Butternut Squash Banana Muffins (Printable)
Moist butternut squash and banana muffins, great for breakfast or snack; add nuts or chocolate chips for texture.
# What You'll Need:
→ Produce
01 - 1 cup butternut squash puree (from roasted butternut squash)
02 - 2 ripe bananas, mashed
→ Dry Ingredients
03 - 2 cups all-purpose flour
04 - 1 teaspoon baking powder
05 - 1 teaspoon baking soda
06 - ½ teaspoon salt
07 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
08 - ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
→ Wet Ingredients
09 - 2 large eggs
10 - ½ cup packed brown sugar
11 - ¼ cup granulated sugar
12 - ⅓ cup vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil)
13 - 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
→ Optional Add-ins
14 - ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
15 - ½ cup chocolate chips
# How-To Steps:
01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or lightly grease with baking spray.
02 - In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until evenly distributed.
03 - In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined. Stir in the oil, vanilla extract, mashed bananas, and butternut squash puree until smooth.
04 - Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold gently until just combined. Be careful not to overmix to keep the muffins tender.
05 - Gently fold in the chopped nuts or chocolate chips if using, distributing them evenly throughout the batter.
06 - Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full.
07 - Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
08 - Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
# Expert Advice:
01 -
- The squash puree sneaks in so much moisture that these muffins stay tender for days without any fuss.
- They walk the line between wholesome breakfast and dessert, which means nobody judges you for eating three in a row.
- You probably have every single ingredient sitting in your kitchen right now.
02 -
- Overmixing the batter is the fastest way to turn these into rubbery hockey pucks, so stop folding the moment the flour disappears.
- Making your own squash puree by roasting peeled cubed squash at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes and then blending it smooth is dramatically better than anything from a can.
03 -
- Roast extra squash whenever you have the oven on for something else, then freeze the puree in one cup portions so these muffins come together on a whim.
- Let the bananas freeze in their peels if they are getting too ripe, then thaw them overnight in a bowl, because the liquid they release makes the batter incredibly moist.