We took our all-time favorite easy banana bread and turned it into the best banana nut muffins. Get ready to sink your teeth into soft, fluffy, and moist banana nut muffins. You’ll love the crackly-crunchy brown sugar topping that makes these muffins extra delicious! Check out the hundreds of 5-star reviews – this recipe is a winner!
Recipe snapshot
TEXTURE: These muffins get the perfect soft texture from a combination of melted butter and lots of mashed bananas.
EASE: The muffin batter comes together in minutes. No special equipment needed.
FLAVOR: The perfect combination of bananas, sweet brown sugar, and fragrant vanilla.
5-STAR REVIEWS: This recipe is a reader favorite and family favorite.
Key ingredients
The following ingredients are essential to making these muffins the best:
Bananas: Use 3-4 overripe bananas to make this bread sweet, moist, and undeniably banana-flavored.
Brown sugar: The only sugar used in these muffins is brown sugar. It is in the batter and it gets sprinkled on top before baking. The brown sugar gives the bread a deeper flavor and almost caramel-like sweetness. Plus, brown sugar and bananas are a fantastic flavor combo.
Topping: Each muffin is topped with a sprinkling of brown sugar and chopped walnuts. This adds a delicate sweet and crunchy layer right on top of each muffin.
Recipe overview
*Full recipe below in recipe card*
Whisk melted butter and brown sugar.
Add eggs, vanilla, and mashed banana.
Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in the chopped nuts.
Scoop the batter into a muffin pan and sprinkle the top of each muffin with brown sugar and chopped nuts.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
Tips: baking with bananas
It’s important that you use overripe bananas. The skin of the bananas should have brown speckles or even be turning dark brownish-black. This ensures that the bananas mash smoothly and are extra sweet.
You will need 3-4 large bananas for this recipe.
Mash the bananas using a fork or potato masher.
I mash the bananas on a paper plate then fold the plate to slide the mashed banana into the measuring cup.
Recipe tips
- Use overripe (brown speckled) bananas, they’ll be extra sweet!
- Your brown sugar should be fresh and soft. Since this is a key ingredient (used in both the topping and the batter), make sure it is fresh and moist.
- Use your favorite nuts. Walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts are all delicious. Feel free to use a combination of nuts.
- Top these muffins with salted butter, honey butter or maple butter to make them extra tasty.
Optional ingredient swaps
Prefer your muffins a bit more wholesome? I have successfully made the following changes:
- Reduce the brown sugar to ½ cup (in the batter). I still recommend sprinkling brown sugar on top.
- Swap the melted butter for melted coconut oil or mild olive oil.
- Reduce the melted butter/oil to 6 tablespoons.
- Swap ¾ cup of the all purpose flour for white whole wheat flour.
Serving and storage
These muffins are best the day they are made; however, leftovers can be stored tightly-covered at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerated for several days longer.
These are best served warm. I reheat them in the microwave or toaster oven and serve with a smear of salted butter.
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Recipe
Banana Nut Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed, make sure it is fresh and soft
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups mashed very ripe bananas , about 3-4 bananas
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
- ½ cup chopped walnuts, or swap for macadamia nuts, pecans, or hazelnuts
Topping:
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, whisk melted butter and ⅔ cup brown sugar until well combined, about 1 full minute. Add eggs, mashed banana, and vanilla, whisking until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a rubber spatula to lightly stir the batter until almost combined. Add ½ cup chopped nuts and stir until no streaks of flour remain. Be careful not to over-mix.
- Grease 15 standard-sized muffin cups and divide the batter evenly among the cups. Sprinkle the top of the each cup with brown sugar and chopped walnuts (topping). Bake for 14-17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Melissa says
Delicious! Every bite better than the last. This recipe is relatively low in sugar.
Allison says
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Laurel D’Andrea says
Made these this am with in large muffin tins so made 6 perfectly. I used walnuts, peanuts, pecans, almonds and cashews, both inside and on top. I always toast the nuts a little. The last thing I added was some raisins after I soaked them in hot water for a little bit. I cooked for about 25 minutes. Great breakfast muffin and awesome recipe. Can wait to look at some of your other recipes.
Kitimat BC.
Allison says
Thanks for the kind review. 🙂 Happy baking!
Michelle Kozel says
Can this be made in a loaf pan?
Allison says
Yes, you can use this recipe: Banana Nut Bread.
Sarah says
Hi, I just made these and they’re great! Will they do well if I freeze some for later?
Allison says
Yes, that should be fine.
Cheryl says
Hi. I’ve made these several times for they are DELICIOUS!!!!!!! I have a reel on Instagram showing how delicious they are. I’ll have to send it to you.
I’m wondering can I use this same recipe for mini loaf breads?
Thank you.
Allison says
Sure! You’ll just need to adjust the bake time. I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Sharon H says
Oh, my goodness! the minute I read this recipe I knew I had to try it. So I did! It has now been recorded in my handwritten recipe book….only the very best recipes go in there! Thank you so much for sharing
Allison says
I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Allison L Miller says
I modified the recipe as follows to fit in my 12 muffin tin: 1.5 cups flour, 1.6 cups mashed banana, 2 smaller eggs, and added 1/4 tsp nutmeg. The rest left the same and came out wonderful!
Allison says
I’m glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing your modifications.
corrine says
Can I use self rising flour?
Allison says
Most likely but you might still need a little baking soda. You’d have to play around with it.
Baylee says
I LOVE these muffins. I’ve made to them several and a few for family members and they’re always big hit! Thank you for this! It’s going in my recipe book for my daughter. ❤️
Allison says
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for the kind review. 🙂
Jenny Ferragine says
I followed the directions but they came out doughy even after leaving them in the oven for an extra 10 mins. Disappointing.
Allison says
Hi. Jenny. I haven’t heard that complaint before. Did you use a standard size muffin pan? Are you sure you measured the ingredients correctly?
Allison says
this was a great recipe. Very moist and sweet and the topping is rich. I finished off my muffins with some sea salt flakes and I feel like it elevated them to another level.
Allison says
Great idea!
Linda says
Your recipe came out wonderful and delicious…I wouldn’t change a thing
Allison says
Thanks for the kind review, Linda! 🙂