Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins

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If you’re looking for a quick and easy breakfast recipe, these Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins are perfect! They’re delicious, full of tasty fruit, hearty oats, and take just minutes to prepare. The muffins are also topped with a delightfully sweet and crunchy brown sugar oat topping, giving you the taste of a bakery-style muffin right at home! No need for a mixer and frozen fruit is welcomed!

How to make Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients for the Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 ¼ cup of granulated sugar
• 3 small-medium sized bananas, mashed (equaling 1 cup)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of wild Maine blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Muffin Topping:

This is the same topping I use for my Carrot Apple Muffins. It adds a lovely sweet crunch to each muffin top.

• 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 2/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Instructions:

To make the topping:

Combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Give the ingredients a quick stir to mix everything together.

Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and toss until all the ingredients are well coated and moistened. Set the topping aside and make the muffin batter.

To make the muffins:

Preheat the oven to 400° and line a muffin pan with paper liners. Give the top of the muffin tin a spritz of cooking spray, so that the muffin tops don’t stick, this is optional, but helpful later.

In the bowl of a food processor, add the oats. Pulse the oats about 20 times to chop them up a bit, but don’t turn the oats into flour.

To the food processor and the oats, add the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Pulse 2 or 3 times to get all the dry ingredients combined. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, add your mashed bananas and sugar. Whisk until well combined.

Add in the egg and the vanilla and whisk until well incorporated.

Next, grab the melted butter and drizzle it into the banana and egg mixture. Whisk while you drizzle to evenly distribute the butter into the wet ingredients.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet. Using a rubber spatula or a spoon, stir the batter until almost fully mixed. The batter should be lumpy with some flour streaks showing still.

Add the blueberries to the lumpy batter. Quickly and gently, fold the berries into the batter until the berries are evenly distributed and no flour streaks remain. Do not overmix.

Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups. Grab your oat muffin topping and generously distribute it over the muffin batter.

Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes*. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

*If using frozen bananas in the batter, increase the baking time to 23-30 minutes.

Removing the muffins from the pan:

Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool down enough to be handled, but are still very warm. Carefully take the muffins out of the pan and set them on a cooling rack to finish cooling. Taking the muffins out of the pan while warm will help keep the tops from sticking to the pan. Serve and enjoy!

Why Add oatmeal to these banana blueberry muffins?

Adding oatmeal to these muffins adds a nice heartiness, nuttiness, and texture, while also balancing out all the sweetness from the fruit and sugar.

Oats are full of nutrients, vitamins, antioxidant plant compounds, and they’re a great source of fiber! So in addition to flavor, oats give these muffins a little nutritional boost too.

Are these banana blueberry muffins healthy?

Although these muffins have some healthy additions in the form of bananas, blueberries, and oatmeal, they still contain white sugar, white flour, and they’re topped with a sugary topping. So while I wouldn’t consider them horrible for you, I would still label these a breakfast treat.

What type of oats should I use for these blueberry banana muffins?

For this recipe, I used old fashioned rolled oats.

I like adding oatmeal to these blueberry banana muffins because it adds a nice heartiness to the muffin. The oats will also help to balance out all the sweetness from the bananas, blueberries, and sugar.

For a better texture, I do like to give my oats a spin in the food processor to break them up a little. This prevents biting into a chewy piece of oat in an otherwise soft muffin.

Alternatively, quick cooking oats can be used as well if that’s all you have on hand. The quick oats probably won’t need to be put through the food processor and the muffins may cook a little quicker, so keep your eye on the time.

Do not use steel cut oats for this recipe, they won’t cook properly.

Can you use frozen blueberries for these muffins?

Absolutely yes!

I use frozen wild blueberries (I like the small berries the best for muffins).

The most important thing to know when using frozen blueberries is DO NOT THAW. You want to add the frozen blueberries at the last possible stage of mixing. This way the blueberries will stay intact and won’t bleed (as much) in the batter.

Can you use frozen bananas for these muffins?

Yes! You can absolutely use frozen bananas. Just make sure they are completely thawed before using.

This may increase the baking time to 23-30 minutes, if the bananas were thawed, but still very cold when mixed in the batter. Keep an eye on the time while baking.

How long will these muffins keep?

These muffins will keep for 3-4 days at room temperature. I actually let them cool completely after baking and store them back in the muffin pan, covered with some plastic wrap. I find this allows the muffin bottom to stay soft, without the muffin top getting soggy.

You can also store these muffins in an air tight container at room temperature. The muffin tops may soften, but they’ll still taste delicious!

Can these muffins be frozen?

You can definitely freeze these muffins.

Make your blueberry banana oatmeal muffins as the recipe states and allow them to cool completely. Pop the muffins in a freezer safe container or bag and store them in the freezer for months. I freeze the muffins right in the muffin papers too.

When you’re ready to eat, allow them to thaw first or warm in the microwave.

Just as an FYI, the topping will soften in the freezer. It will still taste delightful, but the crunchy texture will be gone. If you’re making a batch of these muffins specifically for the freezer, I’d omit the topping.

Tips for making the best Blueberry Banana muffins with oatmeal:

• When using frozen blueberries, DO NOT THAW. Add the frozen berries at the last part of the mixing process in order to keep them intact.
• If using fresh blueberries, try to get wild. If you can only get the large fruit reduce the amount of berries the recipe calls for.
• To get the muffins out of the pan easily, take them out while they are still warm. This will keep the muffin tops from gluing themselves to the muffin pan.
• If you don’t have quite enough bananas to equal 1 cup, add a little yogurt or applesauce to make up the difference.

Other Muffin Recipes:

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins

Orange Almond Muffins

Mixed Berry Muffins

Applesauce Donut Muffins

Pumpkins Muffins with Streusel Topping

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