The Best Banana Muffin Recipe

Name: The Best Banana Muffin Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 15 muffins
Ingredients: 3 ripe bananas; ¼ cup canola oil ((may substitute vegetable oil) (60ml)); ¼ cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled at least 5 minutes (60g)); ½ cup sugar ((100g)); ½ cup light brown sugar (tightly packed (100g)); 2 large eggs (room temperature preferred); 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract; 2 cups all-purpose flour ((250g)); 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ cup buttermilk ((60ml) room temperature preferred); 1/2 cup all-purpose flour ((65g)); 1/2 cup brown sugar ((100g)); 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold ((60g))

January 5, 2018 Updated July 26, 2018 BySam 512 Comments

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An incredibly soft, moist banana muffin made with tall bakery-style muffin tops, sweet banana flavor, and a simple (optional) streusel crumb topping! This is the very best banana muffin recipe!

Happy Friday!

I’m currently en route to the airport (a banana muffin in hand) where I’ll make my way to Florida to watch my sisters and cousins participate in the Disney Marathon. I’ll just be an observer for this event (the only kind of marathons I do are Netflix marathons), but I’m still excited to escape from the frigid temps for a few days!

While I’m not running the marathon, I do plan to participate in the other fun events that (hopefully) sunny Florida has to offer and maybe even visit some of the parks — I’ve never been to Disney before (honestly I’m not really much of an amusement park person) but I’d love to hear your must-see/must-do suggestions (in or out of the parks)!

But for now, let’s talk banana muffins.

This banana muffin recipe was adapted from my extremely popular chocolate chip muffin recipe. That recipe has received rave reviews, so I knew that I couldn’t go wrong modeling this recipe after that one.

Like that recipe, these banana muffins are made with a combination of both oil and butter for maximum softness and flavor, and it also uses buttermilk (of course you can also make your own buttermilk substitute, if you don’t have any on hand).

Unlike my other muffins, this one requires no chocolate, but three very ripe bananas instead.

When it comes to picking the best bananas, the riper they are the better. I like mine to be mostly brown — these in the picture could even be browner but I wasn’t patient enough to wait much longer. Basically, the browner they are the better they will taste (…with the obvious exception being rotten bananas).

Using these very ripe bananas in addition to the real butter, brown sugar, and tablespoon of vanilla extract that the recipe calls for will give these banana muffins a soft, moist texture and the perfect flavor. These muffins are great when served on their own without any special topping, but I like to add a simple streusel on top, as well.

Tips on How to Make Banana Muffins

The more ripe your bananas are, the easier they will be to mash and the better the flavor of your banana muffins will be. Don’t shy away from brown spots on your banana peels, that’s what you want for this recipe!
I recommend mashing your bananas with a fork or with a potato masher — you want them to be well-mashed with very few lumps.
If you can, mix this banana muffin batter completely by hand — since you’re not creaming any butter it can be easily stirred without a mixer and it helps avoid over-mixing. Over-mixing this batter can lead to muffins that are too tough and dense — we want light and fluffy muffins!
This recipe calls for buttermilk. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can follow these instructions for a simple buttermilk substitute.

How to Freeze Banana Muffins

If you wish to freeze these muffins, allow them to cool completely, then wrap well in plastic wrap and then place in a ziploc bag and freeze. You can set them out at room temperature to thaw, or you can microwave them (don’t overdo it, just defrost, or the muffins will become hard)

These banana muffins are one of my favorites. It took a lot of tries and tweaks to get the recipe just perfect, but these are finally the ultimate, softest, most flavorful banana muffins I’ve ever tasted (with or without the streusel on top) and I hope you love them just as much as I do!

Enjoy!

Printable recipe just below the video.