Banana Nut Muffins
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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 (142 g) unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
- 1 ½ cups (385 g) mashed ripe or over-ripe bananas*, (this is typically 3 large bananas for me)
- ½ cup (100 g) sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar, tightly packed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature preferred
- ¼ cup (60 ml) buttermilk, room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 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.10 Tablespoons (142 g) unsalted butter
- 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.1 ½ cups (385 g) mashed ripe or over-ripe bananas*, ½ cup (100 g) sugar, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- Add eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk and stir ingredients very well. Set aside.2 large eggs, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup (60 ml) buttermilk
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon 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.1 ¼ cups chopped pecans or walnuts
- Portion batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each liner ¾ of the way full.
- Sprinkle with remaining chopped pecans and coarse sugar, if using.sugar for sprinkling
- 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
I have tried so many different Banana Nut Muffins and never really liked any of them until I tried this one. It is a hit every time I make it. I have given this recipe to so many people. I think what makes these muffins so good is the browned butter and the Buttermilk. Also, I love that they are cooked on a higher temp 425 for 10 mins then on a lower temp 350 for 6 minutes and they turn out to be the moistest muffins I have every had. I only let them cool for 15 mins and then put them in a closed container.
The only thing I changed was I add cinnamon and nutmeg to the dry ingredients.
I also melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and cinnamon to 1/2 cup of chopped nuts mix all together and sprinkle on top before I bake it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Wendy! 🙂
Hello! Made them today and they came out perfect, espectacular, delicious, love all your recipes!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Alma! 🙂
These were really delicious however with the browned butter I found them just a tad drier than I would have liked. I read in your tips/notes section that you use a butter and oil blend in other mufffin recipes to combat this. What amount/ratio of butter to oil would you recommend for this recipe? Also I only had cashew nuts available, should I have toasted them beforehand? Thanks again.
Hi Sandra! I’m sorry they were a little dry! Is it possible they were baked just a minute too long? I haven’t tried making this with a butter/oil combination. I would probably try browning 5 tablespoons of butter and use 1/4 c of oil. This is just a good guess though so I can’t say for sure how they would turn out. Cashews may lead to the muffins having a drier feel as well. You can toast them beforehand, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
Hi Sam,
I baked them for 18 minutes total. 10 minutes at 425, then 8 min at 350 without opening oven door. Once removed from oven, I let them sit in muffin tin for about 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool. I will definitely try these again with your brown butter suggestion and less baking time. Thank you.
These are so delicious!!! I used walnuts because that’s what i had and doubled it for our family of 6, because who doesn’t love leftover muffins!!! I also swapped half soft, half hard fresh milled flour equally for the ap flour amount and they turned out amazing!!!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them os much, Laurel! 🙂
Delicious!!! I was going to make your best banana muffin recipe and add pecans. Though I found your link for the banana nut muffins recipe right there. They turned out amazing with the browned butter. I followed your recipe but I did add some cinnamon to the dry ingredients. Bet these would be award winning muffins! Thanks so much Sam. 🙂
We’re so happy you loved them, Laurie! 🩷
Can you use regular melted butter instead of the browned butter?
Hi Tasha! It’s not going to be an equal substitution because you lose some liquid when browning the butter. Without having tried it, I can’t say exactly how to do it.
Thank you so much for responding! I will try it as is, as your recipes have NEVER steered me wrong ❤️
Best recipe. So many people saying it’s the best they’ve ever tasted
We’re so happy you chose our recipe, Donna! Thanks for sharing ❤️
Best banana bread recipe I have come across, these are delicious and my kids loved them, I added chocolate chips and walnuts 😋
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Savannah! 🙂
Do you have a recipe for maple bacon muffins?
Unfortunately I do not. 🙁
Just made these, and they are incredible! I was a rebel and filled them all the way to the top of the muffin liner and I ended up with about 13 huge muffins! Thanks for another great recipe! I never fail when I use your recipes. 🥰
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Miriam! 🙂
Hi Sam. I can’t wait to make these but was wondering, for the 3 bananas, what size bananas? Would you have final weight measurements before or after mashing that you could share?
Hi Maria! I just added some clarifying notes to the recipe to answer your question. It’s typically about 3 large bananas and comes out to 1 1/2 cups or 385 grams. I hope that helps and I hope you love the muffins!! 🙂
You’re the best Sam! Thank you for providing the weight measurement of the bananas and responding so quickly.
I made these last night and they are moist, delicious and the finished result is so pretty!
I’m so happy you enjoyed! Thank you for letting me know how they turned out!
I made these this morning and I was very pleased with how they turned out. The brown butter made a big difference. I was out of cornstarch, but they still turned out great. I think the two baking temperatures helped them rise well. Definitely a keeper! Will make them again. Everyone liked them. I used walnuts in lieu of pecans.
Thanks for coming back to leave a review, Karen! Enjoy the muffins ❤️
Recipe is easy to follow. Muffins turn out great! I love your video too. I didn’t change anything. It’s really good in terms of taste and looks . Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
Thanks for the review, Katherine! We’re so happy you enjoyed the muffins 😍
Any idea on how long the bake would be for a bread and jumbo muffins with this recipe?
Hi Dani! For the jumbo muffins I would follow the directions on my bakery style chocolate chip muffins. I’m not sure on the loaf pan though.
Thank you Sam! Following those directions worked perfect! I also made mini ones too.
I’ve baked these twice already and they are a hit with my son’s. They are awesome!
We love hearing that the muffins are a hit for your family, Elena ❤️ Enjoy!