Mimi's Giant Whole-Wheat Banana-Strawberry Muffins

Taking some advice from reviewers and working with what I had on hand I added 1/2 c oats (since I only had 2 bananas), reduced the cinnamon to 1/2 tbs, added 1/4 tsp nutmeg, replaced the applesauce with plain yogurt, and replaced the veg oil with applesauce. I also made sure to mash the strawberries. These were SO INCREDIBLY AMAZING. The texture was perfect, lighter than I expected and they were amazingly moist. The kept their moisture extremely well and if they hadn't been such a hit with the finace and rommates I'm sure they would've stayed that way regardless of where I kept them for at least a week. Throwing texture aside the taste of these was enough to make me a fan for life. (Although for those avoiding sugar I could see reducing the sugar just a tad-they'd still be fantastical) Delicious, filling, healthy, and quick to make!...what more could you ask for?

I use this recipe so often to make banana bread. I omit the strawberries and replace the oil with an additional 1/4 c of applesauce. I also add a tsp of allspice and 1/2 tsp of salt. I bake each loaf for 50 minutes. Even the traditional high fat banana bread lovers in my family say this bread is delicious. My dad told me last night that I make some darn good banana bread.

Wow, how delightfully different and healthy! These make a great breakfast. I used canola oil (healthier fats) and substituted half a cup of the flour with 1/2 cup of wheat germ to up the fiber content. Very moist and full of flavor!

I thought this recipe was fantastic! Thanks Mimi! I usually have a hard time w/making baked goods, but these were easy and they came out great!! The only thing I did different was add blueberries instead of strawberries, and I used 2 large bananas instead of 3. I did read the other reviews, and I dont understand why there was any negative ones--but a tip for future bakers would be to make sure they FOLD the bananas around the dry ingredients. Dont stir the batter, but if you do, definitely dont stir too much--that makes the muffins hard sometimes. Good luck and I hope everyone else enjoyes these muffins as much as I did!!

Fabulous! The best whole grain muffin I've tried. The first time I made them, I used fresh strawberries, but they pretty much disintegrated in the baking process--still tasted great. The second time, I used blueberries instead of the strawberries and they held up much better and were just as delicious! They freeze well. I take one out before bed and it's ready the next morning for breakfast on the go!

I cut the vegetable oil down to 2 tablespoons, and used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and large bananas. My muffins were very moist and delicious, not too sweet. I also used fresh strawberries, and they worked well.

I was looking for a healthy muffin recipe and ran across this one. I decided to do a little experimenting to make it even healthier by leaving out the sugar, adding another banana, wheat germ and replacing half of the wheat flour with oat flour. I'm happy to say that I was very pleased with the results. I can only imagine how good they would be with the sugar. Thanks Mimi!

These was really good in flavor but sadly i could not give it 5 stars because the frozen strawberries basicly disapeared while cooking :( I followed everything to the letter and it did not rise at all the parts without berries in it was very dense and was really hopin for a light fluffy muffin. not to mention the holes from where the berries was not happy but will try it again with fresh berries an hope for the best beacause i loved the flavor!!

I had fun making these. Used mixed berry applesauce, and a little less sugar. I used frozen whole strawberries, and chopped them in the food processor. I should have chopped them a little more though, because some of the pieces were too big and were mushy and gooey in the muffins. Pretty good muffins, but not ones I'll be rushing to make again.

Loved this recipe. I used olive oil instead of vegetable and also made regular size muffins. They were fabulous and the kiddos loved them. Next time I think I will use fresh strawberries though, because the frozen were very tart. Thanks for the great recipe!

This is my first review! And its because this is the first recipe from this site that I have made numerous times, numerous ways and they ALWAYS come out good. Below Ive outlined my most recent attempt which was the best batch ive ever made. Keep in mind, i eat these for breakfast and do not like them overly sweet, so the bananas plus strawberries in the batter provide enough sugar for my taste. Also, without any oil these are certainly not as moist as regular muffins. But if you have any familiarity with no-fat baking, you may be amazed at how nice the textures is. MY CHANGES - 1 egg/1 egg white, all applesauce instead of oil, omitted sugar entirely, 1 cup white whole wheat flour/1 cup oat flour, loads of spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger (1 T each), and 1.5 cups fresh strawberries. The result was a perfectly sweet, light, super hearty muffin! I had 2 for breakfast this morning and they were even better after resting overnight. One sortof "duh" suggestion: dont pour this batter into cupcake liners! Or, should i say, dont do it if you omit fat entirely because they will stick and you will lose half the muffin every time you unwrap one!

Did not like these at all. I thought the cinnamon overpowered the flavor of the strawberries. If your are going to make them I'd cut the cinnamon in half.

These were very good and moist. I looked at some of the suggestions and wanted to keep it low calorie so I replaced the applesauce with yogurt, replace the vegetable oil with applesauce, used two bananas, mashed frozen strawberries and drained excess liquid, and used only 1 teaspoon cinnamon and added 1/4 teaspoon nutmug. Turned out great.

These are delicious! Perfect for breakfast. To cut the fat even further, I replaced all of the oil with applesauce.

i wanted to only give these 3 stars because i really didn't enjoy the 'spice' taste of them but realized that was kind of silly as i knew the ingredients going in; i'm more of a sweet flavor lover. anyway, my neighbor thought they were great and that you could taste the strawberries and bananas (i didn't think so). but they were moist, the 2 cups of fresh diced strawberries held up, the muffins rose nicely and they were filling. i think i enjoyed them more warm out of the oven. only used 2 bananas, added the 1/2 cup of oats and only used on tsp of cinnamon as others suggested. used a 6 oz. cup of lite vanilla flavored yogurt instead of oil since i'd never tried that before. overall, a success. a piece of advice: if you accidentally break your eggs in the bowl before mashing the bananas, don't think you can just mash them in the egg. doesn't work that well...

Very delicious and easy to make. Subbed 1/2 c. low-fat sour cream for the applesauce and 1/4 c. applesauce for the oil, used two bananas and increased the strawberries to 2 cups, diced, reduced the cinnamon to a 1/2 T and added the 1/4 t. nutmeg as per other reviews. Will definitely make again and again. Thank you!

Other than the slightly-soggy consistency the strawberries leave, I enjoyed the final product. I used this as a way to have people sample "whole wheat" items and the group seemed to really enjoy them.

As wholesome as you can get with a muffin. Delicious and nutritious! I double my batch and used blueberries instead of strawberries, they turned out so well! These are a great snack for youngsters.

I loved these muffins! Everyone in the house enjoyed them. They are a great alternative to processed sugar treats. Plus, I am always looking for a way to use overly ripe bananas in the kitchen. Oh, I did use fresh strawberries instead of frozen, still great!

Moist and flavorful - fantastic! Like everyone else, I made substitutions based on what I had on hand, and found that the recipe adapted easily. I had cinnamon applesauce, so I omitted the cinnamon. I only had one banana, so I added 1/2 cup minute oats and an extra 1/2 cup applesauce. Based on another reviewer's suggestions, I mashed the thawed, frozen strawberries (I don't like gooey fruit in my muffins). Last, I don't have a muffin tin, so I put heaping spoonfuls of the batter on a cookie tin, and topped them with oats and cinnamon-sugar. Baked for 17 minutes. Really wonderful!

I have made these several times, and we love them with one exception--the chunks of frozen strawberry just turn into big soggy messes. So I made them again using fresh strawberries diced into fairly small pieces. This was better. They were still a bit soggy around the strawberries, but because the chunks were smaller, it wasn't as noticeable and the muffins held together better. I will still make these again, but next time I might omit the strawberries altogether.

Definitely taste best with adding an extra cup of strawberries and mashing them with the bananas. Also add a cup of oatmeal. Yum.

I made these as a sugar free recipe substituting about one-half cup agave for the brown sugar. Turned out great - not too sweet but sweet enough. I will be making them often. Lovely texture.

Nutritious, moist and tasty! I used only 2 bananas and added 1/2 Cup oats. Cut back on cinnamon to 1/2 Tablespoon, added 1/4 nutmeg as others had suggested. I mashed the strawberries as some reviewers complained about sliced strawberries' sogginess. My applesauce was strawberry flavored. Added streusel topping from "Strawberry Streusel Muffins" recipe on this site. Nice moist muffins, the husband and toddler ate them up! Good with butter but doesn't really need it (unless you're a butter fiend like myself ;)

I made this as written, with two exceptions. I cut the cinnamon in half and used regular size muffin pans. Even with halving the cinnamon, it still overpowered both the banana and strawberry flavors, IMO. Also, I think the submitter means to use standard size muffins cups, rather than minis. I assumed “large” meant the jumbo cups. Using a standard muffin pan this produced 12 nice size muffins. They did rise and dome beautifully. If I were to make these again, I would cut the cinnamon back even further.

I cut the strawberries into chunks. I sprayed the pans, but I had a problem with the strawberries sticking to sides of the muffin tins. I guess paper would have worked a little better. It went over well at the parents' group I took it too. Everyone liked the alternative to cookies.

Thanks for a great healthy recipe! Seriously they smell as good as they taste. I didn't have strawberries so I used the black berries and raspberries that I had on hand and needed to use up. I also made a crumble topping with an instant low sodium reduced fat brown sugar oatmeal packet and a little butter, I just mashed it together with a fork and put it on the tops of the muffins while baking. The whole house smelled amazing and they really turned out light fluffy moist and fantastic! The kids literally were crowding around the oven waiting for a muffin! What a great breakfast or snack. The second time I tried blueberries that also went over very well, and I used the same method for topping with whole grain oats and butter crumble.

The worsed muffins I ever made.

This came out very good. I did not have applesauce so I pureed some strawberries and used that in lieeu of the applesauce. I also used white flour and it came out yummy. My bff and grandma loved them!!!! thank you!

This recipe is delicious! I followed what the person below suggested and it turned out great! I will have easy fast breakfast for a while now! Just pick one up and go! Yummyyy..

Yum! I used frozen blueberries instead and added 1T of gluten flour to lighten up the batter a bit. Kids and I loved them.

These muffins were really moist (although the batter seemed overly dry before the strawberries were added). I thought there was too much Cinnamon and I like Cinnamon. Will probably make these again using less.

Made with blueberries instead - SO good!

I've made these twice now. The first time, I followed the recipie, and they were good. This time, I changed it up, and they are SOOOO yummy!! I used 1 cup whole wheat flower, 1/2 cup white flour, and 1/2 cup oatmeal. I also used 1 cup of blueberries, in place of the strawberries. I chopped the blueberries up in the processor, which seemed to work out really well. (My kids do not like biting into big pieces of blueberries in muffins, so I've learned to chop them up).

I wanted a banana bread recipe low in fat and made with whole wheat flour and found this one. Of course, I tweaked on it a bit. I omitted the oil, strawberries and applesauce, put in 1-1/2 tsp. of cinnamon instead of 1 Tbsp., then I added 3/4 C. of vanilla yogurt. I baked in a bread pan at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. My family really loved this. Very moist!

Not as good as I had hoped it would be. I love strawberry and banana combos but I didn't enjoy these. The strawberries were mushy,maybe because they were partially thawed.I'll probably use a homemade strawberry syrup next time and leave out the sugar.

Very good. For the true giant muffins I needed more time in the oven, possibly needs a touch more flour. But taste was very good. Just threw a handfull of freeze dried strawberries in. Next time will chop the strawberries finer instead of slices.

8/11- Added 1/2 c. ground flax,1 t. cinnamon, slightly less sugar, chopped the strawberries and added to flour mix. Made 20 muffins. Baked 17 min dark, 20 min regular. They stuck to liners a bit, so next time I'll spray. Delicious, healthy muffins. : )

These muffins really are big. Usually, when I bake a recipe for 12 muffins, I use only 9 or 10 tins to have larger-size muffins. I didn't have to do that with this recipe. To make this healthier and diabetic-friendly, I made some changes: I used 3.5 bananas, fresh strawberries, homemade unsweetened applesauce, Splenda brown sugar (and only 2/3 the amount required), and only a dash of cinnamon.

Tasted ok the first day. They definitely tasted 'healthy' and the strawberry flavor was not at all detectable. But on the second day, they were dry and hard to eat. I stored them airtight too. Ended up being a disappointment.

Yum, these are tasty! To make them more figure friendly & heart healthy I substituted in eggs beaters, canola oil, used only a half cup of agave instead of sugar, had fresh strawberries and blueberries in the frig so added a cup of each. As another review suggested, I added 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg as well. LOVE these muffins. Hubs had three for breakfast!

These were so wonderful. My husband loves them for work. I add a cup of oats just to make them a bit more filling. I make these all the time!

I was very excited to make this recipe because I had eaten some delicious strawberry banana muffins at a restaurant, but this recipe came up short. The only substitution I made with mine was to use all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour, since I already had plenty at home. My main complaint with the muffins was that they were too moist and bordering on gooey. The consistency reminded me more of a banana bread than a muffin. I was especially disapointed because my tops never came out slightly crust-like the way muffin tops normally do. I also found them to be rather bland. They don't have quite the strong flavors that say a blueberry muffin does. Overall, not a bad recipe but it needs some tweaks. I might make it again just to experiment and see if I can make it more flavorful and less moist.

Very good and lowfat too!

Instead of using strawberries all I had were blueberries. Turned out great! And I will try adding oats next time, sounds good. The batter was delicious! Great alternative for white flour.

Very very good! Doubled the recipe and made 2 loaves. I should have taken the extra time and made into muffins.

These were very flavourful and moist! My only disappointment was the appearance, the tops flattened and sunk as they cooled. My only substitution was that I used pureed fresh strawberries in lieu of the frozen ones. Next time I will try slicing them instead of pureeing. I also reduced the amount of cinnamon just based on the reviews I read.

I'm not sure what it was, but no one in my family liked these at all.

Following other people's suggestions, I used 2 bananas + 1/2 cup oats, and yogurt and applesauce. I reduced the cinnamon to 2 tsp. and added 1/4 tsp. nutmeg. I partially mashed really really cold strawberries (they did not have time to freeze).

Great recipe. Not too sweet and I love that it is made with whole wheat flour and applesauce. I did not modify the recipe at all and they baked perfectly. Enjoy!

I used 1/2 c strawberries and 1/2 c blueberries, otherwise followed the recipe exactly. It made 10 giant muffins in my pans. Delicious!

I love strawberries and so does my husband, so I made them especially for him. They were terrific - he actually ate them all in no time flat. Very flavorful, moist, great mix of strawberry banana flavor. These were a hit!

Very tasty! I made a couple of changes to make them even more healthy... Instead of just regular canola oil I used coconut oil (much more healthy for you ) and I decreased the sugar to 1/2 a cup. Turned out great! My kids love them!

This was so good for a healthy muffin! I did add a half a Tbsp of white sugar to help with the tartness of the strawberries. They came out perfect. Will make again

GREAT! THANK YOU! These are moist and more delicious than any bread. I only made a few minor changes. I used 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (1 T would be way too much for our taste), fresh strawberries mashed with a potato masher, and used about 1 cup of my homemade/healthy flour(blended oatmeal and flax seed). Also due to elevation I remove 3 T sugar and add 3 extra T flour. It's easy to stir/fold gently by hand in one bowl and makes a huge batch. I made 16 regular sized muffins + 24 mini muffins. The kids loved gobbling the minis fresh from the oven. Make these often and enjoy!!

These are soooo good. I didnt have any whole wheat flour so just used self rising flour and I sub'd more applesauce for the oil. I will be making these again!

Awesome. subbed oil with applsauce, and applesauce with yogurt, added 1/2 c oats, 1 tsp allspice, 1/2 cup walnuts, 1/2 cup raisins, 1 whole greenish banana chopped, no strawberries, incredible.

Mimi, Love this recipe - no refined white four and sugar: sweetened only with brown sugar and fruit. 1/4 cup of oil instead of butter or margarine, very healthy!!! this makes a delicious breakfasr on the go, or mid-afternoon snack. Keep up the heart healthy eating!!

I was looking for a recipe that had whole wheat flour, so I used this as a base since I didn't have strawberries..... I plused 2pkgs 0f simmple harvest vanilla,honey,almond ceral, set aside...pulse 4sm bananas & 1 white peach...in lg bowl whisked 3/4c applesauce (instead of oil), 1/2 c brn sugar, 2 eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, 1/2tsp salt folded in banana peach mixed in 1c ap flour, 1c whole wheat flour, baking powder & ceral...spooned in 12 reg muffin tin to the top....baked @ 400 for 5min & then @375 for 15mins. Lightly sprinkle pwd sugar on top before cool. Very Good! Next time I'll add more peach or oranges & carnberries instead.

Delicious. I added 1/4 cup millet to add crunch.

I like the recipe, but I am still looking for the perfect one. They have a mild strawberry banana taste, slightly sweet, moist...but they didn't have the crisp outside I like in a muffin and I think maybe needed a pinch of salt and less cinnamon. The fruit flavor would probably be stronger without the whole wheat but I like it because of the whole wheat. The strawberries do leave holes, but I diced them instead of slicing for smaller pieces. I wonder if this would work better as an apple muffin:keep the cinnamon and add diced apple, which holds together better. And maybe just a smidgen of white sugar for a little crispness on the outside...and a pinch of salt in the batter. Also, I did not have giant muffin cups and was surprised to see this filled my 12 regular muffin cups exactly ??? They baked up without spilling over. It took 15 minutes in my oven.

They are delicious!! I love them so much :) I subbed out all but 1tbsp of oil for nonfat strawberry yogurt and they turned out big and moist and fluffy!

Very good! I used this as a base - changed the flour to 1/2 whole spelt and 1/2 white (wheat) and used diced and spiced apples (homemade frozen apple pie filling actually) instead of the strawberries. Fantastic! Much better than I thought it would be.

I thought these were delicious. I followed the directions exactly. My husband said that he expected there to be a stronger banana flavor. I thought that the strawberries in it were really delicious.

They flavor was good, but I had a problem with the moisture from strawberries making the muffins mushy.

Tasty, moist & freeze well. Thanks for a yummy heatlhy recipe.

Tried this recipe in an effort to eat healthier. I substituted the brown sugar with agave nectar and used fresh strawberries instead. It was delicious! One thing, the strawberries made the muffin a little too soggy so will try dried fruit next time instead. Overall, very good!

Just made this recipe! Delish! I halved the cinnamon as recommended by other reviewers and I used fresh strawberries, since they are in season! I’d recommend making this recipe and subbing peaches and raspberries for the strawberries.

Oh my, wow! The ONLY thing I changed was that I used splenda's brown sugar blend for the brown sugar and reduced the cinnamon, this things are amazing. They are supposed to be breakfast for 2 people for the work week, but I'm not sure they will last until friday.

These are tasty. I used cinnamon applesauce, so I cut back a bit on the cinnamon. I also added 1/2 tsp. of salt, as I feel salt brings out flavor in recipes. I had a little topping left from making "Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins" (also from this site), so I used that up on these, and it went well. Thanks for the recipe.

yummy! The only thing I did different was to use whole wheat PASTRY flour,splenda brown sugar instead of regular, and a little bit of raspberry syrup added to frozen strawberries I processed to a liquid consistency added to the banana portion.

Yummy! My batter was really runny though

These are muffins you can feel good eating!

Delicious! I made a double batch and made a few changes: 1/2 whole wheat flour, 1/2 white flour (so they wouldn't be too dense); I substituted flax seed for half of the oil and used coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar. I also took the advice of other reviewers and chopped the frozen strawberries in my food processor first. Will definitely use this recipe again!

These are really good! I replaced the oil with more apple sauce and put about a tablespoon of oil in the batter just to make them even more guilt free! The strawberries I had were not frozen, but they turned out just fine, I think I could have even added a little more flour because of the extra moisture from them. Excellente!

Very good and moist. I took other suggestions and used 1/2 cup of Kefir for the applesauce and 1/4 cup of applesauce for the oil. I also used only 1/2 cup of brown sugar splenda blend. For the 2 cups of flour I used 1.5 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of wheat germ/oats. I did not have strawberries so I did 1 batch with fresh raspberries and 1 batch with fresh peaches. They do stick to the paper liners a bit even with some cooking spray. They may do better just being made in greased muffin tin without liners.

These were deliciously moist and dense, makes for a great get-up-and-go breakfast. My husband and father-in-law enjoyed them too. I think I'll take note of what another said and make a banana bread loaf like this! Thanks for sharing this.

My favourite muffins. The only change I make is to use yogurt in place of the oil. They are never too dry.

I couldn't even eat these. They had no flavor and were a weird texture.

These were just ok. They were moist, but almost too dense for my liking. Next time I think I would try 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 regular flour.

I was happy, both my kids gobbled these up. (anything that both of them eat without trouble gets five stars in my book!!) I thawed and sliced my frozen strawberries. Will make again for sure!

Great muffin. I used a cup of fresh strawberries chopped into pieces instead of the frozen sliced. I also added in a handful of wheat germ and 1/4 cup of light sour cream. My kids loved them and they are healthy...what more could you ask for?

I usually love muffins like this, but these were really not good at all. They looked and smelled wonderful, but they were pretty dense and tasted like straight wheat flour. I was quite disappointed.

This recipe is extremely versatile. I used fresh blueberries instead of strawberries and used a flour combo (Spelt, whole wheat, soy, brown rice & flax meal). So delicious! My kids love them! Could they be any healthier??

I made mine into mini banana loaves and they were amazing! I added chocolate chips but will add sunflower seeds next time to give it a bit of crunch!

These were great muffins! My family enjoyed these for breakfast this morning - and gobbled them all up! They really were "giant", easy to make, tasty and moist. I will definitely make these again. Thanks for sharing this recipe Mimi!

These were good very tastey i went ahead and used all applesauce and no oil to make this even healthier. Thanks.

Very little taste--I could only vaguely taste the banana, and couldn't taste the strawberries at all. I won't make again.

The only changes I made was to use a standard size muffin tin (the recipe yielded 16 muffins and they were done in 20 minutes- I used a dark nonstick pan at 350 degrees), halve the amount of cinnamon, and use fresh chopped strawberries instead of frozen. I thought the muffins turned out great! Very moist, not too sweet, and a healthy alternative to cookies for my youngest to share in the church nursery tomorrow.

This is a great recipe overall. The muffins came out moist with just the right amount of sweetness. I used blueberries instead of strawberries. The only thing I thought it lacked was the salt. With a little bit of salt added to this recipe, it will probably have a fuller taste, rather than a bit mild sweet flavor.

One of the best whole wheat muffins I have made. I used fresh strawberries, diced. Instead of applesauce, I used apple butter and left out additional spices. My son loved them too!

These were very good. Moist, and flavorful. I liked the 'bite' the strawberries give it. I confess, I am just getting used to the taste of all whole wheat...I am sure my taste buds will adjust. Thnak you for a recipe I will try again.

I followed the recipe exactly. The flavor of the muffin was ok but the sliced strawberries shrunk in the baking process and left my muffins with huge cavities.

these muffins are not sweet at all

Added coconut!! Love this recipe! !

Followed the directions to the letter and these turned out great! I was worried that they'ed be dry because of the whole wheat (normally I use half wheat half white flour) but these were just perfect. Moist and flavorful--I just can't say enough good things about this recipe.

Really good! I made mini-muffins, and used fresh strawberries(chopped). Kids and husband loved them. Make a bunch a head of time for those mornings with no time to eat a good breakfast.

These were delicious and easy to make. I made them for Valentine's day for my husband, and he loved them. It was nice to find a whole-wheat muffin recipe that wasn't bland. This was full of flavor and very moist. Great! I will make these over and over again.

I used fresh strawberries and no cinnamon (I was out). Very tasty, but it needed the cinnamon. The shelf life of these muffins is very short...the bananas will make the muffins slimy after a day or so. I made them in batches...mini muffins.