Banana Nut Muffins

These bakery-size banana nut muffins are sweet, nutty, and deliciously moist. Brimming with an abundance of ripe bananas, crunchy walnuts, a hint of spice, brown sugar, and rich buttermilk, this banana nut muffin recipe is a perfect treat to be enjoyed as a breakfast-on-the-go, or as a sweet afternoon snack!

Nutty Over Banana Nut Muffins

One of my favorite baked goodies to whip up whenever I find myself with an abundance of overly ripe bananas that are just about on their way out is my banana bread.

My, oh, my do we love banana bread in our household, enjoying a slice in the morning with a cup of coffee, or even in the evening when the craving for something moist, tender, sweet, and slightly spiced beckons.

But recently when I had a few super spotty and ripe bananas sitting in my fruit bowl, instead of preparing a loaf of banana bread, I decided to change things up a little and whip up a big, delicious, cozy batch of banana nut muffins instead!

These banana nut muffins turned out to be absolutely delicious. They were also super easy to prepare, and quicker to bake off than banana bread—nice bonus when you need to get your banana dessert fix!

And because I love how pretty and how irresistible the big, beautiful, bakery-style banana nut muffins are, I decided to prepared these in jumbo-size muffin tins to make them extra indulgent.

So if you're as nutty about banana nut muffins as we now are in our household, and love the idea of using up your overly ripe bananas in a really fun and delicious way, then this sweet recipe is the perfect new addition to file away under the “dessert” section of your recipe tin!

My Banana Nut Muffin Recipe

I really appreciate that I don't need to add a lot of extra sugar to these banana nut muffins, as I'm basically relying on four medium-large, very ripe bananas to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to sweetness.

However, I do use a bit of brown sugar for a hint of caramel flavor, and combine that with my mashed bananas to create a nice balance.

And to create that moist texture and rich flavor, I like to use a small amount of melted butter, a generous pour of rich buttermilk in the batter, plus a good splash of pure vanilla extract for warm flavor.

As for the nuts, I roughly chop raw walnuts and then fold them into the batter as well as sprinkle over top before baking, to create that wonderful crunch and nutty aroma.

And because I want these lovely banana nut muffins to rise tall and look like they do at the bake shop, I start the oven out at a higher temperature for the first few minutes (which creates that “oven spring”), then I reduce the heat and continue baking until the muffins are baked through.

The result is moist, jumbo-sized muffins absolutely brimming with fresh banana flavor and a nutty crunch!

Here's a glance at my banana nut muffin recipe: (or just jump to the full recipe...)

1. To begin, I whisk together my dry ingredients, and set those aside. Then, in another bowl, I combine my brown sugar with my well-mashed bananas, and then add to those the rest of the wet ingredients.
2. I combine my wet and dry ingredients, along with some of my walnuts, and fold everything together just until combined.
3. To bake the banana nut muffins, I spoon the batter into my prepared jumbo muffin tins, and sprinkle over top of each some of my chopped walnuts. I bake the muffins at 425° for 8 minutes, then reduce the temp to 350° and bake for an additional 18-20 minutes, or until a tester skewer comes out clean.

Recipe

Banana Nut Muffins

by Ingrid Beer

Print Recipe

These bakery-style banana nut muffins are brimming with lots of sweet, ripe bananas, crunchy walnuts, brown sugar, and a kiss of spice!

Category: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Yield: 6 jumbo muffins

Nutrition Info: 506 calories per muffin

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 28 minutes
Total time: 43 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 4 overly ripe bananas, well-mashed
• 1 extra large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 cup (slightly heaping) raw walnuts, roughly chopped

Preparation:

1. Begin by gathering and prepping all of your ingredients according to the ingredient list above to have ready and organized for use.
2. Preheat the oven to 425°, and mist a jumbo muffin tin (with 6 wells) with cooking spray.
3. Add the flour, the baking soda, cinnamon and salt to a large bowl, and whisk together to blend. Set aside.
4. In another medium size bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and the mashed bananas until well combined, then add in the egg and the vanilla, and whisk to blend. Next, pour in the melted butter and the buttermilk, and whisk until smooth.
5. Add these wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and switching to a spatula, gently fold together just until combined, taking care not to over mix the batter. Then, add in ¾ cup of the chopped walnuts (reserving a slightly heaping ¼ cup for the topping), and fold those in.
6. To bake the muffins, spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin tins, sprinkle each equally with the remaining chopped walnuts, and bake at 425° for 8 minutes. Then, reduce the heat to 350°, and bake for additional 18-20 minutes, making for a total bake time of 26-28 minutes. (I like to turn my muffin tin half-way through baking.)
7. Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes, then gently/carefully remove and allow them to completely cool on a wire rack.

Tips & Tidbits for my Banana Nut Muffin recipe:

• Overly ripe, spotted bananas are best: While they may not be all that appealing to eat, overly ripe and very spotty bananas are the ideal candidates for baked goods that call for bananas. They make these banana nut muffins very aromatic, sweet, and moist, so make sure to use your “on-their-way-out” bananas for this recipe here.
• A touch of brown sugar: While you certainly can use granulated sugar here, the brown sugar offers some warm, caramel-y notes, and is a terrific ingredient to use in banana nut muffins to compliment the flavor and create that nutty color.
• Walnuts, or your choice of nut: I love walnuts because they are not only incredibly healthy, but provide a terrific crunch and subtle flavor to these muffins. You could also substitute pecans if you prefer.
• Start the oven off at a higher temp for jumbo muffins: In order to get that nice, tall rise from these banana nut muffins so that they have a bake shop look, start your oven temp off at 425° for the first 8 minutes, and then reduce to 350° for the remainder of the baking. You'll see them slowly rise up and have that appealing “jumbo” look once baked.
• Freeze these banana nut muffins, if you'd like: Once completely cooled, you can easily freeze these muffins by wrapping each separately and tightly in plastic wrap and keeping them enclosed in a ziplock freezer bag. And when you're ready to enjoy, unwrap the muffins, put on a plate and simply allow them to thaw at room temp for several hours, then enjoy! (You can also microwave individual muffins for 20-30 seconds to expedite things.)

Craving more sweet treats? Check out these Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, these Pumpkin Muffins, these Apple Muffins, this Chocolate Banana Bread, or this Cranberry-Walnut Banana Bread!