Banana Nut Muffins. Quick, easy, moist & full of flavor. These delicious muffins are one of my all time favorites – soon to be yours, too!
I have these Banana Nut Muffins baking in the oven, right now this very moment. Let me say…the aroma is absolutely intoxicating! I’m practically floating thru the house into the kitchen following the scent trail. (There was a cartoon character who used to do that. For the life of me, I can’t remember who it was!?)
There are many recipes that are so normal, so common, that at times they get overlooked. The basics. Shall we go back to basics for a bit?
The basics shouldn’t be overlooked. These recipes are foundations that can be built upon with countless variations. Switch up fruits, fats, flours – the possibilities are endless.
I make these banana nut muffins often. They go together quickly, are moist, delicious, full of flavor and stay fresh for days. They’re great for breakfast, dessert or a sweet snack. I hear muffins like this freeze well, but they never last long enough to make it to the freezer.
These muffins take just minutes to put together and 25 minutes to bake. Probably takes less time & effort to bake a batch then it would to get dressed and head out to a bakery and buy a few. How’s that for keeping it simple.
Onto nuts – to toast or not to toast. Really, this all depends on your tastes and what you are making. A lot of people will insist that it’s a must for the best flavor – but that just isn’t always so. I toasted the walnuts for these muffins, this time. Sometimes I don’t – really, the sprinkling of walnuts on top of the muffins get toasted nicely without any extra effort. More “for instances” you say…? I would toast macadamia nuts in a cookie but wouldn’t toast walnuts in a Turkish walnut cake. See – it’s all in your preferences.
I hope you enjoy these muffins. Quick, simple and delicious – it’s everything you want in a Banana Nut Muffin!
Thanks for stopping by! Happy Baking!
-Amanda-
Recipe adapted from Epicurious
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- (You could use 1½ cup all purpose flour without any whole wheat flour if you'd like)
- 1½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 stick salted butter (1/2 cup), melted
- 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup - 1 cup walnuts (toasted if you'd like)
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Whisk flours, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Melt butter. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Mix in butter, both sugars, milk, egg and vanilla. Stir until well combined.
- Combine wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir until just combined - do not over mix.
- Fold in half the walnuts.
- Spoon batter evenly into 12 greased or paper lined muffin cups.
- Sprinkle remainder of walnuts over top of muffins.
- Bake for about 22 - 26 minutes or until muffins are golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Let muffins rest in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.
- Enjoy 🙂
What a great idea! I love banana muffins and love this fun twist. I probably wouldn’t be able to eat just one. I need to add these to my brunch menu soon! 🙂
Thanks so much, Anu. Oh, I couldn’t eat just one either! I ate one warm from the oven and another after I was done taking pictures. Yum 🙂
Oh my goodness these look PERFECT!
And I agree that nuts don’t always need to be toasted. I generally don’t if I’m baking with them but I do if I’m adding them to salad. Like you say, preferences! 🙂
Thank you Erin 🙂 I love them – they’re perfectly simple & delicious!
This look completely delicious, Amanda! I can taste them now! I wonder if the cartoon character you’re thinking about is Garfield with the lasagna? Not 100% sure, though. The walnuts on top of these is perfect. I could eat these everyday for breakfast I’m sure. Pinned!
Thanks so much, Dawn! Ahhhhhh – I was thinking it was Garfield with his love for lasagna but I couldn’t find any images when I googled it. I’m searching again. Right now 🙂
Muffins are one of my favorite quick breads to make. These muffins are beautiful and I love that you used whole wheat flour in the recipe. That’s right up my alley. I’ve been wanting to grind my own wheat flour for a while now, so I’ll be trying that soon. I stumbled upon a blog post saying how you can grind wheat berries in a coffee grinder. Since my mom gave me one recently I think I’ll try it out.
Thanks so much, Neeli. I love the texture & flavor that a bit of whole wheat flour gives to muffins. I’ve never tried to grind my own flour but am definitely interested in it. I can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you! I burned up my coffee grinder, grinding something other than coffee beans – but I can’t remember what it was 🙁
That’s too funny about your coffee grinder. Last night I made a little oat flour with the coffee grinder. I used oat groats and was happy that it worked.
You got me stumped on the cartoon character, but Garfield does sound vaguely familiar. Banana bread and muffins do smell heavenly when they are baking. These muffins look divine!! I’ve been throwing overripe bananas out because I’m too lazy to do anything with them, but I need to be making these muffins instead!
I’m still searching for that Garfield pic 🙂 Thanks, we love these muffins. They’re so delicious, and almost too easy to bake – so I bake them often and share 🙂 Ohhhh…overripe bananas never go to waste in my house. Actually, I don’t get a chance to bake with them as I’d like to – turns out bananas are my chickens favorite treats. I buy ripe bananas buy the half bushel for $1.25 and the majority of them always end up going to my sweet chickies 🙂
I think the cartoon your thinking about is Mickey Mouse.
Is it!?!? I still haven’t figured it out 🙂
I want to grab one right now 🙂 Looks so beautiful, moist and flavorful! Bookmarked
I’ll send a few your way 🙂 Thanks so much Kushi!
These look absolutely perfect! Gorgeous photos!!
Thanks so much, Laura 🙂
The muffins are soo good (and easy). We love them! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by Brenda 🙂
Wow! They look great
Thanks so much – these have become one of my favorite muffins 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! Was it the fruit loops toucan following his nose to the fruity flavor? Anyway thanks again 😉
Hi Nicole! You’re welcome – so glad you enjoyed the muffins!
Yes, yes, yes – Toucan Sam did do that! I forgot all about him! So if it isn’t Garfield – then it has to be Toucan Sam 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by!
I’m saving this recipe to use again and again…Perfect recipe with a few simple steps. The muffins were so moist and tasty! Thank you for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed them! These are my absolute favorite banana nut muffins ♥
Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂
Ive made these muffins twice, once for my bosses birthday brunch and once for my kids. Everyone loves them!!!! The second time for the kids I toasted pecans for the topping and they turned out great. This recipe has replaced my other banana nut muffins because they are simply delicious!!!
Yay! So glad you love the muffins! These are definitely our favorite as well – it’s the only recipe I use anymore!
Thanks for stopping by Janet – happy baking ♥
I love these banana nut muffins. It is my new favorite recipe.
Wonderful – so glad you love them! Thanks for stopping by Ruth 🙂
How are these frozen and thawed for later? If they taste as good as they look, I’d love to make and freeze some for my sudden cravings.
Hi Candy. Honestly, I haven’t. Baked goods never last long enough in my house to make it to the freezer. If you try it, I’d love to hear how they freeze.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I’m getting ready to try these for a bake sale! Just wanted to say, never throw your over ripe bananas away! Freeze them! You can toss the whole banana, in the peel, into a freezer bag, and when you need one or two, just defrost in your microwave. Works perfect. That’s what I’ll be using today.
Awesome advice Cindy! Using over ripe bananas make a world of difference in baking!
Hope you & the bake sale shoppers enjoy the muffins 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
I love new variations of favorites that I make all the time. I have been using a recipe from a little lady from Hawaii for years to make my classical Banana Bread.
I had a bunch of bananas and thought I would make muffins instead. I searched Google, and your recipe had a 5 * rating. I did my due diligence and read the comments.
So I am one of those home cooks/bakers, that usually never messes up a recipe. I loved that yours had whole wheat flour, and I was sold. So back to my MAJOR mess up. I mix up the batter, top them with chopped pecans (walnuts in the batter) and bake them. At the same time I am putting together ingredients to make Quiche Lorraine. Doung too much, after I had taken the muffins out of the oven, I realized I had forgot to add one of the ingredients, the melted butter. In a panic, I cut in to one of my muffins, and frankly, they tasted just fine. Very moist, just not the texture of a normal muffin. So if you want to try it, just think that you are cutting out a huge calorie and fat content, and makes them a little healthier!
Hi Julie!
So glad to hear the muffins turned out well, even with the little mishap. Funny how sometimes what you think is a mistake turns out great!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Baking 🙂
Our daughter loves these muffins. She made them for the county fair in open class and received the junior division reserve grand champion!
Hi Kayla!
This makes me soooooo happy ♥
Glad you all enjoy the muffins and congratulations to your daughter! My daughter enters baked goods every year in the county fair and it’s always so much fun for all of us!
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Hi Amanda
I loved the recipe i didn’t have milk even tho i went to the market twice and both times forget to get it…ugh! Lol so i use eqaul amout 1/4 sour cream i wish i had momorof a banana flavor my son and fiancé. Loved it but but said it tasted more like a bread with really good taste.. …any suggestions
Hi Jacklyn!
I’ve never tried subbing sour cream for milk in this recipe, but usually when I do sub it in a muffin or scone I reduce the amount of butter.
Were your bananas nice and ripe? Under ripe bananas aren’t sweet enough for baking. I never use banana extract, but I know some people who don’t like brown spotted bananas sometimes add it to their banana baked goods 🙂
Hope this helps! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
These sound great! I would love to try this recipe. Does it matter if you use light brown sugar in place of dark? I already have light.. So i was just wondering.
Hi Carli!
You can use either or in any recipe that calls for brown sugar – but the light brown sugar doesn’t have as much molasses flavor as the dark sugar.
Hope this helps! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I am making these banana nut muffins tonight!! My sweet hubby just came back from the store with all the ingredients! I have never used whole wheat flour before, so I am excited about trying this recipe! My 12 year old son will be in the kitchen helping bake these! He is homeschooled, so I always try to have him learn real life lessons as much as possible, and cooking is always one of his favorites! Can’t wait for my house to smell banana nut declicious!
Hi Lisa!
Hope you and your guys enjoyed the muffins!
I love having kids in the kitchen – my 11 year old daughter is my baking assistant and the official decorator ♥
Whole wheat flour is a great ingredient! You can definitely start adding it into more of your baked goods – it’s easy to sub half of it for all-purpose flour in muffins & quick breads when starting out!
Thanks for stopping by! Happy baking 🙂
I made these today, very good! This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Great recipe! I made after Hurricane Irma and my Hubby loved it
I’ve made this recipe or a variation of it probably 3-4 times now and they are so good that there are rarely any left by the time they have cooled down completely. I wouldn’t change anything about this recipe and can’t thank you enough for sharing it! These muffins come out moist and delicious every time.
Yay! So glad you love them as much as we do! Thank you – I love great feedback like this!
Thanks for stopping by Alex 🙂
Loved this recipe!! I somehow lost my muffin pan so I had to use my bundt pan. I baked it for 45 mins in 350 and it worked beautifully. I sprinkled some whole oats on top of the batter before baking to add a little flare. I will be making this recipe all fall and winter long!!!
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed the recipe! These muffins in a bundt is a wonderful idea!
Thanks for stopping by Tiffany 🙂
Yummy! I made these exactly to your recipe and they were delicious. It’s rare that the final product looks just like the pictures, but my muffins turned out just like the picture!!! Thank you for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed them, Emily! Picture perfect too 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Loved the recipe! I added Quaker oats to give it a little more nutritional oomph. Will definitely make again!
So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for stopping by Catherine 🙂
I made a batch of these last night. I only had two bananas so I substituted the third for some applesauce and it cam out amazing! Even my picky preschoolers finished theirs and asked for more. My only complaint is that there are no leftovers for breakfast this morning!!!
So glad everyone enjoyed the muffins!
Now if only I could get my picky preschooler to eat anything – she won’t even look at these muffins!
Thanks for stopping by Hanaan!
I loved these muffins. I made mine with almond flour in place of the white flour and added 1/2 cup more for the conversion and the wheat flour as directed they turned out great. They didn’t last very long.
So glad you enjoyed them!
I’ve never tried them with almond flour – I’m excited to try your version!
Thanks for stopping by Nyoka 🙂