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.
Love this recipe!! What temp would I bake for how long if I wanted to make a loaf instead of cupcakes?
I think about 50-60 minutes in a 9×5 inch loaf pan at 350F. If the top is already browned, but the loaf is still gooey in the middle – then you’ll need to tent a piece of aluminum foil over the top for the last 15-20 minutes of baking. Just be sure to use a 9×5 inch loaf tin, as an 8×4 inch will be too small
I made these and they turned out great, I sprinkled a little raw sugar on the tops before baking. Thanks for sharing, will make these again!
Thank you, Sheila!
This was delicious! I’m about to make some more this weekend! 🥰 I doubled the recipe and took them to church, they were gone in minutes!!
Can these be put in freezer after baking them?
Yes, just make sure that they’re fully cooled before freezing and freeze in a freezer bag or airtight freezer safe container
These were perfect! I subbed plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream and they turned out really good. So fluffy and yummy. I needed to bake them for a couple minutes longer. This is going to be my go to recipe for these. Forget banana bread. These taste better and cook faster.
Wonderful! Easy!
Great recipe! I’m so happy you have it for metric because I think recipes turn out better this way. I used Fage 0% Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. The 1st I used only 1/4 of cup of yogurt and the 2nd time I used the whole container of Fage. These are very moist and yummy!
Without a doubt my favorite banana muffins!
I just wanted to say that these are absolutely delicious! Doubled and followed the recipe to a T- they turned out nice and fluffy with a beautiful muffin top. Thank you so much!
Wow- delicious!!! These are so dang tasty. Made 18 muffins. Telling hubby to hide so I don’t eat it all. Thank you for a fantastic and easy recipe!
My absolute favorite banana muffins! N the oven right now. They are delicious!
My brown sugar is rock hard and i have no white sugar.. can i use honey?
I wouldn’t use honey because it will add liquid to the batter. If you have time, you can place a piece of bread in the brown sugar bag overnight which will soften the brown sugar.