Banana Bread Muffins are soft, fluffy, and warmly spiced for an easy anytime treat. Ready in just 30 minutes, they’re perfect for breakfast or snacks.
A Quick Look at The Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Servings: 12 muffins
- Calories: ~160 kcal per serving (based on nutrition panel)
- Technique: Whisk the dry and wet ingredients together separately, then combine. Scoop into a muffin pan and bake.
- Flavor Profile: Moist, tender muffins with a beautiful banana flavor
- Difficulty: Easy, making it great for a breakfast treat or snack
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- These muffins have the perfect texture. These bakery-style muffins are tall, soft, and super fluffy, and will become a family favorite–like my old fashioned chocolate donuts.
- They’re ready to eat in 30 minutes. Like my chocolate banana bread, this banana muffin recipe is quick and easy, which makes it perfect for a busy day!
- The recipe is customizable to your taste and dietary needs. Add chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, or dried cranberries, make them mini-sized, or use gluten-free flour.
Featured Comment
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I tried these banana bread muffins yesterday, and they turned out really delicious! My kids even loved them! I would definitely make more of these for the coming weekends!” – Janice
Table of Contents
These banana bread muffins are warmly spiced, and have a wonderful, classic banana bread flavor. You’ll love their ultra soft and fluffy texture and tall, bakery-style rise. They’re a nostalgic treat that brings back special childhood memories, but are in an individual-sized portion, like my coffee cake muffins.
If you have a lot of overripe bananas on hand, you’ll also want to try my recipe for banana bars with cream cheese frosting!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Flour: Use either all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour; do not substitute with another flour. Almond flour, coconut flour, whole wheat flour, or oat flour will alter the texture of these muffins.
- Overripe Bananas: Choose ripe bananas that are brown, spotted, or speckled, as they are the softest and sweetest bananas. Do not use yellow or green bananas, as they are too firm and starchy and not that sweet.
- Egg: You’ll only need one egg. I haven’t tested this recipe with a chia egg, flax egg, or vegan egg replacement, so I recommend using my vegan banana bread or my oat flour banana bread if you want to make a vegan version.
- Buttermilk: This tangy dairy product reacts with the baking soda to help the muffins rise high. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, make your own by stirring together ½ cup of milk with 1½ teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice and letting the mixture stand for 10 minutes before using.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations on this Banana Bread Muffins Recipe
- Add chocolate chips. Use semisweet, dark, milk, or mini chocolate chips, like I do in my chocolate chip banana bread. Additionally, white chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bars work beautifully.
- Add nuts and a sugar crust for crunch. Chopped almonds, walnuts, or pecans are perfect in this recipe! For a crunchy crust, sprinkle granulated or demerara sugar on top of the muffins before baking.
- Brown the butter. This adds a unique caramel/butterscotch flavor! That version would also be lovely with a dash of cinnamon or brown sugar. Or you could swirl in some peanut butter, like my peanut butter banana bread!
Professional Tips
- Be careful not to overmix the batter. Stirring too long creates tough, rubbery muffins!
- Line the muffin pan with paper liners. Alternatively, spray heavily with nonstick spray to prevent sticking.
- Fill each paper liner about 3/4 of the way full. This is key in achieving tall, bakery-style muffins (like my chocolate chip banana muffins).
- Test for doneness with a toothpick. Insert a toothpick into the center of the muffins; if it comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached, the muffins are done baking.
How to Make Banana Bread Muffins
Use these instructions to make the perfect banana bread muffins every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Prep the oven and pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
Step 2: Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside (photo 1).
Step 3: Mash bananas. In a large mixing bowl, mash the overripe bananas with a fork or potato masher until smooth (photo 2).
Step 4: Mix wet ingredients. Add in the sugar, melted butter, egg, and vanilla to the mashed banana mixture. Mix until combined (photo 3).
Step 5: Stir the batter together. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet mixture. Stir to combine (photo 4).
Step 6: Fill muffin tin and bake. Transfer the batter to the prepared muffin tin. Fill each cup about 3/4 full. Bake at 350°F for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (photos 5 & 6).
Step 7: Cool and enjoy. Remove the banana bread muffins from the oven. Allow them to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe FAQs
If using frozen bananas, thaw completely, then mash them and proceed with the recipe as written. This is a great way to use overripe bananas; if you don’t have time to bake anything at the moment, simply freeze them for later, then thaw them completely when you want to use them.
Insert a toothpick into the muffins. If it comes out with only moist crumbs or completely clean, remove them from the oven.
These banana bread muffins make a delicious breakfast, brunch, snack, or sweet treat. Serve these banana bread muffins with a beverage like coffee, tea, milk, smoothies, and orange juice. Serve the muffins with some butter, peanut butter, or Nutella on the side, and make it a breakfast spread by serving them with sourdough pancakes, English muffins, German apple pancake, or crunchy french toast. Enjoy my donut cake for a sweet treat!
These muffins will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. To freeze, seal them in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature or in the microwave and enjoy!
Recommended Banana Bread Recipes
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If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below! I love hearing from you and your comments make my day!
Banana Bread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 3 bananas, ripe, mashed, about 1 ½ cups
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup low fat buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth.
- Add the sugar, melted butter, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla extract to the mashed bananas. Mix well until combined.
- Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the banana mixture. Do not overmix.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Fill up each cup about 3/4 full.
- Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely, then enjoy.
Notes
- Yield – 12 muffins
- Flavor Tips – Be sure to use the most overripe bananas you can find for this recipe; they’re sweeter and mash more easily.
- Variations – Stir in chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or dried cranberries for a different flavor, or sprinkle demerara sugar on the muffins before baking for a crunchy crust.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed these moist breakfast muffins. Check out our other delicious and easy muffin and quick bread recipes!
Should this batter be so thick or did I do something wrong?
Hi Anita! Yes, the batter should be fairly thick. It’s thick enough to scoop rather than pour. As long as you measured the flour correctly and didn’t overmix, you’re right on track! Happy baking! ~gvd team
I had three very super ripe bananas sitting on my counter, and I was trying to figure out how to use them! I’m so glad I made these! The buttermilk made them incredibly moist and tender with that perfect tall, bakery-style dome. I threw in a handful of chocolate chips and sprinkled demerara sugar on top before baking, and they were hands down the best banana muffins I’ve ever made! Thank you!
In what stage would I add the buttermilk? I made these, and they came out amazing, but I didn’t add the buttermilk to it, as I was following the recipe. Did I miss an instruction?
Hi Anna! Great catch, thank you for pointing that out and I’m so glad they still turned out amazing! The buttermilk should be whisked in with the wet ingredients (the melted butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla) before combining everything together. I’ll update the recipe card right away! Thanks again and happy baking! ~gvd team
These muffins are so soft and fluffy!
I tried these banana bread muffins yesterday, and they turned out really delicious! My kids even loved them! I would definitely make more of these for the coming weekends!
These are SO good! I used to make banana bread muffins a lot when I was a kid, but they never turned out like this. It’s like the difference between eating a bowl of soggy cereal and eating a warm, fluffy pancake. These are so delicious!