Banana Sweet Potato Muffins

These tender, flavorful banana sweet potato muffins are a favorite among kids and adults. I originally developed this recipe as a medium-healthy Halloween treat for toddlers back in 2009, but they’ve been such a hit over the years that they’re now part of the regular year-round rotation.

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Why we love this recipe

Banana muffins? Good. Sweet potato muffins? Good. Banana sweet potato muffins? Very, very good. These little beauties are:

• Incredibly tender thanks to the magic that yogurt works on the crumb structure
• Just sweet enough, in a delightfully complex way, since the banana and sweet potato do some of the heavy lifting
• A nice, diminutive size that’s great for snacking, whether you’re a toddler or a grownup
• Beautifully flavorful without being overwhelming

I first published this recipe here back in 2009. I’ve updated the post for clarity, but the recipe remains the same. If you’re a fan of old-school food blog content and/or dorky Halloween costumes, you can scroll down below the recipe card for a taste of the earlier version of the post.

What you’ll need

Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.

• Use very ripe to overripe bananas to give these tender little muffins just the right amount of sweetness. Two small bananas should weigh about 9 ounces / 260 grams when still in their skins. 
• You can use any variety of sweet potato. I tend to use garnet or jewel yams for their sweetness and gorgeous color. Nine ounces of roasted sweet potato will likely come from two to three small potatoes.
• You can use any kind of plain yogurt, with any fat content.
• To measure flour by volume, use the spoon and level method. Learn how here. If you like, you can substitute up to 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour for an equal measure of the all-purpose flour.

How to make them

Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to make a beautiful batch of banana sweet potato muffins. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.

1. First you’ll mix together the banana, sweet potato, yogurt, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat until light and smooth.
2. Then you’ll beat in the eggs, butter, and vanilla.
3. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
4. Bake for 15 minutes in the center of a 375°F oven. That’s it!

Expert tips and FAQs

Got overripe bananas?

Here are a few more of our favorite ways to use them:

• The best chocolate chip banana bread
• Sourdough banana bread
• Vegan banana pancakes
• Frozen Monkey smoothie

Got sweet potatoes?

Try these great recipes featuring them:

• Latkes
• Tacos
• Buddha bowls
• Vegan burgers

4.73 from 18 votes

Banana Sweet Potato Muffins

By Carolyn Gratzer Cope

I originally created this banana sweet potato muffin recipe back in 2009, when my kids were very little and SO not into the spooky side of Halloween. We loved them so much that they ended up in regular rotation throughout the year.

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 15 minutes mins

Total: 25 minutes mins

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 2 small, very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• ▢ 9 ounces (260 grams) roasted sweet potato, peeled and mashed
• ▢ 4 ounces (114 grams) plain yogurt
• ▢ ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed (53 grams)
• ▢ ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 12 tablespoons (168 grams) butter, melted
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

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Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 375° F with a rack in the center. Line two standard muffin pans with paper liners.
• In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whisk, combine the bananas, sweet potatoes, yogurt, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Mix on high speed until lightened in color and texture, about 3 minutes.
• Add the eggs, butter, and vanilla and mix until well-combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary.
• Sift in the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix on low speed until just combined.
• Scoop the batter into the muffin cups, filling them a little more than halfway. Bake for 15 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Notes

1. Two small bananas still in their skins should weigh about 9 ounces / 260 grams.
2. 9 ounces of roasted sweet potato comes from two to three small potatoes. To roast sweet potatoes, preheat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the center. Wash the potatoes and prick them all over with a fork. Place on a baking sheet and roast until very tender, usually 45 to 60 minutes depending on size.
3. You can use any kind of plain yogurt, with any fat content.
4. To measure flour by volume, use the spoon and level method. Learn how here.
5. If you like, you can substitute up to 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour for an equal measure of the all-purpose flour.
6. Once cooled, muffins will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for two to three days.

Nutrition

Calories: 164kcal, Carbohydrates: 21.3g, Protein: 3.4g, Fat: 7.6g, Fiber: 1.3g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Muffins and Quickbreads

Cuisine: American

Tried this recipe?Mention @umamigirl or tag #umamigirl!

Here’s the original text of this post from 2009: Celebrating dorky Halloween costumes

Dorky Halloween costumes are a real specialty of mine. The other day I walked into our local Ricky’s costume store and thankfully fainted on contact with the first price tag I touched. I say thankfully because otherwise I would certainly have been bludgeoned to death by the giant boobs of Slutty Hermione Granger or Fishnet Policelady Vampirate. (I am a not-so-shy nursing mom, and I’ve never seen anything like it. Even the clerk volunteered that the store is “basically one big ad for a Wonderbra.”)

But give me an old cardboard box, a couple of permanent markers and a skein of yarn—and pumpkin, I’ll see you in heaven.

As a kid I was:

• A Kleenex box with a tissue sticking out
• A table with a spaghetti dinner on it
• A front-loading washing machine
• A Ssips juice box with a straw.

As a kid I was not:

• Able to ride the bus or sit down at my desk on Halloween
• Asked out on any dates on Halloween
• Cool

“Un”fortunately I could not recover any pictures of myself for this post. Fortunately, I am not as shy about showing off my children’s dorky costumes from years past.

Although I will happily sacrifice comfort for creativity where costumes are concerned, I could never bring myself to do the same with taste for Halloween treats. I’m also a total lightweight where spook factor is concerned—even Martha Stewart’s creepy cocktails give me the heebie-jeebies.

Truth be told, if I were Queen Halloween, you’d all be getting a big schlog of this in your cauldrons.

Thankfully I’ve found a happy medium in these orange muffins, liberally adapted from this recipe. They have a delicate crumb and a mild flavor that both kids and adults will like. As long as your costume allows your hand to reach your mouth (which is by no means a certainty around here), you’ll be devouring them all Halloween day.