These Jumbo Banana Muffins are oversized bakery-style muffins that are super moist, flavorful, light in texture, and not overly sweet.
I have made hundreds of loaves of banana bread and various banana bread-style treats. With all that banana bread baking experience, I've included lots of tips and tricks to make the best Jumbo Banana Muffins below.
These muffins are tall, soft, and flavorful. They are great for a breakfast on the go, an afterschool snack, or a Sunday baking treat, just like these Banana and Carrot Muffins. The upside to making muffins is that for any leftovers they are easy to freeze and thaw in individually sized portions.
My all-time favorite banana bread is a classic recipe, with a slight twist. It is a Banana Bread Made Without a Loaf Pan. Making it in a square baker gives it a cake-like consistency, light and fluffy. But for a special treat, I love Banana Bread With Crumb Topping, this Easy Loaf Pan Coffee Cake With Crumb Topping, or I like to make a simple Banana Bread Icing to top any banana bread.
If you have a sourdough starter or discard on hand, you can always convert these muffins into Sourdough Banana Muffins, but use a jumbo muffin tin and extend the baking time.
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🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Banana Flavor: This recipe uses 4-5 bananas for muffins that are full of banana flavor.
Not Overly Sweet: With only ½ cup of added sugar they are not too sweet.
Oversized: These muffins are huge and maintain a light but moist center.
🛒 Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make Jumbo Banana Muffins.
- Butter: I use salted butter, softened to room temperature.
- Granulated Sugar: This recipe calls for only ½ cup of granulated sugar, quite a bit less than typical. But bananas are quite sweet and I find that it is plenty. If you’d like a sweeter treat, feel free to add another ¼ cup of granulated sugar.
- Bananas: Contrary to popular opinion overripe bananas are not actually sweeter than ripe bananas, they just have a stronger banana flavor. See my thorough Guide to Making Banana Bread for more details and the scientific study that verifies the sugar content of bananas as they ripen.
- Eggs: Use large eggs, pasture-raised if possible.
- Vanilla Extract: Use real vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla. Costco sells large bottles of vanilla extract for much less than the small bottles at the grocery store. The large bottle will last you at least a year even if you bake often.
- Baking Soda: For leavening.
- Salt: To bring out flavor.
- Flour: Use all-purpose unbleached flour. You can also make banana bread with Einkorn flour (an ancient flour) using this Einkorn Banana Bread Recipe.
📝 How to Make Jumbo Banana Muffins
Below are the step-by-step instructions for how to make Jumbo Banana Muffins.
*Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Prep: Preheat the oven to 350℉ and butter a jumbo muffin tin.
Step 1. Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter and granulated sugar.
Step 2. Mash Bananas: In a 4-cup measuring pitcher add 4 bananas and mash with a handheld mixer. If the total volume is less than 2 cups, add an additional piece of banana and mix such that the total volume is 2 cups.
Add the bananas to the mixing bowl and combine.
Step 3. Eggs, Vanilla, Salt, and Baking Powder: Add the eggs, vanilla, salt, and baking powder and combine.
Step 4. Add the Flour: Add the flour and combine with a spoon.
Tip: Combining the flour with the wet ingredients with a spoon is one way to help prevent overmixing. If you're using a handheld mixer you may be more likely to overmix the batter, which creates tough muffins.
Step 5. Bake the Muffins: Divide the batter evenly across the 6 buttered muffin cups. Bake at 350℉ for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
If you have jumbo muffin papers you can use those instead of buttering the muffin pan. They can be found in JoAnn Fabrics stores or online.
Tip: Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter from the bowl into each muffin cup. This helps to prevent the batter from dripping across the counter as you move from the mixing bowl to the muffin pan.
Additional Tips and Tricks
- Amount of Sugar: These muffins are not overly sweet with only ½ cup of granulated sugar. If you prefer a sweeter banana muffin, increase the sugar to ¾ cup.
- Brown Sugar: I’ve made lots of banana bread with granulated sugar and brown sugar and there is not much of a difference in flavor. The banana flavor overpowers any difference in granulated vs. brown sugar.
- Checking for Doneness: Use a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin to check for doneness. It should come out clean when the muffins are done.
- The Myth of Brown Bananas: Banana Bread rose in popularity during the Great Depression as a way to use up overripe brown bananas so that nothing went to waste. This cultural phenomenon has persisted over time which may be why there’s a general recommendation to use brown overripe bananas.
- In reality, those bananas are not sweeter, they just have a stronger banana taste. It is certainly a good way to use bananas that have gone brown, but you do not need to intentionally wait for them to brown before using them. Personally, I find the taste of very brown bananas to be too strong, more akin to banana-flavored candy.
How to Serve, Store, and Freeze
- To Serve: Allow the Jumbo Banana Muffins to cool and serve them alongside breakfast, as a grab-and-go breakfast, or an afternoon or school snack.
- To Store: Store in the muffin tin lightly covered in plastic wrap or a large freezer bag on the counter for up to 3 days.
- To Freeze: Place the muffins in sealable quart or gallon-sized freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months.
Jumbo Banana Muffin FAQs
Yes, feel free to add nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips to this recipe without needing to alter any of the other ingredients.
Yes, divide the batter evenly across 12 muffin cups and bake for 18-20 minutes at 350℉.
If You're Looking for More Muffin or Sweet Bread Recipes, You May Love These
If you've tried these Jumbo Banana Muffins or any other recipe on my site, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
Jumbo Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups mashed bananas (4-5 bananas)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Butter a Jumbo Muffin Pan.
- In a large bowl combine the softened butter and granulated sugar. This can be done with a handhelf mixer.
- Add 4 bananas to a large 4-cup measuring cup. Use a handheld mixer to mash the bananas. Check the volume and add more bananas if needed for a total of 2 cups of mashed bananas.
- Add the mashed bananas to the butter-sugar mixture and combine. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda and salt.
- Add the flour and using a large spoon combine by hand. This helps to prevent overmixing.
- Divide the batter between the 6 muffin cups in the jumbo muffin pan.
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
Notes
- Jumbo Muffin Tin Sizes: Jumbo muffin tins actually come in different depths and diameters. I use a muffin tin where each muffin cup is 2½ inches in diameter at the bottom, 4 inches in diameter at the top, and 1¾ inch in height. In contrast, Nordic Ware sells a muffin tin that is 3 inches in diameter at the bottom, 3.9 at the top, and 1½ inches in height.
- These differences will affect the baking time. If you're using a Nordic Ware muffin tin with those dimensions, check your muffins 5-7 minutes before the allotted baking time.
- Do Not Overmix: Combining the flour with the wet ingredients with a spoon is one way to help prevent overmixing. If you're using a handheld mixer you may be more likely to overmix the batter, which creates tough muffins.
- Amount of Sugar: These muffins are not overly sweet with only ½ cup of granulated sugar. If you prefer a sweeter banana muffin, increase the sugar to ¾ cup.
- Brown Sugar: I’ve made lots of banana bread with granulated sugar and brown sugar and there is not much of a difference in flavor. The banana flavor overpowers any difference in granulated vs. brown sugar.
- Checking for Doneness: Use a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin to check for doneness. It should come out clean when the muffins are done.
- The Myth of Brown Bananas: Banana bread rose in popularity during the Great Depression as a way to use up overripe brown bananas so that nothing went to waste! This cultural phenomenon has persisted over time which may be why there’s a general recommendation to use brown overripe bananas.
- In reality, those bananas are not sweeter, they just have a stronger banana taste. It is certainly a good way to use bananas that have gone brown, but you do not need to intentionally wait for them to brown before using them. Personally, I find the taste of very brown bananas to be too strong, more akin to banana-flavored candy.
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