Easy Banana Nut Muffins

This easy banana nut muffins recipe creates delicious & “nutty” muffins! It uses simple ingredients such as ripe bananas and chopped walnuts. These tasty snacks are also much quicker to make than a banana nut bread. Why? Because smaller banana nut muffins bake much faster than a larger banana nut bread.

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

FYI – This is the “muffin version” of my popular Banana Nut Bread recipe. However, since these banana nut muffins contain chopped walnuts, please do not serve it to anyone with a nut allergy. Always use caution when serving any type of banana nut muffins!

My recipe is simple & easy to make. It takes me only 10-15 minutes or so to prepare and clean up (excluding the baking time, of course). You will also find a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients – Easy Banana Nut Muffins

• 1 1/2 Cups – Mashed Bananas (ripe) – This is roughly 3 large ripe bananas. However, you should use exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas for the best results.
• 8 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – Or you can use 1/2 cup of a neutral-flavored vegetable oil such as mild/light olive oil, corn oil, etc.
• 2 – Large Eggs – Not extra large or jumbo-sized eggs.
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – Or you can use 1 cup of light brown sugar if you want a slightly richer flavor.
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt
• 1 Cup – Chopped Walnuts – You can also use chopped pecans, etc.
• Optional – 1 Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon – Some people like to add cinnamon to their banana muffins when their bananas are not super ripe.

Servings – Roughly 12-18 standard muffins – The number will vary based on the amount of batter added to each muffin cup, the size of your muffin cups, extra ingredients added to the batter, etc.

Equipment Required – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, muffin trays, paper muffin liners (baking cups), oven mitts, cooling racks and an oven.

Easy Banana Nut Muffins = Fun Birthday Treats!

Instructions – Easy Banana Nut Muffins

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 C).
• Mash bananas with a fork.
• Soften butter in a microwave. FYI – I like to melt my butter for better “mixability”.
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Add mashed bananas, butter (or oil), eggs and sugar to a large bowl. Stir until completely mixed.
• Then add remaining ingredients (except the chopped walnuts). Stir until batter is completely mixed.
• Add the chopped walnuts to the batter. Stir in the nuts until they are fully mixed into batter.
• Place paper muffin baking cups (liners) inside the muffin trays. Or grease the muffin trays if you are not using muffin baking cups or non-stick muffin trays.
• Add the batter to the muffin baking cups until each one is about 60-80% full with batter.
• Optional – For an even more “nutty” appearance, sprinkle some more chopped walnuts on top of the batter within each muffin baking cup.
• Place muffin trays into the oven. Wear oven mitts as the oven will be hot.
• Bake muffins for 23-27 minutes at 350 degrees F (177 C). FYI – Baking time will vary based on the amount of batter in each cup (more batter = more time needed to bake). I usually need about 25 minutes.
• Remove the muffin trays from the oven. Use oven mitts when removing the muffin trays.
• Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes within the muffin trays.
• Remove the muffins and place them on a cooling rack in order to completely cool down.
• Please read the tips below to avoid common muffin mistakes & to learn about different variations that you can make with these muffins.

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Helpful Tips – Easy Banana Nut Muffins

• The tips below are designed to help muffin “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• As I stated earlier – Since these banana nut bread muffins contain walnuts, please do not serve it to anyone with a nut allergy. Also remember that nuts can be a potential choking hazard for young children. Therefore, always use caution when serving any type of banana nut bread or muffin.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include my tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This muffin recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Banana Bread Recipes & Banana Muffin Recipes.

• Creating banana nut muffins is a great way to convert “boring” banana bread into a fun & tasty project for kids. Let them scoop & pour the batter into the muffin cups – if you don’t mind things being a little messy!!!
• For the best results, use FRESH chopped walnuts from an unopened bag. Chopped walnuts can go bad (rancid) quickly once you have opened the bag.
• For longer storage, you can store chopped walnuts in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
• Optional – Sprinkle extra chopped walnuts on top of the batter (after the batter has been poured into the muffin cups) if you want a more “walnutty” top for your banana nut muffins.

• If you run out of walnuts (or you are tired of walnut-based recipes), you can use chopped pecans as a nice substitute. Just replace the chopped walnuts in the recipe with chopped pecans on a 1:1 basis.
• FYI – Some people like to use sliced almonds as an alternative to walnuts or pecans.
• Optional – Or you can turn these muffins into chocolate chip banana nut muffins by replacing 1/2 of the chopped walnuts with chocolate chips. I like using mini chocolate chips in my muffin recipes as they “float” better in the batter. Larger & heavier “regular” chocolate chips often sink to the bottom of muffins & banana breads.
• Visitors – What extra ingredients do you like to add to your banana nut muffins? Different types of nuts? Spices? Blueberries? Chocolate chips? Please post your banana nut muffin variations in the comment section below.
• Visitor variations – Tina suggested that “You can also try adding some raisins, or chocolate chips!! If you’re feeling extra daring, add both!! Lol great recipe!”

• Use RIPE bananas for the best flavor. Ripe bananas are soft and the exterior peel is usually yellow with many small black & brown spots. Hard yellow/green(ish) bananas are too starchy and have less banana flavor.
• FYI – A banana with a perfectly yellow peel is not totally ripe.
• Use exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas for the most consistent results. Muffins can be too dry or too wet if you use a number of bananas (e.g. 3 bananas) instead of a measuring cup or kitchen scale in order to make your banana muffins. Why? Because bananas vary in size and these size variations can throw off recipes.
• Optional – If your bananas are not super ripe, some people like to add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon in order to “cover up” the missing banana flavor.

• Optional – If you don’t want to use butter (e.g. you are trying to reduce the saturated fat in your family’s diet), you can replace the butter with a neutral-flavored vegetable oil such as mild/light olive oil, corn oil, avocado oil, etc. Just replace the butter with vegetable oil on a 1:1 basis (so replace the 8 tablespoons of butter with 1/2 cup of vegetable oil).
• The use of vegetable oil creates slightly moister banana nut muffins because vegetable oil is a liquid at normal room temperatures (whereas butter is a solid) and butter loses some moisture (via evaporation) during the baking process.
• However, if you use butter, you are obviously adding a more buttery flavor to your banana nut muffins. This is a classic flavor that some families prefer when making banana muffins & banana bread.
• Either ingredient (butter or vegetable oil) will work well but choose the one best suited for your family’s taste & dietary preferences.
• Optional – For a slightly richer flavor, you can replace the white granulated sugar with light brown sugar in this moist banana nut muffins recipe.
• Optional – If you like less sweet banana nut muffins, you can use a 3/4 cup of sugar (versus the 1 cup called for in the recipe).
• Optional – If you want to remove the eggs in this banana nut muffins recipe (e.g. because someone in your family has an egg allergy), you can replace the 2 eggs with 1/2 cup of applesauce. If you want to see what banana nut muffins look like when you use applesauce (instead of eggs), please visit my Eggless Banana Muffins Recipe.

• This recipe is based on using all purpose flour and NOT bread flour. If you use bread flour to make banana nut muffins (or banana nut bread), the banana nut muffins will come out dense & rubbery. Bread flour has too much gluten and does not work well with softer baked goods such as muffins, cakes and banana breads.
• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. flour) for the best results. Old flour can affect the taste of banana muffins. Old flour can spoil and taste bitter, sour, musty, etc. Banana nut muffins made with old flour do not taste great!
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour & sugar) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life and avoid spoilage (e.g. exposure to moisture, pests and dust).
• Flour (when stored in an open bag and not in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to underbaked muffins.

• Always try to use relatively fresh baking soda & powder for the best results. For example, using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your banana muffins.
• Do NOT use an electric mixer to mix your ingredients (when combining the wet and dry ingredients). Stick to an old fashioned wooden spoon. An electric mixer can overmix the ingredients and the banana muffins can turn out rubbery & gummy.

• There are a variety of ways to pour the batter into the muffin tray. For example, you can use an ice cream scoop with a trigger release, scoop the batter with a spoon (while using another spoon to scrape off the batter into the muffin tray), use a small cup and spoon, use a homemade “pastry bag” to squeeze the batter into the muffin liners, etc.
• Use paper baking cups (liners) if you want to easily extract these banana nut muffins from the muffin tray. Paper baking cups also result in less mess on your fingers when moving the muffins.
• For larger banana nut muffins, you can buy trays designed for “jumbo” muffins (versus trays for standard sized muffins).

• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this quick bread could come out undercooked. Use an oven thermometer (e.g. one that hangs inside your oven) to check the interior oven temperature before baking. Depending on the size of your oven & temperature used, it can take 10-20 minutes before your oven is fully preheated.
• If you want to freeze these banana muffins – After the muffins have completely cooled, wrap them in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Make the wrapping is airtight (no open areas). Then place the wrapped muffins in an airtight container or large resealable sandwich bag before placing them in the freezer. FYI – If the muffins have not completely cooled before being wrapped, they will release steam inside the wrapping as they cool. This steam will condense inside the wrapping and create soggy spots when you eventually thaw out the muffins.
• If you like bananas & nuts, you should also try Bread Dad’s recipes for Easy Banana Nut Bread, Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread, Almond Banana Bread and Pecan Banana Bread.

• If you have a problem with a recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (i.e. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (i.e. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• Always wear oven mitts when dealing with hot ovens, muffin trays, etc.
• For more easy banana muffin recipes, please visit Bread Dad’s main section for Muffin Recipes.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Banana Bread
2. Wikipedia, Muffin
3. Wikipedia, Walnut

Related Recipes

1. Easy Banana Nut Bread
2. Banana Bread Muffins
3. Blueberry Banana Muffins
4. Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
5. Eggless Banana Muffins
6. No Butter Banana Muffins

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