Banana Nut Muffins that are better than anything you can buy at the bakery! Made with browned butter, these are truly gourmet.
Since my banana muffins have been so popular and have received so many 5 star ratings (thank you!) I thought I’d do an extra special version with nuts and browned butter. I really think you’re going to love these!
One day I’m sure I’ll run out of things to say about muffins. I’ve shared so many muffin recipes (remember my pumpkin muffins from earlier this month?) that it’s bound to happen.
Some of you might even be glad when that happens. When a muffin recipe pops in your inbox with just a thumbs-up emoji and the recipe and none of my rambling.
But today is not that day. Today, I want to talk to you about banana nut muffins. I need to let you know that these muffins are worth your time. They’re stop what you’re doing right now good. Soft, moist, oh-so-fluffy interiors topped off with crackly, crisp, well-sugared tops and punctuated with crunchy nuts. The. most. divine vanilla-accented buttery/banana flavor in every melt-in-your-mouth bite.
These banana nut muffins are muffin heaven, and it all starts with one key ingredient.
Brown Butter.
Why Use Browned Butter
Brown butter is baking gold. It’s simply butter that’s been heated long enough to cook out the water and turn the milk solids brown. This results in a kitchen with a buttery, cozy, and slightly nutty aroma that’s better than any scent Yankee Candle could ever lay claim too. But most importantly, it’s going to add a deep, rich flavor to your banana nut muffins.
With most of my muffin recipes, I prefer to use a blend of butter and oil. While the butter lends a great flavor to baked goods, the water content has the tendency to make your baked good come out drier (ironically)and denser than I like. To combat this, I often use a blend of butter (for flavor) and oil, which contains no water, for a moist, fluffy baked good.
But, since we’re cooking out that water, we can use all butter and no oil for a banana nut muffin with a truly incredible flavor. I mean, truly incredible. Oh, and it’s also more formally known by its French name, buerre noisette, and if that isn’t just the fanciest sounding ingredient I’ve ever cooked with then I don’t even know what is.
OK, I think I’m done nerding out about browned butter for the day, thanks for bearing with me. Let’s continue.
Tips for Making Banana Nut Muffins
- Don’t take your eyes off the butter while you’re browning it! Browned butter can become burnt butter really fast if you don’t pay attention, and if it becomes even a little burnt the taste changes from magical to awful. Burnt butter will ruin your banana nut muffins so you’ll have to toss it and start over. Don’t let this happen.
- Cook the banana nut muffins on 2 temperatures (as indicated in the recipe). I use this technique in my chocolate chip muffins and my blueberry muffins, among others. It helps the muffins to get a nice rise on them and gives them soft fluffy interiors without burnt or tough exteriors.
- My preferred nuts for Banana nut muffins are pecans, but walnuts or really any nut you like best will work just fine!
Enjoy!
Be sure to check out my VIDEO just below the recipe! If you enjoy these videos, please consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel so you can be the first to see all of my cooking videos!
Banana Nut Muffins
Ingredients
- 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 10 pieces (142g)
- 3 ripe bananas the riper/browner the better!, peels removed, well-mashed *
- ½ cup sugar (100g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar tightly packed (100g)
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- ¼ cup buttermilk room temperature preferred (60ml)
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups chopped pecans or walnuts divided
- sugar for sprinkling optional
Instructions
- Begin by browning your butter. Place butter pieces in a medium-sized saucepan (preferably not a cast iron or dark-colored one as it will be hard to see when your butter begins to change color) over medium-low heat.
- Once butter has melted, increase heat to just above medium. Swirl butter frequently with a wooden spoon as the butter bubbles and pops. Once the bubbling/popping slows, the butter will begin to turn brown.
- Watch the butter very carefully. Once it begins to brown and you can smell the nutty aroma of browned butter, remove from heat immediately and pour into a large heatproof bowl.
- Allow browned butter to cool for at least 20 minutes before proceeding.
- Once butter has cooled, preheat oven to 425F (220C) and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Stir mashed bananas into butter and stir well. Add sugars and stir again.
- Add eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk and stir ingredients very well. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to your wet batter and gently fold until ingredients are mostly combined and then stir in 1 cup of pecans (reserve ¼ cup for top) until all ingredients are just combined -- do not over-mix this batter or your muffins could come out dense and dry.
- Portion batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each liner ¾ of the way full.
- Sprinkle with remaining chopped pecans and coarse sugar, if using.
- Transfer muffins to oven and bake on 425F (220C) for 10 minutes and then, without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350F (175C) and bake another 6-8 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow to cool and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Tom C
I made these muffins for my mom and she really loved them. My dad liked them alot as well. Will definitely make these again.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Tom! 🙂
Marianne
I too used yogurt instead of buttermilk with no added liquid, they are deliciously fool proof!
Annie
What are the metric measurements for 3 ripe bananas? Either that or how many cups? Bananas vary so much in size!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Annie! The average banana weighs about 118 grams, so you’ll need roughly 354 grams of mashed bananas. If it’s a little more or less, the muffins will still turn out just fine. Hope that helps 🙂
PATRICIA HYLAND
These are the very best banana nut muffins that I have ever tasted! Was worried about the extra work doing the melted butter, but it was definitely worth it. Will definitely make this again.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Patricia! 🙂
Alyson A
These are amazing! My 83 year old mom can’t stop raving about them. The browned butter is a little extra work, but well worth it. I used butternut extract in place of vanilla. Sam, I love your trick of adding a few pecans on top for looks, which makes them as beautiful as they are delicious. I always have some overripe bananas in the freezer, and when you thaw them, they almost pour out of the peels, pre-mashed. I’ll be making these again soon!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Alyson! 🙂
Andres
What’s the metric measurement for the nuts?
Sam
I’m so sorry I missed this! It’s 156g. 🙂
Sarah
Could you tell me the bake times you would use if you were to use mini muffin tins? Like little bite size one.
Super excited to try this recipe. Have LOVED all your others I’ve tried!
Thanks so much!!
Sam
Hi Sarah! I haven’t baked these as mini muffins so I’m not sure what the bake time would be. I would just keep an eye on them. 🙂
Yamit
This is a brilliant recipe!!
Sam
Thank you so much! 🙂
Michelle Baker
Hi Sam,
I was watching your banana nut recipe video and I also saw the written recipe on your website. In the video, I noticed that you said to bake the muffins at 425 degrees F for 8 minutes and the written recipe said 10 minutes. Also, in the video you said to reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continuing baking the muffins for 7-8 minutes while the written recipe said 6-8 minutes. Can you clarify that for me please? Thank you.
Sam
Hi Michelle! I’m sorry about the confusion. Either will work here. I actually used the times from a different muffin in the video, but either way they will work. Sorry again for the confusion. 🙂
Rachel
Could I use apple sauce or anything as an egg substitute? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Rachel! I haven’t used applesauce but I think it could work here. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Bruce
Amazing muffins! These are wonderfully light and fluffy, with a lot of banana flavor. I only had two bananas, and I didn’t need 18 muffins, so I halved the recipe, but still used the extra half banana, which added even more flavor. To avoid losing any of the browned butter flavor, I mashed the bananas in the pan I used to brown the butter, sort of “deglazing” the pan with the bananas. I filled the cups nearly to the top and got perfectly proportioned muffins.
Be sure to cool them completely before eating, or the papers will stick very badly and you’ll lose some of your muffin, which you definitely don’t want to do.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Bruce! 🙂
Beri Minick
Hi. If I make this in a loaf pan instead , do I adjust the cooking time ? Thank you
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Beri! If you wish to make it in a loaf pan, I would reccomend using my Banana Bread Recipe instead. This recipe will guide you on bake time. Enjoy! 🙂
Beri Minick
Actually made this recipe in the loaf and came out fabulous . Thanks
Sam
I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Cheryl
Hi, could you substitute Greek yogurt for the buttermilk?
Sam
Hi Cheryl! It most likely wouldn’t be a 1 to 1 substitute. You would probably need to add some extra liquid, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t be sure. If you try it let me know how it goes. 🙂
Bruce
I used whole milk yogurt instead of buttermilk, and it worked great,, although I did use 2 bananas in a half recipe, so that was more liquid.