One bowl pumpkin banana muffins to help you use up overripe bananas and leftover canned pumpkin! Not quite pumpkin muffins, not quite banana muffins, they combine hints of both to create healthy muffins that are naturally sweetened and loaded with flavour.
What do you do when you have two overripe bananas and a half-empty can of pumpkin that need to be used up, stat? The former because they need to be liberated from the relentless onslaught of the fruit fly army (seriously, summer is over; go away!), and the latter because it also requires liberation… albeit from the oppressive confines of a BPA-free can. It’s tragic stuff, really.
Thankfully, there’s an answer to all of life’s little problems, and the answer to this one is: eat one banana and use the two surviving bananas… err… items to whip up a batch of these pumpkin banana muffins…
See? Problem(s) solved.
No more fruit fly fodder sitting on your counter, and no more leftover pumpkin taunting you from the depths of your fridge. Use me. Use me. Use me before I go bad and start sprouting little white colonies on my otherwise gloopy orange surface.
The struggle is real, friends, and it’s all because canned pumpkin* doesn’t come in the right sizes. Like why can’t they start selling different sized cans so you can buy as much as you need without having to worry about having a bunch of extra squash hanging around after everything is said and done.
Need half a cup? Hereβs a half-cup sized can for you. 1 cup? We have that too! None of this 15 oz. nonsense where you use less than half and need to figure out how to get rid of the rest before it starts colonizing.
But I digress. Here’s a way to use up a 1/4 cup of that pumpkin in case you find yourself in a similar predicament.
Not quite pumpkin muffins, not quite banana muffins, these guys combine hints of both to create soft and tender muffins that are subtly sweet, subtly spiced, and LOADED with an intoxicatingly complex flavour.
You can definitely tell the banana is in there, but because we’re only using one banana here, the flavour isn’t as strong as it would be in a pure banana bread. The pumpkin doesn’t really have much of a flavour, but it adds a nice earthy depth (is that a thing?) that pairs perfectly with the warming spices.
And to add to their outstanding resume, we have the fact that these muffins are made without butter or oil and only 6 tablespoons of added sugar. I used coconut sugar* because it’s a lot less refined, but you could also use brown sugar in a pinch. You might even be able to get away with using maple syrup or honey, but I haven’t tried that myself so I don’t want to say for sure that it works.
So if you find yourself with some overripe bananas and leftover canned pumpkin on hand, grab a big bowl (you only need one), toss in all the ingredients below, and whip yourself up a batch of these jumboΒ pumpkin banana muffins.
Happy eating!
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One Bowl Pumpkin Banana Muffins
- Total Time: 27 mins
- Yield: 9 muffins 1x
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 medium-size ripe banana, mashed (100 g or 1/2 cup)
- 1/4 cup (60 g) canned pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup (55 g) plain 2% Greek yogurt
- 6 Tbsp (75 g) coconut palm sugar*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cup (150 g) whole wheat pastry flour**
- 1/3 cup (60 g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ΒΊF (176ΒΊC), and prepare a muffin pan by spraying the cavities with cooking spray or lining them with parchment paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs until the yolks break apart. Whisk in the banana, pumpkin, yogurt, sugar, vanilla, spices, baking soda, and salt, mixing until smooth.
- Slowly spoon in the flour and gently stir it in until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter evenly among the 9 muffin cups, filling them 3/4 full. If desired, sprinkle some additional chocolate chips on top and gently press them in.
- Bake for 17 – 19 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for ~10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
* You can also use brown sugar. ** You can also use all-purpose flour, or use a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat. I’d probably go 3/4 cup (90 g) all-purpose and 1/2 cup (60 g) whole wheat. I’ve also had readers say that an all-purpose gluten-free mix works as well.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 17 mins
Looking for more healthy muffin recipes? Try one of these!
Flourless Pumpkin Pie Muffins
Flourless Pumpkin Brownies
Apple Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins
One Bowl Chocolate Pumpkin Bread
Flourless Morning Glory Muffins
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Can I skip the bananas or will that mess up the consistency?
SO SO good! These muffins are my family’s new favorites. We seriously have made them every week since we found the recipe. I can’t even remember the last time I wrote in a comment section but these muffins are so delicious I thought I should let you know how much we love them. Thanks for sharing.
These muffins are our families new favorites. We seriously have made them every week since we found the recipe. I can’t even remember the last time I wrote in a comment section but these muffins are so delicious I thought I should let you know how much we love them. Thanks for sharing.
These were AMAZING! They were a huge hit and are now one of my favorite muffin recipes. I love that these muffins weren’t soggy or moist on top. They were light and filling and so very yummy. These weren’t overly sweet like many muffin recipes I’ve tried in the past but the chocolate chips gave them just enough sweetness. I can’t wait to make these again! Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Monica! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know π
Great recipe! I have made them twice now. I added some cardamon, pecans and golden raisins. I also made a loaf with the leftover batter. They are delicious with some passion fruit butter, also known as Lilikoi butter in Hawaii.
They came out really good. Thank you for an easy & tasty recipe. Mine got little stuck to the muffin liner. Can I add some butter/coconut oil to the recipe or grease the liners?
You can definitely spray the liners with some cooking spray, Sanchi! That or use parchment paper liners – those are what I always use and they never stick.
lolol you are SO right about the canned pumpkin! It is not often where a recipe calls for a full can. Different can sizes would be genius! START A BUSINESS.
Oh, and these muffins look so so so good!
Right?!?! Like I can’t believe none of the companies have picked up on that yet!
Can I replace the whole wheat flour with oat flour?
I haven’t tried it myself Molly, so I can’t say 100% for sure. You can try, but the muffins might come out flatter and slightly more dense.
These look so delicious! Would love one of these with a cup of coffee!
I must have these. Now. OMG.
“the relentless onslaught of the fruit fly army (seriously, summer is over; go away!)” <– THIS. Whyyyyy won't they go away! Some of us need to make like 15 smoothies a week and it's really cramping my bev game to have to bat those flies away when I'm this close to perfectly ripe bananas. Lol. One can only hope they give up as it gets even cooler. In the meantime, I can slow my fruit-fly despising role with these. Love the idea of pumpkin and bananas together in one muffin. Yum! Thanks for including a link to my pumpkin muffins, Amanda. π Happy almost weekend (it IS almost the weekend right???) xo
As a fellow smoothie addict, I totally feel you! The only solution I’ve found is to cover my bananas with a big tupperware container while they’re ripening and them chop them up and freeze them. Or sometimes I get lucky and find spotty bananas in the store which I just freeze right away π
The combo of pumpkin and banana sounds really good! π I love how you dreamed this up to finish up that last bit of pumpkin. Do you usually buy canned pumpkin? What’s your favorite brand?
Yup! I always buy the canned stuff because, for some reason, I only see pumpkins as being good for jack-o-landers, which is probably because that’s all we ever used them for when I was growing up. And Farmer’s Market is my favourite brand – it tastes the best and has a really nice texture.
I prefer pumpkin bread but theyre both delicious! This looks amazing!!
Thank ya, Heather!
Hi.
These look like a squash. Try to choose just one next time.
dying.
Lololo! Punk.
These look so pretty! I want at least three!
How did you know I have two ripe bananas and a half a can of pumpkin leftover?? I really do, lol! And I’m thinking these need to happen because they look PERFECT. You need to open a bakery, missy. I would definitely be a repeat customer! π
LoL! Oh man, that’s funny. I swear I’m not a creeper π And having a bakery would be awesome, but after how much work a cookbook was, I can’t even imagine how much more it would be to own a shop!
They are delicious – forgot to add the chocolate chips so only used them on top. I love this recipe! Amanda – you did it again…lol!!
Yessss! I’m so glad you liked them! And just putting chips on top actually sounds pretty genius. Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I want to go lighter on the chocolate just so it doesn’t overwhelm the other flavours.
Looks so yummy!
Jabeen x
http://www.spilling-the-beans.co.uk/
Thanks Jabeen!
How about another solution? Ship those cans of pumpkin to me because I can’t get any here, regardless of the size? These look like an amazing solution, though. Not too much banana flavour, just a little bit of pumpkin and chocolate – mmh.
OR! You can come visit and we can buy ALL the pumpkin and bake all the pumpkin things π
Great pictures! One bowl…definitely making!
Thank you, Candace! I hope you like them.
You’re my favorite because ONE-BOWL. These look so awesome!! I tried to make my own pumpkin banana muffins the other day and they turned out pretty mushy and bland. Time to redeem myself with these! π
I’ve fallen in love with the one bowl thing because it means way less cleanup! Blenders and “one bowls” I can get my lazy self to do π
They had canned pumpkin everywhere in the stores this weekend while I was running errands. I had zero plans to bake anything, but for some reason I just FELT like I needed to buy canned pumpkin haha. I resisted, luckily, since I’m leaving town today, but it’ll get me eventually. These look awesome, I love the idea of combining pumpkin and banana!
At least they have it! I’m seriously paranoid that they’re going to run out of my favourite brand again!
Earthy depth is totally a thing! Love the rustic photos too, absolutely perfect π
Thanks, lady! Now for some actual rustic props π
These look amazing!! These will definitely be happening this week! π Thanks lovely!
Hope they keep you toasty in the “lovely” weather we’ll be getting later this week. High of 4 on Thursday? NO.
I’m a fan of using up leftovers and when you can kill two birds with one stone, well all the better…unless we’re talking about actual birds and stones and then I don’t condone that behavior. Muffins I can do though. I’ll let Oscar handle the birds.
for birds. I’m still traumatized from this morning π
Haha – guess what I have hanging out in my fridge – yup a half-empty can of pumpkin that needs to be used up – and I cannot tell you the number of times I wished pumpkin came in different sizes – most times I measure out my pumpkin and stow it in the fridge, but most times I don’t. Amanda, these muffins – like all your butter-free, refined-sugar free ones- are spectacular! With the banana, pumpkin and Greek yogurt in them, these must be super moist! I love banana and pumpkin bread so these have my name on them π Happy Monday lady – hope your week is off to e great start!
Thanks so much, Shashi! Have you ever tried freezing pumpkin before? I keep meaning to try it out, but for some reason, I have it in my head that it wouldn’t freeze well. Hmm. Happy Monday!!
I froze pumpkin puree (half of a can) before. It didnt work out well because i left in it the can haha. But the best way is pouring it into an ice cube tray so it can defrost easier. Its good to put into smoothies:)
These look great. I like using my overripe bananas in baking too. I find they help keep the baked goods nice and soft. These look great as always Amanda!
Thanks, Hollie! That’s my favourite part about bananas too. Well, that and the flavour.