These moist homemade banana cupcakes are bursting with strong banana flavor thanks to using overripe bananas. They are incredibly soft, fluffy in texture, and comes together in just one mixing bowl. I topped mine with this easy brown sugar frosting that brings out the sweet and subtle flavors of the real bananas.
As a professional home baker who always seems to have plenty of overripe bananas sitting on the counter, I knew I needed a banana cupcake recipe that was moist and had a soft and tender crumb.
After testing the cupcake base 6+ times, these cupcakes are truly light and fluffy (just like my easy moist vanilla cupcakes) and not dense like my favorite banana bread recipe.
When it comes to classic and fool-proof cupcake recipes, you'll have to add these banana ones next to my best chocolate cupcakes and homemade carrot cake cupcakes as must-bakes!
Why You'll Love These Cupcakes
- Easy to make. Just like with a lot of my best homemade cupcakes, these are beginner-friendly and take just 10 minutes to prep.
- One bowl recipe. From mashing the banana, to mixing together the wet ingredients, and then the dry ingredients, you only need one mixing bowl to make the cake batter.
- Simple pantry ingredients. You most likely already have all of the ingredients you need in your pantry and refrigerator.
- Brown sugar frosting. Many recipes for banana cake have them topped with cream cheese frosting (which you definitely can!), but I topped mine with a smooth and creamy brown sugar frosting.
Ingredients For Homemade Banana Cupcakes
- Bananas: Make sure they're overripe for the best and sweetest banana flavor. Lots of brown spots on your bananas are perfect!
- Unsalted butter: A combination of both melted butter and vegetable oil are used to give the cupcakes great flavor, while also keeping them extremely moist.
- Yogurt: Use either plain or vanilla yogurt. You could also use sour cream. This helps to create the best texture.
- Flour: I used all-purpose flour.
See the recipe card for the full ingredients list and the exact amounts.
How To Make The Best Banana Cupcakes
Step 1: In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth and creamy.
Step 2: Whisk in the melted butter, oil, brown sugar, sugar, yogurt, milk, egg, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
Karissa's Pro Baking Tip: The more dark spots and overripe your bananas are, the more banana flavor your cupcakes will have!
Step 3: Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into the bowl and whisk just until combined and there is no more white flour.
Step 4: Fill each cupcake liner ⅔ of the way full and bake for 18-23 minutes.
Step 5: Use a toothpick to check the centers for doneness and let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring them over to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 6: Top each cupcake with your favorite frosting!
Frosting Flavors For Banana Cupcakes
I feel like banana offers a blank canvas for so many great flavor pairings! Here are some of my favorite frosting recipes to use:
- Easy Cream Cheese Frosting: You can never go wrong with pairing banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
- Peanut Butter Frosting: Another perfect flavor combo is bananas and peanut butter.
- Perfect Chocolate Buttercream: I'm a huge fan of chocolate and bananas together, especially in cake form.
- Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting: Adding a touch of spice, like cinnamon, to bananas really adds another depth of flavor!
Storing & Freezing
Storing: Keep any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container on the counter for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Freezing: To freeze, I like to individually wrap each cooled cupcake in plastic wrap and then place them into a freezer-safe bag. Keep frozen for up to 2 months.
You can also freeze them when topped with frosting too.
Professional Home Baking Tips
- Measuring Flour: To help ensure you don’t add extra flour, follow these three simple steps: 1) Fluff up the flour using a fork. 2) Spoon the flour into your measuring cup. 3) Scrape a knife across the top of the measuring cup to level out the flour.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: In the recipe card, I listed that it was preferred for the yogurt, milk, and egg to be at room temperature before baking. I've baked these cupcakes using both room temperature and cold ingredients and the difference was very minimal. So if you're in a hurry, you can use cold ingredients.
- Overripe Bananas: Dark, brown, and spotty bananas make for the best cupcakes because the banana flavor will be strong. Don't use underripe bananas.
- Cupcake Batter: Be careful not to overmix the batter. Fill each cupcake liner ⅔ of the way full, which is just a little more than 3 tablespoons of batter.
Recipe FAQs
Yes you can. Just be sure that they are completely thawed before mashing.
Absolutely! Once baked, keep them at room temperature for up to 2 days. Then frost and serve.
I actually already have a few banana cake recipes on the blog, including this one layer banana cake and banana layer cake.
📖 Recipe
Homemade Moist Banana Cupcakes
Equipment
- 12-count muffin pan
- Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
Ingredients:
- 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium-sized overripe bananas)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (or canola)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup yogurt room temperature preferred
- ¼ cup milk room temperature preferred
- 1 large egg room temperature preferred
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- brown sugar frosting
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth and creamy. Then whisk in the melted butter, oil, brown sugar, sugar, yogurt, milk, egg, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into the bowl and whisk just until combined and there is no more white flour.
- Fill each cupcake liner ⅔ of the way full (a little more than 3 tablespoons of batter) and bake for 18-23 minutes. Use a toothpick to check the centers for doneness and let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring them over to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Top each cupcake with your favorite frosting, like this brown sugar frosting or a classic cream cheese frosting! Use a piping bag and frosting tip to frost the cupcakes. I used the Wilton 6B.
These banana cupcakes are a 10/10! So soft and tender and not dense at all. I really like to top them with a classic cream cheese frosting.