Banana Nut Muffins
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These banana nut muffins are tender, packed with banana flavor, and topped with just the right amount of crunch—perfect for using up those overripe bananas.
When I was in culinary school, the chefs would randomly (and terrifyingly!) inspect our trash cans to ensure we hadn’t tossed any scraps that could be repurposed. I quickly learned that nothing goes to waste in a restaurant kitchen: stale bread becomes breadcrumbs or croutons, bones become stock, vegetable trimmings become soup, and overripe bananas get turned into banana muffins, banana bread, banana pancakes, banana cake—even banana ice cream. These banana nut muffins are one of my favorite ways to use up those spotted bananas—they’re quick to make, full of flavor, and never stick around for long.
If you lean chocolate over nuts, banana chocolate chip muffins are another tried-and-true favorite in my kitchen—and definitely the more kid-friendly option.
“Had a lot of ripe bananas and thought…banana muffins! They were SO moist and delicious! I stuck some in the freezer for a future treat.”
What You’ll Need To Make Banana Nut Muffins
- Mashed Bananas: The browner and spottier, the better—they’re easier to mash and add deeper banana flavor and natural sweetness.
- All-Purpose Flour: Spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off for accuracy—packing it in can lead to dense muffins.
- Sugar & Honey: A mix of granulated sugar and honey gives the muffins just the right amount of sweetness and helps keep them moist.
- Butter & Eggs: These add richness, structure, and flavor. Let them come to room temperature so they blend easily into the batter.
- Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream: Makes the muffins tender and gives them a subtle tang that balances the sweetness.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Work together to lift the muffins. The baking soda also reacts with the yogurt or sour cream for extra rise.
- Vanilla Extract & Cinnamon: Vanilla rounds out the flavor; cinnamon adds a warm, cozy spice that pairs perfectly with banana.
- Chopped Walnuts (for the topping): Add crunch and a toasty, nutty bite. If you’re skipping the nuts, try a little nut-free granola or coarse sugar instead—just omit the honey in the topping if you go that route.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Make the topping. In a small bowl, toss the walnuts with the honey and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon until evenly coated (the mixture will be sticky). Set aside.
Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. Whisking helps evenly distribute the leaveners and spices so there are no clumps.
Step 3: Cream the butter and sugar. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and honey until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Butter that’s just a touch cooler than room temperature blends more easily and helps achieve a uniform creamy texture.
Step 4: Add the eggs, banana, and yogurt. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the mashed banana, vanilla, and yogurt or sour cream.
Step 5: Blend until combined. Beat until smooth (the batter may look a little grainy—that’s fine).
Step 6: Add the dry ingredients. Mix in the flour mixture until just combined. The batter will be thick.
Pro Tip: Avoid overmixing—stir just until you don’t see streaks of flour. Overmixing can lead to dense muffins.
Step 7: Fill and top the muffins. Spoon the batter into the liners in the prepared muffin tin—the cups will be quite full. Sprinkle with the walnut topping.
Step 8: Bake and cool the muffins. Bake at 350°F for 25 to 28 minutes, until the tops are golden and nicely domed. Let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes—this helps them set—then transfer to a wire rack so the bottoms don’t get soggy. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. The muffins keep well in an airtight container for a few days and freeze beautifully for up to 3 months.
More Muffin Recipes You May Like
Banana Nut Muffins
Ingredients
For the Walnut Topping
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
For the Muffins
- 1⅔ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed bananas, from 2 to 3 overripe bananas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt or sour cream (low-fat is fine)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- Make the walnut topping: In a small bowl, toss the nuts with the honey and cinnamon until the nuts are evenly coated (the mixture will be sticky). Set aside.
- For the Muffins: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and honey until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if necessary. At medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully incorporated between additions. Add the mashed bananas, vanilla, and yogurt (or sour cream) and beat until blended (the batter will look grainy; that's okay). Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until well blended.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin (the cups will be very full) and sprinkle evenly with the nut topping. Bake the muffins until the tops are golden and domed, 25 to 28 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Absolutely loved these muffins. Moist, fluffy and delicious. Some seem to have had some mishaps. My first attempt had to do with an over hot oven temperature. Investing in an oven thermometer fixed that so for my second try today, I adjusted the temperature accordingly. Because my oven is 15 degrees hotter than normal, I baked these at 335 and had perfect results! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Hello
Yummyum. But mine stuck to the paper liners. Any suggestions?
Thanks Jenn. Love you’re recipes.
Hi Mary, Sorry to hear they stuck to the liners! If you make them again, I’d suggest spraying the liners with nonstick spray. Hope that helps!
Try using parchment liners. I find they come off easily.
These muffins are a WOW, Jenn! I definitely will use the pecans rolled in honey and cinnamon on my pancakes before flipping them over as well. Would these nuts also work on top of a banana bread loaf, or is that too long for them? Thanks for this awesome recipe.
So glad you liked these! I do think the pecans would work on top of the banana bread. (If you find that they’re getting too browned while the banana bread is baking, just loosely lay a piece of foil over top of the loaf pan.) Hope that helps!
I discovered recently than I’m allergic to honey. Any problem w/ substituting maybe light corn syrup for the honey in the topping? Equal amounts?
You could use corn syrup, Lyle’s golden syrup, or maple syrup (an equal amount). Hope you enjoy!
These taste delicious but the texture and consistency is completely off.
I’ve tried making them a few times and every time the insides are way too dense and the muffins also seem deflated. Not at all light and fluffy like they are meant to be. Same issues as others have mentioned.
After some research it seems that the baking soda and powder in this recipe is completely off. Less soda should be used.
I’ve had the same issue 3 times now, thought it was either the type of flour or maybe old baking powder or soda. Can’t quite figure it out, but they do taste great, just tired of them running over into the bottom of the oven.
I wish I could post the picture I took, these came out just like your photo and were absolutely delicious! I followed the recipes to a tee, they were not overly sweet at all. I didn’t add, I didn’t subtract. I followed the recipe. I did use whole sour cream, and I used a local very good honey. They didn’t spread like a few others said theirs had. They were full and they did dome like you said they should. My neighbor had surgery the other day and I brought over a half dozen of them right out of the oven for her and her hubby and she text me after and said, OMG, these look beautiful and taste amazing! I have used your recipes for a long time now and they are always the best. My husband always says, when I make a new dinner or dessert, “is this Jens recipe? You are on a first name basis in this household! Lol
You are and will continue to be my go to chef!
Glad you (and your neighbors) enjoyed these (and I’m flattered to be on a first-name basis in your house)! 🙂
Delicious!! I baked at 425 for the first 5 min and then 350 for the rest of time (created more of a peak). The topping on these muffins were the best! Thank you!
Can I use flax eggs (1 T ground flax seed + 1.5T water) instead of eggs?
Hi Connie, I’ve never made these with flax eggs, so I can’t stay for sure, but I suspect it should work. Also, two of the best substitutes I’ve heard about (I haven’t personally tried either of them) are a combination of water, oil, and baking powder, and carbonated water. Scroll down to the bottom of this article for more information about both. Hope that helps!
Hi Jen! I love your recipes and always get compliments on EVERY SINGLE ONE I make!!:). This one was a little weird for me, though. I followed the instructions exactly, but the muffins actually overflowed and dripped to the bottom of the oven. Any clues on what may have gone wrong?
Hi Jennifer, glad you like the recipes but sorry you had a problem with this one! This calls for both baking powder and baking soda. Is there any chance that you omitted one of those?
Hi Jen! I used one teaspoon of each and I just checked the packets to make sure. Regardless, they were (I use the past tense because I just pounded the last two AND gave some to a neighbor who also finished them) DELICIOUS and I will definitely make them again…with a baking sheet underneath!!:)
Hmmm… that’s a head-scratcher! Well glad you enjoyed them regardless and that you know now to put a baking sheet under the muffin tine! 🙂
First off, let me say I’m slowly making my way through the recipes on this site because every single one has been an absolute hit 🙂 Thank you!!
I must have messed something up here because my muffins didn’t rise quite like yours, the tops are more like pancakes. And I notice that my muffin tin is full of melted butter that must have seeped through the liners. It’s a lot. I wonder if that’s also impacted the texture, which is good but not great.
Any idea what could have gone wrong here, Jenn? I believe I followed the recipe to a “T”.
All of that said, certainly won’t go to waste 🙂
Glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes but sorry to hear you had a problem with this one! I’m trying to figure out what may have gone wrong for you but am coming up blank. You mentioned that you followed the recipe exactly, but because these muffins are generally very predictable for people, I’m wondering if perhaps you made a measuring mistake.
Perhaps your butter was too soft? I’ve had similar issues when my butter had been out in our hot kitchen in summertime.
I would say it has to be a measuring error. I too experienced a mishap the first time making these. While delicious, I felt the texture was off and I realized it may have been over baked because my oven gets too hot. My second try, using an oven thermometer and adjusting the temperature accordingly, they came out perfectly. Fluffy, moist and delicious! Thank you for a great recipe!
This became a recipe staple the day I made them. We can’t decide which muffins we like best though, these or your chocolate muffins in your current cookbook. Thank you for all you do, we use a lot of your recipes and really enjoy them. We even pre-ordered your next cookbook.
💗
I make them every week they are so good!
These are delicious – the honey flavor and aroma are so nice. The recipe is very forgiving; I was not at all fussy about measuring (sort of eyeballed the flour and the sour cream, and used a little too much banana rather than letting it go to waste), and still they were lovely.