Home » Recipes » 3 Ingredient Banana Muffins (Plus How to Make Ripe Bananas in the Air Fryer)

3 Ingredient Banana Muffins (Plus How to Make Ripe Bananas in the Air Fryer)

Name: 3 Ingredient Banana Muffins (Plus How to Make Ripe Bananas in the Air Fryer)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 13 min
Total time: 43 min
Ingredients: 3-4 Very ripe bananas; 1 Box Yellow cake mix; 2 Large Eggs

5 / 5 ( 3 Reviews )

1 Comment Jump to Recipe

Super quick and easy 3 ingredient banana muffins that you can make in the air fryer. Not to mention, completely delicious!

Aug 14, 2024 The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure

air fryer banana muffins

Sometimes a good banana muffin recipe can be hard to find, but let me tell you, this is the only one you will need from now on. This 3 ingredient banana muffin recipe is perfect; you don’t have to measure anything and can use up your ripe bananas and no muffin tins to clean.

However, if you are craving banana muffins or bread and don’t have ripe bananas, don’t worry, we have you covered! There are also easy instructions on how to ripen your bananas in the air fryer in less than 10 minutes.

Plus, since this uses fresh fruit, that makes it healthy right? Perfect for an easy breakfast or a healthy snack option.

Ingredients and Supplies Needed

air fryer banana muffins ingredients

Ingredients:

Very ripe bananas
Yellow cake mix (or a gluten-free cake mix blend)
Large eggs at room temperature

Supplies:

Air fryer
Large mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
Muffin liners

Since for this recipe you are using the air fryer, I would definitely suggest taking a look at the Cosori 5.8QT air fryer if you don’t already have one they are great! You can also use silicone muffin cups instead of paper for this recipe too plus they are super cute and reusable!

Make Easy Changes

You can leave these delicious muffins as is, or you can jazz them up even more. While I would suggest sticking with the 3 core ingredients, here are some optional mix-ins for this banana bread muffins:

Chocolate chips
Peanut butter chips
Butterscotch chips
Chopped walnuts
Caramel bits
Ground cinnamon
Chopped nuts
Almonds
Freeze-dried strawberries

Make these chocolate muffins:

Instead of using the yellow cake mix, try using chocolate cake mix in its place and then add some chocolate chips for an added crunch and you have another version for a quick snack or a fun option for an easy breakfast on busy mornings!

Ways to top banana muffins:

Turn these into 3-ingredient banana oatmeal muffins just by topping them with a little extra oats on top.

Serve them warm by heating them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, and then put a little bit of almond butter on top for extra flavor.

Make a simple vanilla icing with powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk, and mix it all together to your taste then drizzle it over top of the muffins.

air fryer banana muffins

Why Do the Bananas Need to Be Very Ripe?

When you work with super ripe bananas, they break down a lot easier and will mix perfectly into the cake mix to make sure that you will get that wonderful banana flavor in every bit!

Plus, you really don’t want to take a bit and get a chunk of baked banana that did not get mixed in well enough into the dough.

Are the Eggs Necessary?

The eggs provide a lot of added flavor to this banana muffin recipe as well as turn this recipe into a wonderfully moist muffin. So yes, I would definitely say that eggs play a vital role in this banana muffin recipe and would not try to skip them.

How to Make Ripe Bananas in the Air Fryer:

air fryer banana muffins

Step 1: Place the bananas in the air fryer basket

Step 2: Turn the air fryer on to 300 degrees F or 150 degrees C for 8 minutes (more or less depending on the ripeness of your bananas so be sure to keep an eye on them).

Step 3: Let the bananas cool down completely.

How to Make Banana Muffins in the Air Fryer:

Step 1: Make up the Banana Muffin Mix

air fryer banana muffins

Start by mashing up the bananas with a fork and try to measure out about 1 ½ cups of the mashed bananas.

Then place the mashed bananas, cake mix, and eggs in a large bowl and mix it all together.

After the batter is made up, place a few liners in the air fryer basket and carefully scoop the batter into them, filling them about ⅔ of the way full.

Step 2: Bake the Muffins

air fryer banana muffins

Once the muffin liners have been filled, return the air fryer basket to the air fryer, and then turn it on to 330 degrees F or 165 degrees C for 10-13 minutes or until the internal temperature of the muffins are 200 degrees F or 93 degrees C.

You can fit about 10-12 muffins (quite snuggly) in the air fryer but they won’t be a perfect round muffin (if that is important I would fill the air fryer less and do multiple baking times).

After about 10 minutes the muffins on the outside were more done so I remove those and let the rest continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Just keep an eye on them since you won’t want dry muffins.

Then just carefully remove the muffins and enjoy! Then store the remaining muffins in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

air fryer banana muffins

Optional: Make Banana Bread in the Air Fryer

If you want to turn these muffins into traditional banana bread, then with the batter use a small loaf pan (find one that will fit in your air fryer about 7 in by 3.5 in) and fill the pan about ⅔ full.

Then place the pan in the air fryer at 330 degrees F or 165 degrees C and let it cook for 15 minutes. It will probably need more time than that.

If you are worried about the top burning, cover the bread with some foil and cook for 4-5 minutes at 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C, or until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees F or 93 degrees C. Then just let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan and letting it cool completely.

Use Your Air Fryer to Bake More!

The air fryer is such a great invention! The things you can make and bake in it are probably endless.

A Few Favorites to Bake in the Air Fryer:

air fryer banana muffins

Final Thoughts

I feel like banana muffins and bread are an all-year recipe that is great to have, especially if it can be made in the air fryer! Sometimes I will have the best of intentions to make banana bread but a recipe with lots of ingredients seems like too much work sometimes.

But, now with this 3 ingredient recipe, making banana muffins is easier than ever! You don’t need your oven or a muffin pan to make these 3-ingredient banana muffins.

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