If you have bananas that are about to go bad, you can easily prevent food waste by trying this easy, vegan, banana muffin recipe! 

A note about food waste:

Did you know that 40% of food in the U.S. goes uneaten? Not only does this food waste have environmental impacts, it also has social issues connected to food insecurity and hunger. Resources that go into growing, processing, and packaging food products are wasted, which can range from water and fertilizer used to grow the food, to fossil fuels and energy from processing and packaging. Additionally, when food breaks down in a landfill, it produces methane, accounting for about 25% of methane emissions in the U.S. Methane as a greenhouse gas is 21x more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide (Move for Hunger). 

Along with these environmental impacts, the social impacts of food waste are harmful to food insecure communities. When 1 in 6 Americans don’t have a secure supply to food, preventing food waste can be an important factor in decreasing this number. Food saved by reducing losses by just 15% could feed over 25 million Americans every year. Also, about 2/3 of household waste is due to food spoiling from not being used in time, and the other 1/3 is caused by cooking or serving too much (Natural Resources Defense Council). You can prevent some food spoilage with this simple recipe. If you have too many muffins in the end, you can also refrigerate/freeze them for longer storage, or share with friends and family around you! 

Ingredients: 

  • 3 ripe bananas
  • ¼ cup oil or softened vegan butter
  • 1 cup organic sugar 
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Optional: walnuts

Steps:

  1. Gather your ripe bananas and ingredients. Preheat the oven to 360 degrees.
    All the required ingredients for banana muffins.Banana muffin ingredients sorted into bowls.
  2. In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until soft. Then add the oil or vegan butter, and sugar and mix.
    Pouring banana muffin ingredients into the same bowl.
  3. Add the rest of the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking soda.
    Pouring flour into mixing bowl.
  4. Mix all the ingredients together and add chopped walnuts if you want!
    Ingredients mixed thoroughly in bowl.
  5. Add mix to a greased baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes at 360 degrees.
    Pre-baked banana muffins in pan.Baked banana muffins in pan.
  6. You’re done! Enjoy these muffins and share with friends or family!
    Banana muffins arranged on a table.Cinematic banana muffin arrangement on a table.

Tips:

  • Use organic granulated sugar or beet sugar to ensure your muffins are vegan!
  • These muffins can last up to 5-7 days at room temperature or longer if refrigerated. They can also be frozen in a container separated by parchment paper for up to six months. They can then be thawed at room temperature or defrosted using the microwave. 
  • Don’t have ripe bananas? Don’t worry! You can speed up the ripening process by microwaving or baking your bananas. You can put your peeled bananas in the microwave for about 30 seconds, or until you hear them start to sizzle. You can also place your peeled bananas on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until bananas are blackened. 

Sources: 

Gunders, Dana. Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 2012, 

https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf.

“The Environmental Impact of Food Waste.” Move For Hunger, Move for Hunger, 11 May 2015, 

moveforhunger.org/the-environmental-impact-of-food-waste.