Banana Bread Muffins
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Banana bread muffins are moist, fluffy and filled with big banana flavor. Brown sugar, bananas, vanilla and a hint of cinnamon make these muffins delicious. Then adding sour cream makes them tender and moist. It’s an easy, no mixer recipe that makes perfect banana muffins every time.
**This post was updated November 2, 2024 with new photos and recipe tips**
Do you love banana bread? If yes (who doesn’t????) – then these banana bread muffins are definitely for you. They’re oh so moist and packed with flavor thanks to the bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.
The muffin batter comes together quickly and easily (no mixer required), and compared to making classic banana bread, the bake time isn’t long. Most banana breads need at least 50 minutes in the oven baking, but the bake time for these muffins under 20 minutes. So you end up with all the flavor of banana bread – but they’re ready to enjoy in way less time.
How to Make Moist Banana Bread Muffins
Making banana bread muffins is really simple. To make the muffin batter:
- Start by preheating the oven to 400F (200C) and lining your muffin pan with muffin papers. Alternatively, you can lightly grease and flour the pan, or just lightly grease the pan if using a silicon muffin pan.
- Yes – the oven temperature is hot! More on that below.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt & cinnamon. I found using a combo of baking soda and baking powder made the muffins rise perfectly. Then the cinnamon really adds flavor.
- Then in a separate bowl whisk together the melted butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla extract, and sour cream. Stop whisking when you no longer see lumps of brown sugar or pieces of egg. We’re using 1/2 cup packed brown sugar in addition to 1/2 cup white sugar to add more flavor to the muffins. The sour cream is key for super moist muffins
- Then whisk the mashed banana into the butter mixture. If you see banana lumps, that’s OK.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, then pour the wet ingredients into the well.
- Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
- When it’s almost incorporated, stir in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Optional – but recommended.
- Then scoop the muffin batter into the prepared muffin pan. You’ll fill the muffin papers to the top. You’ll end up with 12-14 muffins in total.
Baking the Muffins
For extra tall muffins, make sure to fill your muffin liners to the very top. Then we bake them for 5 minutes at 400F (200C) degrees followed by about 10 minutes at 375F (190C) which makes them rise nicely and have golden edges. *You don’t need to remove your muffins from the oven in between – just let them continue to happily bake.*
If you’re worried that your oven’s temperature won’t adjust quickly enough down to 375F – then I recommend baking your muffins at 375F (190C) for the entire time. They’ll need about 18-20 minutes to bake.
These banana bread muffins are perfect for breakfast, coffee time, or a mid-afternoon snack. And if you’re still on the fence – here’s the recap:
- Big on flavor thanks to bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon & vanilla
- Extra moist
- Perfectly tender and soft
- Sky-high muffin tops
- From start to finish, ready in under 30 minutes
If you love these banana bread muffins, make sure to try these other favorites too:
- Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Classic Banana Bread
- Light and Fluffy Banana Pancakes
Banana Bread Muffins
Equipment
- 12-cavity muffin pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250 grams)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar (100 grams)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (105 grams), see recipe notes for less sweet muffins
- 1/2 cup butter (112 grams), melted
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream*, room temperature
- 3 medium large brown bananas*, mashed, or 4 smaller bananas – it should be about 1 1/3 cups mashed
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F (200C) degrees and line a muffin pan with papers.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract.
- Whisk the mashed bananas into the butter mixture.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the bowl.
- Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Do this by hand (not an electric mixer)
- Gently fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each muffin paper to the top. You should end up with 12-14 muffins in total.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 400F (200C) degrees. Without removing the pan from the oven, turn the oven down to 375F (190C) and continue baking for 10-12 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
- Sugars: For less sweet muffins, use 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream can be replaced with plain Greek yogurt.
- Bananas: 3 large bananas should be about 1 1/3 cups mashed.
- Oven Temperature: If you’re concerned that your oven temperature won’t adjust quickly enough after turning it down to 375F (190C) – then I recommend baking the muffins at 375F (180C) for the entire time. They’ll need about 18-20 minutes to bake.
- Storage: Muffins are best enjoyed the same day that they’re baked. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Baked and cooled muffins can be frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge.
I can confirm these are so good 😊 I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream because I didn’t have it, but it worked perfectly 👍🏼 thank you for this recipe
Thanks for sharing this recipe, Fiona. Some of the best – if not the best – banana muffins I’ve made.
Great recipe. These are delicious, I don’t think they will survive a whole day!
Also just want to point out on step 6 you have “fold the flour mixture into the dry ingredients”. 🙂
Mmm these were perfection. I added mini chocolate chips and no nuts. Love it! Thank you for the great recipe to add to my collection.
These muffins are delicious!
Light and moist.
Made Half recipe and I came out with 9 muffins
Added some mini chocolate chips to to some of the batter.
Will definitely make again! 🙂
Thanks so much Diane!
This is my go to recipe. They come out so moist and my kids eat them up. Just made a batch.
I just made this and they came out great. I didn’t have any baking soda. The muffins came out great.
These were delicious! One question, can u freeze them?
I think that would be fine, as long as the container is air tight
I made these muffins today and LOVED them! Hubby approved too. Super easy, and they make an easy clean up too. Will definitely use this recipe again.
These are perfect. Added some chocolate chips to half the batch, kid loved them.
You can’t go wrong with chocolate chips!
The best Banana 🍌 muffins ever the secret is in the higher degree cooking 🧑🍳 time for well i put it in for 10 minutes then 17 more minutes at 375 and whala the Yummiest Tallest muffins ever !!
Just made these! Followed exactly as written! They are out of this world DELICIOUS!! Thank you 🥰
Wow I am blown away in how pretty and tasty they are.
The tip to make them rise work perfectly.
So Good! So easy to make. Made them today. Followed the recipe exactly and they turned out great with the exception of the extra couple of minutes that I over baked. Trying to juggle a few other things and lost site of time. I will definitely make them again and be more attentive while they’re in the oven.
OH, chocolate chips make them even yummier!
Chocolate chips are always a good idea! Thanks so much for trying the recipe
Thought I would make these to take along for camping, so I made a batch and a half, decided to add choc. chips to some and blueberries to others..in total it made 29 muffins..hope everyone is hungry 😂. But I tried one OMG their delicious!! So moist. Definitely keeping this recipe!
These are delicious! I made them exactly as directed. This recipe is a keeper.
These were great! Made 12 nice size muffins. We loved them, will definitely make again!
My daughter is autistic and a very picky eater.. Usually I can’t get her to eat any food I make from scratch. Last night I made these and she devoured them!! She told me these were the best muffins in the whole world! Thanks for the recipe, it’s easy to make and just so tasty! 😉
I’m so glad the muffins were such a hit with your daughter! Thank you so much for such a kind review
These muffins have now taken the place of banana bread at our house. The muffins are way more moist and flavorful than most banana bread recipes. My 11 month old absolutely loves them too! I have tried adding mini chocolate chips in one batch, and my husband suggested peanut butter chips for the next batch. I add 1-2 cups of PB chips now because it is so good! Thank you for such an awesome, easy recipe our whole family loves!
Thank you so much for leaving such a kind review, Kaelee! I totally agree with your husband – PB chips make everything delicious
Fantastic!!! Second time making them.