Banana Bread Muffins
Fluffy and moist one bowl banana bread muffins with a hint of cinnamon and a sweet crunchy muffin top.
I just had to include a banana bread version in my muffin streak, right?
Why you’ll love these banana bread muffins
- Convenient because they use up two ripe bananas.
- They’re made in one bowl so no extra dishes!
- They’re large and have perfectly domed muffin tops but can also be made smaller.
- Muffins are moist but not gummy like some banana bread recipes.
- Banana flavor dances beautifully with a hint of cinnamon.
- Although they still have sugar, the rest of the ingredients can be healthy.
If you love these muffins, I have a pumpkin version, chocolate chip, blueberry, strawberry, vanilla, lemon poppy seed and pumpkin banana muffins. I also have a zucchini muffin available for download below.
Ingredients
- Bananas: I use medium/large bananas so not small ones but not giant ones. It’s best to measure it out by weight but if you don’t have a scale, just use two medium ripe bananas.
- Flour: I use all purpose flour in most of my recipes and I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is so often over measured.
- If you want to make these a little healthier, you can swap half the flour for whole wheat flour or all of the flour for white whole wheat flour.
- 1:! Gluten-free flour substitutes also work.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: We’re going to need both here and a lot of them to get that gorgeous muffin top.
- Sugar: I used light brown sugar but granulated or dark brown will work well in this recipe as well.
- Oil: I used oil in this recipe because I wanted to keep the muffins a little fluffier and spongier. I used olive oil to make them slightly healthier as a breakfast treat but any neutral oil works fine as well.
- Eggs: I use room temperature, large eggs. Pop them in hot water for a few minutes if they’re cold.
- Greek yogurt: I like to add greek yogurt as a healthier option but sour cream and plain yogurt also work. Make sure the yogurt is unsweetened.
- Cinnamon: I used ground cinnamon and I will never not add a little cinnamon to my banana recipes lol.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mash the bananas well, until there are no more large chunks and it looks like puree.
Step 2: Add the sugar and the oil and whisk aggressively until they’re well combined.
Step 3: Whisk in the eggs. This is important; whisk in one egg at a time for about 30 seconds, until it’s completely combined, pale and fluffy. Then add the other egg, etc.
Step 4: Add the greek yogurt and whisk until it’s completely smooth.
Step 5: Add the dry ingredients together whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt into the wet ingredients until they’re completely combined.
Step 6: Rest the batter – Cover the bowl and let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour. This allows the gluten to relax and the leaveners to get a head start. (If you’re in a rush, 30 minutes is fine but definitely don’t go past 90 minutes or you’ll get a wonky bake).
Step 7: Fill the muffin pan all the way to the top rim and top generously with the streusel topping, pressing it into the batter so it sticks a little.
Step 8: Bake for five minutes at 425 F (218C) and then reduce oven temperature to 375 F (190C) and bake for another 13-15 minutes.
Pro Tips for the best muffin tops:
- The baking powder and baking soda seem excessive but you’ll need that much to get a nice muffin top, especially on a batter with heavy ingredients like banana, so don’t reduce or skip one of them.
- The resting allows the baking soda to activate before it hits the oven, helping you get that nice large muffin top.
- Make sure to whisk each ingredient well before adding the next. This is especially important with the eggs. Beating a little air into the batter with each egg will help make these muffins fluffier.
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven’t tested it but I would assume it works. I also have a fabulous banana bread recipe, a chocolate banana bread and a pumpkin banana bread.
You can add 1 cup of chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts to the batter.
Yup, I filled mine to the top of the muffin tins, giving me 12 large muffins with large muffin tops. You can also just fill them ¾ full and you’ll probably get about 18 muffins. Reduce the second bake time by 4-6 minutes.
Yup! I made the muffin tops crispy with a little sugar but you can also use the same streusel that I use on my pumpkin muffins.
Yup, you can add my brown sugar glaze or vanilla glaze.
Unfortunately this recipe uses three eggs so it’s awkward to halve but I do have my pumpkin banana muffin recipe that makes only 6 muffins. You can replace the pumpkin with an extra banana (125g) or with ½ cup (120g) greek yogurt.
To get that gorgeous muffin top I increased the leavening agents a little more than usual. Allowing the batter to rest for an hour gives you the perfect bake but if you wait longer, the muffins will bake with a wonky, lop sided muffin top.
I haven’t tested this yet, but if you want to make the batter ahead of time, I would try skipping the baking soda.
How to store muffins
I place the muffins under a cake dome or in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. If it’s longer you can refrigerate for a couple of days but they dry out quicker in the fridge, so I recommend freezing instead. You can freeze them and bring them back to room temperature before serving.
How to freeze muffins
Bakes stay more fresh when they’re frozen. Place muffins in an airtight container and then place the container in a freezer bag.
You can also wrap each one individually in plastic wrap and then place those in a freezer bag so you can easily remove one at a time.
Freeze for up to a couple of months. Bring back to room temperature before serving.
Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below. Make sure to leave it in the comment section because I can’t answer in the rating section :).
If you try these banana muffins, I’d love it if you left a star rating for me. If it’s less than five stars, please leave a comment with the rating so I know why! ?
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
