Perfect Banana Nut Muffins
I’ve made a decision. All weekends should be 3 day weekends. Agreed?
Having Monday off yesterday was the BEST! We got to sleep in, ate breakfast together, then Shawn had to slip off to work for a few hours. I had the house to myself. I felt like a stay-at-home housewife. How do I get that job? Because sign me up! I cleaned, did laundry, got to go to the grocery store during the golden hour.
Do you know about the grocery store golden hour? It’s at 10am, and you will feel like you have the store to yourself. Freshly stocked produce, no lines at the register, and you can get a parking spot right up front. I usually grocery shop around 4pm after I’m off work, and it’s bedlam. I’m trying to maneuver the crowded Trader Joe’s aisles along with every mom and their kids straight from the “after school pickup”, and all the working adults trying to grab stuff for dinner on their way home.
It was during this golden hour, as I was taking my sweet time and perusing all the produce, that I noticed they had 4 pound bags of overly ripe banana’s on sale for just $2. I used to feel bad for poor, neglected bananas when they turned brown. That is, until, I perfected banana nut muffins. Seeing all those perfectly brown and speckled bananas on sale for so cheap, I just knew I had to whip up a batch of banana nut muffins.
These banana nut muffins are based off of my favorite banana bread recipe ever by America’s Test Kitchen. They have a genius technique of using 5 whole bananas, microwaving them, then straining off the extra moisture the cooked bananas release. They then cook down the “banana juice” until it’s reduced by half. This removes a ton of extra moisture so the banana muffins don’t get heavy or weighed down, but are still packed with banana flavor.
The end result is light, fluffy muffins with a crispy and crunchy exterior and soft crumb interior.
The next time you find yourself with 5 extra ripe bananas, you must make these banana nut muffins!
Perfect Banana Nut Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 5 large very ripe bananas, peeled
- 1 stick, 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the top third. Spray 1 muffin tray with non stick cooking spray, set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a microwave safe medium size mixing bowl, add the 5 peeled bananas, cover with plastic wrap and poke a few holes to ventilate. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Bananas will be soft and have released about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of liquid. Transfer bananas to fine-mesh strainer placed over medium bowl and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.
- In a small sauce pan, cook the banana liquid over medium heat until it has reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Combine the bananas, banana liquid, butter, eggs, light brown sugar and vanilla extract. Stir until most lumps are removed.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Add in walnuts and gently fold into the batter. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Will make exactly 12 muffins. Bake for 40 minutes, rotating the tray half way thru. Cool muffins in tray for 10 minutes, then remove from tray and allow to cool for another 5 minutes.
- Will keep in an airtight container for 5 days.
Notes
44 Comments on “Perfect Banana Nut Muffins”
Very tasty recipe. Mine were perfectly cooked at 18 minutes!! I did toothpick test at 15 and they were coming out clean. At 18 minutes they were perfectly golden on top and springy when lightly pressed down, so I pulled them.Glad I did. Delicious banana flavor. I definitely will be saving this recipe / technique. Thanks.
So glad to hear this, Jess! Thank you!
Just made these for my kids for a fun Sunday breakfast and they were delicious! We subbed out the nuts for chocolate chips per their request ;)
Yum!! That’s a wonderful substitution. And the best compliment is when my recipes are kid-approved! Thank you!
40 minutes was far too long for baking. We have a new Wolf oven with accurate temps, and my muffins were burnt at 32 minute.Â
Shoot! I am so sorry your muffins burned Alicia. I know how frustrating it is to make a recipe and it doesn’t turn out. I have always cooked them for 40 minutes and never had a problem. Again, I apologize that you did.
I made this recipe exactly as written and they were delicious! They really are extremely light and flavorful. None of the denseness that usually is associated with banana bread/muffins.
I am so happy to hear that Anja! Aren’t these muffins great? Glad you enjoyed them. Thank you so much for letting me know, you just made my day! Have a great rest of your weekend : )
I have super ripe bananas screaming at me to make them into these beautiful muffins!
The store I usually go to always only has green bananas which is soooooo frustrating when I really just want to make banana bread!! What a great find on the overripe bananas! The muffins look delish! I love making big batches of muffins and freezing them for snacks throughout the week :)
3 day weekends are awesome! We definitely need more of them. Now, these banana muffins look fantastic. I could go for a couple of these right now. Pinning!
these looks SO good Nat, perfect for a carb-craving breakfast!! and umm I’d like the workweek to just be whittled down to three days – that cool with you? lol
Why can’t all weekends be three day ones? At least we have the 4th of July coming up to look forward to ! :) These banana muffins really do look perfect! They’re my favorite type of muffin, so I will definitely have to try these out! Pinned!
You know my first thought after reading this…I always always always buy so many bananas with the intention to buy too many and then be forced to make banana bread/muffins…whatever! It NEVER happens. No matter how many I buy there never seems to be extra. I think I just need to buy one and hide it lol…but not forget about it! That could be bad! I loved your description of Trader Joe’s at 4. I’m a avid TJ’s shopper and always try to avoid at all costs shopping when they’re busy. I usually try and go right when they open, but I guess not everyone has that luxury. These muffins look fabulous, and never heard of straining the bananas, going to have to try that!
Wouldn’t it be great if weekends were 3 days – My daughter was so happy to have an extra day off of school and so were we!
These banana muffins sure do look perfect and that batter is to die for! all I want to do is grab a spoon and eat some batter! :D
Haha, I like your term for it – the golden hour. I try to plan my visits during that time when possible. Avoid bedlam as much as possible.
I also like this recipe. I must try this. Yum!
I am so glad you showed compassion to those poor bananas :). Couldn’t think of a better way to use them than creating a delicious muffin. Yours look so scrumptious and moist – wish I could take a giant bite out of one through my screen!
Absolutely 100% agree! Love those long weekends. It’s so nice to just sit back and relax.
Maybe I should do that next time with one of these muffins in hand. They do look perfect Natalie!
Hope your day is off to a fantastic start!
These look totally delish! I LOVE long weekends, they need to be a permanent part of life. No Work Fridays!
I LOVE being able to shop on a weekday when I’d otherwise be at work. So much calmer! Thinking about a crowded supermarket will stress me out in an instant, yikes. Love these muffins!! Thanks for the tip about decreasing the moisture in the bananas, too. I’ve never tried that but I sure will next time. :)
What a great method of warming up the bananas to remove the excess moisture, I hadn’t heard of that one before. Will have to give this recipe (and the America’s test kitchen banana bread) a try! Also, love the “grocery store golden hour”, my favourite time to shop if I can make it.
I go early in the morning to the grocery store, it really is amazing when there’s so few people! I’ve never heard of removing the excess moisture from the bananas, how interesting. I always have extra bananas in my kitchen. Can’t wait to try it out!