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.
Ainie Amin
Just baked these lovely muffins and am enjoying them as I write this review. Since I am using very ripe and sweet bananas, I only used half of the sugar listed in the recipe. And they turned out just right, slight sweetness but mainly from the bananas. Instead of adding half melted butter, I repIaced it with grapeseed oil. I also added toasted almond flakes just before baking to add a little texture. Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re glad you enjoyed them, Ainie! 🥰
Chris
I was really expecting more.
After reading the authors recipe and words, i thought she sounded very excited at how amazing these were absolutely going to be…
I followed the recipe to the letter.
I expected these colossal muffins with crusty oversize tops.. these didn’t rise very much at all, we’re kinda gummy.,,, and too sweet.
There was no muffin texture at all.
No, I folded, I didn’t over mix,,
Disappointing…
Sam
Hi Chris! That is disappointing. Based off of your description, it definitely sounds like something went wrong. They should rise and should not be gummy in the least. I would double check that none of the ingredients were expired or accidentally measured twice or omitted, as you can see from the photos and video they should be beautifully fluffy. I hope that helps!
Dorothy M
Wonderful banana cupcakes. Than you so much.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Dorothy! Thanks for trying our recipe ❤️
Swati
Fabulous recipe. I’ve probably tried 6/7 different recipes (we can never finish our bananas) and this one is the best!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yay! We are so glad you gave our recipe a shot, Swati ❤️
Hannah
Had some bananas to use and gave this recipe a try. WOW these muffins were SOOO good!! The recipe was really easy but had some clever tricks that made a huge difference. They rose really tall and pretty, and the flavor was outstanding. I think the extra vanilla really helps the banana flavor shine. This will be my go-to banana muffin recipe from now on!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you found our recipe, Hannah! Enjoy the muffins 🥰
Nancy
The best banana muffin recipe. Mine turned out amazing and moist. I added walnuts to mine. Great recipe!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Nancy! Thanks for commenting ❤️
Louise
Love it! I didn’t use all the topping on it, but next time I will definitely use more of it. Even with a “light” amount, the tops had a nice coating and crunch to them.
FYI – adding blueberries worked (added an extra 1/8 c flour to coat them). I had some I needed to use up and threw them in too. So good! Will make again and try with the chocolate chips. Thanks!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how it went for you, Louise! We’re so happy you loved the muffins 😊
Cindy
Love this recipe! I made this using the trick to create buttermilk and also added chocolate chips. Turned out perfect and tastes great. I was able to get 18 muffins out of one batch, but I think it was due to the addition of the choc. chips.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yay! We’re so happy you loved the muffins, Cindy ❤️
Sara
These muffins are amazing! I did the same thing another commenter tried & used sour cream because I didn’t have buttermilk & they turned out great! My husband said they’re the best banana dessert I’ve made (he’s not the biggest banana bread fan) & to make sure I save the recipe. I did also add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Thanks for a great recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they were a hit, Sara! Thanks for commenting 😊
Ann C
this is the best banana muffins i have ever made and so easy. if i could rate this higher than a 5 star I would, today I am going to try making it into a banana loaf. wish me luck
Ann
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Ann! I also have a banana bread recipe you could try if you’d like. 🙂
Jemma
I have made these delicious banana muffins several times, sometimes with (equivalent amounts of) extra dry and wet ingredients; always lining the muffin tray with spray oil, refridgerate then lightly coat with almond meal, or LSA mix. Hav’nt yet made with strudel though wish to. Does the strudel freeze just as well? THANKS for this recipe and instruction; it is the BEST I’ve found.
Sam
The top should freeze without any issues. 🙂
Paulette
I made Jumbo Muffins with this recipe . I put in 1/2 batter in each muffin tin then sprinkled struesl on top then more batter then topped with struesl. Yummy they were a hit.
Shelley
Just made these and they are fantastic. Wanted to try and freeze some but they didn’t last that long. HAHAHA. They we’re definitely a hit and I will be making them again soon. Love the streusel topping too. Yum!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Oh no! That happens to us sometimes too 🤣 The streusel is our favorite part!
Michelle
I made these into banana peanut butter muffins by adding a cup of pb chips to the batter and half a tablespoon of pb in the middle of the muffin. They are fantastic and so moist.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum, we love that idea! Enjoy, Michelle 😋
Holly
Maybe because of my environment my batter was a bit dry, so I added an additional quarter cup of buttermilk. Additionally I ended up with a lot of extra streusel topping, but that was probably a matter of taste. Next time I’ll only make half as much topping. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Lorraine
Truly the best banana muffins I have made. (With three kids, I’ve tried a bunch!)
Just thought to share that instead of 15 muffins, I made 12 regular sized muffins and 12 mini muffins. Perfect!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love that idea, Lorraine! So glad you enjoyed the recipe 😊
Renee
These were the best muffins I have made, because it’s a great recipe! I did the buttermilk substitute with lemon juice and milk. Thank you for sharing your recipe!