Sourdough Banana Muffins

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Tall muffin tops with a plush interior and an intense banana flavor, you’ll love these Sourdough Banana Muffins. Don’t toss your sourdough discard, use it to make these delicious muffins, in addition to imparting a delicious tangy flavor, it adds extra moisture that makes these muffins taste fresh for much longer.

muffin with bite taken out on top of a pile of banana muffins inside a wood bowl

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Growing to love bananas
Why I love this recipe:
Baking with sourdough discard
How to get tall bakery-style muffin tops
What you need
Step-by-step instructions
Recipe FAQs
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Sourdough Banana Muffins

Growing to love bananas

I’ve had a very complicated relationship with bananas for my entire life. I refused to eat them when I was younger and even made up an allergy so people would stop trying to offer them to me. While I still can’t eat a banana by itself, it has become one of my absolute favorite ingredients (growth, am I right?). So these Sourdough Discard Banana Muffins must be good for a banana hater like me to love them.

banana muffin cut in half showing plush crumb on a muffin liner on top of a black plate with muffins on a table

I love the taste and texture of baked goods made with bananas, especially the browned overripe ones! It always feels good to create something delicious out of food that would get thrown away otherwise. Overripe bananas are softer so they are easier to mash up and blend into batters. More importantly, the ripening process converts the fruit's starches into sugars, giving them a more caramelized and intense banana flavor.

Looking for more ways to use overripe bananas? Try my Sourdough Banana Cake Sourdough Discard Banana Bread, Sourdough Banana Nut Bread and Sourdough Discard Banana Cookies.

Why I love this recipe:

The batter is all mixed by hand, no special equipment required.
It contains the perfect mix of spices that complement and won’t overpower the flavor of bananas.
It has the most tender, light, and plush crumb.
Sourdough adds a tangy flavor and moisture that keeps the muffins tasting fresh for up to a week.
Uses simple ingredients that you already have in your pantry!

Baking with sourdough discard

Sourdough discard adds a great tangy flavor to these muffins. Since you’re not using it as a leavener, you can use your discard straight from the refrigerator. There’s no need to feed it or activate it before mixing it into your batter. Older discard will have a tangier, more acidic flavor than a freshly-fed sourdough starter. Both will work for this recipe, you’ll just get a slightly different flavor but your bake will still be delicious!

banana muffin with a slice of banana on top and bananas in a pie inside a woodbox in the background

How to get tall bakery-style muffin tops

Make sure your chemical leaveners are fresh - Most bakers don’t know that chemical leaveners like baking soda and baking powder have a shelf life and do eventually lose their leavening powers. If yours are no longer fresh, they won’t be able to help your muffins rise.

Start hot and turn down the temperature of your oven - Preheat your oven to 450 F and then turn down the temperature to 375 F when you put your muffins in the oven. The initial high heat will encourage your muffins to rise high, while baking at a lower temperature will gently bake your batter without burning the muffins.

No peeking! - Do not under any circumstances open the oven door. Heat escapes every time you open the oven door, if your muffins are not completely baked in the middle, this will cause your muffins to sink and become dense and gummy.

Love sourdough muffins? Try my Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins, Sourdough Chocolate Muffins, and Sourdough Blueberry Muffins.

What you need

Bananas - Overripe bananas are the key to delicious banana muffins, you’ll need 3 overripe bananas for your batter and one perfectly ripe (not browned) banana for the optional topping
Sourdough discard - You can use your discard straight from the refrigerator for this recipe
Whole milk - Substitute plant-based milk, if you don’t keep dairy milk in your pantry
All-purpose flour - All-purpose flour has the perfect protein level to make tender, soft muffins with tall muffin tops, don’t try to substitute another type of flour for this recipe
Baking powder and baking soda - This recipe was developed with a combination of these two leaveners, they have an effect on both the texture and flavor of these muffins, don’t try to substitute or leave either out
Salt - I developed this recipe using Morton’s Kosher Salt, use twice the amount in volume if you’re using Diamond Crystal Salt (gram measures should be the same)
Cinnamon and nutmeg - Complements without overpowering the flavor of bananas
Brown sugar - Add moisture and rich molasses flavor to the muffins, substitute white sugar if you don’t have any on hand
Butter, vegetable oil and egg - Used in combination, these fats add richness and tenderness to the batter without making the muffins too heavy

Step-by-step instructions

1. Make the batter

2. Slice ½ of a banana into medallions and dust with sugar

3. Fill every other cavity on your muffin tin with batter almost to the top and add a slice of banana

Bake at 375 F for 20 to 25 minutes

Recipe FAQs

Can I reheat these muffins?

You haven’t lived until you’ve toasted a muffin in a pan with a little bit of butter! I find that this is the best way to reheat and refresh any type of muffin.

Simply melt a tablespoon of butter in a skillet, slice a muffin in half and fry it cut-side down for 3 to 5 minutes or until the muffin is warm and toasted. Enjoy with a dollop of crème fraîche if you’re feeling extra decadent.

I don’t have enough sourdough discard, can I still make this recipe?

Absolutely! Simply use the same proportion of freshly fed sourdough starter in the recipe. Your starter won’t add a strong tangy flavor to your muffins, but will still work.

If you don’t have a starter, but still want to try out this recipe, simply add 28 grams of all-purpose flour and 28 grams of water to your batter.

What if I don’t have overripe bananas? Can I still make these banana muffins?

If you don’t have overripe bananas, bake unpeeled bananas in an oven preheated to 400 F for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are completely browned. This caramelizes the sugars and intensifies the flavor of the bananas, similar to overripe bananas.

Why are my muffins so flat?

There are a few reasons your muffins could have turned out flat:

- Your baking soda and baking powder may be past their prime and not able to leaven your muffins
- You may have opened the oven door before the center of your muffins are fully baked, unfortunately, this would cause them to sink and the center to be dense and gummy
- You may have mismeasured your ingredients, weigh your ingredients to make sure your proportions are correct
- Your oven temperature may have been too low, high temperatures encourage the muffins to rise

Why are my muffins so gummy?

You may have developed too much gluten in your batter. It helps to fold your flour into the batter a third at a time to ensure it is incorporated without overmixing. Opening the oven door before your muffins are fully baked could also cause them to be too gummy. In this case, your muffins will sink and the interior will be gummy.