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.
LiziB
Never using any banana muffins recipe ever again. These are sweet, but not overly so. They are moist and boldly flavored. Fantastic!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Lizi! I am so glad that you enjoyed them! 🙂
Heather
These are such good muffins, we all loved them too!! They are not one bit dry so moist and delicious putting in my official recipe book!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Heather! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Julie
Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe ! They are delicious ! I did half the amount of topping for half of the muffins as I have some kids that like plain and some want frosting. Easy to make everyone happy with this recipe. Can’t wait to look through your site and find some other keepers !
Blessings !
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the muffins, Julie! 🙂
Sandi D.
I made these this morning. Not a big hand mixer, so used appliances, but careful not to over mix. They turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Sandi! Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂
Lori
Thank you for this amazing recipe! I added pecans and made 12 regular/13 mini’s. So delicious…
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins so much, Lori! 🙂
Doreen
Thanks Sam. These muffins were amazing ! Just the right amount of banana flavor and super moist. Put half the muffins in freezer for later treat. Another winner !
Sam
Thank you so much, Doreen! I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins. 🙂
Meli
Excellent! I’m so happy to find a recipe that taste great and doesn’t use a lot of butter. Your explanation about using a combination of oil and butter and also about the temp changes made the difference between a small pale muffin and a beautiful one! Everyone loved them!
Thank you so much!!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that the muffins were a hit and you found the post informative, Meli! Thanks for the feedback. Enjoy! 🙂
Jesse
Truly my new all time favorite muffin! Just made these (my house smells AMAZING BTW…LOL). Followed the recipe exactly and added choc. chips and the DELISH streusel topping….OMG…so moist, flavorful and absolutely YUMMY! I didn’t follow your last step and couldn’t wait to taste them till cool ; ) Warm is just as good as cool I’m sure of it! Thanks for sharing…another home run!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the muffins, Jesse! Thanks for commenting and trying my recipe. 🙂
Tammy
These really are the best banana muffins! I made a double batch & they turned out beautifully. I was short 1 banana so I added 3 tablespoons of sour cream to be sure they wouldn’t be dry as a result. I was a little worried about losing some flavor but that was not the case at all. With no buttermilk on hand & short on time, I used 1/2 cup of 1% milk, added 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips to the blended dry ingredients & skipped the streusel topping. I’ve never tasted a more perfect muffin. Thank you for the amazing recipe. 🙂
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Tammy! Nice job improvising and using what you had on hand. I am happy that they turned out perfectly! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Jennie
I made a double batch of these this morning and they are absolutely delicious! My kids loved them, too. I had six bananas I needed to use, and this recipe was a tasty way to do that! I decided to skip the topping since we have so much Easter candy sitting around, but you are right – they are still really delicious without the topping. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
Sugar Spun Run
You are so welcome, Jennie! I am so glad that you loved the muffins. 🙂
Amanda
I want to try these Muffins this week! How long and what temp would do you think i should bake them in the mini muffin size?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Amanda! Unfortunately, I am not certain of the bake time without trying it myself. Keep me posted on how they turn out for you. I hope that you enjoy your mini muffins. 🙂
Jennifer
I had a happy accident while making these. I accidentally added a full cup of buttermilk since I made my own. The recipe then made a full 24 muffins and they all turned out beautifully!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that they turned out well and you enjoyed them, Jennifer! Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂
Cecilia
Hi!
Can I use dark brown sugar instead of light? That’s all I have on hand right now.😏
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Cecilia! Yes, you can. 🙂
Cecilia
Perfect, thank you! ☺️
Beena
Hi!
What can I use as a substitute for buttermilk? I don’t have have buttermilk right now.
Thanks!
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Beena! I have a buttermilk substitute you can try or regular milk will work fine as well. 🙂
Jazmin
Love the crunch on top…
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the muffins and the delicious topping, Jazmin! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Amy
These are super delicious muffins! Followed recipe exactly except added some mini chocolate chips, and thus omitted the streusel topping. This one just moved to the top of my favorite muffin list!
Sam
Thank you so much, Amy! I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins. 🙂
Jennifer V.
Wow! I added a dollop of chocolate ganache under the streusel topping. Finally a recipe worth printing!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins so much, Jennifer! You can never have enough chocolate if you ask me. Excellent addition. 🙂
Wendi
Excellent muffins! Delish!!
My husband adored them!!
Super fun to make!!
Anxious to look at your other recipes!!
Thank you,
Stay safe & well!!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that the muffins were a hit, Wendi! Thanks so much for trying my recipe. I can’t wait to see what you make next! 🙂
Shelby
Absolutely incredible flavor!!! Didn’t have white sugar and used all brown sugar, so yummy!!!
Sam
So happy to hear they were such a hit! Thank you for commenting, Shelby!