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The perfect blend of sweet and tart, Cherry Banana Muffins are a delicious breakfast treat!
Cherry season is short in California (early May-mid June) so I like to take advantage of having the deliciously sweet fruit available in the produce section. Cherry Banana Muffins are a great way to use up a couple ripe bananas while highlighting the seasonal fruit.
If you want to enjoy these muffins all year long, you can substitute frozen cherries for fresh ones. They are certainly easier because you don’t have to pit the cherries first. But for best results and flavor, use fresh cherries.
Are Cherries considered a berry?
While they are small, round and look a lot like a berry, cherries are actually a stone fruit (classified as Drupes.) Stone fruits have an outer fleshy layer and thin skin. But the most well-known indicator would be the pit inside. Drupes have a single seed, which is the pit, or stone.
If you eat a lot of cherries or olives (also a drupe, which is a fruit!) you may want to invest in a good Cherry Pitter (or Olive Pitter) like this one from OXO. It makes it much faster and easier to prep the cherries for Cherry Banana Muffins and other recipes!
What you need to make Cherry Banana Muffins:
- ripe to overripe bananas
- eggs
- plain greek yogurt
- neutral tasting oil (I use light olive oil)
- vanilla extract
- sugar
- flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- cherries, pitted and cut in half
- chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Start with overripe bananas for the best banana flavor baked into the muffins. Ripe bananas will work as well, but they are harder to mash and don’t pack as much “punch” when it comes to flavor.
Mash the bananas with a fork or a potato masher. Personally, I find a fork to be easy to use, especially when the bananas are overripe. Plus, it’s just easier to clean. 😉
Add the eggs and stir them together with the bananas mixture. Then add all the wet ingredients and mix well. You don’t need a hand mixer for this. A whisk or large spoon will work fine.
In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. Use a spoon or spatula to mix together. There’s no need to pull out the mixer for this cherry muffin recipe.
Gently stir in the cherries and nuts (if using) until incorporated into the batter. As you can see, there are lots of beautiful red chunks of fruit in every muffin!
Evenly divide the batter between 12 muffin cups (lined with cupcake liners for easy removal and cleanup) and bake.
More great recipes using cherries:
- Cherry Banana Bread– chunks of fresh cherries and a sweet cherry glaze on top take this banana bread over the top
- Cherry Crumble– use fresh or frozen cherries for this classic dessert with a buttery crumble topping
- Cherry Marshmallow Cookies– no bake cookies dipped in white chocolate with a cherry on top
Cherry Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 bananas ripe to overripe
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup plain greek yogurt
- ¼ cup neutral tasting oil I use light olive
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cherries pitted and cut in half
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º
- 2 bananas, 2 eggsIn a large mixing bowl, mash bananas, and whisk in eggs
- ½ cup sugar, ⅓ cup plain greek yogurt, ¼ cup neutral tasting oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla extractOnce eggs are incorporated into bananas, add sugar, greek yogurt, oil, and vanilla, and whisk until combined
- 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon saltIn another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined
- 1 cup cherries, ½ cup chopped pecans or walnutsStir in cherries and pecans (if using)
- Divide between 12 paper-lined, or greased muffin cups
- Bake in center of preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean
- Remove from the oven and let cool several minutes before removing form muffin tin
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Lia says
I have to rate this recipe because I think the current star rating does not do it justice.
I followed the recipe as written, i just added a crumble topping because I thought it would compliment the flavors. It turned out phenomenal and the big reason I want to shout them out it how well these muffins sprang up and domed in the oven. the batter made exactly 6 jumbo muffins (2 scoops of regular size muffin). I wish I had a picture , because I think the big thing we all want in muffins is a really delicious perfectly tall and shaped dome–or muffin top. that’s the element that bakery style muffins nail and can be harder at home. This recipe achieves that muffin top without any fiddling with oven temperature which makes them super easy.
Definitely a recipe I’m going to save for the next time I have bananas lying around. TY!
Nicole Burkholder says
Thank you so much for the star rating and the great, detailed review! And you’re right about the perfect muffin top-they just make a muffin taste better overall 🙂
Roza says
Not a full proof recipe. The taste is terrible.
Nicole Burkholder says
Sorry to hear that! Taste is subjective, so we don’t all think the same things taste great. I personally love them-cherry and banana go together very well. But it may not be your thing. Since you gave no details about how you made the recipe, whether you changed anything, or what you mean exactly by “the taste” I can’t really help you troubleshoot. Also, just for future reference, it’s “fool proof.” 🙂
Val says
I recently had bananas that had gone around the bend and some cherries that weren’t as flavorful as I had hoped, so I was looking for something to do with them. Your recipe fit the bill perfectly. As I only had cinnamon-vanilla Greek yogurt, I went with that, and added some cinnamon sugar to the top of the muffins to enhance that flavor. The only other change I made was to swap out half of the vanilla for almond extract to try and boost the flavor of my dull cherries. Definitely a hit with my teenager, so thank you.
Nicole Burkholder says
I’m so glad you liked it! Sounds like you made some yummy adjustments, too 🙂