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.
Cat
The best I ever made!
Mj chiklis
THE BEST!
Made this with my 4 yo granddaughter today. Foolproof recipe! Absolutely the best! Great job!
JC
Everyone loves it, will definitely make it again!
Ryan
Awesome recipe! I made them using 2 children’s cups of applesauce (not sure the size) instead of eggs and oat milk curdled with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar instead of buttermilk (all I had available). Worked great! Would have backed them maybe 1 minute longer. Will be using this recipe going forward!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re happy they turned out for you, Ryan! Enjoy 😊
sophia Moussallam
Hi Sam,
I’m a little puzzled because I made the muffin recipe twice exactly as written and twice had the same results. Results were that the muffins were too moist, dense, and no crumb, even tried cooking them longer during the 2nd time. Nice banana flavour though, but wondering about the ratio of bananas, it’s seems quite a alot for 250gms of flour and then you have the buttermilk, oil and eggs. So when you say “385gms mashed banana” I’m assuming with no peel. All the other comments I read, were positive and I really don’t know what happened.
Sam
Hi Sophia! This is really odd. Is it possible they were over-mixed? You are correct that the measurement of the bananas is without the peel. I wish I had a better idea to help you out here. 🙁
Korinne McDonald
I had the same experience when I made these muffins, and the bottoms of them were coated in oil. I followed the directions exactly and would like to know what went wrong, because I love all of Sam’s recipes and really want to love these too. Thank you.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Oh no! Are your leavening agents fresh? That could be causing these issues. Also, make sure to remove your muffins from their pan after about 10 minutes to avoid the soggy/oily bottoms 😊
Gwen
This is my second review. Still 5 stars!! I make this recipe (cut in half) honestly almost every single week, and I call them my indestructible muffins: (this is why I’m leaving a second review, since I have made some change, mostly unintentional LOL) – first off, I still only use olive or walnut oil, never unhealthy seed oils / I have made them with the buttermilk, but sometimes I just use 1/2 & 1/2 / I doubled the butter one time by mistake lol / I even left out the buttermilk (by mistake) when I was racing around and my dogs were driving me crazy! But every time these come out perfect! Thanks for a seriously wonderful recipe!
Jamie
Can you use heavy whipping cream instead of the buttermilk?
Sam
Hi Jamie! I would recommend making my buttermilk substitute. 🙂
Pam
Can these muffins be made in a loaf alo if so how long do you bake and is it thr same temps?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Pam! You could bake this recipe in a loaf pan, but we aren’t sure what the bake time would be. The temperature would be the same. You might want to check out our banana bread recipe instead 🙂
Robyn
This has a super tender crumb that’s delectable, and I loved the crumb topping. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Robyn! 🥰
Carol Harris
My husband and I absolutely agree with you…this is The Best Banana Muffin recipe! The muffins came out perfectly! We had exactly three bananas in the perfect state and just had to pick up the buttermilk, which I like having on hand anyway. I appreciate things like the 1/2 cup of Unsalted Butter being completely used up in the muffins and the Streusel, which was outstanding and the perfect amount to generously cover the muffins. Thank you for sharing your delicious recipe. I have signed up for your Newsletters and am looking forward to preparing more of your creations!
Autumn
Have you made these in mini muffin pans? I’m wondering about the baking times.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Autumn! They’ll do just fine mini. You will just need to bake them at 375 for about 12 minutes 😊
Autumn Di Peppino
Thank you! Everyone LOVED these mini muffins. I’ll make these again soon. My new go to banana muffin recipe!
Mary
Super good… Moist. Definitely a keeper. Throwing out all the other muffin recipes. Lol.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad they were a hit, Mary! ❤️
Sabira Prashad
OMG…..The most decadent muffin ever eaten…. This recipe is for keeps….Every bite was a treat…
Loved by the family too…
Thanks so much for such a wonderful/easy recipe….💞
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy the recipe was a hit, Sabira! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment ❤️
Julie
Additional comment: what’s the nutritional count without the streusel topping? Thanks.
Sam
Hi Julie! Unfortunately I haven’t calculated the muffins that way. I use a third party calculator to determine the nutritional information. You can find them easily online and just enter the ingredients. 🙂
Julie
Delicious and easy, perfect texture.
I added some toasted walnuts and semisweet chocolate chips, with a tiny bit of turbinado sugar sprinkled on top.
I thought I had enough batter for two jumbo muffin pans but I did not. I’ll make them again with the same amount but with one jumbo pan. Be sure to adjust your timing for the size. Mine could have used 10-12 min at 425, and 8-10 at 350.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds divine, Julie! We’re so happy you loved them 😊
Anneleise
The best recepie I have tried. Soft, flavorful and easy to bake.