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!

Banana nut muffin topped with brown sugar and nuts.

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.

Easy Banana Bread ingredients: butter, sugar, flour, bananas, eggs baking soda.

Recipe overview

*Full recipe below in recipe card*

Whisk melted butter and brown sugar.

Melted butter and brown sugar in a glass bowl with a whisk.

Add eggs, vanilla, and mashed banana.

Banana nut muffin batter in a glass bowl.

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.

Unbaked banana nut muffin batter in a muffin pan topped with brown sugar and chopped nuts.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is golden brown.

Banana nut muffin in a muffin pan on a wire rack.

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.

A banana nut muffin with a bite taken out of it stacked on top of another muffin.

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.