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.
Emily
This recipe always gets rave reviews when I bake it. Very soft and moist crumb. I have swapped out the vanilla for rum, because a. Rum is cheaper than real vanilla and b. rum and bananas!! I also browned my butter for nutty flavor. Intensely good.
Sam
I like the sound of that substitution! I’m so glad you enjoy them. ☺️
Coleen
These are coming in and out of my oven. I doubled the recipes and it worked to a T. Thanks will use it again and again. Going to add nuts and chips and see what we like best. Oh we couldn’t wait for tthem to cool!!!!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone liked them, Coleen! ☺️ Adding nuts is a great addition.
Holly
Do you happen to know how to adjust for jumbo muffins?
Sam
I would bake them on the same the temperature, but after reducing the temperature you would need to leave them in a little longer. Unfortunately I do not know exactly how long.
Karen
If I were to make mini muffins, what would the baking times be?
Sam
I have not tried it in mini muffins, so I am not sure exactly how long to bake them.
Tammis
Made these last night and they are amazing! So moist and flavorful…the streusal topping is so yummy!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! The streusel topping is the best! ☺️
Lynn
Looking for a banana muffin recipe and this sounds great! But I’ve only got 2 muffins. Will using 2 instead of 3 be a problem?
Sam
I am guessing you mean bananas 😉. I do recommend using 3 bananas as they won’t be as moist and flavorful with only 2. I would be concerned they wouldn’t turn out.
Veronica
It’s the best banana muffins eveeeerrrr, this one is a keeper. We’ll be making them again and again and again…yummmmmoooo. never wrote a review before but it’s soooo good i have to. I added choc chip it’s so yummy. Thanks for the recipe
Sam
I am so glad you enjoy them, Veronica! They are definitely one of my favorites! ☺️
Candiss
I made these today, adding chocolate chips to half. These were amazing! I make a lot of banana chocolate chip muffins and this recipe was, by far, the best I’ve used. It’s officially my go-to now. My husband even said, “I really like the change in texture the topping provides.” High praise, indeed, from someone who doesn’t like sweets. Thanks a million!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them! ☺️
Sue
Hello,
I made your banana cupcakes into 6 cupcakes
and a banana loaf. The baking time was increased
after I took out the cupcakes, watching it closely.
I’m not sure how many minutes added, until it was light
brown and well risen. Also, I used cake flour.
And lime juice instead of lemon for the buttermilk
substitution.
ps. It took the better part of my morning, but I
was glad i made it. I skipped the streusel part.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! ☺️
Helen Wong
Could you provide the measurements for 12 muffins ( isn’t 6 muffins/tin more ‘standard’)? Or can I just pour the batter evenly into 12 muffins? I have not yet tried you recipe and was wondering whether the muffins might overflow and run together in a mess. Please advise/comment.
Sam
“Standard” is generally 12 muffins, but were I to scale this down for just 12 muffins the measurements would be terribly awkward. You can discard the extra batter but I wouldn’t recommend overfilling the muffin tins.
Helen Wong
Thanks Sam for your quick response. I have only 12 muffin tins and hate to throw out the remaining batter. Could I freeze it? If I don’t make the streusel topping, isn’t there that extra bit of room to ‘top’ off the batter. I am really looking forward to trying this recipe!
Sam
You can wait for your pan to cool and bake the remainder. I would not recommend filling the pan up too much as the cupcakes do rise a bit and overfilling them will cause a big mess.
Meredith
I’m looking at 3 over-ripe bananas that need to be used STAT! Definitely making these this weekend. I have a 2nd grader so I LOVE freezable muffins that I can pull out the night before. I have no doubt, based on reviews & comments, that this recipe is going to be a winner!!
Sam
I know you will enjoy them Meredith! Enjoy!!
Meredith
My fiance ended up staying home today & “we” finally got the muffins done.
DELICIOUS!!
When my daughter got home from school we let her have 1/2 before dinner. She “ate” the cupcake wrapper to get more goodness.
Sam
😂 I am so glad everyone enjoyed them!
Jade
Forgot to mention, I didn’t add the streusel topping and my kids still went crazy for them!
Sam
O man they liked them without the best part!! 😃😃😃 I’m impressed! I am so glad they like them!!
Jade
I replaced the canola oil for coconut oil and they still turned out great! This is also a really kid friendly recipe, my kids loved helping mash the bananas and mix the wet ingredients.
I’m so grateful for a simple recipe that makes SUCH yummy and moist muffins! Immediately became a family favorite.
I doubled the batch and added chocolate chips to half, just for variety and as a fun treat. Both ways are great.
Thank you for sharing this!
Sam
Thank you so much Jade! I am so glad everyone enjoyed them!! 😃😃
Misty
Wow. My honey absolutely loved this. Thank you. so much!!! I followed the recipe to a T, but added chopped up walnuts to the topping (I was worried I might over mix them in the batter)
My question is, how would you make this in a loaf pan(maybe even in the mini ones) the last thing I would want is cooked outside and still doughy inside.
And again THANK YOU!!!
Sam
I have not tried this before, but I believe this would work in a loaf pan. It will take a while to bake (exact time I am not sure) just make sure you check it to make sure you don’t over bake it. 😃😃
Dawn
These are absolutely wonderful! The flavor is so satisfying. Love the texture. The struesel topping is the perfect finishing touch. Thanks for the fabulous recipe! I can’t wait to share them!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them Dawn! Thanks for the feedback! 😃