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 1/4 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 1/4 cup flour instead of 1/2 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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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
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.
Charlene Sidlo says
Delicious
DMarie says
Absolutely delicious ?! I added 2 oz of applesauce, vanilla extract, and substituted cereal with honey bunches of oats and used 1% milk. Nice and moist ?. Thank you so much, Taste Better From Scratch!
DMarie
Amy Miller says
How much flour for this recipe? I’m hoping you meant 1 1/2 c. flour. My muffins are cooling right now 🙂
Kathy says
Is that bran flakes or All Bran cereal?
Lauren Allen says
Bran flakes 🙂
Michele says
Hi Lauren – the muffins look great! I’m looking forward to trying out the recipe 🙂
3 questions:
1. How much cup-wise are the 3 bananas? I googled it, and got 1/3 cup per banana – would 1 cup be correct for your recipe?
2. Have you tried with unfrozen bananas? Because they have a different texture than mashed bananas…
3. Would oat flour work instead of regular flour?
Thanks!
Lauren Allen says
Hi Michele,
1. I think 1 cup sounds like a pretty good approximation
2. Fresh older bananas are best, frozen will work as well.
3. I haven’t tried this but you will need to be carefull about the ratio of oat flour to all-purpose flour. Here’s a resource that might help.
Michele says
Thanks very much Lauren, I appreciate your quick and helpful reply!
Christine says
These look great . What is the serving? Is that for one muffin or all 12?
Lauren Allen says
Hi Christine,
One serving is one muffin!
Liz says
A definite KEEPER recipe!
Kallie Gher says
I used the raisin bran cereal and these turned out wonderful.