Chocolate Peanut Butter Marbled Banana Muffins made extra healthy with greek yogurt, cacao powder and peanut butter powder. Moist and delicious with swirls of nutty and chocolatey flavor in every bite!
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I have been wanting to make something with a marbled effect for the longest time now. Come on, look at that pretty pattern, how could you not want something like that?!
I so badly wanted to go for a banana bread, but I only had enough bananas for half a loaf. Mini loaves wouldn’t make for pretty pictures, so I went for the next best thing.
Chocolate banana marble muffins!
Now regular chocolate and banana swirl muffins were just okay, but then the peanut butter-lover in me came alive, and I just couldn’t stop myself!
Peanut butter and chocolate is without a doubt the most heavenly combination on this planet, so putting them together – and that too with a beautiful swirl – just makes these the best banana muffins ever!
How to make marble muffins at home?
Marble muffins are made when you have 2 visually contrasting batters (like peanut butter and chocolate in this case) in the muffin with a marble or swirl pattern.
To make marbled banana muffins you start with a spoon of one of batter, say peanut butter, and drop it in the muffin pan, follow it with the chocolate, and then repeat the alternating order until all the batter is used up.
Swirl them together with a knife to form a pretty pattern and then shake the pan a little to even it out and blend the batters a bit.
What makes these chocolate peanut butter muffins healthy?
Whole Wheat Flour
Using whole wheat flour in these muffins gives them quite a health bump as compared to regular all-purpose flour. Whole grains and wholesome eating ftw!
Greek Yogurt in place of oil
Using greek yogurt as a substitute for most of the oil makes these banana muffins perfectly moist and low fat and low calorie.
It also adds a good amount of protein here.
Less Oil!
Apparently you need oil in baking to get some moisture in and also slow down gluten formation while baking. This recipe uses only a little bit of avocado or melted coconut oil though. So, reduced fat chocolate banana muffins!
You could use extra virgin olive oil too – or worst case melted butter.
Peanut Butter Powder
Using powdered peanut butter such as pb2 powder in baking these chocolate and banana muffins gives a nice and rich nutty flavor without all the excessive fats from the regular nut butter.
That’s because the powder is made from roasted peanuts by squeezing out almost all the oils and then turning it into a powdered form. All that’s left is a bit of carbs and a fair bit of protein.
So together with the greek yogurt, these might just be chocolate peanut butter swirl banana protein muffins. Too lengthy a name though.
All in all using peanut butter powder makes these chocolate banana swirl muffins super healthy and even more low calorie.
Naturally Sweetened with Sugar-free sweeteners!
To add a hint of sweetness to the chocolate batter (since the cocoa/cacao is unsweetened), add a bit of stevia-sweetened maple syrup.
Recommendations? Lakanto Maple Flavored Syrup
Since they’re made with only stevia and no sugar, these marbled banana muffins are super healthy and sugar-free. This also really reduces the calories in there.
You can use honey in place which is natural, or pure maple syrup. They do have an exorbitant amount of sugar in there though, which is probably not the best.
Dairy free
Use coconut or almond based yogurt for a dairy free version of these chocolate banana muffins.
How long can you keep Peanut Butter Cocoa Muffins?
You can keep these cocoa powder peanut butter banana muffins out at room temperature for 3-4 days. Use an airtight container though.
For a little longer time, refrigerate them for up to a week, again in an airtight container.
Can you freeze banana muffins?
Yes they freeze really well; Store these healthy banana muffins for about 3 months. First wrap each muffin in plastic wrap and then place them in freezer-safe zipper bags.
Stash them away for whenever you crave some healthy chocolate peanut butter dessert!
Banana Bread?
Yes, you can very well use a loaf pan for this recipe.
Apply this same concept of alternating batters and make a healthy marbled or swirl chocolate peanut butter banana bread instead. Increase the baking time to about 45-50 minutes, or maybe a little longer. Use the toothpick test!
More Low-fat Baked Goods
- The Softest Low-fat No-Bake Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
- Chocolate Coconut Banana Muffin Bites
- Thick-but-Skinny Powdered Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Marbled Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 medium Bananas, Overripe, 364g, about 1½ cup mashed
- 1 Egg, Room Temperature (important to be room temperature)
- ½ cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt, about 100g, Room temperature
- 2 Tbsp Avocado Oil or Melted Coconut Oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Batter:
- ½ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 60g
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Cacao or Cocoa Powder
- 1½ tsp Baking Powder
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup, Stevia Sweetened
Peanut Butter Batter:
- ½ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 6og
- ¼ cup Peanut Butter Powder, see notes for sub
- 1½ tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Tbsp Almond Milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 10 cups of a muffin pan and lightly spray insides with cooking spray or coconut oil.
- In a large bowl, mash banana with a fork.
- Add egg, yogurt, coconut oil and vanilla extract, and blend with a hand mixer on low till pureed, 20 seconds.
- Divide wet mix into 2 parts.
Chocolate Batter:
- In one half of the banana mixture, stir in the maple syrup.
- In a medium bowl, combine ½ cup flour, Cacao or Cocoa Powder and 1½ tsp Baking Powder.
- Add cocoa mix to banana mixture, and gently fold until just combined. DO NOT OVER-MIX or too much gluten will form, giving a gummy texture.
Peanut Butter Batter:
- In second half of the banana mixture, stir in the almond milk.
- In another medium bowl combine other ½ cup flour, Peanut Butter Powder and 1½ tsp Baking Powder.
- Add peanut butter mix to other banana mixture, and gently fold until just combined. Again, DO NOT OVER-MIX or too much gluten will form, giving a gummy texture.
Marble:
- Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the peanut butter batter into each muffin cup, and then about 1 tablespoon of the chocolate batter. Repeat, alternating between each batter until the batter is used up.
- Use a knife to swirl the batters about 3-4 times. Don’t swirl them too much or they will mix.
- Shake the pan a little so that batters even out and fill the cups.
Bake and Cool:
- Bake for 23-25 minutes until a tester inserted into center comes out dry.
- Cool for 15 minutes in a pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Make sure the eggs and yogurt are at room temperature or the coconut oil will solidify.
- Do not over mix the batter or too much gluten will develop because of the whole wheat flour, giving a gummy texture.
- To substitute maple syrup, use honey.
- To substitute Peanut Butter Powder, use 2 Tbsp creamy Peanut Butter and only ½ Tbsp Almond Milk. This will increase the calorie and fat count of the nutrition though.
- Let the muffins cool completely before storing so that they remains fresh.
- Room temperature: 2-3 days in an airtight container.
- Fridge: 1 week in an airtight container.
- Freezer: 3 months, wrapped in plastic wrap and then placed in freezer bags.
- Kiva Cacao Powder
- Use code HAYLS.KITCHEN15OFF for 15% off your order
- Lakanto Maple Flavored Syrup
- PbFit Original Powdered Peanut Butter
- Servings: 10 muffins | Serving size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 134kcal
- Fat: 4.2g | Saturated fat: 2.7g
- Carbohydrates: 20.7g | Fiber: 4.2g | Sugar: 4.7g
- Protein: 5.3g
This was amazing Hayleeeeee❤️❤️❤️
So so happy to hear that Jai! I hope you find more recipes you love here too 🙂