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The best and (easiest) One Bowl Chocolate Chunk Chai Banana Muffins …for your Friday chocolate fix. One bowl, pantry staple ingredients, super quick to mix up, healthy…ish, and SO DELICIOUS! That sums up these warming banana muffins in a nutshell, they’re the perfect muffin to bake up this weekend. With over-ripe bananas, good honey, chai spices, and your favorite dark chocolate bar, these are going to become your favorite weekend muffins. A sweet treat for breakfast, a yummy afternoon snack, or even a late-night dessert…with an extra smear of salted-honey-butter.
Just because it’s January and we’re all focusing on enjoying healthier foods doesn’t mean we should deprive ourselves of the sweeter things in life. At least that’s the thinking around here. I know some will argue this, but as far as healthy desserts, these muffins are the perfect wholesome treat to enjoy any day of the week.
With my mom being the dessert lover that she is, it’s been ingrained in me to always want something a little sweet after dinner. Sometimes that’s something as simple as a piece of fruit, or a banana with a couple squares of dark chocolate, or maybe a warm mug of hot chocolate. Just something a little sweet.
But when I have super ripe bananas, I LOVE baking banana bread. Last year I perfected the BEST loaf of banana bread. And this year I’m sharing the BEST banana muffin…that’s sweet, moist, perfectly spiced with winter chai spices, and heavy on the dark chocolate. These are healthy…ish and a great January treat.
The secret to a really good banana muffin?
Overripe bananas. I’m talking completely brown, almost black, mushy bananas that look far past their prime. The bananas that you’re sure you should have tossed? Yup, those are the bananas you should use for your muffins. I call them banana bread bananas.
When the bananas are super brown, they’re the sweetest they’ll become. They have extra moisture and are soft and easy to incorporate into your muffin batter. If you use a green banana, your muffins won’t be nearly as moist or sweet. So brown bananas are KEY.
The details.
As mentioned, these muffins are the easiest. You need only one bowl, pantry ingredients, and less than an hour of time. You’ll start with the wet ingredients. Mash up the bananas, add melted coconut oil for moisture, honey for additional sweetness (plus added health benefits), eggs for a perfect texture (and even a bit of protein), and vanilla for flavor.
Then stir in the dry ingredients. For my muffins, I like using white whole wheat flour. I always find that it bakes up so nicely and never leaves my baked sweets dry or crumbly. Of course, you could use your favorite gluten-free flour blend too.
Now, the spices. I love using the warming spices commonly used in chai tea… cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, all-spice, and nutmeg. It’s the time of year when things are bitter cold, so these warming spices are what I crave when baking. Plus, cooking and baking with spices is not only incredibly healthy (spices are full of antioxidants that help fight off those winter colds and keep us healthy), but they also make your home smell amazing too.
Once the dry ingredients have been mixed into the wet, stir in the dark chocolate chunks. And that’s it – done. Now you have chai-spiced banana muffin batter. Time to bake.
Let’s talk about that salted honey butter…
The muffins only take about twenty or so minutes to bake, but while they’re baking you should make yourself some salted honey butter. Is it absolutely necessary? No not at all, but will it make your muffins feel extra special and even more delicious? Definitely!
What’s not to love about creamy butter, sweet honey, and a pinch of flaky sea salt? It’s just what your healthy..ish banana muffin needs. Trust me on this.
The plan? Enjoy the first Friday of January by staying in tonight and baking up these easy muffins. Fingers crossed it’s a snowy night for you all too. Because I must say, these muffins are especially delicious on cold and snowy Friday nights. The best tip I can give you? Eat these warm, right out of the oven with the chocolate all gooey, along with a good smear of salty honey butter too.
Also, double the recipe. Make a double batch tonight and saving the leftovers for a quick weekday breakfast or afternoon snack. Or? Gift the extra batch to your neighbor, best friend, or whoever you pass on the street. January can be a bit of a depressing month with the short, cold days and the holidays behind us. It’s always nice to do something thoughtful for others, even if it’s as simple as baking (delicious) banana muffins.
If you make these one bowl chocolate chunk chai banana muffins, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
One Bowl Chocolate Chunk Chai Banana Muffins
Servings: 12 muffins
Calories Per Serving: 316 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 4 medium overly ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/4 cup mashed)
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground all-spice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks
Salted Honey Butter
- 4 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the mashed bananas, coconut oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, all-spice, and salt, mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks. 3. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.4. Meanwhile, make the honey butter. In a small bowl, combine the butter, honey, and salt. 5. Serve the muffins warm or at room temperature smeared with honey-butter.
Notes
To Make Gluten Free: Use an equal amount of your favorite gluten free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. I recommend Cup4Cup gluten free flour.
Storing: these muffins keep well for 3-4 days at room temperature.
Chocolate and chai is one of the best combos! Saving these for my next weekend baking session.
Agreed! I hope these turn out well for you Elizabeth! xTieghan
You are killing me with these muffins! As much as I want to eat less sweet breads (beginning Monday), you’ve managed to make these muffins sound extra healthy! Plus, I have ripe bananas waiting for me when I return home tomorrow (currently in Tahoe enjoying snowy, mountain days).
Once I make them and share, which I will so I don’t eat them all, I’ll post my review (which I’m sure will be like all my reviews . . .delicious!).
Haha thank you so much Theresa! I am so glad you like this recipe! I hope it turns out amazing for you! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan- these look great! I don’t have coconut oil on hand. Is there another oil that I can substitute? Thanks and Happy New Year!
Hi Sarah! You can use melted butter to replace the coconut oil. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Heaven is that bowl of honey butter in the world’s most perfect light.
I can NOT wait to make these!
Thank you Libby! I am so glad you loved these! xTieghan
Mine are in the oven right now and smell incredible! Thanks for a yummy and super simple recipe! Happy January 🙂
Happy January Tanvee! I hope these turn out amazing for you! xTieghan
Oh my gosh these look incredible! 100% making them over the weekend!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Thank you Paige! xTieghan
Guess you could call me a convert! I made these muffins today and your one skillet creamy sun dried tomato chicken orzo last night and both were freaking amazing. My muffins baked in 19 mins and I noticed one small typo in step 4 (you wrote cinnamon instead of honey). Thanks very much, can’t wait to make more and will be looking into your cookbook.
I am so glad you loved both of those recipes!! Win win! Thank you so much Emily! xTieghan
One of your commenters asked about using frozen over ripe bananas and I did a second batch with previously frozen bananas and it worked just fine
Thank you so much Cindy! xTieghan
Lets talk about these pillowy soft, beautifully spiced muffins. I made them this morning and they were spectacular. I did do one modification and that was to leave out the honey. My banana’s were joining the dark side so I slid them into the oven and baked them in their skins which releases even more sweet heavenly banana goodness. What can I say but THANK YOU for another brilliant recipe.
I am so glad this turned out so well for you Cindy! Thank you so much for trying this! xTieghan
Could you make these in a loaf pan instead of as muffins? How would you adjust the oven temperature/baking time? They look delish!
Hi Liz! Follow the directions for the below recipe, but add the chai spices. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/chocolate-chunk-coconut-banana-bread/
These look amazing! What do you recommend substituting in if I don’t have coconut oil on hand? Would butter work instead?
HI! Melted butter will work wonderfully! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
they look really good
Thank you Ruth! xTieghan
Chocolate just makes banana bread/muffins. It adds so much flavor.
Agreed! Thank you Charlotte! xTieghan
What are your thoughts on using frozen overly ripe bananas? I have a stash in the freezer for smoothies, but I’m hoping it would work here too.
Hi Lynn! Yes, you can use your frozen bananas, just let them thaw a little so you can mash them up. That will be great. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Fab recipe- Perfect for some January baking with small people- my son will love these (as will I ?) thanks!
Thank you! I am so glad you tried them! xTieghan