Banana Bran Muffins
I have been experimenting with bran muffin recipes for years and I believe this one is a great mix of healthy, moist, kid-friendly, and delicious. I always keep a batch of banana bran muffins in my freezer for lunches or snacks for my family (see freezing instructions below)!
Muffins like these are my go-to quick snack and my husband loves to grab one on his way to work. This recipe uses all bran or bran flakes cereal. You could even use raisin bran cereal if you love raisins in your bran muffins!
How to make banana bran muffins:
- Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.
- Add eggs, bananas, buttermilk.
- Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl.
- Stir into banana mixture and fold in all bran cereal.
- Fill muffin tins
- Bake at 350 degrees.
How to make these bran muffins healthier:
- substitute ¼ cup applesauce for 1 of the eggs in the recipe.
- Use skim milk (and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice) instead of buttermilk
- Substitute half the flour with whole wheat flour
- Use ¼ cup flour instead of ½ cup
Ways to adapt this recipe:
- Add nuts (your favorite kind, chopped)
- Add raisins or craisins
- Add shredded carrot or zucchini (a small handful, with moisture mostly removed)
- Add mini chocolate chips
- Add 1 tablespoon of orange zest
Storing and Freezing Bran Muffins:
Store banana bran muffins covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Banana bran muffins also freeze very well! To freeze, first allow the muffins to cool completely. Then place them in a freezer ziplock bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
To thaw the frozen muffins, allow them to come to room temperature or place one muffin in the microwave for 20 seconds.
Do you love Healthy Muffins? Try these popular muffin recipes:
- Skinny Pumpkin Muffins
- Skinny Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
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Recipe
Banana Bran Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter , softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 large bananas , ripe, mashed
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 2/3 cups all bran or 4 cups bran flakes or raisin bran
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans , optional
Instructions
- Prepare a standard muffin tin with liners or spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar together well.
- Add the eggs, bananas and buttermilk and mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt; add to banana mixture along with bran cereal and stir just until moistened.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups.
- Bake at 350° for 16-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
Notes
Nutrition
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
I first shared this recipe March 2013. Updated July 2019.
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I used a store brand Raisin Bran cereal -one helpful tip with bran muffins I have found is to make the recipe the night before and refrigerate it. Bake in the morning. The overnight seems to really moisten the bran. I also use margarine. If you would like a slightly moister muffin I think you could add additional buttermilk but if bananas are extra large I would not. Good recipe!
Thank you for your tips! We are glad you enjoyed these muffins!
I tweaked my batch of muffins a little bit. I used coconut oil in place of the butter and used sucanat in place of granulated sugar. I used bran cereal and made sure they were crushed up good. They turned out so good! So moist and delicious! Thanks for a great recipe.
Good versatile and forgiving recipe just as it is.
After reading some comments, I decided to partially grind the bran buds so I wouldn’t get the little bumps of cereal.
I was short on milk so used plain yogurt, and finally, because I always do this – I cut the sugar in half and added a big handful of golden raisins to make up for sweetness. 19 minutes to bake. Delish. I’m keeping this recipe handy.
Easy to make and absolutely delicious. Made with bran flakes – will be using the recipe often.
Great recipe. I made this as listed but used greek yogurt in place of the buttermilk for added protein- I also added the chopped nuts at the end and this might be the best banana nut bran muffin recipe I’ve tried. Most often the muffins come out greasy from too much butter, or too sweet or the calories per muffin is over 350. However, these are tasty, not too sweet, not bland, soft, fluffy, and great. 5/5
Leaving the all bran whole leaves to inedible muffins- I would not recommend making this recipe. The muffins are chewy and strange with whole bran pieces in them. I have to throw them all away. Waste of time and ingredients.
I had the same issue using the whole bran pieces. I accidentally bought fiber one instead of all bran. It was like chewing on something rubber. Now I crush them and it is much better.
Awesome muffins. Sometimes I heat a frozen one buttered with coffee. This morning I crumpled one in oatmeal as it was cooking and had a most delicious breakfast. Thank you for giving this to us.