By Made with simple and wholesome ingredients, these banana cottage cheese muffins pack in 13 grams of protein without any protein powder. Enjoy them for breakfast, as an afternoon snack, or take them on the go for a picnic. Grab your ripe bananas and just 1 large mixing bowl and let's bake!
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Our little one has this new habit where every night we start reading a bedtime story (the same one), and he spots the banana in the book. He then insists that he needs a banana. So, we get him one for a bedtime snack (I commend his choice), and then he only eats half and says to put the rest in the fridge.
Well, after a couple of days, we end up with many half-eaten bananas in the fridge because you know he can't eat them cold. So, I was like, I guess we're making banana bread, but muffins because they are more portable. I took my viral blueberry protein muffin recipe and adapted it to be banana. The result? Deliciously fluffy muffins with 13 grams of protein and 6g of fiber!!
Jump to:
ripe bananas are a must
Use ripe bananas. You can quickly ripen them by baking them on a sheet tray (in the skin) for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Ripe bananas are sweeter and softer.
ingredient notes & substitutions
All substitutions are a 1:1 substitute unless otherwise noted. See the recipe card for quantities.
- All-purpose flour: Provides the perfect structure for fluffy muffins. Gluten-free 1:1 flour works well, too!
- Almond flour: Feel free to swap this with additional flaxseeds if you can't have nuts.
- Ground flax seeds (or hemp seeds): Boosts fiber, omega-3s, and protein. Hemp seeds work too.
- Cinnamon and Nutmeg: Warm, comforting spices that pair perfectly with bananas. You can always use pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice if you don't have cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Baking powder & soda: Yes - we need both!
- Salt: Balances sweetness and enhances flavors.
- Cottage cheese: When I get home from the store, I use my immersion blender to blend all the cottage cheese. This makes it quick to incorporate into recipes. But, you can pop what you need with the other wet ingredients (except the bananas) into a blender to blend smooth.
- Butter: Adds moisture and a buttery flavor. Coconut oil works too if you're ok with the tropical notes.
- Eggs: Provide structure and help the muffins rise.
- Vanilla extract and salt: Every baking recipe's besties.
- Maple syrup (or agave): Natural sweetness that also adds moisture.
- Bananas: Use ripe bananas for the best sweetness and texture. Make our high-protein banana bread or banana bread bites if you have extra bananas!
- Chocolate chips: Measure with your heart! I like semi-sweet or Hu chocolate bars for no processed sugar. If making mini muffins, then use mini chocolate chips, otherwise, you get like 2 chips per muffin. Also, if you're a chocolate lover, give our protein chocolate muffins a try!
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
high protein ingredient spotlight: cottage cheese
Cottage cheese is an amazing protein source, packing about 28 grams of protein per cup! It has a creamy, slightly tangy flavor that amps up the protein in all sorts of recipes, including pizza crust, fudgy brownies, and to make protein pancakes without protein powder. Using blended cottage cheese in muffins keeps them moist, fluffy, and nutritious!
here's how to make banana cottage cheese muffins
Be sure to scroll to the recipe card for the full muffin recipe! If you aren't using a silicon muffin tin (which I recommend), be sure to line your tin first.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and mash up the bananas in a big bowl.
- Combine the rest of the wet ingredients in the bowl and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients and fold in until just combined (it will be a bit lumpy still).
- Gently fold in the chocolate chips. Then scoop the batter into the muffin tin cups (you should have enough batter for 16 muffins). For extra yumminess, top with cinnamon and sugar before baking!
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool completely (like 30 minutes) for the center to be fully baked. Then, enjoy!
quick recipe video
mika's tips
- Don't overmix: Stir ingredients until just combined for fluffy muffins.
- Batch baking: Leave every other muffin cup empty to allow for room to spread and create bakery-style domes.
- Use a silicone muffin tin. I love not using paper cups because muffins are so easy to remove from silicone tins!
troubleshooting & testing notes
Blending the wet ingredients
Blending the cottage cheese is important to get rid of the curds. I prefer to blend the cottage cheese on its own and then mix the rest of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Alternatively, you can blend all the wet ingredients (minus the bananas) and then mix them with the dry ingredients.
Making mini muffins?
If you'd like to make mini muffins, use mini chocolate chips. I used regular-sized ones, and they're too big. My toddler just ate the chocolate chip and left the rest of the mini muffin.
how to store & meal prep it
This recipe makes 16 muffins, so you'll probably have leftovers! This is how you can store your muffins:
- Room Temp: Store in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freezer: Freeze in a sealed bag or container for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight or microwave straight from frozen for 30 seconds at a time.
- Reheating: Microwave for 15-30 seconds or pop in a toaster oven for 3-5 minutes until warm.
how I eat these banana muffins
I love meal prepping these muffins for breakfast and typically pair them with one of the following:
- Meal Prep: Make these muffins and our high-protein egg bites for a quick breakfast all week.
- Leftovers: Use your leftover cottage cheese to make a strawberry cloud smoothie to enjoy alongside these muffins!
- Snack: I also like to eat these muffins as a mid-afternoon snack topped with cashew butter or Greek yogurt.
Recipe
Banana cottage cheese muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (gluten-free 1:1 works too)
- ½ cup almond flour (or extra flaxseeds)
- ½ cup ground flax seeds (or hemp seeds)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (can sub 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice for cinnamon and nutmeg)
- 2.5 tsps baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups cottage cheese (blended, low-fat, 16 oz container)
- ½ cup butter (melted, or coconut oil)
- 3 eggs (if doing a half batch, use 1 egg)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup maple syrup (or agave)
- 2 bananas (ripe, mashed)
- 1 cups chocolate chips (use mini if making mini muffins)
Before you start!
If you make this recipe, please take a moment to leave us a review. We love to hear from you!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If you're using a metal muffin tin (not silicone), use foil liners or spray paper liners with non-stick spray well!
- Mash the 2 bananas in a large bowl then add the 2 cups cottage cheese (blended), ½ cup butter, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, ¾ cup maple syrup, and mix well until combined.NOTE! The easiest way to blend cottage cheese is to blend the whole tub. If you don't have enough in the blender, it won't work. So, either blend all of it, use an immersion blender, or pop the cottage cheese, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla into the blender and blend until all the curds are gone.
- Then add the 2 cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup almond flour, ½ cup ground flax seeds, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, 2.5 tsps baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ¾ teaspoon salt and gently fold it all together (it will be a bit lumpy stil
- Gently fold in the 1 cups chocolate chips. Then scoop into a lined muffin tin, filling only every other one. This is key to getting tall, bakery-style muffins. Fill them really full, almost domed. You'll have to work in batches, but it's worth it!For extra yumminess, top with a cinnamon sugar mixture (¼ cup sugar to 1 tablespoon cinnamon) before baking.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Mini ones only bake for 15 or so minutes.
- Remove from the oven. Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool completely (like 30 minutes) for the center to be fully baked. Then, enjoy!
Video
Notes
Sure! Just let them thaw or thaw them in the microwave first. Can I ripen bananas quickly?
Yep! Depending on your time, you can leave them in a paper bag overnight. Or, bake them on a sheet tray with the peel on at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Just be careful when they come out of the oven - they will be very brown and very hot.
Looking for more information?
Additional substitution information can be found above in the substitution section of this post.
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate and for informational purposes only.
These muffins look so simple to make, looking forward to eating them!
This was so tasty! I plan to use an extremely ripe banana next time to increase the sweetness.
Wouldn't be possible to add sugar?
These were great! Super easy to make and easy to modify the recipe for how many bananas we had on hand and what we had in the pantry - 10/10 will make again.
That’s great to hear! Thanks so much for making them!
This was exactly the recipe I was looking for!! I used the 1/2 cup flax seeds and 1/2 cup hemp seeds and they came out so flavorful and moist. I only had one cup of cottage cheese so I substituted the other cup with Greek yogurt and it worked perfectly.
Awesome!
I'm curious - do you have any input on substituting mostly whole wheat or a different kind of flour? oat flour for example?
I really look forward to trying this soon!
I don't.. I'm fairly confident it would work well with a ratio of half whole wheat and half all purpose or half oat and half all purpose with the addition of 2ish tbsps more butter or maple syrup since those flours will absorb more liquid.
Tasty recipe. Can’t believe those ingredients make such a good tasting muffin! The Chocolate chips settles at the bottom of my batch. The muffins did stick to my muffin cups, I would grease my paper cups next time. I’m looking forward to having these with my morning coffee for the next couple days!
Good tips!
Just made this recipe. Absolutely delicious! The only thing is I lined my muffin pans with paper liners since I do not have silicone muffin pans and when I took off the paper liner most of the muffin stayed in the liner. Maybe used foil muffin liners?!
Definitely! I'll add that note. Or you can spray the liners!
So good and soft! No weird taste. 12/10🔥🔥 I was shocked!
We love to hear that!!
I make these almost weekly as mini muffins. My kids love them and so do I! I add in 1/4 cup hemp seeds as an extra crunch and then adjust by doing just 1/4 of flax.
Love that swap!
Really good! Thanks! I made a loaf of bread and a few muffins!
I would love if you could add an alternative to use sugar instead of maple syrup. Personally, I don't believe that the syrup is any healthier, it's just much more expensive.
I totally hear you on the cost, but I use maple syrup because it offers a better nutritional profile, including minerals and antioxidants, than refined sugar. Beyond nutrition, liquid and granulated sugars behave very differently in baking science, so swapping them would actually require re-engineering the entire recipe’s structure. Because of that, I’ve optimized these specific recipes for maple syrup and liquid sugars to ensure they turn out perfectly every time! You could make a simple syrup and swap that for the maple syrup if desired.
I love these muffins. I have made them twice now. A little confused though… in the first part of this post when you talk about adapting this from your blueberry muffin recipe you said “the result is 8 grams of protein” but in the nutrition it says 13 per muffin. Can you please clarify this?
Yes, sorry about this! We originally made smaller and more muffins with this recipe and then updated it but missed that line with the 8g. It's 13g per muffin 🙂
Amazing! We love these!