Easy and moist Banana Bran Muffins made with bran cereal, buttermilk, and ripe bananas.  They make a healthy breakfast or on-the-go snack.
If you’ve been around the site, you know that I LOVE muffins! Especially healthy, made from scratch muffins that I feel good feeding my family; like these Skinny Banana Bread Muffins and these Skinny Pumpkin Muffins.
Banana Bran Muffins stacked on a white plate with bananas in the background.

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.

Side by side photos of a mixing bowl with the wet ingredients, and then dry ingredients added to the batter for banana bran muffins.

  • Stir into banana mixture and fold in all bran cereal.
  • Fill muffin tins
  • Bake at 350 degrees.

A 12 cup muffin tin filled with the batter for bran muffins.

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.

Two halves of a banana bran muffin with butter smeared on one half and more muffins in the background.

Do you love Healthy Muffins? Try these popular muffin recipes:

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Recipe

Banana Bran Muffins stacked on a white plate with bananas in the background.
Prep 10 minutes
Cook 25 minutes
Total 35 minutes
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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

*These are easy to freeze and taste great when you pull one from the freezer and microwave for 20 seconds.

Nutrition

Calories: 240kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 5gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 348mgPotassium: 253mgFiber: 4gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 475IUVitamin C: 4.7mgCalcium: 57mgIron: 2.5mg

Did You Make This Recipe?

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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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About The Author

Lauren Allen

Welcome! I’m Lauren, a mom of four and lover of good food. Here you’ll find easy recipes and weeknight meal ideas made with real ingredients, with step-by-step photos and videos.

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I followed the recipe exactly and these are DELICIOUS!!!! I didn’t crush the bran flakes before adding so I just ‘munched’ them a bit while stirring the batter. A definite keeper.

  2. 5 stars
    Although I accidentally used 2 bananas, they came out great! I just had to bake them a bit longer. I also used butter instead of oil as I was out of oil, and used half all purpose flour and half whole wheat. I added chopped walnuts and sprinkled finely chopped walnuts on top.
    I crushed the bran flakes before I measured and the batter seemed a little dry, so I added about 1/4 cup more milk.
    I wish I could post a picture as they are absolutely beautiful!

  3. 5 stars
    Very moist and tasty. Used almond milk instead of buttermilk.
    One request: It would be helpful to indicate a measurement (ex. 1 cup) for bananas in addition the size and number provided. Thank you!

  4. These were exactly what I was hoping for. Will definitely add to my go to my regular go to list.

  5. 5 stars
    These are soooooo good! I reduced the sugar (used brown sugar) to half cup and they were plenty sweet. Thanks for this fantastic recipe!!!!

  6. Probably the best-tasting forgiving recipe ever. I hate it when people review a recipe then list all the changes they made so I’m not reviewing the recipe itself, just saying what I did with it. I substituted applesauce for the butter, Splenda for the sugar and used half AP and half white whole wheat flour. I also added the vanilla and cinnamon that others mentioned. I used the all-bran and soaked it in the liquid ingredients before mixing in the dry ingredients. The batter seemed way too thick so added some water until I thought the consistency looked “right”. In spite of my substituting and guessing at moisture I still came up with the most amazing muffins I’ve made lately. I can only imagine how good the muffins would have been if I wouldn’t have changed ingredients. Thanks!!

  7. 5 stars
    These were delicious! I used bran flakes and added cinnamon (1tsp), dash of nutmeg, and vanilla (1tsp). I may try with applesauce. Also no buttermilk so I used 1/2 cup milk with 1/2 t vinegar. Very moist.

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