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.
Patricia
Great muffins
Wayne
Just tried these for the first time and they turned out soooo good. Thanks for the recipe!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad they were a hit, Wayne! Thanks for commenting 😊
Maria
This banana muffins were so yummy, I will never make banana bread again. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you loved them, Maria! ❤️
Kim K
Just made these muffins this morning and they are lovely! They are so fluffy and moist. And I made mini muffin versions for my kiddos and just halved the bake time per temp and they came out just like the regular size. I will be saving this recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wonderful! We’re so happy you love them, Kim 😊
Teal
Used mini muffin pans and cut recipe in half because I only had 2 bananas, but the result was delicioso! Thank you for the recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like they were a hit, Teal! We’re so happy you gave our recipe a try ❤️
Kathleen
Absolutely delicious! Moist , fluffy and so easy to make. My husband wouldn’t quit saying yum!! Me either!!
Only change was I used smart balance instead of butter and they came out perfect
Thank you!! For a great keeper recipe
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you both enjoyed the muffins, Kathleen! Thanks for the review 😊
NANA DEE
They are delicious but in our oven they are way under cooked. So we tried them in another oven, same thing not cooked. Recipe says basically 8 min at 425 then 8 min at 350, am I reading it wrong? that is not enough time on two ovens I tried. Thankyou
Sam
You read that correctly. I have never had an issue with them not being done in the 16 minutes. Make sure you don’t open the oven. Are you using a standard size muffin tin?
Laura
Absolutely delicious! Very fluffy!!
Mary
May I double the recipe?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! Enjoy 🥰
Nikki
This is my goto muffin recipe. Easy to read steps are considered for new bakers. On top of the muffin I omit the strusel and just sprinkle turbine sugar.
Best ever…..
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you love them, Nikki 😊
Michele
This yielded a fluffy not dense muffin- nice texture. I did add cinnamon and nutmeg and golden raisins. Family loved this recipe!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad they were a hit, Michele! Enjoy ❤️
Tracy W.
This is a WONDERFUL recipe. I love it. But made a mistake today : (!! Make sure you follow the directions to add blended dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. I usually do this but today I was in a rush and tried to throw everything together. I had muffins with lumps – totally my fault!!
marion
-sounds lovely but can diabetics reduce sugar ? maybe leave out the white, and add apple puree, or sultanas. and you say “ripe”bananas, but over ripe are sweeter, maybe that wld help as well,,, my 2nd question, can I use GF Flour, eg Almond &Tapioca for my 2 celiac great greatgrandkids, ??
Sam
Hi Marion! Unfortunately I don’t know how those substitutions will go. You may be able to get away with reducing the granulated sugar a little bit, but I haven’t tried it. I am not very familiar with using a GF flour either. Maybe someone else who has tried it can chime in. I’m sorry I can’t be any more helpful. 🙁
Jan
This is a really EXCELLENT recipe! Forgive me for fiddling with it; I didn’t have any buttermilk on hand, so I used Greek yogurt and a few drops of lemon juice instead. Swapped in a little almond extract for some of the vanilla, too. Maybe 1/2 teaspoon out of the entire amount. Streusel sounds incredible, but I couldn’t wait any longer to get them into the oven and into my mouth! I’ve baked and enjoyed MANY muffins over the years — these were better than the banana muffins I’ve made or purchased in any commercial establishment. Thanks for such a delicious treat! 😊
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed the muffins, Jan! Thanks for commenting ❤️
Lexy
Everything that a muffin should be: soft, moist, tender, and a touch of crunch from the streusel! I had to stop myself at 2!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We admire your restraint, Lexy 🤣 So glad they were a hit for you!
Donna Nordman
The title says it all! I’m not much of a good baker, but I do hate to see food go to waste. The bananas were too mushy to eat, so they were a perfect candidate for this muffin recipe and boy were they yummy…and you just GOTTA make the the streusel topping!! I used silicone muffin liners for the first time and they came out perfect…no need to spray them and best of all, they don’t stick. This recipe is a keeper and no more wasted bananas. Thank you Sam!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are thrilled to hear that the muffins were such a hit for you, Donna! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review ❤️
Stephanie
They really are excellent. I halved the recipe, using 2 small, ripe bananas. It made 8 muffins. Also used powdered buttermilk that I always have in the fridge. Of course I made the streusel, it’s the best. Thanks!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed the muffins, Stephanie! Thanks for making our recipe 🥰
Dawn
I made these today and hands down, these are the best banana muffins iv ever had, let alone made! I also appreciate the ingredients in grams. I found that my most successful baking is when I carefully weigh the ingredients. This batch made 6 large muffins and 4 regular size.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We totally agree about the weights, Dawn! It’s a game changer. So glad you enjoyed the muffins 🥰