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These banana cottage cheese muffins are SO tender and delicious, no one will know that the secret ingredient is cottage cheese. Made from wholesome ingredients these muffins are lower in fat and sugar than most traditional recipes.
About These Easy Banana Muffins
These easy cottage cheese banana muffins are quick, delicious, and one of my favorites have ready to go for the morning. Here’s why you’ll love ’em too:
- Easy! Did I mention these are easy? You can have these muffins ready for the oven in less than 10 minutes.
- Classic banana bread flavor. Ripe bananas, vanilla and cinnamon give these muffins that warm baked banana flavor that we all love.
- No refined sugar. These muffins get tons of natural sweetness from ripe bananas and a little bit of honey.
- Nutrient-packed. Each muffin packs 5 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber from ingredients like cottage cheese and whole wheat flour.
If you’re short on time, try my Banana Cottage Cheese Pancakes instead. Or, for more healthy cottage cheese muffin recipes check out my Cottage Cheese Pumpkin Muffins and Cottage Cheese Blueberry Muffins next!
Ingredients
For full recipe instructions and complete list of ingredients, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
Dry Ingredients
- White whole wheat flour: White or “golden” wheat flour adds fiber and nutrition without the traditional taste of whole wheat. You can use all-purpose flour, regular whole wheat or a combination.
- Cinnamon: The warm flavor of cinnamon compliments the banana flavor of these yummy muffins.
- Baking soda, baking powder and salt: For rise and balanced flavor!
Wet Ingredients
- Cottage cheese: Full-fat cottage cheese adds moisture, protein and gives these muffins the most incredible tender texture. You won’t even know it’s in there!
- Bananas: Make sure to use VERY ripe bananas, the more brown spots the better.
- Avocado oil: Any neutral oil will work but I love using avocado oil for the heart healthy monounsaturated fats.
- Honey: Just 1/2 cup of honey sweetens these muffins perfectly. Maple syrup or agave work too.
- Eggs: Eggs help give the muffins structure and protein.
- Vanilla extract: A splash of pure vanilla extract brings out the natural sweetness of these tasty muffin ingredients.
Variations
- Mix it up: Use this base recipe and switch up the 1/2 cup of add-ins. I love cinnamon chips, pecans, walnuts or dark chocolate chips.
- Greek yogurt: Swap the cottage cheese for equal parts Greek yogurt and increase the salt to 1/2 tsp.
- Skip the banana: If you don’t have bananas on hand swap them out for 1 cup of unsweetened apple sauce.
- Sugar sprinkle. If you want to leave the chocolate chips out, I like to do a big sprinkle of turbinado sugar instead.
- Mini muffins: Easily turn these into mini muffins by using a mini muffin pan with 24 spots. They cook faster so start checking at 12-15 minutes.
How To Make Banana Cottage Cheese Muffins
- Whisk dry ingredients. Add all dry ingredients (except chocolate chips) to a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Blend wet ingredients. To a high speed blender or food processor add cottage cheese, bananas, oil, honey, eggs and vanilla. Blend until smooth. You can also do this in a separate bowl with an immersion blender.
- Mix. Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and mix until combined well.
- Add chocolate chips or nuts. If desired, fold in mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts. Or, keep them out and sprinkle muffins with turbinado sugar and a sprinkle of sugar.
- Pour into muffin pan. Divide batter evenly into muffin tin lined with liners or silicone muffin pan.
- Bake. Bake for 18-22 minutes at 350 degrees F. Tops will be golden brown and a toothpick should come out clean.
How To Store
Store cooled muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Or, transfer completely cooled muffins to a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw muffins in the refrigerator before enjoying.
Jamie’s tips
Tips for Success
- Use ripe bananas. Make sure your bananas are good and ripe! Underripe bananas will make dense muffins with glossy, flat tops. In a pinch you can also “ripen” bananas by baking them on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes until the skins turn black and bananas are soft and sweet.
- Don’t over-mix. When combining wet and dry ingredient mix until just combined. Over mixing makes spongey, tunnel filled muffins.
- Full fat cottage cheese. Full fat cottage cheese is my favorite for baking because it’s thick and creamy. 2% is next best, but I recommend not using fat-free cottage cheese.
- Use a silicone pan. My favorite muffin hack? Use a silicone muffin pan! The muffins pop right out and you don’t have to mess with liners.
More of My Favorite Muffins
If you’ve made and loved these Banana Cottage Cheese Muffins or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and comments below!
Banana Cottage Cheese Muffins
Tender banana cottage cheese muffins are made with simple, nutritious ingredients and only take a few minutes to prepare.
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 2/3 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts, optional
Wet ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese, full-fat
- 2 bananas, ripe, very spotty
- 1/4 cup avocado oil, or other neutral oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, arrange rack to middle position. Prepare a 12-muffin pan with muffin liners.
- Add all dry ingredients (except chocolate chips/nuts) to a large bowl, whisk to combine, set aside.
- To a high speed blender add cottage cheese, banana, milk, oil, honey, eggs and vanilla. Blend until smooth. You can also do this in a separate bowl with an immersion blender.
- Add wet ingredients to dry, using a rubber spatula to get all the wet ingredients mixture out of the blender.
- Mix wet and dry ingredients until just combined, fold in chocolate chips last. Avoid over-mixing.
- Divide muffin batter evenly into prepared tins.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Make sure to use very ripe bananas. Underripe banana will give these muffins a dense texture and flat, glossy top.
Nutrition
Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 187kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 242mg | Potassium: 169mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 79IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an estimate.
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