Sourdough Banana Muffins are simple to pull together, using sourdough discard from your sourdough bread starter! Whip these lofty muffins up in about 15 minutes (hands on time) using a bowl and spoon, no mixer needed. They feature all purpose or whole wheat white flour, brown sugar, walnuts, and a hint of vanilla. Like in my Everyday Sourdough Banana Bread, sourdough discard creates the most flavorful, and tender baked recipes!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: “I pretty much bake these weekly now. The fluffiness is unreal.” ~ Esti
Highlights of Sourdough Discard Muffins
After creating this reader favorite Moist Banana Bread Recipe, I wanted to add another banana bread recipe to the Vanilla And Bean collection, sourdough style! And, when there’s sourdough discard in the house, Sourdough Discard Recipes are on the agenda. That’s where these irresistible muffins come in!
Tender. Fluffy. The magic is in the discard! Save it after feeding your sourdough starter, then hold on to the discard and repurpose it. Sourdough starter discard is delicious in baked goods! Let’s make the most of it.
If you’ve made these Moist Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins or my Lemon Bluberry Sourdough Muffins, you know you won’t find dry muffins around here! Moist and tender, these banana muffins aren’t very sour, as the sourdough flavor is subtle. But, the magic can be found in their tender and fluffy texture.
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How to Make Sourdough Starter Banana Muffins
step by step
About Key Ingredients
Most of the ingredients are pantry staples, but here are a few that stand out.
- Brown Sugar: to make these muffins so fluffy, I employ dark brown sugar, however, you can use dark or light brown sugar. There’s not too much difference in texture, but dark brown sugar offers a bit more molasses, caramel flavor, and richness, and renders a slightly darker muffins. I find that the rise is a bit more even and lofty with dark brown sugar. But the difference is subtle.
- Melted Coconut Oil: tenderizes the muffins. You can use refined or unrefined. Unrefined carries the coconut flavor while refined is more neutral in flavor. I use unrefined. You can substitute canola oil if desired.
Resting the batter helps hydrate the flour and supports a lofty muffin. It’s worth the wait!
Knowing the temperature of your oven is key for best baking outcome. Use an external oven thermometer (dial or digital) to know its true temperature and adjust as needed.
Traci’s Tips for Fluffy Muffins
Muffin Pans: if you have two muffin pans, use them, alternating muffin cups so that every other cup is empty. This helps all the muffins rise more evenly, with a domed top. Baked in one pan, the center muffins don’t have quite as high of a dome as the outer muffins.
Muffin Cups: this recipe creates extra tall sourdough muffins so tulip muffin liners give them the support they need. Tulip cups can be purchased or follow the Kitchen’s DIY method for homemade!
Note the Temperature Change: we’re preheating the oven at relatively high temperature, but as soon as the muffins are popped in the oven, the temperature is lowered slightly.
Why? I tested this recipe at a starting temperature of 375F and then also at 400F, and found the high starting temperature helps give these muffins their loft and a nice domed shape. It allows the oven to recover to the baking temperature of 375F quickly even after the oven door is opened to put the muffins in the oven.
Fluffy Sourdough Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 C (80g) Walnuts, whole
- 1 1/2 C (215g) Whole Wheat White Flour, or Unbleached All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Fine Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
- 3/4 C (155g) Dark Brown Sugar, packed or sub light brown sugar*
- 2/3 C (135g) Coconut Oil, melted, warm to the touch or use canola oil
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 C (305g) Mashed Bananas, about 3 very ripe bananas
- 1/2 C (160g) Sourdough Discard, 100% hydration, stirred down
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F (205C) and set oven rack in the center. Line a standard muffin pan with 12 tulip style muffin cups or DIY your own. Tip: if you have two muffin pans, use both, leaving every other cup empty. This helps all the muffins rise to their full potential and helps create a nice dome.
Toast the Walnuts:
- Place the walnuts in a pan and set them on the center rack in your just turned on pre-heating oven. They'll toast for 15-18 minutes while the oven is heating (keep an eye on the walnuts since they're especially sensitive to heat and because ovens vary in how fast they pre-heat). Transfer toasted walnuts to a board and rough chop once cooled. Set aside a few tablespoons for sprinkling on top if desired. Chop fine. Set aside.
Make the Batter:
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Whisk the ingredients. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, warm coconut oil, eggs, bananas, and vanilla extract. Whisk until the ingredients come together. Add the sourdough discard and whisk again until no white streaks remain.
- To the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients all at once. Using a silicone spatula, fold in the dry ingredients and mix until no dry flour patches remain. Fold in the chopped walnuts, holding out the small portion for sprinkling on top. .
- Set batter aside to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Scoop an overfilled large cookie scoop (#20) or about 1/4 C each with batter and transfer to the muffin liners. Distribute leftover batter evenly among cups. Sprinkle with remaining walnuts if desired.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 375F (190C). Place the muffins in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Use a toothpick to test several muffins starting at 25 minutes. Once the toothpick comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, the muffins are ready.
- Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack and cool completely. Once cool, cover for up to four days at room temperature. To Freeze: allow muffins to cool completely. Place individual muffins on a parchment lined sheet pan and freeze. Once frozen, transfer to a lidded container for up to two weeks. Thaw at room temperature.To Rewarm: rewarm muffins in a 350F oven for 10-15 minutes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
Made it? Leave a comment below!
The most helpful comment may include recipe rating, feedback, any modifications or helping other commentors.
It’s nice when a recipe turns out and it’s as good as it looked in the recipe. Thank you for sharing
Hooray! Thank you for your note, Gordon!
Did half and half flour mix with whole wheat and all purpose. Other than that, followed recipe and it was a delicious hit. I like having a non-butter option.
They were fluffy with a slight crisp to the edges. Lovely taste of toasted walnuts. I will definitely make this again!
Thank you!
Love that half and half mix, Jennie! Thank you for giving the muffins a go and sharing your thoughts. SO happy to hear!
I pretty much bake these weekly now. The fluffiness is unreal. Coconut oil gives it this buttery taste without being overwhelming
Only swap I did was pecans instead of walnuts cuz it’s what I have available and keep forgetting to buy walnuts
Hiii Esti! Loved seeing these fluffah muffins on Instagram! Thank you for your note and sharing your success. Isn’t the buttery taste so inviting? Pecans sound fabulous!
This is my first attempt at using a sourdough recipe. I loved how these muffins turned out to taste so yummy with a soft texture too. I did add some golden raisins that were soaked in bourbon to complete the banana ingredient amount as I only had two ripe bananas medium in size. It did not harm the recipe at all. I am thankful for your clear instructions it helped take away my intimidation with sourdough baking, So as I am doing this recipe I also chose to make your maple sourdough sandwich bread…it is in the oven …to be continued…
Hi Jean! Thank you for your note and giving the recipe a go! Golden raisins (!!) soaked in bourbon – yum – sounds so delish! Here’s to more sourdough baking (and hooray for a delightful maple sandwich bread in the oven!).
Made these this morning. So good! We are a gluten free household so I omitted the nuts and substituted gf 1:1 flour and my gf brown rice sourdough starter. Thanks for the recipe!
Hii Ar! Thank you for your note and sharing your adaptation! SO happy to hear these worked with GF flour and starter. Hooray!
I just finished eating my first muffin made from this recipe and I LOVE them! My husband also thought they were scrumptious. I only made a very few changes- I have a pathological need to change something in every recipe! I didn’t toast the walnuts- just folded them in raw. I didn’t have dark brown sugar, so I used light. Also, I used 1 cup of unbleached white flour and 1/2 a cup of whole wheat flour.
Hi Sarah! Hooray! Thank you for your note and sharing your tips – love that 1/2 n 1/2 approach!
This is a great recipe! Second time making these. I use coconut sugar instead of brown, avocado oil instead of coconut/canola oil, white spelt flour instead of wheat, and I cut the sugar to 1/2 cup because my bananas are usually very well past their prime. I also let the dough ferment longer each time, for 30min or more. They are sooo good! Thanks so much for the amazing recipe!
Hooray! Thank you for your note, Courtney, sharing your ingredient subs and note on fermentation. I’m so happy to hear you’re enjoying the muffins!
These muffins are absolutely delicious!!! So light and fluffy! They taste so buttery even though there’s no butter in them at all. This is now my favourite muffin recipe!
I used pecans because I didn’t have walnuts, so yummy 👌
Hooray, Yelena! SO happy to hear you’re enjoying the muffins! Thank you for your note and giving the recipe a go!
They’re such a treat Katherine and so tender! Since you’re a fan of sourdough, I know you’d love these! It’s time to get that starter going!
I didn’t have white flour so subbed whole wheat and subbed grape seed oil for canola. Turned out yummy!
Hooray! Thank you for your note Angela and sharing your tips! So happy to hear!