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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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.
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.
Wonderful Muffins. So moist and flavorful. I had my bananas in the freezer so when they thawed there was quite a bit of liquid. I let the batter rest in the bowl for an hour and all the excess liquid was absorbed into the bran cereal and flour. This is a keeper.
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.
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!
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!
These were awesome , thank you for sharing
These were exactly what I was hoping for. Will definitely add to my go to my regular go to list.
These are soooooo good! I reduced the sugar (used brown sugar) to half cup and they were plenty sweet. Thanks for this fantastic recipe!!!!
Yummy
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!!
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.
I had to substitute a few ingredients to avoid going to the store, and YUM! Coconut oil for butter, brown and coconut sugars, and I used up the last of wheat, bread & gluten-free flours in my pantry. I did have to bake an extra 5 mins, and YUM!
Delicious! I used Fiber One (whole not crushed), two bananas because that’s all I had, 2 teaspoons of açaí seeds to amp up the fiber, and a touch of cinnamon. I will definitely make these again – great texture and flavor.
Great recipe! My husband loves them. I use 1/3 cup of sugar and a dash of maple syrup to round out the sweetness, and also added some cinnamon. I might use whole wheat flour next time to add more fiber.
I made these muffins with no sugar and used Fibre one cereal which is healthier than bran flakes and used organic flour and organic rolled oats 1/2 and 1/2 super delic. I also used real maple syrup instead of sugar
Fantastic muffins! I added a little honey and vanilla for personal taste. My husband and sons are gobbling them down right now while the muffins are still warm. This recipe is a keeper for me!
These are very delicious and moist. I added 1/2 cup each of raisins and almonds and also 1 tsp. of cinnamon. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Second time making them…sooooo good. Didn’t change a think.
Yes, turned out great. I love using substitutions for my needs. I used 1 large egg & applesauce. I am allergic to dairy, so I used my unsweetened coconut milk with vinegar. I also used stevia!!
Thank you so much,
Lois Spencer
This was a super recipe and easy to substitute. I used half whole grain pancake mix and half flour, I put my raisin bran in the blender, and used regular milk with vinegar, plus I added some molasses, about 3 tablespoons, and they came out great. In reply to Lindsey, I don’t see why not substitute wheat bran, I was going to use flaxseed but did not find it in time so raisin bran was great.
Can you substitute wheat bran for the bran flakes?
I used raisin bran and was going to use flaxseed, wheat germ is probably a great addition.
Absolutely marv! I added raisins also they are soooo yum! A keeper!
Replied so fast I forgot that I also used straight dark brown sugar yum yum!
In order to make the muffins as healthy as possible for my toddler, I made the recipe without the sugar, with oil instead of butter, and plain yogurt instead of buttermilk (which isn’t sold where I live anyway). We found that they were plenty sweet enough without sugar (I did put in some raisins).
I made these wonderful banana bran muffins in my oven that hasn’t got a decent temperature guage. I got 20 nice sized muffins out of the recipe and my husband and I absolutely LOVE them! Thank you so much for this recipe!
These are really good. I made a few modifications to fit our family’s preferences, namely to soak the bran flakes in the liquids. I used defrosted bananas, and I used that liquid to soak the flakes also. Very very good.
This may be the best muffin I’ve made. It was a beautiful marriage of banana bread and bran muffin. I used my silicone mini muffin molds, since my kids eat those easier. Thank you for a great recipe!
Finally found the perfect banana bran muffins! Spend a chunk of my quarantine testing others and this is by far the best, easiest and so moist!
Thank you
Made these an hour ago. Even with my eyeball measuring and only 2 bananas, they turned out good. Baked for 22 mins, and they are moist and delish. I used the raisin bran option, which I pulsed a few seconds in my blender prior to adding (I didn’t want any branny chunks). Making again!
I’ve made this recipe about a dozen times and it always turns out well. Sometimes I add a dash of cinnamon and vanilla. Occasionally I’ll sub out the butter milk with regular or use less sugar. It seems to always turn out nicely and my kids devour them.
Thank you for the great recipe!
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS…
just changed a bit, Baked at 375 for approx. 22 minutes, used 1/3 cup of brown sugar, used 1/2 butter and 1/2 imperial, made my own buttermilk w/1%milk and 1 tbsp of real lemon juice — added raisins and 1/2 cp choc chips 🙂
Why bother to review this recipe? You changed everything about it.
I am going to try your way with brown sugar as well. I’m not wanting white sugar these days and also like that you reduced the amount of sugar!
Brown sugar = white sugar + molasses.
It’s not less refined than white sugar.
This is a very good recipe. Thank you! I used what I had on hand which was 2 bananas and small container apple sauce and brown sugar 1/2 cup instead of white sugar and organic whole grain wheat flour. I only had medium paper muffin cups so got 28 delicious muffins.
Best muffins they are so moist and always a hit. Two dozen gone in two days. Thank you for sharing your recipe
I used the raisin bran cereal and these turned out wonderful.
A definite KEEPER recipe!
These look great . What is the serving? Is that for one muffin or all 12?
Hi Christine,
One serving is one muffin!
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!
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.
Thanks very much Lauren, I appreciate your quick and helpful reply!
Is that bran flakes or All Bran cereal?
Bran flakes 🙂
How much flour for this recipe? I’m hoping you meant 1 1/2 c. flour. My muffins are cooling right now 🙂
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
Delicious