The Best Banana Muffin Recipe
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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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
This recipe was originally published 01/05/2018. Updated with more information and better photos 10/17/2019.
I made this recipe today… and this will now
be my go-to recipe for banana muffins.
I topped them with a cinnamon/sugar mixture before
I baked them. and they were delicious!
Thank you for the very clear instructions also
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Caroline! I love the sound of the cinnamon sugar topping. 🙂
Awesome! Followed recipe and they turned out perfectly! I had ripe bananas and buttermilk on hand so this was super easy. My family loves them!!
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Jaimy! 🙂
I have tried a lot of different banana bread/muffin recipes over the years. Many have been great, but not spectacular. THIS one is spectacular. Well done. I will be making this again and again.
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Jon! Thank you so much for the feedback. 🙂
🤤 Yummy!!
Thank you so much, Amy! 🙂
I baked this morning and I Just tried one of my banana muffins right now. Sooooo moist and delicious!!! This will be my banana muffin recipe from now on. Thank you. Next time I’ll make the topping which will be very soon😀
So happy to hear this! Thank you for commenting, Casaundra! 🙂
This really is the best banana muffin recipe I’ve ever tried. I’ve never even written a review but I had to with this one! The directions are clear and the end result is delicious!
Thank you so much for the feedback Lilly! I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins! 🙂
I clicked on the link for the buttermilk alternative (using almond milk and vinegar) and absentmindedly dumped the entire cup of “buttermilk” into the batter!
So I had to make 4X as much muffins and didn’t have enough bananas. Only 5. So I grabbed the only thing I had in the fridge; spiced apple butter and it had just enough to make up for other 7 bananas. The muffins turned out great and I absolutely love the texture! I cannot wait to try them again in the future with only bananas! And perhaps some chopped walnuts.
The thing I loved most about this recipe over any of the muffins I have made in the past was that it did not cling stubbornly to the muffin pans. They came out soooo easily and I love this so much!
Great flavor, fantastic texture, so easy to lift out of the pan. A winner, thank you for sharing the recipe!
Hi Rosella! I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins! 🙂
Super moist. I added cinnamon, oatmeal, and walnuts to the strudel. It was peerrrfeect!
I am so glad you enjoyed the banana muffins. 🙂
What would you suggest for cooking temp/time if I were to make in a bread pan rather than muffins? Thank you!
Hi Joni! My Banana Bread Recipe is essentially this recipe in a bread pan. I bake that one for about 60 minutes. I hope that helps!
Thanks, Sam. Made it yesterday and I can confirm it is the best banana bread and I love that it can be mixed by hand. Thanks for a great recipe.
Yay! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Yes! They are sooooo good. I did make 24 mini muffins- baked at 375 for 15 minutes. Also got 6 regular size muffins which I also baked at 375 for 20 minutes. Honestly, these are the only banana muffins I will make forever more ❣️
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Christena! Thank you for the feedback on how long to bake them as mini muffins. 🙂
These muffins are DELICIOUS. I suck at baking and typically stick to box recipes, however I was feeling adventurous this morning and decided to try a from scratch recipe. I am SO glad I did! This will be my go to banana muffin recipe from now on. Can’t wait to try the chocolate chip muffin recipe!
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Grace! Homemade is ALWAYS better if you ask me. Hopefully you will try some more recipes in the future and love them just as much. 🙂
your muffin recipe was so so so so good
I am so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hey Sam!
I don’t usually comment but this recipe is a Keeper!! Loved it. Tried a dozen recipes earlier but this is my go to now, never fails. Absolutely delish. Light, moist, fluffy; just what I’m always looking for. Best banana muffins for sure. I add in chocolate chips as well.
Keep baking & sharing. 😊 Thank you for such a wonderful recipe.
Thank you so much, Sudipti! I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins. 🙂
I’m making thesebanana muffins this very minute. Waiting for a Sample.
I hope you love them, Helen! 🙂
Really happy with these. Although I just couldn’t be bothered making the topping, I did brush them with a little butter and cinnamon sugar when they were just warm and yum – truly delish, moist and light and not overly sweet.
So glad to hear you enjoyed, thank you for commenting Georgia! 🙂
I made this recipe two weeks ago and haven’t stopped thinking about these muffins. They were so good that I’m already making them again right now.
Haha, I’m so happy to hear that they were such a hit! Thanks for commenting, Rachel:)