Pumpkin Banana Muffins

These Pumpkin Banana Muffins are like banana bread and pumpkin muffins all in one! They're the ultimate fall muffins and they're extra light and fluffy. You can serve them for breakfast, add them to school or work lunch boxes, or enjoy them on the go. It takes minimal effort to make them, they're freezer-friendly, and they store really well so they're perfect for meal prep.

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love These Pumpkin Banana Muffins
• Ingredients
• Variations and Substitutions
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• Serving and Storing
• FAQs
• More Sweet Pumpkin Recipes
• 📖 Recipe

Why You'll Love These Pumpkin Banana Muffins

Perfect for fall - There's nothing that says fall more than apples and pumpkins. These muffins are a cross between a banana loaf and pumpkin muffins and they're so good. They're packed with warming spices with crunchy pumpkin seeds on top and they aren't overly sweet.

Light and fluffy - The texture of these muffins is lighter than banana bread, fluffy, and moist thanks to added Greek yogurt. I like using full-fat Greek yogurt because I find it helps to make the muffins extra soft.

Easy and simple - You don't have to have any special equipment for these muffins except a bowl, a whisk, a muffin pan, and some measuring cups. The batter comes together really quickly and the oven does most of the work. These muffins are tried and true and totally failproof!

Freezer-friendly - You can store the muffins at room temperature for a couple of days, in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for a few months. This makes them perfect for meal prep. You can easily make a double or triple batch of these and freeze them for easy grab-and-go snacks.

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour - You can use regular all-purpose flour or a gluten-free alternative. I like using Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour in all my baking.
• Brown sugar - This gives the muffins a slight molasses flavor and a little more moisture than just plain cane sugar.
• Butter - I recommend using unsalted butter because the recipe also calls for fine sea salt and you don't want the muffins to be salty.
• Greek yogurt - The recipe is made with full-fat Greek yogurt for the best texture but any Greek yogurt will work here. If you don't eat dairy, you can use vegan yogurt instead.
• Pumpkin puree - You want to use 100% pure pumpkin puree here, not pumpkin pie filling because it has other ingredients in it like sugar, spices, and thickeners.
• Bananas - Use the same ripe bananas you would use for banana bread. They don't have to be super ripe but they should be easy to mash and look similar to the ones in the photo below.
• Pumpkin pie spice - You can use store-bought pumpkin spice mix or make your own.
• Vanilla extract - Vanilla is a necessity in practically any baked goods, it balances all the flavors. I like using vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste here. If you use vanilla powder you'll need much less because it's more concentrated.

Variations and Substitutions

• Banana and pumpkin - If you don't have bananas or don't have pumpkin puree, you can substitute the bananas for pumpkin puree and vice versa.
• Vegan yogurt - The recipe should work fine with vegan yogurt instead of Greek yogurt. I recommend using a thick full-fat yogurt.
• Gluten-free flour - I use a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix in all my recipes so you definitely don't have to use regular all-purpose flour here if you don't want to. Use whichever brand works for you, I like Bob's Red Mill.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare a muffin pan for 12 muffins.
2. Line the pan with paper baking cups and set aside. Alternatively, you can also brush each muffin cup with butter and dust with flour.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together brown sugar and melted butter until well mixed.

5. Add vanilla extract, sea salt, and eggs. Whisk again until smooth.
6. Add pumpkin puree, mashed banana, and Greek yogurt. Whisk again.

7. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two batches. Be careful not to overmix the batter.

8. Spoon the batter into your prepared muffin pan filling each muffin almost to the top.
9. Sprinkle each muffin generously with pumpkin seeds and turbinado sugar.
10. Bake the muffins in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
11. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Take them out of the pan onto a wired rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

Serving and Storing

You can serve the muffins as they are or you can warm them up in the oven before serving like they would at a cafe. Place your muffins in a preheated oven at 300F for 5-10 minutes.

Storing: It’s important to let the muffins cool completely before storing them to avoid mold from forming. You can store them at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze them in a freezer bag or a freezer-safe container for 3-4 months.

Defrosting and warming up: Defrost the muffins either in the fridge overnight or at room temperate for about an hour. You can also defrost them in the oven if you have a defrost setting and then warm them up at 300F for 5-10 minutes.

FAQs

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📖 Recipe