
You can feel good about eating one of these muffins for breakfast or an afternoon snack. A lot of muffin recipes are bakery-style sugar-bombs topped with sugar crumbs which are objectively delicious - you just can't have one every day.
I want a muffin that I can eat every day so I've searched for recipes to conjure up a way to make that happen:
- Reduce added sugar, but not so much that it tastes like cardboard
- Swap refined flour for whole-wheat flour, a better source of fiber
- Replace butter with peanut butter, not just for added flavor, but also for the extra protein
- Each muffin has 6g of protein (about the same as an egg)
Recipe

Ingredients
Dry-bowl ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 Tbs baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet-bowl ingredients
- ½ cup peanut butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 bananas
Add ins
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
Prep
- Preheat oven to 375. Grease a muffin pan (no need for paper cups, the muffins slide out nicely). Get out 1 large mixing bowl and 2 medium ones.
- Mash bananas in one of the medium bowls. Chop walnuts.
Dry Ingredients - Large bowl
- Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in the large bowl.
Wet ingredients - Medium bowl
- Mix together the peanut butter and brown sugar until creamy. Stir in the milk, mashed bananas, and vanilla until combined.
Pour wet ingredients into the large dry-ingredient bowl
- Pour the wet ingredients into the flour-mixture bowl and stir just until combined. Overmixing creates tough muffins, so don't do that. Fold in walnuts if using.
Bake!
- Scoop batter into the muffin tin to make 12 muffins. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly before eating.
Nutrition

Recipe notes
- Type of peanut butter: I've tried this with Jif and with natural, organic peanut butter. Either can be used, they are interchangeable.
- Almond milk: other nut milks, or even regular milk can be used.
- Bananas: I typically use 3 medium bananas. I've made this with slightly more banana mash and it turns out the same, so you don't have to worry about being exact here. You can also roast the bananas before mashing them to bring out a little more of their sweetness and reduce the brown sugar by a bit.
- Chocolate chips: you can add in chocolate chips, or swap them out with the walnuts. Dark-chocolate Ghirardelli chips are my favorite go-to - hey, they have antioxidants, right?
- Riff on it: Replacing some of the flour for oats could be quite tasty! Also, try adding a little cinnamon to the batter.
I also break down calories and nutrition for banana nut muffins (without peanut butter), if you're looking for another healthy breakfast option.
More recipes & resources
Looking to use up bananas? Try this banana pecan muffin with twice the nuts and half the sugar as other recipes.
Love peanut butter? Try my soft & chewy peanut butter blossoms.
If you're wondering what else is currently in season, check out my calendars to see what produce is in season each month (and coming up soon).
Sue says
Do you think I can use Almond butter instead of Peanut Butter
Vee says
Absolutely, it would be pretty tasty 🙂
gail says
I'm trying this recipe. Sounds good, but would appreciate full Nutrient Value including Carbohydrates as I'm Diabetic.