These Bouchon Bakery Style Banana Muffins are the best around! They are buttery and moist with a profound banana flavor, and a deliciously crumbly walnut streusel topping. For professional bakery style muffins, they are a cinch to make at home.
(This recipe for Bouchon Bakery banana muffins was originally published in February 2014, but was updated with new photos and content in 2020).
These are by far the most moist and delicious banana nut muffins I've ever had. If I could describe a muffin as melting in your mouth, this would definitely deserve that description. Tender-crumbed and ethereal. It's about as light and fluffy as one can imagine a muffin being.
These bakery style banana muffins retain such a moist and tender crumb because the batter is made in advance and then refrigerated overnight. This allows the flour to fully saturate before baking.
They are mildly buttery, super moist and flavorful, with a delicate sweetness and not-too-overpowering banana flavor. The recipe includes a delightful walnut streusel topping. Instead of including walnuts in the batter, this classic counterpart to banana is featured in the crumb topping. It yields a nutty, sweet, and crunchy topping on an already fantastic muffin.
I can't say enough about how much I love this recipe. I have been making these muffins for years, and never tire of them. If you love banana muffins, look no further than this exceptional recipe.
Ingredient notes
- Flour: Although the original recipe calls for cake flour, I have made these muffins with cake flour and also with all-purpose flour in the past. Both versions were delectable. Regardless of the flour used, the result is sublime, yielding the best banana nut muffins I've ever had.
- Eggs: Like other professional bakery recipes, this one includes eggs measured by volume or weight rather than an exact number of eggs. This is more accurate for baking. To measure the eggs, simply beat eggs one at a time in a bowl and then transfer to a measuring cup (or into a bowl on a digital scale) until you have enough beaten egg.
- Vanilla Paste: If you don't have vanilla paste, you can use vanilla extract, but you'll miss the flecks of real vanilla throughout your batter.
- Creme Fraiche or Sour Cream: I personally replace the creme fraiche with sour cream whenever I make these banana muffins. It's such a small amount, less than 2 tablespoons. In my opinion it's not worth purchasing creme fraiche if this is your only use for it. Sour cream is more versatile in my kitchen, so I opt to make banana sour cream muffins in this case.
- Salt: Yes, I'm going to talk about salt because it's become a point of contention with these particular muffins. Bouchon Bakery uses Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt (as do I). I have tested the kosher salt conversion MULTIPLE times for this recipe using my digital scale and it is correct. It may vary if you use different brands of kosher salt because the size of the crystals may vary. This is why weighing your ingredients will always be the most accurate way to bake. I have included additional notes in the recipe card if you are using a different brand of salt. Please review them and reduce the amount of salt if needed.
How to make Bouchon Bakery banana muffins
This recipe is easy but requires patience. The process is similar to most muffin recipes, but must begin at least the night before you plan to bake them. I would also encourage you to use the weight measurements for supreme accuracy. Volume measurements are also included, but if you have a digital scale, please use it.
Begin by mixing together your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. This includes the cake flour (all-purpose will work if it's all you have), baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Next, add the room temperature unsalted butter to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat it until it is soft and creamy, the consistency of mayonnaise. Then, add the sugar and mix until fluffy. Scrape down the sides, and the eggs and vanilla paste.
Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions, and mix just until combined. Add your mashed bananas and creme fraiche.
Transfer the batter to a covered container, and refrigerate at least overnight or up to 36 hours.
Meanwhile, make the walnut streusel topping! Combine all-purpose flour, sugar, finely chopped walnuts (I use a small food processor), and salt. Then cut in small cubes of cold butter, much like you would for biscuits, pie crust, or scones. When you have a crumbly mixture, transfer to a covered container or resealable plastic bag and refrigerate until needed.
When you're ready to bake your muffins line either a jumbo muffin pan with 6 jumbo muffin paper liners or line 13 cups in two standard muffin pans (space them out evenly between the pans) with paper liners. Spray with nonstick spray. Divide the batter between the cups. I like this Oxo ice cream scoop for portioning it out.
Top each muffin with some of the walnut streusel topping, dividing it up evenly. Bake these Bouchon Bakery banana muffins until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 to 38 minutes for jumbo muffins, and 29 to 32 minutes for standard muffins.
They will rise quite a bit. Make sure you don't overfill your muffin cups! Cool and serve.
Please scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (in a printable recipe card) including ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.
Expert tips
These are best the day they are baked, but you can still enjoy them for a couple days following (though the texture will slightly change).
For longer storage, these bakery style banana muffins can be wrapped individually in a few layers of plastic wrap or stored in a single layer in a covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 week.
Defrost the muffins still in the container so any condensation will form on the outside of the container and not on the muffins. Place on a sheet rack and refresh in a 325-degree oven for about 5 minutes, if desired.
Other recipes you may like
- Bouchon Bakery Blueberry Muffins
- Bouchon Bakery Corn Muffins
- Plum Almond Muffins
- Gingerbread Muffins
- Bouchon Bakery Gingerbread (Pain d'Epices)
- Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins
- Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brown Sugar Banana Date Bread
- Bouchon Bakery Cinnamon Honey Scones
- Cranberry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also follow me on social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Bouchon Bakery Banana Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 168 grams (1 ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon) cake flour
- 3.6 grams (¾ teaspoon) baking soda
- 2.4 grams (½ teaspoon) baking powder
- 4.2 grams (1 ½ teaspoons) kosher salt (preferably Diamond Crystal brand for correct weight/volume conversion—if using Morton kosher salt reduce to ¾ teaspoon to yield approximately the same weight)
- 120 grams (4.2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 144 grams (¾ cup) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 80 grams (¼ cup + 1 tablespoon) eggs
- 7 grams (1 ⅛ teaspoons) vanilla paste
- 24 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) creme fraiche (I use sour cream)
- 256 grams (1 cup) mashed banana (about 2 large bananas)
Walnut Streusel Topping:
- 25 grams (3 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
- 25 grams (2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 25 grams (3 ½ tablespoons) walnuts, very finely chopped (use a small food processor)
- Pinch kosher salt
- 25 grams (1 ¾ tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch pieces
Instructions
- For the muffins: whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, turn to medium-low speed, and cream the butter until it has the consistency of mayonnaise. Add the sugar and mix for 1 to 2 minutes, until fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla paste, and mix for 15 to 30 seconds on low speed, until just combined.
- Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing on low speed for 15 seconds each, or until just combined. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any dry ingredients that have settled there. Add the creme fraiche and banana and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds until just combined. Transfer the batter to a covered container and refrigerate overnight, or for up to 36 hours.
- To make the streusel topping: combine the all-purpose flour, walnuts, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk to break up any lumps. Add butter and toss to coat the pieces. Work the mixture with your fingertips, breaking the butter into pieces no larger than ⅛ inch and combining it with the flour mixture. Do not overwork the mixture or allow the butter to become soft; if it does, place the bowl in the refrigerator to harden the butter before continuing.
- Transfer the streusel to a covered container or a resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 1 month. Use the streusel while it is cold.
- To bake the muffins: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan with muffin papers and spray the papers with nonstick cooking spray, or alternatively line 13 cups in two standard muffin pans (space them out between the pans) with paper liners.
- Spoon the batter evenly into the papers (use an ice cream scoop if you have one), stopping ½ inch from the top. Divide the streusel over the tops of the muffins.
- Place the pan in the oven, lower the temperature to 325°F, and bake for 35 to 38 minutes for jumbo muffins or 29 to 32 minutes for standard muffins, until the muffins are golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely.
Notes
- I have tested the kosher salt conversion MULTIPLE times for this recipe using my digital scale and it is correct. It may vary if you use different brands of kosher salt because the size of the crystals may vary. I use Diamond Crystal brand (the same that Bouchon Bakery uses), and ¼ teaspoon of this brand of kosher salt is 0.7 grams. If you multiply by 6 to yield 1 ½ teaspoons you will get 4.2 grams (the amount called for in the recipe). Other brands of kosher salt like Morton weigh differently. According to the Morton kosher salt box ¼ teaspoon of their salt weighs 1.2 grams. This would convert to a little more than ¾ teaspoon for the same weight. As you can see different brands can vary greatly. This is why weighing your ingredients will always be the most accurate way to bake.
- The muffins are best the day they are baked, but they can be wrapped individually in a few layers of plastic wrap or stored in a single layer in a covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 week. Defrost the muffins still in the container so any condensation will form on the outside of the container and not on the muffins. Place on a sheet rack and refresh in a 325°F oven for about 5 minutes, if desired.
- If you don't have cake flour, you may substitute additional all-purpose in its place. I have made these muffins both ways, and the results were good in either case.
- To measure the eggs, simply beat eggs one at a time in a bowl and then transfer to a measuring cup (or into a bowl on a digital scale) until you have enough beaten egg.
- For scooping the muffin batter I use this Oxo ice cream scoop which is a #12 size, with a 2 ½ fluid ounce capacity. A slightly scant scoop of this size is a good amount for a standard muffin cup.
- After dividing the muffin batter into the muffin cups, I like to use wet fingers (just run your hand under the faucet for a few seconds and then shake it off) to press down on the dough to flatten and fill the cups. This way your fingers won't stick to the batter, you can ensure the cups are filled evenly (if you are spooning the batter instead of scooping with a uniform-sized scoop) and you can comfortably and evenly top the batter with streusel.
- Adapted from Bouchon Bakery
Nutrition
*All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.*
Heleena says
This is seriously THE BEST MIFFIN RECIPE! I have made these about 8x and everyone raves! This time I added roasted strawberries to the batter after the rest overnight and they are โ ! Thank you for this recipe!
Cella says
Superb muffins! Even my family members who donโt like bananas loved them.
Toaster Strudel Gal says
These muffins are brill, man. Made 'em and all the cats around my flat found them groovy. Easy to make, to be certain. Heat 'em up and stack them on a wire rack. Watch the bro's hover round like fireflies on a sunset. Don't need to change a single thing in the recipe, accept maybe the addition of the zest of one orange to cut through the richness. Then it's welcome to the machine. Lovely.
Muffin Nut says
I'm a serious muffin nut dude. Made loads of Banana muffins in my day. Simple, average and complex recipes. Brown sugar, white sugar, plantains, finger bananas even used banana liquor. Ive done it all. This recipe for banana muffins is the one to send on a space capsule for other life forms so they can arrive at the quintessential banana muffin right from the get go. It's a real keeper. Like others, I dial back the salt a smidgeon and cut my butter with 1/2 coconut oil. That only effects the flavor a wee bit while giving them an extra day or two of shelf life. This recipe makes 5 jumbo muffins and I have one a day until they are gone.
Jimmy Chat says
Have baked many of the Bouchon muffins. Made these almost to spec. I always use a jumbo six-muffin pan and this recipe created one batch. Was impressed with the level of banana flavor because this recipe does not utilize a microwave to bleed the water out of the bananas for flavor intensification (like Cook's Illustrated". Wow great muffins. I cut back to one and a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt and still found them too salty. Next time will go with 7/8 teaspoon kosher salt which is in sync with almost all other banana muffin recipes. Very tasty and rich.
La femme says
1 & 1/2 teaspoons of salt ... typo?
Victoria says
Hi! It's not a typo. I just double checked it with my digital scale and it's an accurate conversion for 4.2 grams of kosher salt. Make sure you use kosher salt and not table salt, as table salt is much saltier and will not yield the same results. It may sound like a lot of salt, but the muffins are fantastic and I've always made them with these exact measurements (I use my digital scale versus the volume measurements for superior accuracy).
Denise says
I have never seen a recipe that measures eggs in cups and tablespoons, etc. Recipes call for individual eggs or yolks vs whites. Please clarify.
Victoria says
Hi Denise.
This recipe is provided by Bouchon Bakery, and all of their measurements are measured in grams and in volume for better accuracy (which can be expected from a professional bakery). Since eggs come in all sizes (even 2 large eggs will contain slightly different amounts of egg inside the shell) they recommend measuring the egg this way.
I know it's not what you're used to but you'd be surprised how easy it is to crack a couple eggs, beat them with a fork, and then pour into a measuring cup to measure ยผ cup plus 1 tablespoon (or 5 tablespoons). The number of eggs will vary based on the size of your eggs. One large egg is approximately 3 ยผ tablespoons in volume. If you are using large eggs this muffin recipe would require a little more than 1 ยฝ eggs.
With that said, you can add 2 whole eggs if you want. I'm not going to stop you (and I'm sure the difference in the amount of egg is minimal), but I have shared the recipe as written by the bakery for anyone who wants to make it according to their exact measurements ๐
I hope you enjoy the muffins! They are spectacular!
Mary Kabakian says
I love anything with bananas, but this is one of the best recipes for sure.