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.
debi porche
These were SO delicious! I followed the recipe as written and they turned out beautifully. Thanks for sharing this. Printed and in my recipe book replacing previous Banana Muffin recipes.
Janine Oliver
Made them 4 super ripe bananas (1.5 cups) and a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and no topping. SO DELICIOUS!!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for a great recipe!
Lyndsie Wilson
So tasty. Made without the topping and they were so light and fluffy. Perfect for a treat or breakfast. Keeping this one as our go to.
Catherine
Outstanding flavour! I followed the recipe as is! I did not make the topping. I have added it to my 5 Star recipe file!
Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents with everyone!
Catherine
Mary Hesth
Can you give an oven temp and time for mini muffins in mini pans? Thank you
Sam
You will need to bake them at 375 for about 12 minutes 😊
Karen
I’ve made these twice now and my family says they are delicious. The best banana muffins ever.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are thrilled to hear they are such a hit for your family, Karen! Thanks so much commenting 🥰
Jennifer
Perfect Receipe, very easy, I had all ingredients at home.
Momma JML
OMG amazing. I didn’t have buttermilk so I used sour cream and a touch of water but wow! I didn’t make the struesel but absolutely will next time. It doesn’t get better than these!
Shannon
Excellent and so easy to make! I substituted 1/2 cup plain yogurt for the eggs and it turned out beautifully.
Esta Lake
I did not have 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas after mashing. I had only 1 cup, so I used 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce to make up the difference. Also, I did not have a 15 cup muffin pan, so I filled the 12 cups almost full. I adjusted the baking time to 10 min at 475 degrees, then 10 – 12 min at 375 degrees. I just watched until they were golden brown and they “peaked” perfectly. They were delicious.
Sharon Gagnon
Tried many banana muffins recipes thru the years but these are the best. Definitely lives up to its name.
Barbara
These are delicious and love the streusel. It’s a nice finish for these.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like them, Barbara! Thanks for the review 💜
Gail
Hi. I just read your comment about the buttermilk you didn’t have. Did you know that there is powdered buttermilk in the backing section? It’s good to have if you don’t drink or use buttermilk. It keeps in the refrigerator a long time. It works just as well. Try it.
Laure
I absolutely love this recipe! I make them in the winter more often, freeze them and take them to work for my morning break. Even with having to be gluten free, these are still moist without butter!!! I made them with plain kefir in place of buttermilk and added a dollup of a cream cheese mixture (4 oz rt cream cheese, 1/2 tsp vanilla and a little less than half a cup of sugar) before the streusel topping as well. I turned off the oven after the second bake time and waited about 5 minutes before removing them to finish cooling due to adding the cream cheese layer. Delish 😋. I really enjoy a lot of your recipes!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum, we love this idea Laure! Thanks for sharing. Enjoy 🥰
Allye
I forgot to add that I didn’t have buttermilk so I swapped it out with 2% milk with a splash of lemon juice.
Allye
Love this recipe! I filled the liners slightly more than 3/4 of the way full and baked the full 16 minutes and they are perfect! I also made half with some mini semi sweet chocolate chips stirred in the batter and love those even more! This is definitely going to be my new go to recipe to use up over ripened bananas!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love adding chocolate chips too, Allye! So glad you enjoyed this one 🥰
Zephyr Ethier
I thought the recipe title might be overselling it but these are absolutely the BEST banana muffins I’ve ever made! I used a 12 cup muffin tin so they have beautiful tops! Golden brown with a delightful, not-too-sweet crunch on top. Thank you for sharing!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they lived up to their name, Zephyr 😊 Thanks for the review!
Lisa
I have searched for years for even an acceptable banana muffin recipe and I’d pretty much given up. Most were too dense and not like a muffin. Well that changed tonight! These really live up to the reviews. The texture is light and fluffy and the flavor is amazing. I also left the streusel topping off, they don’t need it but I added a 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. This recipe is a definite keeper.