Banana Muffin Recipe: Tall, Moist Muffins in 30 Minutes

The short answer: this banana muffin recipe makes 12 tall muffins from 3 ripe bananas in one bowl. Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes, then lower the oven to 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes without opening the door. About 30 minutes start to finish.

• Key numbers: 2 cups flour · 3 bananas (about 1 1/3 cups mashed) · 1/2 cup butter · 2/3 cup brown sugar · 1 egg · 1/4 cup yogurt
• Top moves: use spotty bananas, stir only until the flour disappears, fill the cups to the top, start hot
• Next step: get the free recipe book starter pages (we email it to you), or keep your add-in mix in the Family Recipe Binder ($6.99)

Prep time: 20 minCook time: 20 minTotal time: 45 minServings: 12 tall muffinsTotal includes 5 min of resting, chilling or rising.

These are bakery-style banana muffins: a lighter batter than a loaf, with both baking soda and baking powder and a hot start that pushes up a domed top. If you want a sliceable loaf, our banana bread recipe is the one to bake. It includes a quick muffin conversion, but this page is built for muffins from the start.

Banana muffin ingredients

Makes 12 standard muffins.

How to make banana muffins

1. Heat the oven and pan. Set a rack in the center and heat the oven to 400°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or grease it well.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Mash and mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until mostly smooth with a few small lumps. Whisk in the melted butter, brown sugar, egg, yogurt and vanilla.
4. Fold gently. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and fold with a spatula just until no dry flour is visible. The batter should be thick and a little lumpy. Fold in any add-ins with the last few strokes.
5. Fill the cups full. Divide the batter among the 12 cups; they will be full to the rim. Sprinkle the tops with the extra tablespoon of brown sugar if you like a crackly top.
6. Bake hot, then lower. Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes. Without opening the door, lower the oven to 350°F and bake 12 to 15 minutes more, until the tops spring back and a toothpick in a center muffin comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
7. Cool. Let the muffins sit in the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack. Muffins left in the pan steam and their bottoms turn damp.

Bake times by pan size

Ovens vary, so start checking 2 to 3 minutes before the low end of each range. Minis skip the hot start because they set fast enough on their own.

Banana muffin variations

• Banana nut: fold in 3/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans.
• Banana chocolate chip: fold in 3/4 cup semisweet chips and scatter a few more on top before baking.
• Streusel top: rub together 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons cold butter and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon until crumbly, and press a spoonful onto each muffin before baking.
• Oat: replace 1/2 cup of the flour with 1/2 cup quick oats and sprinkle a few oats on top.
• Whole wheat: use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup all-purpose. The muffins will be a little denser.
• Less sugar: drop the brown sugar to 1/2 cup if your bananas are very ripe. The tops will brown less.
• Blueberry banana: fold in 3/4 cup blueberries tossed in 1 tablespoon of flour. For a muffin built around the berries, see our blueberry muffins.

Want another way to use up produce in a quick bread? Zucchini bread uses the same fold-gently method.

Troubleshooting banana muffins

• Flat tops: the cups were not full enough, the batter sat too long before baking, or the baking soda and powder are old. Fill to the rim and bake as soon as the batter is mixed.
• Dense or gummy centers: overmixing after the flour went in, too much banana, or underbaking. Measure the banana, fold just until the flour disappears, and test the center muffin, not an edge one.
• Tunnels or a tough texture: a sign of overmixing. A few lumps in the batter are normal.
• Domes that sink: opening the oven during the first 10 minutes, or pulling the pan early.
• Muffins stuck to the liners: let them cool fully; liners peel more cleanly once the muffins are cold. Greased foil or parchment liners release more easily than thin paper.
• Bitter or soapy taste: too much baking soda or soda that did not mix in. Level the teaspoon and whisk the dry ingredients well.
• Bland flavor: bananas were not ripe enough. Wait for brown speckles, or add 1/4 teaspoon more cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg.

Raw batter, storage and freezing

Wait for the muffins to bake before tasting. The FDA's flour safety guidance says never to eat or taste raw flour, dough or batter, and that cooking is the only way to be sure foods made with flour and raw eggs are safe. Wash your hands, the bowl and the spatula after handling the batter, and keep kids from licking the beaters.

Cool the muffins completely before storing them, or the trapped steam makes the tops sticky. Store them at room temperature in an airtight container lined with a paper towel and eat within about 2 days. For longer storage, freeze them: lay the cooled muffins on a tray until firm, then move them to a freezer bag. Keep your freezer at 0°F, the setting in the FDA's food storage guidance, and use frozen muffins within about 3 months for best quality. Thaw on the counter for an hour, or microwave one for 20 to 30 seconds. Throw out any muffin that shows mold.

Ripen, save and use bananas

• Speed up ripening: keep bananas in a paper bag with an apple for a day or two.
• Too ripe to eat: brown bananas are perfect here. Peel and freeze them in a bag if you are not baking this week, or turn 3 of them into a frosted moist banana cake for a crowd.
• Frozen bananas: thaw them in a bowl, then use the bananas and their liquid. Do not drain it off, or the muffins will be dry.
• Two bananas only: add 1/4 cup more yogurt to make up the moisture.

Serve them for breakfast or snacks

Banana muffins work as a grab-and-go breakfast with a glass of milk, a hard-boiled egg or a cup of yogurt, and they pack well in lunch boxes once they are cool. Freeze a batch on Sunday and pull one out each morning. For more fast morning ideas, see quick breakfast ideas.

Banana muffins on a budget

A batch of banana muffins uses pantry staples: flour, sugar, butter, one egg and bananas that would otherwise go in the trash. That makes them one of the simplest ways to cut food waste. A few habits keep the cost down:

• Buy bananas by the bunch and freeze the extras once they brown.
• Swap the yogurt for milk if that is what is in the refrigerator.
• Skip nuts or chocolate chips, or use half the amount; add-ins are usually the most expensive part of the batch.
• Bake a double batch and freeze half instead of buying packaged muffins for the week.

For more ways to stretch the grocery budget, see how to grocery shop on a budget.

Plan the baking and save the recipe

Put a muffin batch on the weekend plan so the bananas get used before they go too far.

• Meal Planner & Grocery List, $3.99. A weekly menu and an aisle-sorted grocery list.
• Family Recipe Binder, $6.99. Write down your bake time and which add-ins your family likes best.

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