My well-loved Banana Muffin recipe makes incredibly soft, moist muffins with tall, bakery-style tops, sweet banana flavor, and an optional streusel topping. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Your New Favorite Breakfast Muffin
Today I’m re-sharing one of my favorite muffin recipes on the blog, and apparently, it’s one of your favorites too! With nearly 500 five-star ratings, this banana muffin recipe is so well-loved–and for good reason. These aren’t bland, boring, or basic banana muffins; they’re fluffy, moist, and loaded with banana flavor! And if that’s not enough, I recommend topping them with a crumbly, buttery streusel topping…yum.
It took a lot of tries and tweaks to get this recipe just perfect, but it was well worth the trial and error. This recipe makes the softest, most flavorful banana muffin I’ve ever tasted–with or without the streusel on top–and I’m so proud to share it with you!
What Makes My Banana Muffin Recipe the BEST:
- It produces big, beautiful muffin tops, thanks to a nifty oven trick.
- They truly taste like banana muffins, not banana bread in muffin form.
- No mixer needed–these come together easily by hand!
- They take just 30 minutes from start to finish.
What You Need
I found I needed several key ingredients for super flavorful banana muffins:
- Three ripe bananas. Ripe bananas mash easier and impart a stronger banana flavor, so save this recipe for those dark brown bananas lingering at the bottom of your fruit basket (unlike the ones pictured above!).
- Butter and oil. We’re using a blend of both for the best flavored and textured banana muffin (same reason I use a blend of the two in my vanilla cake!). Stick with a neutral oil like canola, vegetable, or grapeseed, and make sure your butter is unsalted.
- Sugar. Using some brown sugar gives the muffins a rich flavor that granulated alone wouldn’t provide.
- Buttermilk. This keeps the muffins nice and moist. If you’re low on buttermilk, give my easy buttermilk substitute a try!
SAM’S TIP: Overmixing your batter can lead to muffins that are too tough and dense. To avoid this, I strongly recommend stirring your banana muffin batter completely by hand. Luckily, we’re using melted butter in this recipe, so mixing by hand is a breeze!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Banana Muffins
- Mash your bananas, then add the oil and melted butter.
- Stir in the sugar, then add the eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk.
- Combine your dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gently fold them into the wet ingredients.
- Portion the batter into a paper-lined muffin tin, filling each liner is ¾ of the way full.
- Prepare your streusel, if using, and portion over each muffin.
- Bake your muffins for 8 minutes, then reduce the temperature and bake for another 7-8 minutes until done.
SAM’S TIP: While I personally love and recommend the streusel topping, I know not everyone wants the extra sugar or dishes. As you can see, the “naked” banana muffin pictured below baked up beautifully with an even tidier, higher muffin top. So feel free to skip it!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, although I do have a separate banana nut muffin recipe you might want to try (it uses browned butter too 🤤). You can add between 1-1½ cups of add-ins (chocolate chips work well!) to this banana muffin recipe. I recommend adding them when you’re almost done incorporating the dry ingredients.
Yes! To do this, you’ll follow the same instructions I provide for my bakery-style chocolate chip muffins:
Bake at 425F for 8 minutes, then reduce the oven to 350F (don’t open the door!) and continue baking until the muffins begin to turn golden brown. This can take anywhere from 7-15 minutes, so keep an eye on them!
This banana muffin recipe freezes very well! In fact, I did this in preparation for Luke’s arrival so I always had a quick breakfast handy during his newborn phase.
If you want want to freeze yours, allow them to cool completely, wrap individually in plastic wrap, place in a Ziploc bag, and freeze. To thaw, either set your muffins out at room temperature or microwave them (just use the defrost setting or they’ll become hard).
So, do you agree? Is this the BEST banana muffin recipe? Let me know in the comments!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
The Best Banana Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (385 g) well-mashed ripe bananas This is typically 3 large bananas for me
- ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil (may substitute vegetable or avocado oil)
- ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled at least 5 minutes
- 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
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Streusel (optional)
- ½ cup (65 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter, cold
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F (220C) and line a muffin tin with paper liners*
- Place peeled bananas in a large bowl and use a fork or a potato masher to mash them – bananas should be well-mashed.1 ½ cups (385 g) well-mashed ripe bananas
- Add oil and melted butter and stir well.¼ cup (60 ml) avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil, ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter
- Stir in sugars until well-combined.½ cup (100 g) sugar, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract and stir well. Set aside.2 large eggs, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup (60 ml) buttermilk
- In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients — flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- Add dry ingredients to your wet batter and gently fold in until ingredients are just combined (don't over-mix the batter!).
- Portion batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each liner ¾ of the way full. Set aside and prepare your Streusel topping.
Streusel Topping (optional)
- Combine flour, brown sugar, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and use a fork to stir the ingredients together.½ cup (65 g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Using a pastry cutter, cut in your cold butter until the butter is well-worked in and your mixture resembles coarse crumbs.¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter, cold
- Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over each muffin.
- Bake muffins on 425F (218C) for 8 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 (175C) (do not open the oven door or remove the muffins, just leave them in and reduce the temperature) and bake another 7-8 minutes on 350F (177C). A toothpick inserted in the center of the largest muffin should come out clean or with few moist crumbs (no wet batter) to test for doneness.
- Allow muffins to cool before enjoying.
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.
This recipe was originally published 01/05/2018. Updated with more information and better photos 10/17/2019.
Anna
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I have always had problems with my muffins not properly rising. But these are perfect! So simple and without the bitter baking soda aftertaste I started hating during pregnancy.
I made a dairy free version for my allergic 2 and half years old daughter, substituted butter with vegan margarin and buttermilk with rice milk. They came out amazing. Fluffy and moist.
Thanks!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them Anna! Thanks for the feedback on making them dairy free! 🙂
Denise Shoop
These were fabulous! The banana flavor is so good; they really are moist and delicious! My topping didn’t come out as nice as yours looks; some of the butter from the topping actually melted down the side of the tin!( I don’t think I did a good job keeping it on top of the muffin batter!) But they were still good! I think next time I need to make sure my butter is cold before I begin cutting it in; or chill it like someone suggested in a comment above. I’m SO happy you shared this…no more wasted over-ripe bananas! Thanks!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins Denise! Making your butter very cold should help with your issue. 🙂
Bonnie
They are extra good with a handful of frozen blueberries thrown in!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Bonnie! 🙂
Pam H.
Tripled the batch, used gluten free flour, stevia for the white sugar, and added walnuts to half the batter. Delicious. Will make again.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Pam! 🙂
Donabedian Nora
By far, THE best banana muffins ever!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Nicole
These truly are the BEST! I like bananas though I wouldn’t say I adore them. But I had some that were getting to that over-ripe stage. The banana breads/muffins I’ve had in the past are usually dry with a faint banana flavor but I figured, what else do I do with really ripe bananas? But these are AMAZING! I think the buttermilk (I did the lemon juice/milk substitute) and oven temp changes are key. They are so moist and the flavor is so pleasant. I’ve made them twice in the last two weeks! I made them into mini muffins (5 min at the first temp then 6 min proved perfect). Don’t skip the topping! I used my hands to work the butter in then chilled it before tossing it on the muffins. Worked well!
Sam
Yay! So happy to hear this, thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how they worked for you, Nicole! I really appreciate it <3
Sabrina
This recipe surprised me by how delicious it actually is! We used 4 small bananas, I added 1/2 c pecans to the batter and pecans to the streusel. I put 6 drops of lemon in bananas while mashing and 2 T raw oatmeal. Absolutely delish!! Will definitely make again. Thank you Sam!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Sabrina! 🙂
Shahrzad
Thanks for this amazing recipe. I am not a baker but this one turns out very good. As I am not a fan of sweet taste , I reduced amount of sugar a little and it was perfect for me.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Mary Elizabeth Roarke
Loved this recipe! Exactly how it was described! Light, fully and flavorful! Instead of using muffin tins I put the batter in mini loaf pans. Once cooled, I double wrapped the loaf in plastic wrap and placed them in the freezer! After we tried them, I give them away..to a friend who is recuperating and to my daughter who is a new mom! The recipe got rave reviews!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Mary! 🙂
Beta Calendars
I have made this recipe at least 10 times and it comes out perfect every time! I make these and put them in a large zip lock bag for our busy family to be able to grab on the way out the door for breakfast. My teenage daughter and husband love them. I made some for my brother-in-law who LOVES banana bread and he actually ate them for his dinner one night because he “could not wait until breakfast”. Thanks for sharing this quick, inexpensive and delicious recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins! 🙂
Chris Germak
I made these with my 4 year old grandson and 20 mo old granddaughter. We made mini muffins so I adjusted to 400 degrees convection for 5 minutes and 325 for 3 minutes and it worked perfectly. Thanks!
Sam
So glad to hear they were a hit! Thank you for sharing the time for the mini muffins too, I know a few people have asked about that. Thank you for commenting, Chris! 🙂
LINDA GOSCH
I made these. AMAZING! I doubled the recipe and made the 500 + calorie size. I baked them 12 min at 400 convection and finished them at 12 min 325 convection. I added nuts.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed! Thanks for commenting, Linda!
Nicci
My 3 year old son and I made these muffins. They came out perfectly so tasty and moist.
Thank you for this recipe
Sam
So happy to hear this! Thanks for commenting, Nicci! 🙂
Erin
My 6 year old daughter and I just made these. We only had 2 bananas so we shorted the dry ingredients a little. They came out amazing! By far the best tasting, moist and fluffy banana muffin I’ve ever had. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Erin! 🙂
Halina
These were excellent. I doubled the recipe and it made 33. The last 9 I added chocolate chips. I know my granddaughters are going to love these.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Halina! 🙂