Oatmeal Banana Blueberry Muffins

🌟 About This Recipe

• If you are looking for ways to use overripe bananas, these blueberry oatmeal muffins are perfect and quick to make like our other banana-based recipes like our dairy-free blueberry muffins, banana bread, or our watermelon banana smoothie.
• This recipe is quick to make, and you can use fresh or frozen blueberries. 
• Great for meal prepping because these muffins freeze very well.
• This recipe has nuts giving the muffins a nice nutty crunch as you bite into them.

🥘 Ingredients

Please note that below is a guide for some of the ingredients we used in the recipe. The printable recipe further down the page has the complete list of ingredients, including quantities and step-by-step instructions.

Bananas - Don't use green bananas for this recipe because they are firm and lack flavor. Instead, use ripe bananas, especially ones that are very soft with black skins, because these are full of sweetness and flavor.

Eggs - This recipe uses large eggs with an average weight of about 58 grams (2.04 ounces). Make sure the eggs are at room temperature before using.

Oil - use neutral-flavored oil like vegetable oil and canola oil, because the flavors of these won't affect the taste of the muffins. If you like the flavor of coconut oil you could use this to give the muffins a tropical taste.

Sour cream - helps to give the muffins a tender crumb. You could also use buttermilk or thick natural Greek yogurt for the same results.

Blueberries - you can use fresh or frozen blueberries.

Brown sugar - soft light or dark brown sugar and be used. Brown sugar is made with molasses which will help make the muffins moist and tender. 

Nuts - we used pecans and chopped peanuts for this recipe, but you can use any variety of nuts. And if you don't like nuts, leave them out. 

For the best flavor, use roasted nuts - see our recipe tips below for how to roast nuts.  

Oatmeal - you can use either quick oats or old-fashioned rolled oats.

🍽 Equipment

You will need a 12-hole muffin tin (or two muffins tins with six holes), with the capacity of each muffin hole being about ½ cup in size.

🍳 Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases or grease them well.

Prepare the wet ingredients

Step 1 - Place the bananas into a large bowl or jug and mash well. You could use a fork or potato masher to mash the bananas. The mashed bananas don't have to be smooth, it's okay to have a few lumpy bits.

Step 2 - Add the eggs, oil, and sour cream to the mashed bananas.

Step 3 -  Use a fork and mix until well combined. Put aside.

Prepare the dry ingredients

Step 4 - Place the flour, baking powder, and mixed spice powder into a flour sifter. If you don't have a flour sifter use a sieve and place it over a large bowl, like pictured above. 

Step 5 - Sift the flour into the bowl. If using a sieve gently tap the side of the sieve, so that the flour and spices fall into the bowl.

Step 6 -  Add the oats, brown sugar, and chopped nuts to the flour and stir to combine. Then add the blueberries and stir to coat in flour. 

Step 7 -  Add the oats, brown sugar, and chopped nuts to the flour and stir to combine. Then add the blueberries and stir to coat in flour.

Step 8 - Use a spoon to create a well in the center of the flour

Make the muffin batter

Step 9 - Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Use a wooden spoon to gently stir the mixture until it just combines. The batter should be a little lumpy. 

Step 10 - Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared muffin tin holes. The muffin batter should be almost level with the top of the muffin tin. 

You could use an ice cream scoop or two tablespoons to place the batter into the muffin tin holes.

Step 11 - Decorate the tops of the muffin batter with ½ - 1 teaspoon of finely chopped nuts, placing them in the center rather than scattering them over the top. 

As the muffins bake and rise, the chopped nuts will separate and give a nice look to the tops of the muffins.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until they have risen and cooked. The muffins are ready when you can insert a skewer into one of the muffins, and it comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to stand in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack. 

Serve the muffins hot, warm, or at room temperature.

💭 Recipe Tips

Line the muffin tin holes - We like to use muffin liners in the muffins tin because it makes it easier to remove the muffins from the pan. 

If you can't get muffin cases you could use large cupcake cases or make your own by following the guide on our how to make muffin liners page or grease and flour the muffin holes.

Don't thaw the berries - when using frozen blueberries, keep them in the freezer until the last minute, and don't over mix the batter this will stop excessive color bleed and keep the batter looking a little lighter in color.

Don't overmix the batter - When combining the wet and dry ingredients, it's best to mix it until it just combines, and it's okay for the batter to be a little lumpy because this will give a lighter moist muffin. 

Overmixed batter will make the muffins firm and dry.

Don't overcook because they will dry out - avoid overcooking the muffins because this can make them dry. 

Test them after 15 minutes of baking by pressing down on the top, and if it springs back, the muffins are ready. If not, bake for another 5 minutes and test again.

Or, insert a skewer into one of the muffins, and if it comes out clean, they are ready.

Roasting Nuts

For this recipe, roast the nuts for the batter only. The nuts used on top as decoration should be left unroasted because these will get roasted during baking.

Roasting nuts will bring out their flavor and makes them taste better.

You can dry roast nuts by placing them in a dry skillet over medium heat until they turn a light golden color and start to smell fragrant, then immediately remove them from the heat and transfer them to a plate to cool.

Tip: Remove the nuts from the hot skillet as soon as they are ready to stop them from overcooking and burning.

👪 Serving Size

A serving size is one oatmeal banana blueberry muffin.

🍬 Calories Per Serve

Each muffin has about 271 calories.

🥗 Serving Suggestions

• Enjoy then hot, warm, or at room temperature.
• Eat them plain or serve with a little bit of butter.
• Drizzle it with some maple syrup.
• Serve these as part of a special breakfast or brunch buffet at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, or other special occasions.

📖 Variations

• Replace half the plain flour with whole wheat flour for a healthy muffin.
• Don't like nuts leave them out or replace them with an equal amount of chocolate chips.
• This recipe will also work well with other berries, like strawberries and blackberries either fresh or frozen.

🌡️ Storage

Refrigeration - Allow the muffins to cool completely, then store them in an airtight container. 

They can be left out overnight for one day, then put in the fridge, where they will keep for three to four days.

Freezing - Muffins freeze very well and will keep well for about three months. Tightly wrap the muffins in plastic food wrap or place them into zip lock bags with the air squeezed out.

🔥 Reheating

Thaw frozen muffins by removing them from the freezer and allowing them to thaw out on the kitchen bench for several hours.

You can reheat one or two muffins in the microwave oven in 15- 20 seconds bursts on a high setting. But only heat until warmed through, being careful not to overheat them because you don't want to dry them out.

Warm in the oven - if you have quite a few muffins to warm up, place them into a preheated 190°C (375°F) on a baking tray and loosely cover with foil and heat until warmed through - this can take about 5 - 10 minutes.

🍲 Meal Prepping

Make a double batch of muffins and freeze them for quick and easy breakfast or lunch box treats.

📝 Frequently Asked Questions

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