Lovely banana crumb muffins, with a tender crumb that is never wet or oily and with just the right amount of banana flavour. These muffins are topped with a sweet crumb, that bakes up wonderfully crispy.
Why I love these banana crumb muffins!
I have tried a lot of banana muffin recipes over the years, but these are the ones I always come back to. I love the crispy topping and the tender, moist (but not wet or greasy) muffin.
These banana muffins have the perfect amount of banana flavour, together with a bit of cinnamon, a touch of nutmeg and a splash of vanilla. The combination of white and brown sugar brings both great flavour and texture.
And finally, no need for the stand mixer for this banana muffin recipe, as they are made with just two bowls and a spoon.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Bananas – start with just slightly over-ripe bananas. Yellow bananas with black spots are perfect, for best flavour. You’ll need about 3 bananas for this recipe.
Step-by-Step Photos
- Step 1: Make the crumb topping by rubbing butter into the flour, cinnamon and brown sugar mixture. Pop into the fridge while you make the muffins.
- Step 2: Mix up the wet ingredients.
- Step 3: Whisk up the dry ingredients.
- Step 4: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold in just until no flour is visible. Be sure not to over-mix!
- Step 5: Scoop or spoon batter into 9 muffin cups.
- Step 6: Top with crumb mixture.
Tip! Fill any empty muffin cups 1/2 full with water. This will help the muffins bake evenly.
Baker’s Notes
- I’ve included weight measures for the ingredients. If you have a kitchen scale, you’ll always have the best baking results by weighing out the ingredients!
- You can use paper muffin tin liners if you prefer, though these will come out of the pan well without them.
- I like to make the crumb topping fairly fine, as I find the muffins bake up batter without too heavy a weight from a more coarse crumb on top. That said, you can make it a bit chunkier if you prefer.
- You can use as much or as little of the crumb topping as you like. The crumb does add another bit of sweetness to the muffins, so keep that in mind if you prefer a less sweet muffin. Even if you add a generous amount of the crumb, you probably won’t use it all.
Making ahead, storing and freezing
These muffins are absolutely best on the day they are baked, when the crumb topping is wonderfully crispy. That said, they will keep for a couple of days at room temperature. The trick is to try and keep the topping from getting too soft. I like to just loosely cover them, rather than putting them into an airtight container.
These muffins will freeze well up to 3 months.
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Ingredients
Crumb Topping:
- 1/3 cup (65 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 2 Tablespoon (15 g) all purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon butter, cold
Muffin Batter:
- 3 medium (320 g) bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 cup (90 g) white sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- 1 large large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup (75 g) vegetable or canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups (185 g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F (regular bake/not fan-assisted). Grease a muffin pan (about 9 muffin cups) with baking spray or oil or you can line with muffin liners. Set aside.
Make the crumb topping:
- In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon until well mixed. Add the butter, broken into 4 chunks or so. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour/sugar mixture until you have an even crumb, similar to coarse cornmeal. Pop the bowl into the fridge while you make the muffin batter.
Make the muffin batter:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the banana, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, oil and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
- Add the flour mixture to the egg/banana mixture all at once, then using a spatula or spoon, stir the mixture together just until the flour is no longer visible. Don't over-mix.
- Using a spoon or a scoop, divide the batter between 9 muffin cups. They should be filled almost to the top, as shown in the photos above.
- Remove the crumb from the fridge and sprinkle over the batter. *You can add as much or as little as you like. The crumb does add a bit more sweetness to the muffins, so keep that in mind if you prefer a less sweet muffin. In any event, you probably won't need quite all of the crumb topping.
- Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes or until golden and they test clean when tested with a cake tester or toothpick. Let the muffins cool in pan 10-15 minutes, or until they easily release from the muffin cups. Remove muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Muffins are best enjoyed on the day they are baked, when the topping is nice and crispy. The topping will soften as they sit into the next day. I generally avoid covering them too tightly. These muffins will also freeze well up to 3 months.
Notes
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More Banana Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
If I cut sugar from the recipe because of the topping, how much could I leave out without impacting the texture?
The easiest way to reduce the sweetness is to just use less of the crumb topping. If you want to have a nice crumb topping and reduce the sweetness, you could probably reduce the white sugar by a tablespoon or two without too much issue.
These are very very good. Another keeper recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it :) Thanks so much!
Absolutely delicious! My new favourite banana muffin. I have enjoyed every recipe of yours that I have made.
So glad to hear, Jen :) Thanks!
So there I was – looking at 6 over-ripe bananas – when your blog post landed in my Inbox. I’ve made a million banana muffins (give or take :) in my life and these have instantly become my favourite. The crunch on top adds texture and as promised the middle is neither greasy nor wet. Love your blog and I’m glad I signed up for the weekly newsletter.
So glad to hear, Dale :) Thanks so much!