One banana, 6 delicious and flavorful banana muffins.
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one banana brown butter banana muffins
This recipe is for that last banana going bad on your counter. These one banana brown butter banana muffins not only solve that problem, but they solve it in the most delicious way. It starts with a brown butter banana muffin base which adds delicious toasty notes to the muffins. Then, we fill the batter with chocolate chips, and top it all off with nutella. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can swirl some nutella into the middle of the muffins as well. These small batch banana muffins are super moist, flavorful, and come together in one bowl and 40 minutes, so let’s get into it!
why you’ll love these one banana muffins:
- They’re small batch: meaning it makes the perfect amount to have fresh muffins for a few days to yourself.
- They’re moist: as all muffins should be.
- They use up a “bad” banana: a banana that has gone “bad” is really just the perfect opportunity to enjoy a sweet treat, like these banana muffins.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Use room temperature ingredients:
It’s important that your ingredients are at room temperature so that they can easily incorporate with each other. Take out your cold ingredients about an hour before starting the muffins.
Mix the batter carefully
It is super important to not overmix the muffin batter. Overmixing the batter leads to more gluten development which is not desirable in these muffins. Not only will you get those pointy tops on the muffins, but you will end up with tough and chewy muffins.
keep a close eye on the muffins while they bake
Muffins like to go from under-baked to over-baked super quickly so it is important to keep a close eye on them. Start checking at 14 minutes with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out wet, check them again in 2 minutes and so on until only a few moist crumbs stick to the toothpick.
how to get bakery style muffin tops
One trick to getting those nicely domed muffin tops is (mostly) all in your oven’s temperature! Bake the muffins at 425°F / 220°C for 5 minutes. Then, without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 350°F / 175°C and continue baking until done. The super high heat will make the muffins rise nice and tall! You will also want to bake them lined in every other tin on the muffin pan, and fill them to the very top. This recipe makes the perfect amount of batter to fill every muffin liner straight to the top for those perfect muffin tops!
Another trick, that’s optional, is resting the muffin batter. After making the muffin batter, let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour before baking. This will give time for the starches in the flour to absorb the moisture in the batter and will give you more flavorful, higher-rising muffins. Most baking powder is – but – just make sure your baking powder is “double acting” if you try this method.
how to evenly distribute your muffin batter
My favorite way to evenly distribute muffin batter is to use cookie scoops! Works perfectly every time. So long are the days of eyeballing which muffin may need a little more batter.
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for one banana brown butter banana muffins:
- All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
- Baking powder & baking soda: for helping the muffins rise. Baking powder gives the muffins a cakier texture, and baking soda interacts with the brown sugar and sour cream to give it some lift.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the muffins.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
- Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both helps to both add moisture and lock moisture into the bread. Brown sugar also adds a deeper, molasses-y flavor.
- Banana: you will need 1 very ripe large banana.
- Eggs: for binding and for moisture.
- Sour cream: for moisture and making sure the muffins stays tender. You can substitute in buttermilk or greek yogurt as well.
- Semi sweet chocolate chips: for texture and for having delicious chocolate throughout the muffins. Use your favorite chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or chopped baking chocolate here!
- Nutella: the star of the show, because who doesn’t want nutella swirled on top of their muffins?! This part is optional but just a fun way to level-up the muffins.
small batch banana muffins recipe q&a
can I double this recipe?
Of course! Obviously they will not be small batch anymore but small batch isn’t always what we need. Simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe to make 12 delicious muffins. I even more strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.
What is brown butter?
Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.
Do I need to use ripe bananas?
I know it can be quite frustrating if you don’t have any ripe bananas on hand, but you do need to use a very ripe banana for this recipe. Ripe bananas provide are a different texture, sweeter, and more flavorful than green or yellow bananas. If you don’t have any ripe bananas, simply buy some at the beginning of the week and leave them out with the intention of making a banana recipe at the end of the week! If you need the bananas ripe asap, I’ve seen that you can bake them in the oven until they turn brown (although I have never tried this method).
how to store muffins
Like most baked goods, these muffins will definitely taste the best on the day that they are baked. They will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
One Banana Brown Butter Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 75 g unsalted butter (⅓ c.)
- 130 g ripe banana (~1 large banana)
- 55 g light brown sugar (¼ c.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- 1 egg room temperature
- 52 g sour cream room temperature (¼ c.)
- 160 g all purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 85 g semi sweet chocolate chips (½ c.)
- 2 tbsp. nutella
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F / 220°C. Alternate lining a muffin pan with 6 parchment liners.
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, brown the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks. Take the butter off the heat and transfer to a medium sized bowl.
- In a small mixing bowl, mash the banana, then whisk in the brown butter and both sugars. Make sure you add in all those specks from the brown butter, that's the flavor!
- Beat in the egg and sour cream until well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Lightly fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain.
- Evenly distribute the muffin batter between the six parchment liners, filling each liner to the very top.
- In a small bowl, melt the nutella. Drizzle ~1 tsp. of melted nutella over each muffin, then use a toothpick to swirl it around on top.
- Bake the muffins at 425°F for 5 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350°F / 175°C. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
These were so good! Deliciously sweet but still felt like it was filling enough to be a breakfast food! We ate them all in just a few days and had to make more!
Ahh thank you so much, I’m so happy you liked the recipe!
I made these for my roommates and they loved them! I made another batch the next day because they were so good
Thank you so much! So happy you and your roommates enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Hi! I doubled the batch to make some for my family and we loved them!! I was craving Nutella so making these was a great decision! Super easy to make, will be making these again!
Thank you so much, so happy you liked the recipe! 🙂
This is so wonderfully quick and easy to make – I made them for New Year’s breakfast and I love that it’s just a one-bowl, no beater recipe.
And they taste delicious too!
Ah thank you so much for your kind words, I’m so happy you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Do you know approximately how many calories per muffin?