Chocolate Chip Banana Baked Oatmeal Cups are made with just 7 basic whole food ingredients for a light grab-and-go healthy breakfast or snack! Easy to customize and perfect for meal prepping.
While I’m almost always on team savory when it comes to breakfast, I love enjoying something sweet at the end of the meal.
For me, baked oatmeal cups are the perfect serving size to honor my sweet tooth while keeping the sugar under control.
Plus, they make for a great snack or healthier dessert.
At a minimum, we need 7 basic ingredients for these chocolate chip banana baked oatmeal cups. I make them without any added sugar, but I have included an option to add pure maple syrup for a little extra sweetness.
If this is your first time making baked oatmeal in a muffin tin, I’ll get you filled in real quick.
Just like baked oatmeal, these banana oat cups are designed to be individual portions of classic baked oatmeal.
In this sense, they are not meant to have the same light and fluffy texture as regular muffins, but are meant to be dense, like baked oatmeal.
If you love baked oatmeal, you’ll get a kick out of these baked oatmeal cups! If you’re looking for a regular muffin consistency, make my Flourless Banana Nut Muffins or my Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.
Similarly, if you’re into this whole concept of baked oatmeal muffins, also try my Sweet Potato Oatmeal Cups.
Let’s discuss the basic ingredients for banana baked oatmeal muffins.
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Banana Baked Oatmeal Cups:
Ripe Bananas: The majority of the sweetness in this healthy breakfast recipe comes from mashed banana.
Be sure to use overripe bananas that have plenty of brown spots for the best results.
Ripe bananas taste sweeter and bring more moisture to a recipe than less ripe bananas.
Unsweetened Creamy Almond Butter: Adding richness and healthy fats to the recipe, we need some form of nut butter.
I like using almond butter or cashew butter because the flavor doesn’t shine through, but peanut butter works great too.
Sunflower seed butter also works well if you enjoy the flavor.
If your almond butter is typically stored in the refrigerator (not at room temperature), you’ll likely want to microwave it before proceeding with the recipe to soften it up.
Eggs: A couple eggs bring a little fluffy texture to the baked oats. Bring them to room temperature ahead of time if possible.
I haven’t tested the recipe using an egg replacer like flax egg but I suspect the muffins would turn out fairly dense without regular eggs. If you’re okay with that, make the recipe vegan by swapping out the eggs for flax eggs.
Milk of Choice: Pick your favorite milk like regular cow’s milk or non-dairy milk like almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, cashew milk, etc. I use unsweetened oat milk.
Pure Maple Syrup (optional): Add a couple tablespoons of pure maple syrup to boost the sweetness of these banana baked oatmeal muffins if you’d like.
Because I prefer my sweets less sweet, I leave out the pure maple syrup. Swap it out for brown sugar, coconut sugar, or regular cane sugar.
Pure Vanilla Extract: A splash of vanilla extract brings some warm flavor to the treat.
Quick Oats: Taking the place of all-purpose flour, we use whole grain oats for complex carbs and fiber which has less of an impact on blood sugar.
Use quick cooking oats, instant oats, or old fashioned oats. All are great options.
If you need the recipe to be gluten-free, use certified gluten-free oats. I use sprouted gluten-free oats.
Sea Salt and Ground Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon adds a lovely nuance to the baked oatmeal cups and salt enhances all of the flavors.
Semisweet Chocolate Chips: Adjust the amount of chocolate chips you use based on your personal preference.
Rather than mixing them into the batter, I only sprinkle them on top. However, mixing chocolate chips into the banana oat mixture results in gooey fudgy texture that everyone loves.
Optional Additions:
- ⅔ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1 to 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, chia seeds, or hemp seeds.
- Chop up 1 large apple and add it in for an apple cinnamon baked oatmeal recipe.
How to Make Banana Oatmeal Muffin Cups:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin tray with 9 muffin papers.
Mash the ripe bananas in a large bowl until creamy.
Mix in the almond butter, eggs, milk of choice, pure maple syrup (if adding) and vanilla extract until the wet ingredients are well combined.
Note: If your almond butter is chilled from sitting in the refrigerator, microwave it for 30 to 60 seconds, or until it is very easy to stir.
Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl (oats, sea salt, and ground cinnamon) and mix well until a thick muffin batter forms. If desired, mix chocolate chips into the oatmeal mixture.
Pour the banana oatmeal mixture into the paper liners, filling them all the way up. If you’d like, sprinkle the tops of the muffin batter with extra chocolate chips.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until muffins test clean and golden brown around the edges.
A great way of telling whether or not a baked good is cooked through is by taking the internal temperature.
To do so, insert a digital thermometer into the center of one of the oatmeal muffins and wait until the numbers stop moving. Muffins are fully baked once they have reached 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
Allow the muffins to cool completely before peeling off the wrappers. If you try peeling them off when the muffins are still warm, you’ll lose much of the baked good to the muffin paper.
Store banana baked oatmeal muffins in an airtight container or a ziplock bag in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can also freeze these muffins in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Before eating, reheat this perfect snack in the microwave or in the toaster oven. Enjoy warm with a dollop of peanut butter or a drizzle of honey on top.
The next time you’re looking for healthy snack options or grab-and-go treats, whip up these super simple banana baked oatmeal cups!
With only a handful of ingredients, this unique take on a traditional muffin recipe requires no fancy skills or baking experience.
The ideal meal prep recipe for a quick breakfast, these healthy oatmeal muffins are the perfect make-ahead breakfast or school snack.
Make a big batch to have plenty of leftovers to enjoy throughout the week.
If you enjoy healthy oatmeal recipes, also try out these gems.
More Recipes with Oats:
- Oatmeal Protein Pancakes
- Healthy Oatmeal Carrot Muffins
- Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal Cups
- 5-Ingredient Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Healthy Oatmeal Strawberry Banana Bread
- Healthy 6-Ingredient Apple Oatmeal Cookies
Banana baked oatmeal cups for all occasions, no matter the time of day!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 large ripe bananas, mashed (1 cup of mashed bananas)
- ½ cup unsweetened almond butter or peanut butter
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk of choice
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup, optional
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups quick oats, or rolled oats
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ to 1 cup chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin tray with 9 muffin papers.
- Mash the ripe bananas in a large bowl until creamy.
- Mix in the almond butter, eggs, milk of choice, pure maple syrup (if adding) and vanilla extract until the wet ingredients are well combined. Note: If your almond butter is chilled from sitting in the refrigerator, microwave it for 30 to 60 seconds, or until it is very easy to stir.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl (oats, sea salt, and ground cinnamon) and mix well until a thick muffin batter forms. If desired, mix chocolate chips into the oatmeal mixture.
- Pour the banana oatmeal mixture into the paper liners, filling them all the way up. If you’d like, sprinkle the tops of the muffin batter with extra chocolate chips.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until muffins test clean and golden brown around the edges.
- A great way of telling whether or not a baked good is cooked through is by taking the internal temperature. To do so, insert a digital thermometer into the center of one of the oatmeal muffins and wait until the numbers stop moving. Muffins are fully baked once they have reached 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Allow the muffins to cool completely before peeling off the wrappers. If you try peeling them off when the muffins are still warm, you’ll lose much of the oatmeal muffin cup to the muffin paper.
Notes
Nutrition
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Amrita
Saturday 24th of February 2024
The quantity of oats is not listed in the ingredients list. Can you confirm?
Julia
Saturday 24th of February 2024
Hi Amrita! It's 2 cups of oats. While the ingredients are listed in the body of the post, the full recipe is at the end, which shows all of the quantities and ingredients. I hope this helps! Enjoy! xo
Belle T
Saturday 24th of February 2024
@Amrita, I see it shows 2 cups :)
Lisa
Friday 23rd of February 2024
What can I use instead of nut or seed butter?
Julia
Saturday 24th of February 2024
Hi Lisa! I haven't tested the recipe without almond butter or peanut butter, so I'm not sure how it would turn out without it. I imagine it would be fine to just add more milk (almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, etc.). Again, I'm not sure how the muffins turn out swapping the nut butter for something else so this might require some experimenting. Let me know if you try it!