Warm, hearty pumpkin banana oatmeal muffins are made with wholesome pantry staples in only ONE bowl!

Oh, man. These muffins are so good. A perfect blend of pumpkin and banana flavors. All the pumpkin with pumpkin spice and a hint of sweet bananas. I can’t wait for you to try it!

The first time I made these, I had KK help me since I was pretty sure about the modifications to my banana oatmeal muffin recipe (which went crazy on Pinterest). It got me thinking about how much more cooking I did with KJ when he was little (2-4 years old) compared to KK. Part of that was we were home a lot because he was the first kid and because of COVID. But some of it is because he’s the middle child. I was feeling pretty guilty about it since he was having a lot of fun being a big boy helping me. The guilt lasted about five minutes until I turned my back for a second, and he dumped half a bottle of pumpkin pie spice in the batter, and I had to scoop it out with a spoon. (Don’t worry; I retested the recipe.)

That kid is chaos on wheels, man. But he loved these muffins, and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have even tried them if he hadn’t “helped me” make them. So, you know, cook with your kids. It’s good for them and great for raising your stress levels.

How to Make Pumpkin Banana Oatmeal Muffins

*This is a visual how to section, please see recipe card for full instructions.

This recipe can be made in ONE BOWL! Mix your wet ingredients. Then mix your oats in and let them sit for five minutes. This is an important step to keep the oats from being too chewy in the muffins. Then mix in your dry ingredients and bake. I learned this trick where you preheat the oven up to 425F and immediately turn it down to 350F when you put the muffins in. This way, the heat loss from opening it doesn’t drop the oven temperature too low. I didn’t use muffin liners

Ingredient Swaps and Substitution Suggestions

Let’s talk swaps and substitutions! This recipe is dairy-free and vegetarian. See gluten-free substitutions below.

Bananas – Make sure to select ripe (spotted and very yellow) bananas, or your banana bread will not be very sweet! The more yellow the bananas, the sweeter they are! Also, make sure to measure 1 cup of mashed banana. Too many bananas can result in banana muffins that seemingly don’t bake all the way and are too wet/mushy. On the other hand, not having enough bananas can make the bread seem not sweet enough or banana-flavored enough!
Pumpkin – I used canned pumpkin. You can also use canned mashed butternut squash if you want or sweet potatoes!
Eggs – You can substitute flax eggs here to make this recipe egg-free.
Maple Syrup – you can substitute any LIQUID sweetener for maple syrup, such as honey or agave. I know someone will ask about using something like monk fruit, erythritol, or other low-calorie options. I don’t use those very often in my baking for various reasons, so I’m not very familiar with them. If you try them, please let us know how they turned out in the comments!
Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk – you can substitute any dairy or non-dairy milk here. In a pinch, you could even use water.
Rolled Oats – Old fashion, quick-cooking, or rolled oats will work. Steel-cut will probably not work.
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – I would not substitute this flour unless it was with all-purpose white flour or whole-wheat flour. This recipe was created specifically with whole wheat pastry flour. To make it gluten-free, you could sub gluten-free flour, or I make my gluten-free banana oatmeal muffins and sub half the bananas for canned pumpkin. Use 1TBSP pumpkin pie spice instead of the listed spices.
Cinnamon and Nutmeg – adjust to your taste preferences!
Baking Powder & Baking Soda – do not omit.

How to Freeze and Store Pumpkin Banana Oatmeal Muffins

To store pumpkin banana oatmeal muffins: store them on the counter for up to five days and in the refrigerator for up to a week or two.

To freeze pumpkin banana oatmeal muffins: freeze in an airtight freezer-safe container like a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Defrost under refrigeration or in the microwave.