These peanut butter banana bread muffins have a moist, fluffy banana muffin base studded with chocolate chips. There's a swirl of creamy peanut butter on top, plus more chocolate chips and a sprinkle of flaky salt to drive home that sweet and salty combo. They're the perfect grab-and-go breakfast or snack to grab on the way to work or school.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Banana bread, but make it portable- Like my mini banana bread muffins, these muffins have all the sweet, moist flavor of banana bread but in a portable form!
- Peanut butter swirl- When I was testing this recipe, I found that adding peanut butter directly in the muffin batter overpowered the banana flavor. The solution was to add a swirl on top. It stays creamy in the oven and adds the perfect amount of nuttiness. You can always drizzle the muffins with melted peanut butter for a bolder flavor.
- Quick and easy to make- While making a loaf of banana bread is pretty easy, it takes a long time to bake, sometimes over an hour. These muffins bake up in about 20 minutes, so they're perfect to make when you're in a rush or just feeling a little impatient (no judgement!).
If you love banana muffins, try these chocolate chip espresso banana muffins, chocolate chunk banana muffins, and simple sour cream banana muffins too.
Ingredient Notes
- It's really important to use overripe bananas! They should be fragrant with brown speckles or even have fully brown skins. These bananas are the sweetest and most flavorful.
- Any kind of neutral oil works to make these muffins extra moist, like vegetable or canola oil.
- I used a combination of light brown sugar and granulated sugar to sweeten the muffins plus add more moisture and depth of flavor.
- Buttermilk thins out the batter and adds a little bit of acidity, which helps to break down the gluten stands formed in the flour. This makes the muffins extra soft and tender! If you don't have buttermilk, you can use sour cream or plain Greek yogurt.
- Make sure to measure your all purpose flour accurately. It's easy to overmeasure when you pack it into a measuring cup, so weighing it in grams with a kitchen scale is your best bet. If you don't have a scale, make sure to fluff the flour up in the bag before gently scooping it into your measuring cup. Then swipe the excess off with the back of a knife.
- I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use dark or milk chocolate. Chopping up chocolate bars with result in muffins with more melty pools of chocolate throughout.
- Natural creamy peanut butter works best for these muffins because it's runny and easy to swirl on top of the batter.
For the full list of ingredients and measurements, see the recipe card below.
How to Ripen Bananas Quickly
If your bananas are still firm and yellow, you can ripen them quickly by baking them unpeeled on a sheet pan at 300ยฐF for 20-30 minutes or until the skins turn black. Cool completely and squeeze out the fruit!
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl. You can use a fork or potato masher, but I just used a hand mixer.
Step 2: Whisk in the oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined. Then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Step 3: While whisking slowly, stream in the buttermilk, mixing until it is fully combined.
Step 4: Gently fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt until there are a few dry streaks remaining. Then fold in the chocolate chips until just combined.
Let the batter rest while the oven preheats to 425ยฐF.
Don't skip resting the batter. Letting the batter rest while you preheat the oven gives the baking powder a head start activating to make your muffins rise even taller. You'll be able to see how fluffy and airy the batter gets!
Step 5: Place a paper muffin liner in every other well of your muffin tin. Fill each liner to the top for maximum rise, then add a dollop of creamy peanut butter and swirl it gently with a toothpick. Top with more chocolate chips.
Step 6: Bake at 425ยฐF for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350ยฐF and continue baking for 10-15 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
Bake only 6 muffins at a time. Leaving an empty space between each muffin lets the hot air circulate more evenly, pushing the tops even higher.
Start baking at 425ยฐF. The initial blast of hot air makes the muffins rise quickly. Finishing them at 350ยฐF prevents them from over browning.
Step 7: Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack. Let them cool completely (about 30 minutes), sprinkle with flaky salt, and serve.
Storage
You can store the leftover peanut butter banana bread muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. I store mine with a paper towel inside to soak up extra moisture so the tops don't get soggy.
More Muffin Recipes to Try
๐ Recipe
Peanut Butter Banana Bread Muffins
Equipment
- 1 whisk
- 1 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners
Need Metric or US Customary Measurements?
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Ingredients
- 300 grams overripe bananas about 3 whole bananas
- 120 grams vegetable oil any neutral oil
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 50 grams brown sugar light or dark
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120 grams buttermilk room temperature
- 280 grams all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 155 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 100 grams creamy peanut butter natural peanut butter is best
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas until mostly smooth with just a few small lumps remaining.300 grams overripe bananas
- Add the oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Whisk until combined.120 grams vegetable oil, 200 grams granulated sugar, 50 grams brown sugar
- Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk. Whisk until the mixture is smooth, well combined, and slightly thickened.2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 120 grams buttermilk
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients using a spatula, mixing until there are a few dry streaks of flour left. Then fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Be careful not to overmix, as this can make the muffins dense.280 grams all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 155 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Let the batter rest while you preheat the oven to 425ยฐF. Line every other well of a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners (this helps create taller muffin tops).
- Fill each liner all the way to the top with batter. Spoon a small amount of peanut butter onto each muffin and use a toothpick or knife to gently swirl it into the top. Sprinkle additional chocolate chips over each muffin.100 grams creamy peanut butter
- Bake at 425ยฐF for 5 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350ยฐF and continue baking for 10-14 minutes, or until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Finish with a sprinkle of flaky salt before serving.
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