Are you ready to make the easiest cupcakes ever? Five Ingredient Banana Cupcakes are literally JUST five ingredients and can even be knocked down to three in a jiffy. It doesn’t get any easier. Seriously.
Five Ingredient Banana Cupcakes are a fabulous alternative to making banana bread with overly ripe bananas. So moist and delicious!
All you need are 3-4 ripe bananas, cake mix, 2 eggs, vegetable oil and a can of frosting. The frosting and vegetable can even be omitted in a crunch making them just three ingreidnet cupcakes.
At that point they are more like banana muffins, but still totally tasty.
Five Ingredient Banana Cupcakes are a fabulous alternative to making banana bread with overly ripe bananas. The natural sugars give off a robust banana flavor and the moisture prevents you from needing much else to produce a soft crumb.
Boxed cake mix is something I always have in the pantry. I buy it in bulk when it is on sale in a variety of basic flavors. It can be used to make these fabulous Banana Cupcakes, Cookie Bars, Poke Cakes, a traditional cake and more.
For these cupcakes, you can use white, yellow or chocolate.
If you want to get super creative, add in a few other flavors you might have lying around. Chocolate chips or toffee bits pair excellently with the flavors of banana. Add a half a teaspoon of cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin or apple pie spice. You can also add nuts like pecans or walnuts.
Then you can customize the frosting. Cream cheese frosting is always a fabulous choice for banana cupcakes, but you can also use chocolate, German chocolate or vanilla.
Not using vegetable oil gives these Banana Cupcakes more of a muffin texture, so then I just dust them with turbando or powdered sugar.
And if I’m really feeling like Susie Homemaker, I adorn them with banana chips, either homemade or store bought. Banana chips are surprisingly challenging to make from scratch without a dehydrator, so I usually cheat and just buy them.
Banana Cupcakes are perfect for dessert, brunch or even breakfast depending on how you decide to customize. One thing is for sure, Five Ingredient Banana Cupcakes will soon be your new go-to secret weapon.
How to make bananas ripen faster:
- Microwave– The quickest way, but least likely to produce super sweet results. Nuke it for 30 seconds to one minute. Basically, you are cooking it and allowing the sugars to release a little before you put it into the recipe.
- Oven- the same concept as the microwave. Heat to 350 degrees and bake for 5-30 minutes.
- Brown Paper Bag – My mother used this technique, but it still takes about a day. Place your bananas in a brown paper bag and roll it closed. Ethylene will build up and speed up the ripening process.
- Tropical Environment – Everything ages faster in the heat. Place your bananas someplace warm, like in a sunny window. It will still take up to a day, depending on how ripe the banana was to begin with.
- Single them out – lastly, pull your bananas apart. They ripen much faster separated than they do still hooked together.
If you liked this recipe then you’ll love these other easy dessert ideas:
- Oreo Poke Cake
- M&M Cookie Bars
- Apple Monkey Bread
- Spice Cupcakes
- Peanut Butter Cake
- Banana Pudding Cups
Rainbow Cupcakes
Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (Depression Cake)
Banana Cupcakes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16.5 ounce box vanilla cake mix
- 3-4 ripe bananas
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with liners.
- In a medium bowl, mash bananas.
- Add cake mix, eggs and vegetable oil. Blend until just mixed.
- Divide mix evenly among muffin tins.
- Bake for 18-24 minutes, or until tops gently spring back when touched and pass the toothpick test.
- Allow to cool fully before frosting. If serving as a muffin or without frosting, dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
Nutrition
This recipe originally appeared on Real Housemoms, where I am a contributor.
It was very easy & very yummy.
The store didn’t have vanilla cake, so I used white cake & added vanilla extract.
I didn’t even have to put any toppings, frostings & such.
Almost couldn’t stop at just one.
Had to share with my family & save some for myself to eat later.
It was wonderful warm fresh out of the oven & just as yummy a cool snack when refrigerated.
Glad you loved them!
So i made these cupcakes tonight after the huMidity got the best of our bananas this week. I filled the center with sundae caramel and topped with a cream cheese frosting. They are Phenomenal! Thank you!
What a fabulous idea! Thanks for stopping through to let us know!
Hello, would you bake for less time when using mini cupcake pan? I’m thinking possibly 10 mins?
Hi Anita,
Probably, but I haven’t tried it personally. I would estimate around 10 minutes too. Just use the toothpick test and if you could report back the time, I’ll add it to the notes so others will know as well.
Thanks!
Jessica
I did not see the nutrition listing, especially looking into the total carbohydrates.
Hi Cindy! Thanks for pointing that out, I just updated it. Looks like 38 grams, it is by no means a low-carb cupcake. 🙂
I was hoping for five ingredients. It’s a bit frustrating sorting through all these recipes that list “cake mix” as a single ingredient when I’m looking for simple recipes. I wish it would say “cake box recipe” or something else less misleading.
Nothing against your recipes or blog. I just wish it was easier to search for what I’m looking for by title.
Thank you for the feedback. It really is only 5 ingredients though. You only use the actual cake mix, not the ingredients you would typically use to make the cake.
I love pretty these look and I love how easy these are to make. Banana has got to be a family favorite in our home. We will eat anything banana and this sounds like a treat. yum!
Oh my daughter would love these. She loves dessert (who doesn’t) and she is obsessed with bananas.
I love adding bananas to baked goods! They make everything taste better! Love how simple this recipe is 🙂
This is such a good idea! I love the single serving-ness of this. Easier to grab on the go!
These look so good and so (dare I say it) moist! Way to go with doctoring up a cake mix to make these beauts!