Banana Date Muffins (No Added Sugar)

A toddler's hand grabbing a mini banana date muffin from a plate.

5 from 4 votes

Banana Date Muffins (No Added Sugar)

These healthy banana date muffins are sweetened naturally with no added sugar. They're perfect for breakfast or as a tasty addition to your kids' lunchboxes. Can be made into regular or mini muffins.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Course: Baby and Toddler Food, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: Low Calorie, Low Fat, Low Salt

Servings: mini muffins (or 12 regular muffins)

Calories: 76kcal

Author: Dr. Sonali Ruder

Equipment

muffin pan

Ingredients

½ cup chopped dates (2.5 ounces)
⅓ cup hot water
1 ¼ cup flour (I use a 50:50 mixture of all purpose and white whole wheat flour)
¾ cup quick-cooking oats*
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 ¼ cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1 large egg
½ cup milk
¼ cup neutral-flavored oil like safflower or vegetable oil
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Place the dates and hot water in a bowl and let them soak for 10 minutes. Puree in a mini food processor until a smooth paste forms.
Whisk the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
Mix the date paste, bananas, egg, milk, oil and vanilla together in another bowl (you can do this by hand or with a mixer). Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir everything together until just combined. Do not over mix.
Spray a 24-cup mini muffin pan (or 12-cup regular muffin pan) with cooking spray and spoon the batter into the wells. If using cupcake liners, spray them with cooking spray so the muffins don’t stick. Bake in the oven 10-14 minutes for mini muffins (15-18 minutes for regular muffins) until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool muffins in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing and serving.

Notes

*If you don’t have quick-cooking oats, you can make them. Simply pulse old-fashioned oats in a food processor until coarsely ground.

These banana date muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days or in the refrigerator up to 1 week. You can freeze them for up to 3 months.

You can stir other ingredients into the muffin batter like chopped nuts, dried fruit, flaxseed, chia seeds, or mini chocolate chips.

Don't over-mix the batter- over-mixing can cause the muffins to become tough. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined. It's ok if there are some lumps in the batter.

Nutrition