No Butter Banana Muffins (Moist Banana Bread Muffins)

This no butter banana muffins recipe creates delicious banana bread muffins without using any butter. Some people don’t like to use butter in their food due to health reasons. Or they have run out of butter and are unable to get to the supermarket due to a winter storm, zombie apocalypse, etc. Or they just HATE the high cost of butter!

To solve this dilemma, my recipe replaces butter with neutral tasting vegetable oil (e.g. canola or corn oil). Moreover, one of the benefits of using oil (instead of butter) is a moister muffin (see the reason why in the tips section below). Of course, please don’t forget to use RIPE bananas in order to create the best-tasting banana bread muffins!

Banana Bread Muffins with Mini Chocolate Chips

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Recipe Video
4. Helpful Tips

Recipe Rating 5 from 39 votes Featured Comment Debra “These muffins were very tasty. Lots of banana flavor. I also sprinkled some nuts on top of the batter before I put them in the oven. These are some of my favorite all time muffins!”

No Butter Banana Muffins on Wire Cooling Rack

My moist banana bread muffin recipe is simple & easy to make. Please be aware that this is an oven-baked recipe. It is not made with a bread machine. You will find a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients – No Butter Banana Muffins (Moist Banana Bread Muffins)

• 3 – Bananas (ripe & large sized) – 345 grams – Use exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas for the best results (most consistent results)
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 115 milliliters – Use a neutral-tasting vegetable oil such as corn or canola
• 2 – Large Eggs
• 1 Cup – Light Brown Sugar (packed cup) – 215 grams – Use 3/4 cup if you like less sweet banana muffins
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• Optional – 1 Teaspoon – Ground Cinnamon – 3 grams – Some people really like to add ground cinnamon to the batter, especially if their bananas are not super ripe.
• Optional – 1 Cup – Chocolate Chips, Blueberries, Cranberries, Chopped Walnuts, etc.

Servings – Roughly 12-18 standard muffins (non jumbo). Amount depends on whether extra ingredients were added (e.g. blueberries), the size of muffin cups, how much batter was added to each muffin cup, etc.

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, muffin trays, paper muffin liners (baking cups), oven mitts, cooling racks and an oven.

Recipe Video – How To Make Banana Bread Muffins

FYI – A short ad might play in front of the recipe video.

Instructions – No Butter Banana Muffins (Moist Banana Bread Muffins)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
• Mash bananas with a fork.
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Stir mashed bananas, vegetable oil, eggs and sugar together.
• Mix in remaining ingredients. Stir until batter is completely mixed.
• Optional – You can stir in 1 cup of your family’s favorite dessert ingredient (e.g. chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, cranberries, blueberries, etc.) into the batter after you have completely mixed all of the other ingredients.
• Place paper muffin baking cups (liners) inside the muffin trays. Or grease the muffin trays if you are not using muffin baking cups or non-stick muffin trays.
• Add the batter to the muffin baking cups until each one is about 60-80% full with batter.
• Place muffin trays into the oven.
• Bake muffins for 23-27 minutes at 350 F (177 C).
• Remove the muffin trays from the oven. Use oven mitts when removing the muffin trays.
• Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes within the muffin trays.
• Remove the muffins and place them on a cooling rack in order to completely cool.
• Please read the tips below to avoid common muffin mistakes & to learn about different variations that you can make with these muffins.
• You also can watch my recipe video to “see” how to perform each recipe step.

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No Butter Banana Muffins with Blueberries

No Butter Banana Muffins with Cranberries

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Helpful Tips – No Butter Banana Muffins (Moist Banana Bread Muffins)

• The tips below are designed to help muffin “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include my tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• If you would rather “see” how this no butter muffins recipe is made, please watch the step-by-step recipe video on this page. It is a short & simple video that shows you how to make this recipe.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on Easy Muffin Recipes such as chocolate chip banana muffins, blueberry banana muffins and eggless banana muffins.

• This no butter muffin recipe is the muffin version of my very popular No Butter Banana Bread.
• You should use a neutral flavored vegetable oil (e.g. corn or mild olive oil) in order to make these no butter banana muffins. A strong flavored oil (e.g. peanut oil or extra virgin olive oil) may negatively impact the banana bread muffin taste.
• If you want to use olive oil, I would recommend using “light”, “extra light” or “mild” olive oil as they would have the least impact on these muffins. Unfortunately, extra virgin and virgin olive oil have stronger flavors and are more likely to negatively impact the taste of your muffins.
• Some of my visitors like to use avocado oil in order to make their banana muffins & banana breads. Avocado oil has a neutral flavor and is high in monounsaturated fats. However, as you are probably aware, avocado oil is usually significantly more expensive than corn oil.
• Other visitors like to use unrefined food-grade coconut oil (which adds some coconut flavor to banana muffins & banana breads).
• Visitors – What oil do you like to use to make banana muffins & why? Corn oil? Mild olive oil? Coconut oil? Avocado oil? Other? Please post your oil thoughts in the comment section below.

• Economic Benefit – Given the lower relative cost of many vegetable oils versus butter (on an ounce-to-ounce basis), it is often cheaper to use vegetable oil instead butter in order to make baked goods. Therefore, no butter muffin recipes may help to lower your baking bills during times of economic uncertainty.
• In my opinion, muffins with oil also have the benefit of being MOISTER than muffins made with butter. Vegetable oil is a liquid at room temperature whereas butter is a solid at room temperature.
• When selecting a cooking oil for these banana muffins, please read the label on the cooking oil container if you are trying to reduce saturated fat. Be aware that some cooking oils contain a lot of saturated fat.
• Check out my No Egg Banana Muffins recipe if you want to make banana muffins without eggs. My eggless banana muffins are also made without butter (as they use vegetable oil to create moister tasting eggless banana muffins).

• Use RIPE bananas for the best flavor. Ripe bananas are soft and the exterior peel is usually yellow with small black & brown spots. Hard yellow/green(ish) bananas are too starchy and have less banana flavor.
• FYI – A beautiful pure yellow banana (without any spots) is not fully ripe!!
• Make sure to use 3 large bananas (not 3 medium bananas). Otherwise, your banana bread muffins without butter might turn out to be a little dry.
• Use 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas to be EXACT (and for the best & most consistent results). This will help to prevent the banana bread muffins from being too dry or too wet. Why? Because bananas vary in size and these size variations can throw off recipes.
• You probably already know this but baking speed is a key advantage of banana muffins over banana bread. Smaller muffins bake faster than larger banana breads. So many people make muffins when they need a “quicker” snack than banana bread!

• Optional – You can make these moist banana muffins even “moister” & more delicious by adding juicy berries such as blueberries & cranberries.
• Optional – To enhance this “basic” banana muffins with oil recipe, you can stir in 1 cup of your family’s favorite dessert ingredient (e.g. chocolate chips or chopped walnuts) into the batter after you have completely mixed all of the other ingredients.
• FYI – I like to use mini chocolate chips (instead of regular sized chocolate chips) as they spread/float better throughout the batter. In contrast, heavier regular sized chocolate chips often sink to the bottom of the batter.
• Optional – Or you can sprinkle some mini chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, coarse/large crystal sugar (e.g. turbinado sugar), etc. on top of the batter within each muffin baking cup (before you put the muffin trays into the oven).
• If you add chopped walnuts of chopped pecans on top of the batter, you should break them into tiny bits so the muffin tops don’t sink under the weight of the nuts.
• Optional – If your bananas are not super ripe, some people like to add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon in order to “cover up” the missing banana flavor.
• Optional – If you like less sweet banana muffins, you should 3/4 cup of light brown sugar (versus the 1 cup called for in the recipe). Many of my visitors like to reduce the sugar in this recipe when they are using super ripe & sweet bananas or if they are adding chocolate chips (which have lots of sugar).
• Optional – An easy way to boost the banana flavor of your banana bread muffins is to replace the vanilla extract in this recipe with banana extract. Other people like to modify the taste of their banana muffins with oil by replacing the vanilla extract with almond extract, coconut extract, etc.
• Optional – Some of my visitors like to use mini dairy-free chocolate chips when making these banana bread muffins (if they are trying to make dairy free banana muffins).
• Visitors – What do you add to your banana muffins in order to make them special? Chocolate chips, cranberries, chopped nuts, sprinkles, different flavor extracts, etc.? Help beginning muffin makers by leaving your banana bread muffin “upgrade” tips in the comment section below.
• Visitor variations – Liz added “added 1 cup of dried cranberries, 1/2 teaspoon each of allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. Delicious Autumn treat”, Verna added “a little cinnamon and ginger plus blueberries”, Hazel added “cocoa powder and chocolate chips”, Mellissa “topped ours off with 3 white chocolate chips to make them fancy”, Erza add “some Reeses Penut Butter chips”, Debra “sprinkled some nuts on top of the batter” and Eileen added “maple flavoring”.
• In the comment section below, A.R. discussed how to turn this recipe into delicious lemon blueberry banana muffins and stated “This recipe was great and rose beautifully. I added 1 cup of halved blueberries (tossed in a little more than a tsp of flour so they don’t sink), the zest of one lemon, and two teaspoons of lemon juice. The banana was not too overpowering and it was not too sweet, the lemon balanced it out nicely. After cooling the muffins I made a lemon glaze with two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar.”

• There are a variety of ways to pour the batter into the muffin trays. For example, you can scoop with a spoon (while using another spoon to scrape off the batter into the muffin tray), use a small cup and spoon, use an ice cream scoop with a trigger release, use a homemade “pastry bag” to squeeze the batter into the muffin liners, etc.
• Use paper baking cups (muffin liners) if you want to easily extract the soft & moist banana muffins from the muffin trays. This also helps to prevent the muffins from sticking to the bottom of the muffin tray.
• For larger muffins, you can buy trays designed for “jumbo” muffins (versus trays for standard sized muffins). This recipe should generate roughly 8-12 jumbo banana bread muffins without butter.
• Optional – You can also turn this recipe into Mini Banana Bread loaves. Small banana breads make great gifts for friends, family & neighbors.
• Like “no butter” desserts & snacks? You should also try Bread Dad’s recipes for No Butter Oatmeal Cookies and No Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Or check out my muffin recipes that use oil (and not butter) such as my Cranberry Orange Muffins and Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.

• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. baking soda and flour) for the best results. For example, if you use stale baking soda and/or baking powder, your muffins will not rise properly and will be too dense. Baking soda & powder is best if used within 6 months of opening the container. Using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your muffins.
• Old flour can affect the taste of banana muffins. Old flour can spoil and taste bitter, sour, musty, etc. Banana muffins made with old flour do not taste great!
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life and avoid spoilage (e.g. exposure to moisture, pests and dust).
• Flour (when stored in an open bag and not in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to overly wet batter, the required baking time may be longer than expected, etc.

• It takes roughly 10 to 20 minutes to fully preheat most ovens with some variability due to the size of the oven, planned baking temperature (hotter takes longer), etc.
• I like to use a hanging oven thermometer to confirm that my oven has reached the right temperature before baking my muffins. This helps to prevent the muffins from being over or under baked.
• Place your banana muffins in the middle of your oven. If you place it on the top or bottom racks, the banana muffins may be too near the oven’s heating element and bake faster than expected.
• When making this recipe, many international bakers prefer to use a kitchen scale versus using measuring cups. A kitchen scale provides greater accuracy because the amount of ingredients in a measuring cup can vary somewhat (e.g. a cup of fluffed flour vs a cup of densely packed flour). Therefore, my recipe also includes some rough gram/milliliter measurements.
• If you want to test these easy muffins to see if they are fully baked, you can use a digital “baking” thermometer. Muffins are usually fully baked if their internal temperature is around 205 F to 210 F. If the temperature is below this then they will be underbaked and if it is above this range, they might be overbaked and dry. For the most accurate results – Place the tip of the digital thermometer in the center of the muffin.

• If you want to freeze these muffins – After the muffins have completely cooled, wrap them in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Make the wrapping is airtight (no open areas). Then place the wrapped muffins in an airtight container or large resealable sandwich bag before placing them in the freezer. FYI – If the muffins have not completely cooled before being wrapped, they will release steam inside the wrapping as they cool. This steam will condense inside the wrapping and create soggy spots when you eventually thaw out the muffins.
• Have leftover mashed bananas? You can either save them to make more banana muffins in the future (by freezing the mashed bananas)… or turn them into one of my many Banana Bread Recipes.
• If you have a problem with a recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (e.g. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• Always try to use relatively fresh baking soda & powder for the best results. For example, using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in these banana bread muffins with oil.

• If you do not have aluminum free baking powder, “regular” baking powder should work fine (as long as it is relatively fresh). However, I prefer to use aluminum free food ingredients when making food for my family.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a hot oven, hot muffin trays, etc.
• For more easy banana bread muffin recipes, please visit Bread Dad’s main Muffin Recipes section.

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Questions – No Butter Banana Bread Muffins

Why do some people like to make banana muffins without butter?

Some people like to make banana muffins without butter because their family might be allergic to dairy products, they might be trying to reduce the saturated fat in their family’s diet, they might dislike the flavor of butter, they have run out of butter and don’t want to drive to the grocery store (e.g. due to a snow storm), etc.

Nevertheless, it is very easy to make delicious & moist banana bread muffins without butter. You just need to replace the butter used in many banana bread muffins with oil (such as corn oil or mild olive oil).

Can I add extra ingredients to these no butter banana bread muffins?

As I stated in the tips section, you can easily “enhance” these basic no butter banana bread muffins by adding a cup of blueberries, cranberries, chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, etc.

Add your family’s favorite dessert ingredient (e.g. blueberries) to make these basic no butter banana bread muffins even more unique. Moreover, using different dessert ingredients will help you to create a much wide variety of easy banana bread muffins for your family. Variety is the spice of life… and baking!

Do I need baking soda to make banana muffins?

You will need baking soda and/or baking powder to make banana muffins. Most muffin with oil recipes use baking soda and/or baking power because they help baking products to rise quickly (and this usually results in faster baking times).

In contrast, bread yeast rises much more slowly. If you tried to use bread yeast to make banana muffins, it would likely result in a drier sandwich-type bread with a harder crust and a much longer baking time.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Banana Bread
2. Wikipedia, Butter
3. Wikipedia, Muffin
4. Wikipedia, Vegetable Oil

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1. Banana Nut Muffins
2. Cranberry Orange Muffins
3. Easy Banana Bread – Made with butter
4. No Butter Banana Bread
5. No Butter Oatmeal Cookies
6. No Egg Banana Bread

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