Banana Walnut Muffins
These bakery-style banana walnut muffins studded with chopped walnuts are of the extra-large variety and topped with a sweet, buttery streusel topping. They’re a fall weekend must-bake.
Banana Walnut Muffins
Sweater-weather is officially here and I’m officially in baking-mode. Specifically, I’m in the mode of baking up bakery-style muffins topped with crackly-sweet streusel because muffins are one of the few things I actually enjoy baking except for maybe some chocolate chip cookies or a loaf of sweet bread. I’ve never had the patience for hard-core baking mostly because I hate to wait for butter to soften (except for the chocolate chip cookies because the time you wait for the butter is paid back in perfect cookies) and I’ve never been great at following precise instructions which is a necessary skill if you want to conquer more complicated baked goods. So, muffins are my jam.
And these bakery-style banana walnut muffins are one of my favorites. I first shared this recipe almost four years ago and have made them many times since. They’re of the extra-large variety with a sweet, buttery streusel and studded with chopped walnuts. They’re what you might order at a coffee shop, but better because they’re homemade (with a quick prep time) and you get the added bonus of filling your house with a warm aroma that you only get when you crank up the oven and bake something sweet. They’re a fall weekend must-bake.
Some Ingredients You’ll Need
- It starts with mashed bananas. I like to use ones that are heavily speckled with brown spots but not so far gone that they are almost completely brown. I use a potato masher to break them down until they’re almost smooth, with a few lumps here and there.
- I know it seems a pain, but I always make these muffins using two bowls. One for the wet ingredients and one for the dry ones which you can also use to make the streusel topping. I like to sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into their own bowl before slowly adding them to the eggs, sugar, vanilla, melted butter, and mashed bananas. The sifting makes it easier to mix the dry and wet ingredients together, which you want to do just until they’re combined which keeps the muffins nice and soft.
- I like to finely chop walnuts and fold them into the batter.
- The topping is a simple combo of brown sugar, cold butter, and flour. I like to cut the butter into small cubes before cutting it into the flour and sugar until it resembles coarse sand.
- This recipe makes eight large banana walnut muffins. It’s very important to liberally spray the muffin tin with cooking spray, including both the cups and the edges. I fill the muffin cups to the top, which means they will rise up and over the edges and it makes it a whole lot easier to get them out of the tin if you spray it well. Top them generously with the topping. If your tin has twelve muffin cups, you can fill the empty ones with a little water before you pop them in the oven, although I’ve heard this is a myth and doesn’t make any difference. I’ve always done it so I guess I’m a little superstitious.
Happy baking 🙂
More Muffin Recipes
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Muffins
Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
Banana Nut Muffins
These bakery-style banana walnut muffins are of the extra-large variety with a sweet, buttery streusel and studded with chopped walnuts. They’re what you might order at a coffee shop, but better because they’re homemade (with a quick prep time) and you get the added bonus of filling your house with a warm aroma that you only get when you crank up the oven and bake something sweet. They’re a fall weekend must-bake.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 muffins 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the Muffins
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
For the Topping
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 tablespoon cold butter, cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a standard-sized muffin tin liberally with cooking spray including the edges outside the muffin cups.
- In a large bowl stir together the mashed bananas, butter, egg, sugar, and vanilla until well combined. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir until just combined. Fold in the chopped nuts.
- In the same medium bowl, you used for the dry ingredients, stir together the brown sugar and flour for the topping. Using a pastry cutter (or clean hands) cut the cold butter into the sugar and flour until it the butter is incorporated (you shouldn’t have any chunks larger than pea-sized).
- Fill each muffin cup almost completely – the batter should reach to just below the rim. You should be able to fill 8 muffin cups this way. Fill the empty cups about 1/4 of the way with water. Divide the topping evenly across the muffins. Bake the muffins at 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes. Starting checking on them at 20 minutes and remove from the oven once they pass the toothpick test. Let them cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
You can freeze these and reheat in the microwave. The topping will lose its texture, but they still taste great even after being frozen.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 440
- Fat: 20.1g
- Carbohydrates: 60.9g
- Fiber: 3.3g
- Protein: 6.7g
This post has been updated from the archives. First published in March 2015.
These muffins look amazing! Love the streusel on the top! (my favorite part)
My banana muffins with streusel topping were such a hit on Pinterest. I hope you post yours there. I love these. I have one more banana I think. Yours are very pretty!!
Lovely combo. They would cheer me up a bunch in the morning too!
I am SO ready for spring!! Unfortunately it had the nerve to SNOW here today, but at least it’s melting 😉 These muffins look super delicious, I love anything with a crumbly brown sugar topping 😉
Ugh, snow! Hopefully it’s the last one for you!
How can you not fall in love with a muffin that’s got streusel on top! The bananas inside are a kicker too.
These muffins look gorgeous! I love packing mine full of nuts!
Lots ‘o nuts is always good — bananas and walnuts belong together!
Wooo don’t banana muffins just make people happy! And with a streusel topping – yummmm 🙂
I agree — happy muffins! 🙂
Oh dear me! These banana walnut muffins are going to haunt me. They look soooo gorgeous!
Thanks, Joyce – they are pretty wonderful. The topping makes them extra special 🙂
I just made these muffins. They are yummy. I changed the flour to Pamela’s gluten free flour. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you liked them! Thanks for letting me know ☺
Just made thew\se this morning after scouring other recipes and they look beautiful, bakery quality! I subbed 1/2 cup WW flour and only used /13 cup of sugar in the batter as I thought the streusel would add sweetness + I like less sweet muffins. So thanks, April!
Love this recipe! So yummy!
These are so moist and we love the crunch from the walnuts!
Oh My! Delicious! I never got to take a picture, They were gone…..!
So glad you liked, them!
I used this recipe, substituting Stevia for sugar and Splenda brown sugar to minimize the sugar content as required by my husband’s diabetes diet. I also added 1/2 cup applesauce to maintain moisture. This is a BIG HIT with this man with a massive sweet tooth. Thank you for this recipe.
M.
I just made these beauties!
Omg, they are absolutely beautiful!
How do we store these muffins?
Just cooing on a cooling rack right now.
They keep well in an airtight container for a few days at room temperature. They also freeze well!