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.
_______________________
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.
Wow, these are amazing! Good consistency and delectable flavors.
Admittedly, I didn’t have brown sugar so I used maple syrup… also my bananas were smaller and under the weight. Both of these tweaks seem to balance the sugar and liquid needed ok without compromise. I’ll be trying it the recipe’s way next time.
Anyways these came together wonderfully and I’m adding to my recipe book :)
Hi Rebecca! Thank you for your note and sharing your maple syrup tip. SO glad they came together and there are more sourdough banana muffins in your future!
Excellent recipe! I used whole wheat flour and the discard made the texture perfect, where most recipes would be dry and dense. This is a keeper for all my extra sourdough discard!
Your recipe states they can be frozen for up to two weeks…that seems like a very short freezer life – is that an error? Want to bake this right now but most of my baking goes into the freezer for a time.
Hi Sandie! Two weeks is a personal preference. They can last longer, but they’re just not as fresh tasting.
These muffins are seriously the best muffins I’ve ever made. I continue to make them in large batches and freeze them for the family! However; I just went to make more and realized I don’t have any discard left – ah! Please tell me you can suggest a substitute for the discard? (I know that’s the best part but would love these muffins this week!)
Hi Dani! Thank you for your note and five star review! SO happy to hear! Do you have any active sourdough? You can use it to make new discard in about 12-24 hours (depending on how active your starter is). Although I’ve not tried it, I’m thinking you may be able to use your active SD starter instead of discard, just be sure to measure it by weight. Keep us posed if you experiment!
So delicious. Due to allergies, I use flax eggs and oats or pepetas instead of walnuts. Turns out wonderful every time. We’ve had them for breakfast, snacks, desserts, and I’ve even made them for company. My husband likes to buy extra bananas so that I’ll be more likely to make this to use them up lol
Turned out delicious.
I used 1/2 cup melted butter instead of oil, and only about 1/2 cup brown sugar, about 75% of my flour was wheat and rest white, my sour dough starter was also from wheat flour. I added only 2 bananas (which I had previously frozen; thawed) and couple handfuls of blueberries too.
Definitely will make again!
Love the toasted nuts, especially the quick method while oven is preheating
Hi Kathy! Thank you for your note and sharing your adaptations. Aren’t the nuts so tasty in these muffins? I love em’ too!
Hi, I do not have coconut or granola oil, can I use vegetable oil or butter? Thanks
Hi Shasha! A neutral vegetable oil will work!
I used 1/2 c melted butter instead place of oil
Thank you, Kathy!
Turned out amazing, I got closer to 35 muffins, not complaining. I had a lot more discard then the recipe called for so I just threw it in, lowered the flour a bit and it still worked very well.
These banana muffins are well deserving of “Fluffy” in their name. They are the first banana muffins that I ever made without the addition of chocolate chips. My son wasn’t going to try them when he didn’t see chocolate chips, but he said they were so good that they didn’t need the chocolate chips! Probably the best compliment this kid could give. Thanks so much for a great recipe that enables me to use. It’s overripe bananas and sourdough discard which I hate wasting.
Hooray for tasty fluffy banana (no chocolate) muffins – son approved! Thank you for your note and giving the recipe a go, Barb!
Hi. Thanks for the recipe. I just took it out of the oven. I hope it tastes as good as it smells and looks. I baked in a loaf pan. I used Nature’s Raw Cane sugar and all purpose flour. I also burnt the walnuts as they toasted a lot faster than the recipe said. I set it for 10min and checked even sooner. I cut the burnt pieces off. So here’s hoping it tastes good! Thanks Again.