very dense. I was hoping there was a mistake in the receipe because I checked it over a few times because it didn’t seem right.
These are definitely a more dense muffin- so sorry that these didin’t work for your family!
My daughter is very picky but loves muffins. I was reluctant to try this recipe but glad I did. She LOVED them.
Yay! Mom win! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I would like to make them gluten free? Can I use all purpose gluten free white flour? Cannot use oat or almond flour unfortunately.
Yes! AP gluten free flour will work. 🙂
instead of using chocolate chips on top, can i use diced strawberries instead?
I’m not sure how the extra moisture would affect your final outcome, but it sounds yummy! Blueberries might be a good option too. Let us know how they turn out!
Can I replace the flour with gluten free? I have a teenager that is intolerant, so we just eat it anymore.
Yes! You can substitute a gluten-free all purpose flour.
Was delicious and my little one had it with out honey as I’m
Yet to introduce sugar to her since she is one 1 year and my older one (7y) had it with chocolate . Thank you
Why is it that some muffins you can use paper liners and some you cannot?
I prefer using the paper liners for packing up in a lunchbox or on the road to keep fingers clean.
Please let me know the trick.
I also prefer to bake with almond flour or almond meal, what is the best replacement without drying out the muffins?
If you have a stickier batter, you can try spraying the paper liners with cooking spray before filling them! As far as using almond flour, I would follow basic recipe substitution guidelines- we haven’t tried using almond flour in these muffins. It should work fine though!
Is the 323 calories for one regular size muffin, or two? Just seems like a lot for one!
I feel like these needed sugar. The taste was a little bland & not sweet at all. Perhaps that’s the idea tho? Not a sweet muffin?
This recipe changed the way my son sees avocado. He hates avocados but as soon as he was told it has avocados in it, he said it was the only thing he likes with avocados now. Huge hit with my boys and they loved making it
I wonder if you could use avocado in place of oil in other recipes as well. Never thought to do that!