Cinnamon Banana Protein Muffins with Sourdough

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Imagine waking up to the comforting aroma of cinnamon and banana, knowing a perfectly moist, fluffy, and protein-packed muffin is waiting. These Cinnamon Banana Protein Muffins with Sourdough are just that – a treat designed to fuel your day.

They’re easy to make and feature an irresistible, caramelised cinnamon crunch on top and in the centre. Made with browning bananas and reduced sugar, they remain incredibly moist with a gentle tang from sourdough discard and Greek yoghurt. Plus, there’s the incredible nuttiness from browned butter! You might not want to share them.

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Why You’ll Love This
The Ingredients
Substitutions
Equipment Used
How to Make this
How To Store
FAQ
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy

Why You’ll Love This

TL;DR

Protein-Packed: A solid protein hit to keep you fuelled and satisfied.
Moist & Fluffy: Incredibly tender crumb thanks to Greek yoghurt, bananas, and sourdough.
Reduced Sugar: Naturally sweetened by ripe bananas, with less added sugar.
Gentle Sourdough Tang: Adds balance and complexity to the sweetness.
Irresistible Brown Butter: Unlocks nutty, deep flavour.
Cinnamon Crunch: Tempting topping and centre layer for extra texture.
Egg-Free & Waste-Reducing: Uses browning bananas and sourdough discard.

Perfect Breakfast to Fuel Your Day

If you love muffins for breakfast but want a protein hit too, I have good news for you: these Cinnamon Banana Protein Muffins give you both!
The inclusion of protein powder and Greek yoghurt results in a solid 5g of protein per muffin while giving you a perfectly risen, moist, and fluffy piece of breakfast bliss.

I have modified these from yet another recipe from the incredible book “The Elements of Baking”* , which already gave me the starting point for my rather popular Protein Sourdough Blueberry Muffins With Streusel.
I feel I’m slowly cooking my way through the whole book, as the recipes work so well as a base for any variations I want to include. It’s focused on ‘Free From’ baking but explains the science behind the function of ingredients better than any other book I’ve read.

Gentle Tang From Sourdough Discard

Using up sourdough discard by adding it to this recipe serves not just as waste reduction, but also counters the sometimes cloying sweetness of banana muffins with its gentle tang, adding lovely balance to the batter. If you’d prefer to make them without sourdough, don’t worry, I’ll give you instructions on how to reverse engineer them below.

Less Sugar By Using Bananas

Speaking of sweetness: Many traditional muffin recipes call for a cup or more of sugar, but thanks to the natural sweetness of ripe bananas and the protein powder, these muffins require significantly less – just ½ cup for 12 satisfying treats, helping with moisture retention, rise and, most importantly, that perfect caramelization we all love in baked goods.

You won’t notice these are low in sugar though – they have plenty of sweetness! You probably could even use about 2 tbsp less if you wanted.

According to an article from Healthline, bananas may even help your body utilize protein more effectively. So these muffins might just be the post-workout snack you’ve been looking for!

Plus, you get to use up those ever-present browning bananas that are sitting on your counter, staring at you accusingly (or is that just in my head?).

Egg Free

You know what bananas also do? They replace the eggs in this recipe, yet you won’t find any of the stodginess you sometimes encounter in banana bread. Thanks to the yoghurt, sourdough, and two leavening agents, this Protein Banana Muffin recipe gives you soft, plush insides, making them a pleasure to wake up to. Or have them as dessert with a nice cup of coffee (or tea if you prefer). Thinking about it, I’ve had them as a snack and for dinner too. Why? Because I can!

And look, they have protein, carbs, and fibre, so they totally count as a complete meal in my book! That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.

Brown Butter For Incredible Flavor

Dear god! Butter! In protein muffins? I hear you exclaim. Aren’t they supposed to be healthy?

Ok, look: I firmly believe in balance in my cooking and eating. When baking something, I often replace, say, butter with coconut oil (you could do this here too) to get a vegan twist on something. Or with olive oil, which I love in sweet recipes just as much as savory. But none of them does what butter can: brown into nutty perfection!

The magic of brown butter comes from heating butter gently until its milk solids toast and caramelize, creating a rich, nutty aroma and flavour that simply can’t be replicated by oils or unbrowned butter. This process not only deepens the taste but also adds a unique complexity that elevates these muffins from good to utterly irresistible.

Cinnamon Crunch Topping And Filling

If you saw (amongst others) my Sourdough Croissant Cinnamon Rolls recipe or the Sourdough Pumpkin Soda Bread with Protein, you might have noticed my acute obsession with anything cinnamon. I honestly sprinkle it on anything from oatmeal over pancakes all the way to savory dishes.

In these Cinnamon Banana Protein Muffins it’s really the star though. Combined with sugar, it is added both as a crunchy, warmly scented layer in the middle and forms a fantastic crust on top that caramelises during baking.
I always find myself eating the top last, as it’s the best part of the muffin. Is that just me?

Ingredient Notes

A few notes on the most important ingredients. As usual, the full list is in the recipe card.

Butter – Living in Ireland, I use, of course, Irish unsalted butter. It’s simply the best in flavor. So if you can find it where you are, it makes a real difference.
Bananas – The riper, the better for baking, as they get sweeter over time.
Brown and White sugar – I love the combination here, as the brown sugar adds even more caramel flavor and helps with moisture retention more than its white counterpart, while the white one keeps the muffins fluffier with a finer crumb structure.
Greek Yoghurt – This is the main moisture source for the batter and contributes to the overall protein content while keeping the muffins super tender.
Sourdough Discard – Made up from flour and water, this contributes the other half of moisture and a bit of structure. But its main purpose is balancing the sweetness from the bananas, protein powder, and cinnamon sugar with its gentle tang.

Note on Overnight Fermentation

If you are considering leaving the muffin batter to ferment overnight to get the whole range of benefits from the sourdough-protein combination that I explained in my blog post on the topic,
you could do that, but here are a few points to consider:

The sourdough tang will be much stronger

The muffins might get a bit tougher as the gluten has time to develop

Leave out the chemical leavening agents (baking powder and baking soda) until right before baking, as they would lose their effectiveness overnight.

I haven’t tried this myself as I was always too impatient and wanted my sweet treat right away. So I’d love to hear from you about the results if you do try it!

Protein Powder – I’m using MyProtein Whey vanilla flavor as usual. It’s my go-to powder for baking.
(This is neither affiliated nor sponsored. Just the powder I found to taste best after trying a fair few.)
Lemon Juice – This might seem an odd choice in muffins, but the acidity serves to activate the baking soda and acts as another balancing counterpart to the sweetness from the bananas.
Flour – I’m using all-purpose flour here, 190g to be exact. Ideally, measure with a digital scale to get the correct amount, as it’s very easy to compact it accidentally when using cups, leading to using much more than intended.

substitutions

Muffin Batter

Butter – For a vegan version, you can absolutely use coconut or olive oil, but reduce it by about 1-2 tbsp, as butter contains more water, which will evaporate during the browning process. When using oil, skip the browning, of course, as it has no milk solids that could caramelise.
Bananas – If you want even more protein, you can replace one banana with one egg. Considering these muffins are pretty sweet as they are, I wouldn’t add any more sugar.
Sugar – Xylitol should work to replace it if you want to reduce the calories or are diabetic. I haven’t tried it myself for this recipe, but it worked perfectly in others. I would not, however, necessarily replace the sugar from the topping, as xylitol doesn’t caramelise.
Greek Yoghurt – Swap for vegan yoghurt to make these dairy-free. Or use blended cottage cheese at the same ratio to increase the protein content even more.
Protein powder – In my Easy High Protein Sourdough Bread post I tested 3 different protein powders against each other with fantastic results. They can be applied to this recipe too. If using Casein powder, add a tiny bit more Greek yoghurt (2 tsp – 1 tbsp should do)
For a vegan version, upcycled Barley protein would work wonderfully and add a lovely malty flavor. I’d say caramel flavor wouldn’t be out of place here. If using Barley protein powder, which absorbs decidedly less liquid, reduce the (vegan) Greek yoghurt by about 1 tbsp.
To make these without protein powder, replace it with the same amount of flour and add two tbsp of each white and brown sugar. The added sugar isn’t absolutely necessary in my mind, but that would be closer to the original recipe I modified them from.
Lemon juice – If you don’t have lemons around, the same amount of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar will work too.
Sourdough Discard – If you have no sourdough starter or discard, no problem: Replace it with ¼ cup more of the flour and Greek yoghurt.
All-Purpose Flour – To make these gluten-free, a shop-bought GF flour blend should work. Use about 10g-20g less of it. Check if your blend contains xanthan gum. If not, add ½ tsp to the sugar and mix well before adding it to the wet ingredients.
You could substitute about half of the white for fine whole wheat flour. Your muffins might be a bit denser but will have a delightful nutty flavor that goes well with the browned butter.

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

If you’d like a streusel topping instead of cinnamon sugar, use the recipe for the topping from my Blueberry muffins.

You can of course use brown sugar or demerara instead of granulated.

Variations

Make Banana Chocolate Chip Protein Muffins by leaving out the cinnamon sugar and adding ½ cup of chocolate chips to the batter
For a Blueberry version, add ½ cup of blueberries to the batter, after mixing them with 1 tbsp of the flour
Double Chocolate – Leave out the cinnamon sugar. Replace ¼ cup of the flour with cocoa powder and add ½ cup of chocolate chips.

Equipment Used

Saucepan – Ideally light-coloured for browning the butter
Digital Kitchen Scales – Mainly for weighing the flour, which can be wildly inaccurate when measured with cups.
Large Bowl – For the flour mix and combining the batter
Small Bowl – For mashing the banana and combining wet ingredients
Whisk – For mixing the ingredients
Cookie Scoop – To portion out the batter. I’m using a medium-sized one here, as I divide the batter into two layers and the size gives me just the right amount for each half.
Muffin Pan – Lined with muffin cases to bake. A mini loaf pan will also work beautifully.

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How to Make this

Brown the Butter

Grab a heat proof bowl or Pyrex jug and a small saucepan.
Over medium-high heat, melt your butter in your saucepan. When it starts to foam, turn the heat down a little and watch it like a hawk. When it’s getting close to browning, the foam will change to larger bubbles and the sound will change. Stir or swirl until you see it browning. This will be very quick!

You want a deep golden brown, not burned. The colour often changes within seconds, so take it off the heat right when it reaches the right colour and smells nutty.
Pour into a heat-proof jug to stop the cooking process immediately.
Set aside to cool to room temperature, while you prepare the rest.
The cooling might take up to 20 minutes, so you can do it ahead of time. You could put it in the fridge for a few minutes, but be careful to not accidentally firm it up again.

Preheat the Oven

While your butter is cooling, line your muffin pan with muffin cases. This makes it much easier to get the muffins out and means less cleanup.
Pre-heat the oven to 375°F/190°C with the rack placed in the center.

Mix the Dry

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Prepare Bananas and Wet Ingredients

In a medium bowl, mash the peeled bananas with a fork.
Using a whisk, mix in the Greek yoghurt, sourdough discard, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Add the two sugars (reserve the sugar for the topping for later) and protein powder. Whisk until no lumps remain.

Whisk in the cooled brown butter.

Combine Wet and Dry Ingredients

Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients.
Whisk until just combined and no dry flour is visible.
Don’t overmix to avoid the gluten developing too much, which can result in tough muffins.

Portion and Top the Muffins

In a small bowl, mix the sugar for the topping with the cinnamon. This mixture will form both a layer in the center and the crunchy crust.
Using a medium cookie scoop or a tablespoon, fill each muffin case halfway.
Sprinkle over half of the cinnamon sugar

Divide the remaining batter evenly among the muffin cases. They should end up pretty full.
Sprinkle over the rest of the sugar to get an even topping

Bake Your Muffins

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs.
Leave the muffins in the pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack so they don’t get soggy from condensation.

Watch The Video Here:

How to Serve Your Cinnamon Banana Protein Muffins with Sourdough

Serve as breakfast, dessert or snack with a nice cup of coffee. They would also go fantastic with a chai latte.
No one will even notice these have protein, so they are also perfect as a quick treat for guests.

These Cinnamon Banana Protein Muffins with Sourdough Discard are more than just a breakfast; they’re a testament to how delicious and satisfying Protein Sourdough baking can be. Give them a try – your tastebuds (and your browning bananas!) will thank you.

How To Store

These delicious homemade protein muffins keep well on your counter in an airtight container for about 3 days.

They also freeze really nicely for up to 6 months, making them great for meal prep.

To reheat, I love to throw them into the oven or air fryer at 350°F/175°C for about 8-10 minutes (depending on your device) for a perfectly crunchy cinnamon crust and fluffy center.

FAQ

Can I make these without Protein Powder?

You absolutely can. Simply replace it with the same amount of flour and add 2 tbsp more of each white and brown sugar.

Can I make them without sourdough discard?

Sure you can! Add ¼ cup flour and ¼ cup Greek yoghurt instead.

Can I use any protein powder I have?

So far, I have tried Whey concentrate, Casein protein, and upcycled Barley protein in my baking, and all work well. Check my Substitutions paragraph for the slight changes each needs to work perfectly.

If you use any other protein powder, I’d love to hear how it worked!

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

And if you enjoyed this recipe, please consider rating, sharing, or leaving a comment – your feedback truly helps my blog grow!

Other recipes you might enjoy

Another great breakfast with high protein and sourdough discard: My new Granola Clusters with nearly 8g protein per 1/4 cup.

The Easy High Protein Sourdough Bread with the differences in Protein powders explained.

Another fluffy breakfast treat with cinnamon, sourdough discard and protein:
Sourdough Pumpkin Pancakes with Protein

High Protein Sourdough Focaccia. Tastes like right from your Italian Restaurant, but has double the protein.

When more protein is clearly better:
High Protein Cottage Cheese Oatmeal