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.
Melissa
Made these 2 days ago. They are okay. I would say they are missing great texture. Yes, they are soft and tasty but also a bit gooey, like a bit rubbery. I like my muffins very soft and almost fall apart when I break them. But these stay in piece and won’t fell, break even if you shake them. Just trying to explain the texture. And I used all ingredients by recipe. Won’t make again.
Sam
Hi Melissa! This is disappointing to hear and not a texture I have ever experienced or had anyone report before (I think you can see from the photos and the video that they should be super soft and tender). Unfortunately it definitely sounds like an ingredient was accidentally mis-measured, or perhaps expired 🙁
Melissa
I usually use kitchen scale to measure. That’s why I’m confused too. I’m thinking maybe because my bananas were ripe but not very (brown) ripe..? But they were still tasty so it’s okay.
Milena Strama
Hi
I made this recipe and my husband really liked it a lot! He wants me to make it for his birthday cake. Can I bake it in a pan as a cake? What size pan do you recommend?
Thanks
Milena
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Milena! We’re so happy these muffins were a hit for you and your husband! You can certainly bake these muffins in a cake pan, but we’d recommend you try our banana cake instead. We hope your husband loves his birthday cake 😊
GG
So good! These will definitely be my go to recipe for banana muffins from now on.
Diane
Moist, tasty and quick to make! This is a winner.
Amira Omar
Can I use the leftover batter in a loaf pan? If so, please provide baking instructions.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes you can. We aren’t sure on bake time, so just keep an eye on it. Enjoy! 😊
Sandi
Yes – I made banana bread using this recipe. Bake @ 350⁰ F for 50mins – 1 hr. Mine was done at 50 mins but the very centre was a little under baked, I tented aluminum foil over and did 10 extra minutes and it came out perfect. Cheers
Pricila
I made the first time and I love it. I lost my recipe copied but now I found it again thanks, sugarspunrun. I will show you my bake banana muffins. See you soon love your works. God bless you and keep safe. By the way, I am doing this to earned a living. I don’t have work here in Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Pricila! 🙂
Bernadette
Delicious,moist,easy!! Finally found a banana muffin recipe.
Londa Lawrence
OMG great recipe. Absolutely Delicious . This is my new go to recipe for muffins. Thank you for this wonderful creation.
Jan
How long do you bake if you use Jumbo muffin pans?
Sam
Hi Jan! I would follow the baking instructions on my jumbo chocolate chip muffins. 🙂
deanna
This was so good. We only had 2 muffins left because my Mom and my sisters asked for more. I didn’t have buttermilk on hand, I substituted sour cream and added a little bit of milk to make it thinner and it worked. I will definitely make this again. Thank you for sharing.
Peggy
These are truly the most delicious banana muffins I’ve ever made. I wondered if it’s ok to freeze with streusel topping on or better to freeze plain?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That should be fine, Peggy! Enjoy 🙂
Amanda
I tried the recipe and loved it! What would the cooking instructions be if I wanted to make mini muffins?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Amanda! Others have reported that they needed to bake the mini muffins on 375F for about 12 minutes. We hope that helps!
Amira Omar
Can I use regular brown instead of light brown sugar?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes you can! Enjoy ❤️
Sarah Tygert
These taste SO good. I made them with Stevia for sugar and a sugar free brown sugar blend. They took longer than prescribed to cool. About an extra 5-10 minutes.
Sarah Tygert
*to cook, not cool
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad they turned out for you, Sarah! ❤️
Vickie
I’ve made these many times and they’re my go to muffin! Lately though they have bern over baked.. I am going to try starting them at 400 degrees instead and see if that helps? My oven was just too hot!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Vickie! We’re so happy you love this recipe! Unfortunately, it sounds like your oven is running hot. 😞 This is super common, and it can be so frustrating! We recommend keeping an oven thermometer (or two) in your oven at all times to make sure the temperature is accurate. We’d also recommend you keep a close eye on the muffins while they bake. Hope that helps!
Rowena delos santos
Oh so good! Thanks for the recipe
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you loved it, Rowena!
Linda Ross
I live in Cape Town, South Africa and just made muffins with your recipe and they were the best ever. I added half a cup of pecan nuts but otherwise stuck to your instructions and I’ll definitely be using this recipe again and again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love hearing that, Linda! So glad these muffins are now a staple in your kitchen.❤️
Gloria
Do you have nutritional information for this recipe?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
You can find it at the bottom of the recipe card! 😊