Air Fryer Banana Muffins

Try making banana muffins in your air fryer once, and you'll never go back! Tender and bursting with banana flavor in the middle, slightly crunchy on the outside. You'll love this quick breakfast or snack!

Why Are These Muffins Better Than The Oven?

I mean, I know there's nothing complicated about using your oven to bake muffins - except for the additional preheating time - but making air fryer banana muffins adds something special. The texture of the outside of the muffin gets a little bit crunchy after being air fried, while the inside remains tender and moist. The nuts on the top also get a bit toasty and, well, that's just delicious.

How Do I Fit A Muffin Pan In An Air Fryer?

In most cases... you don't. There are some jumbo air fryers out there that might be able to fit a smaller muffin tin, but here's my special secret...

Buy a set of free-standing silicone muffin cups like these!

They will hold their shape when batter is added so you can just place them directly into the fry basket - as many at a time that will fit.

You don't even have to worry about greasing the cups. The muffins will come right out of them easily.

I clean mine by turning them inside out and putting them into the top rack of my dishwasher. So easy!

Always Use Over Ripe Bananas In Muffins

Step away from the green or yellow bananas when making air fryer banana muffins - you will regret it otherwise!

Using underripe or 'just ripe' bananas will not impart much banana flavor into your muffins, and that's just sad. Choose bananas that are heavily speckled or almost totally brown. Yeah, bananas like this may not be too good to eat all by themselves, but when making banana cookies, muffins, cakes, bread, or whatever else, you'll get much stronger fresh banana flavor.

Don't have overripe bananas? Roast them in the oven! Preheat your oven to 300F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place unpeeled whole bananas on the prepared sheet and put them in the oven until the peels have turned black and they start to ooze just a little. Keep a close eye on them!

In The Mood For Regular Banana Bread? Try My Favorite Recipe!

Save Some Nuts For The Top!

There's a big reason why I reserve some of the nuts to sprinkle onto the batter after its been added to the muffin cups. Allowing some nuts to remain on the very top allows them to get all toasted and crunchy in the air fryer. It's a small thing, yes, but really adds a special touch to the finished muffins, especially when enjoyed warm right out of the air fryer.

What Ingredients Do I Need?

There's nothing too fancy needed to whip up these tasty little banana muffins in your air fryer, but let's take a look at what you'll need to grab:

• 3 big ol' bananas, very ripe - the browner the better, just make sure they aren't spoiled.
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter - don't worry about sitting it out beforehand, you're gonna melt it anyway.
• ¾ cup light brown sugar - you can use dark for a bolder flavor profile
• 2 large eggs - go ahead and beat them a bit so that they are easier to mix in with your other ingredients
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract - as always, use the pure stuff - never imitation!
• Dry ingredients: 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt - pretty basic stuff here.
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans - you can use whatever nuts you have on hand, honestly. I've used some leftover pistachios before and let me just say... yummy.

Not too crazy, right? It's likely you have most of this stuff kicking around in your kitchen already. You might even already have some leftover bananas once your kids have decided that they hate them after being obsessed with them last week. IYKYK.

Now for the full recipe and method, just keep scrolling to the recipe card!

Do I Have To Preheat My Air Fryer?

The million dollar question for every air fryer recipe in existence, right?

My answer may frustrate you... do you need to preheat your air fryer? Kinda sorta.

I don't pay much attention to pre-heating ALL the way to the desired temperature, but I do go ahead and turn it on, set the temp, and let it run for about 5 minutes before adding what I want to fry. Tends to work well for me... maybe it'll work for you, too?

Storage and Freezing Instructions

Let muffins cool completely and store at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 days. Refrigerate to keep them a bit longer. You can reheat muffins in the microwave or toast them in your toaster oven, regular oven, or air fryer!

Freezer Instructions: Place cooled muffins into a freezer-safe zip top gallon bag. Freeze, using within 3 months for best quality, though they will be safe to consume after that time if frozen properly.

Thawing instructions: Just pop one out of the freezer bag and let it thaw on your counter - it won't take long! 20 minutes or so?

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and I hope you enjoy this recipe!

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