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When I need something quick, easy, and guaranteed to be a hit, these Sourdough Banana Muffins always win. They’re faster than my favorite sourdough banana bread and just as delicious. My kids love the hand-held size, and I love using up my sourdough discard and having them ready from start to finish in less than an hour.
The sweet crumb topping? It’s just like the one that takes my sourdough coffee cake to the next level. Delicious. These muffins are moist, tender, and irresistible – I can’t stop at just one! It’s no wonder they have become a staple in our home.
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Why You’ll Love Sourdough Muffins
- Quick and Easy – Just like with my Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins there is no mixer needed for this recipe—plus they come together in just 10 minutes or less!
- Moist and Tender – These muffins are so soft and stay moist for days, like my Sourdough Zucchini Bread.
- Sweet Banana Flavor – Sweet and full of banana flavor, thanks to the brown sugar, sourdough discard, and a sweet crumb topping, these muffins will remind you of my Maple Pecan Sourdough Muffins.
- Easy to Make Ahead – You can long-ferment the muffin batter or just bake it and freeze. These muffins freeze beautifully, just like my Apple Cider Sourdough Muffins.
Sourdough Discard Tip: I keep a jar in my fridge that I continually add sourdough discard to. Discard is a by-product of your sourdough starter and there is no reason to throw it away. Instead, use it in incredible sourdough discard recipes where it adds moisture and great flavor. I use older, more tangy discard in savory recipes like these buttery sourdough crackers and young/fresh discard in sweet recipes like my favorite sourdough chocolate chip cookies.
Important Ingredients
- Sourdough Discard – For less tang, use fresh discard or active sourdough starter. For more tang, use discard that’s been sitting in the refrigerator for up to a week. I always use 100% hydration sourdough discard.
- Bananas – Brown/black bananas have the most sugar and banana flavor in them. Use black/brown bananas you have for the best banana muffins.
- Streusel Crumb Topping – The topping to these muffins really stands out as something special. Make it by combining unsalted butter, brown sugar, all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, and a pinch of salt.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
Substitutions
- Yogurt: If you don’t have Greek Yogurt, you can substitute plain (or even flavored if you like the flavor) yogurt or sour cream.
- Oil: Substitute any neutral-flavored oil or applesauce for the coconut oil.
- Brown Bananas: These banana muffins work best with brown or black bananas for sweet banana flavor. Thawed, frozen, ripe bananas also work well!
- Mix-ins: Add about 150 grams of chopped pecans, walnuts or raisins if desired. Mini chocolate chips would also be delicious like I use in my mini souroudgh chocolate chip muffins.
- Whole Wheat Flour: Substitute equal amounts of whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour. I recommend using a soft white wheat berry or flour that I mill in my Harvest Grain Mill and use equal amounts of whole wheat flour.
How to Make Banana Muffins
Mash Bananas Mix Batter
Step 1: Peel and mash brown bananas until creamy – a few chunks are okay.
Step 2: Add brown sugar, egg, sourdough discard and the rest of the liquid ingredients. Mix until fully incorporated.
Step 3: Fluff together flour, baking soda and salt. Add on top of the liquid ingredients and stir to combine. Gently stir in mix-ins if desired.
Step 4: Line a muffin tin with muffin liners and scoop muffin batter, filling each tin about 3/4 of the way full.
Do you want the fermentation benefits of sourdough? Mix up the batter – except the baking soda. Cover it and let it sit in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours. This will give the discard time to pre-digest some of the gluten in the batter. The longer you let it ferment, the more tangy/sour flavor you will taste in the banana bread. When you want to bake it, preheat your oven, stir in the baking soda and scoop batter straight from the refrigerator. Sprinkle with streusel topping and bake according to recipe directions. Add a couple extra minutes to bake time for chilled batter.
Add Crumb Topping and Bake
Step 5: Mix together streusel crumb topping and sprinkle on top of prepared muffin batter prior to baking.
Step 6: Bake Sourdough Banana Muffins at 375º Fahrenheit for 22-25 minutes until baked through.
How to Store Leftovers
Leftover sourdough muffins can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container for a few days. For best results, freeze muffins in a freezer-safe bag or airtight container. Microwave for about 30 seconds straight from the freezer or thaw to enjoy!
Amy’s Recipe Tips
- Spray Muffin Liners With Cooking Spray: Muffins sometimes stick to the liners, so spray the liners with cooking spray or use parchment-paper as liners in your muffin tins instead. I also often bake my muffins without any liners – just spray a good quality non-stick muffin tin before adding the batter.
- Freeze Ripe Bananas: When I have ripe bananas, and I’m not ready to make banana bread, I stick them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. Pull them out to defrost and blot any excess liquid before mashing for your muffins.
- Coconut Oil: I love the light taste and texture that coconut oil gives these muffins. It is best used as a liquid (heated slightly in the microwave depending on the temperature of your kitchen). You can also substitute any neutral-flavored oil or applesauce instead.
- Don’t Over-Mix: One of the keys to a light and fluffy muffin is not over-mixing the batter. Mix until just barely combined – a few dry streaks are okay!
Frequently Asked Questions
Bananas are sweetest when they are brown/black and very over-ripe. This is going to give you the best banana flavor for your banana muffins. If you don’t have ripe/brown bananas and want to make these muffins, you can speed up the ripening. Place 3 unpeeled bananas on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 300ºF and bake them for about 20 minutes until the skins are completely black. Let them cool and then peel and use in the recipe.
If you have a day or two, place your bunch of yellow bananas in a paper bag. Roll up the paper bag so it traps the ethylene that the bananas release (that’s what causes them to ripen) and check on them in 24-48 hours.
I also store ripe/over-ripe bananas in the freezer so I can easily make banana muffins whenever I want. Just make sure to thaw and blot the excess liquid before using.
Yes! Mix together 45 grams of flour and 55 grams of water. Substitute it in the recipe for the sourdough discard. But if you haven’t jumped on the sourdough train yet – come join me! You can make a sourdough starter from scratch (or buy one) and use my Free Sourdough Beginner Guide to get started.
My dad loves splitting them in half and spreading some melty butter on top. I love serving them to my kids for breakfast with some scrambled eggs, fruit and yogurt. We also enjoy eating them as an after-school snack!
Sourdough Muffin Recipes
If you tried these Sourdough Banana Muffins or any other recipe on my website leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Happy Baking!
Sourdough Banana Muffins
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Equipment
- muffin liners optional
- cooking spray
Ingredients
Sourdough Banana Muffins
- 220 grams brown/black/ripe bananas, about 2 large bananas or 1 cup mashed
- 120 grams brown sugar, heaping 1/2 cup packed
- 1 large egg, about 50 grams
- 100 grams sourdough discard, scant 1/2 cup
- 40 grams unsalted butter, melted, about 3 Tablespoons
- 30 grams coconut oil, melted, or vegetable oil/any neutral flavored oil, about 2 Tablespoons
- 85 grams Greek Yogurt, about 1/3 cup
- 4 grams vanilla extract, about 1 teaspoon
- 175 grams all-purpose flour, about 1 1/4 cups
- 4 grams baking soda, about 1 teaspoon
- 4 grams salt, about 3/4 teaspoon
Streusel Topping
- 30 grams unsalted butter, melted, about 2 Tablespoons
- 55 grams brown sugar, about 1/4 cup
- 35 grams all-purpose flour, about 1/4 cup
- 2 grams ground cinnamon, about 1 teaspoon
- 50 grams chopped pecans, optional, about 1/3 cup
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit.
- Add 220 grams brown/black bananas to a medium-sized bowl (about 2 large bananas). If you are a little over or a little under on banana, that is okay. You will have a few small chunks of banana. They will mash further as you incorporate the rest of the ingredients.Note: If you use frozen bananas, thaw and drain them of excess liquid before using – see recipe notes.
- Add the brown sugar to the mashed banana and mix with a kitchen spoon/wooden spoon. Add the egg and sourdough discard. Mix until incorporated. Melt the butter and add to the ingredients along with melted coconut oil, yogurt and vanilla extract. Mix together until completely combined.
- To a small bowl, fluff the flour, salt and baking soda together. Add the flour mixture on top of the banana mixture. Mix until the flour is just incorporated and only a few dry streaks remain.At this point add 150 grams chopped pecans or other mix-ins if desired. Gently mix together.
- Crumb Topping: Mix together melted butter, brown sugar, flour, pecans, cinnamon and a pinch of salt until a crumbly topping forms.
- Lightly grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin. Scoop muffin batter into the muffin tins, filling the tins about ¾ of the way full. Top each muffin with crumb topping. Bake the muffins for 22-25 minutes until baked through. The center of the muffins should spring back just a bit and a toothpick should come out clean with just a few crumbs when stuck into the center of a baked muffin.
- Let the muffins cool in the tin for about 5 minutes. Then remove to a wire rack and cool mostly before enjoying! Once the muffins have cooled completely, they can be frozen for up to a few months in an air-tight container. Warm up and enjoy for breakfast or a quick snack!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Loved this recipe, my muffins turned out perfect & the kids loved them!
Thanks for the review!
Will definitely become a staple recipe now. Thank you! I added chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterfinger flakes, and pecans. I used sour cream instead of yogurt (I didn’t have any). I also didn’t make the topping, but these were still amazing without it. I’m so glad I found this recipe.
Yum! That sounds delicious. Thanks for the review.
Followed the recipe using coconut oil and butter and 1 tsp of baking powder just because I like my muffins light and fluffy. These were amazing.
Yum! Thanks for the review.
Do you think I could add some protein powder into this recipe?
I haven’t tried it, but I think that is something to experiment with! You might want to add some extra liquid to account for the protein powder.
it was the best muffins i ever ate!
So good to hear – thanks for the review!
Hands-down, the best banana muffins ever. I will never use a different recipe. I made exactly as stated, except for the optional pecan stir in. We opted to do only pecans on the top with the strudel. These are so good.
Yum! Thanks for the review.
LOVED THIS! Very hard to control myself from grabbing more. I only subbed out the streusel topping for mini chocolate chips (baked in the mini muffin tins) so my kids wouldn’t be picky
Thanks for the review!
Gonna have some nutty muffins… the top part says 50g but the instructions say 150g. I used the 150 measurement, mixed it in, THEN saw the 50g. Oh well, I’m sure they’ll still be tasty!
Hi Carly! So I think you did it right – the 150 grams is for the mix-ins. The 50 grams is for the streusel topping if you want to add nuts to that, so it should be correct! Hope you enjoyed them!
WOW! I just made these and wow… they are not only beautiful but DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the review – glad they turned out beautiful AND delicious!
Love this recipe. The grandkids like it best when I use a mix of ripe banana and fresh grated apple. I tried this when I was short on banana and never went back.
So glad you and the grandkids love the recipe!