Trail mix banana muffins are a fun and colorful way to add more nuts, fruits, and protein into your diet. With a delicious and moist banana muffin packed with your favorite trail mix blend inside, every bite is sweet, crunchy, salty, and oh so perfect!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas.
Stir in coconut oil.
Mix in the baking soda, and salt.
Mix in the vanilla, egg, and sugar until smooth.
Stir in flour until no flour streaks remain.
Fold in trail mix.
Scoop into muffin pan filling each one about ⅔rd of the way full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.
Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Recipe Tips
You can use almost any blend of muffin mix preferred for this trail mix muffin recipe.
If desired you can use trail mixes with dried fruits, without chocolate pieces, with coconut shreds, or use the ones with a blend of chocolate chips mixed in. I've yet to find a trail mix blend that I didn't like in my muffins.
I recommend not overmixing the batter in the muffins as you just want to stir the flour and trail mix into the blend until just combined. If you stir too much once the flour has been added, the glutens develop and could result in a chewier or more gum-like muffin texture which we do not want.
You can switch out the coconut oil for canola oil, vegetable oil, or even melted butter if desired. I personally like the coconut oil for these ones just because it goes great with the "feeling healthy" vibe you get from the trail mix, but these are still more treat-like either way.
Storage
If properly stored in an airtight container at room temperature, you can expect these muffins to last about 3-5 days like any other banana muffin recipe.
These muffins can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To thaw simply place them on the counter to thaw. This could take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on what the room temperature is and how many you're trying to thaw at once. These can also be placed in lunch boxes frozen in the morning and be thawed by lunch.