These epic banana bread muffins are foolproof, soft and flavorful, with perfectly rounded dome tops. I’ve adapted them from my favorite banana bread recipe, and the results are everything I want in a muffin. They’re also incredibly fast and easy. You’re going to love these easy muffins! Trust me; just make them!
I never used to be a huge fan of banana bread, but let me tell you- I fell in love with these muffins the moment I tasted them. They’re soft, nutty, moist without being overly sweet or dense.
I’ve gone on to make these many more times since that first batch, and I can safely say we are both hooked.
Recipe Ingredients
For this recipe, you’ll need the following:
- Bananas
- All-purpose flour
- Walnuts
- Granulated sugar
- Baking soda
- Plain yogurt
- Large eggs
- Unsalted butter
- Kosher salt
How to Make Banana Bread Muffins
If you’ve ever made banana bread, preparing these muffins is almost exactly the same process except you use a standard muffin pan instead of a loaf pan. It’s also a very similar process to making muffins:
- Mash super ripe bananas in one bowl.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in another bowl, followed by the wet ingredients in another.
- Combine the three, divide evenly among greased muffin tins. Bake!
I adapted these muffins from a Cook’s Illustrated banana bread recipe. They have never let me down, and this time was no exception.
I love these so much that I’ve even gone one step further and created brown butter banana bread muffins If you like brown butter as much as I do, I highly recommend checking those out.
Recipe tips
- I chop the walnuts very finely, both because I prefer less texture in the muffins, and because I think you get better flavor distribution that way. If you’re using raw nuts and need to toast them first, spread the walnuts in a thin layer on a baking sheet, and toast in a 350 degree F oven for around 5-7 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice, until fragrant.
- I always recommend weighing the flour over using a measuring cup. I used 10 ounces of flour. If you measure out two cups, it might be 8 ounces (or more/less). You can buy inexpensive kitchen scales on Amazon. So worth it. You can also read more about this in my post How to Measure Flour Correctly.
- I always use plain, full fat or part-skim yogurt in this recipe, but I’d imagine that sour cream works as well. However, I haven’t personally tried it yet.
How to Quickly Ripen Bananas
To speed up ripening, place the bananas in a paper bag and loosely fold the top to seal. If available, add an apple or 1-2 already ripe bananas to the bag to increase the amount of ethylene gas (this is what causes ripening). With this method, your bananas should ripen within 1-2 days.
How to Store
To store banana bread muffins, place them in an airtight container or sealed plastic bag, then store at room temperature for up to three days.
Can You Freeze These Muffins?
Yes, you can absolutely store these muffins in the freezer. It’s a great way to preserve their shelf life! To freeze, store the muffins in resealable freezer bags freeze for up to three months.
Why Egg Size Matters in Baking
This recipe calls for large eggs. Using different size eggs can drastically impact baked goods. Don’t substitute a different size unless you have a kitchen scale to measure an equal weight by volume (ounces or grams) to get the same total amount of egg.
Read more about why egg size matters in baking (and how to make substitutions).
How to Measure Flour
For baked goods (as well as desserts like custard and ice cream), I always recommend using a kitchen scale to measure flour by weight instead of volume. Weight (ounces, grams, etc) will always give an accurate measurement of dry goods; volume (cups) can create varied results.
A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 3 1/2 to 5 ounces. That could make a big difference in your recipe! If you still want to use cups, there’s a proper technique to make sure you get the best results possible.
My post How to Measure Flour explains all of this in more detail.
More Muffin Recipes
Banana Bread Muffins
Ingredients
- 10 ounces all-purpose flour (approximately 2 cups using the Scoop & Sweep Method)
- 1 1/4 cups toasted walnuts, chopped finely
- 5 1/4 ounces granulated sugar (approximately 3/4 cup)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt (I recommend full or low-fat)
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup standard-size muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and walnuts together. In a separate bowl, combine the bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter and vanilla. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Scoop the batter evenly between the muffin tins.
- Bake until the muffins are golden brown on top, approximately 20-25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container or sealed plastic bag at room temperature for up to three days. You can also freeze them in a freezer bag for up to three months.
Video
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
The best kind of muffins ever!
Yum!
Love your site in general. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge. Recipe sounds great. WIll try it and let you know. Pls specify if you are using a convection (fan) or conventional (traditional) oven. Pls try to mention this distincion at your recipes. It does make a difference. Thank you in advance.
Hi Ersi, all of my recipes use a conventional oven. If a recipe doesn’t specify to use a convection oven, you should always assume it’s using a traditional oven. At least, that’s the case with US-based recipes; I’m not an expert in global standardizations, so I don’t want to misspeak there. For US-based recipes, this explains why you don’t see the type of oven specified on sites like Food Network, Cooks Illustrated, and Bon Appetit.
I found this recipe years ago and have made it about once a month since! My kids love muffins and these are their favorites! We leave out the walnuts, and they are always gobbled up. Light, sweet, but not too sweet. Side note, they freeze great! Thank you, thank you!
Just made these muffins. They are so yummy! I used half all-purpose flour and half white whole wheat, swapped butter with 1/4 cup vegetable oil, added 1 cup of dark chocolate chips, and reduced sugar to 1/2 cup, leaving the rest of recipe unchanged. This one is going to my regular rotations. Thank you so much Jennifer!
Can you cook this without the nuts? How do you adjust recipe?