Banana Nut Muffins with Brown Butter
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These banana nut muffins are the perfect anytime, year-round muffin. They’re soft, ultra-moist, and packed with flavor from caramelized browned butter, sweet bananas, and crunchy, salty pecans. They check all my muffin boxes: easy to make, made with simple ingredients, ready in under 45 minutes, and freezer-friendly. These are sure to become a new staple in your home!
I’ve made a few banana muffin recipes before, but there is something about adding brown butter that takes these muffins from being yummy to being straight mouth-watering delicious. Not only are they easy to make and use pantry staple ingredients, but they are perfect for baking ahead of time and freezing for later.
Homemade muffins can be dry and flavorless, but these are the total opposite! As a breakfast recipe developer, I take my muffin recipes very seriously. If I’m gonna enjoy a muffin, I don’t want it to be boring and dry. These muffins are flavorful and still easy to whip up in
Using Ripe Bananas
This recipe uses pretty simple muffin ingredients, many of which you probably already have in your pantry/fridge. We are stepping the flavor up by browning the butter (more on that below), and by using ripened bananas.
I always seem to have a bushel of bananas that sit on my counter too long and turn brown- these muffins are the perfect recipe to use those up! The riper your bananas are, the sweeter they will be. If you have bananas that aren’t ripe, I have a few tricks to help ripen them quickly.
If you have a some time before making this recipe (a day or so), seal the bananas in a brown paper bag with either an apple or avocado- the gases released & trapped will speed up ripening. If you’re in a rush you can place your bananas (on a baking sheet) in a 300°F oven for 15-30 minutes, or until the peels turn fully dark brown/black. Allow them to cool completely before peeling & mashing
How to Brown Butter
Brown butter is one of my favorite flavor profiles- butter alone is amazing, but browning it brings out that nutty aroma and just adds so much flavor to whatever you add it to! These gooey brown butter rice krispie treats are the perfect example of that.
Browning butter is a simple task, but if you don’t watch the butter closely it can go from brown to burnt in seconds. Believe me, I’ve burnt my share fair of sticks of butter! When cooking the butter, keep an eye on it and once you start to get those amber flecks & notice a strong nutty smell, it’s time to take it off the stovetop.
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Banana Nut Muffins with Brown Butter
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (75.67 g) unsalted butter, browned and cooled slightly
- 1¼ cups (281.25 g) mashed bananas, (about 2-3 large bananas)
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) brown sugar, packed
- 2 (2) large eggs
- 1½ teaspoon (1.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups (218.75 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 1 tsp (1 tsp) cinnamon
- 1 cup (99 g) pecans, chopped, plus extra for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners, or use a non-stick pan and spray with non-stick spray (if you don’t have liners).
- Brown the butter: In a small saucepan, brown the butter on the stovetop over medium heat. Mixing occasionally, melt the butter and allow it to start to foam. Once you start to see little brown flecks form on the bottom of the pan, continue to mix until you smell a nutty aroma and the butter turns an amber color. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool.⅓ cup unsalted butter
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until creamy (they will be lumpy). Add in both sugars, eggs, cooled browned butter, and vanilla. Mix until combined.⅓ cup unsalted butter, 1¼ cups mashed bananas, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup brown sugar, 2 large eggs, 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and gently mix until there are no streaks of flour left (be careful not to over mix).1¾ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 tsp cinnamon
- Gently fold 1 cup of chopped pecans into the batter.1 cup pecans
- Scoop batter into paper liners, filling about ¾ of the way full. Top with extra chopped pecans (optional)
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. I usually start checking my muffins around 15 minutes just to be careful. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
- Store muffins in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for 5 days.
- If you want to warm your muffin, pop it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds until warmed throughout. My favorite way though is to cut the muffin in half, and place each half face down into a skillet with melted butter. Toast until the muffin has soaked up some butter and turns slightly brown and toasted.
- To freeze- allow the muffins to cool completely before placing them in a freezer safe baggie or container. To defrost, allow the muffins to sit at room temperature until thawed.
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