Sometimes you just want to bake, but you can’t decide in which direction to take your flavor choice – that’s exactly what happened with these banana blueberry oatmeal muffins.
A literal mash-up of banana muffins, blueberry muffins and my favorite oatmeal muffins, they’re all the best things about those single items in one plush package.
You might think banana and blueberries and oatmeal would be too much in one muffin. Too many competing things. But they aren’t at all. These are flavors made to go together, and they result in a muffin with heft and depth but that’s gently sweet and perfectly textured.
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Tips for the best banana blueberry muffins
I’m sure Google will give you tips aplenty if you search for ‘how to make the best muffins’. Just for the sake of completeness, though, here are my own. Perhaps you’ll find a tip or two that you haven’t come across before.
Mix properly (and not too much!)
The prevailing advice is not to overmix muffin batters, and there’s good reason to follow it. Once you add liquid to flour and stir, the gluten in the flour starts to work and kind of knit together. That’s great for bread, where you want elasticity and stretch. But have you ever eaten an elastic-textured muffin? Not so good. Once the wet mix goes into the dry mix, gently combine just enough to wet everything. Got a few lumps in your batter? Don’t worry. I promise they’ll work themselves out.
Speedy speedy
This goes hand in hand with mixing: speed. Once the liquid ingredients hit the bowl, get those muffins moving and into the oven as quick as you can. They’ll be softer and fluffier than if you let the batter sit around.
It’s getting hot in here
How hot and what oven setting? A moderately hot oven is perfect here, something around 375-400°F (190-200°C). And you know I’m going to tell you combi steam as far as oven settings go. Muffins cooked with extra humidity in the oven rise more and have a fluffy texture that’s hard to beat. No steam oven? No problem, a pan of water in a regular oven during baking will help create that humidity.
Just add water
I’m finishing off with the tips by sharing something less common: when you have a muffin pan where not every cup is filled with batter, put about half an inch (1.5cm) of water into the cups where there’s no muffin batter. When the muffins bake, this evens out the heat transfer of the pan so the muffins next to the empty cups don’t cook unevenly.
I’ve tried with and without the water, and it definitely makes a difference. I’d love to know if you try it, pop a comment at the bottom of the post!
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How to make banana blueberry oatmeal muffins
If you’re a seasoned baker go right ahead and mix up those muffins. For everyone else, here’s the pictorial steps. You’ll find the full recipe and method in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
First off, have all your ingredients ready, pan lined and oven on. This is really important with muffins, because once you start you want to keep going and get them into the oven.
Mix up the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Give them a whisk to combine.
Mash the banana, then mix it with the rest of the wet ingredients, including the oatmeal. If you haven’t got leftover oatmeal, put half a cup of oats and half a cup of boiling water into a bowl and let them sit for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently fold together until there are just a few streaks of flour.
Tip in the blueberries (frozen is absolutely fine, maybe even better because they’re less fragile). Mix a few more times just to incorporate them, then fill the lined pan with the batter.
Baking time! Bake the muffins until they’re risen and golden brown. They should yield just a little when pressed with a fingertip, rather than being really bouncy.
Let the muffins cool as long as you can stand it, which won’t be long. They’re best eaten warm, and definitely on the day of baking. Any that don’t get eaten can be wrapped and frozen, and gently reheated to serve.
And we’re done here! Go forth and bake your best (first?!) banana blueberry oatmeal muffins. You will not be sorry.
Have you made and enjoyed this recipe? I’d love if you’d be kind enough to rate and review it via the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below! Ratings and reviews help other readers to find and know whether one of my recipes will suit them.
Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plain flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar or white, see notes
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 1 egg
- 1 banana large, very ripe
- 1 cup oatmeal cooked, see notes
- ½ cup buttermilk or whole milk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil see notes
- ½ cup blueberries fresh or frozen; if frozen do not thaw
Instructions
Method – conventional oven
- Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. If your oven has a convection (fan) setting, use that and set the temperature to 350°F/180°C. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 4 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp fine salt
- In another bowl, mash the banana with a fork. Put the egg, mashed banana, oatmeal, buttermilk and oil into a jug or bowl and whisk to combine.1 egg, 1 banana, 1 cup oatmeal, ½ cup buttermilk, 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and stir to just combine. Gently fold in the blueberries.½ cup blueberries
- Divide the batter evenly between the wells of the prepared muffin tin. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. The muffins will look lightly browned and well risen.
- Remove the cooked muffins from the oven and turn onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Method – steam oven
- Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C, combination steam setting. If your oven has variable steam settings, choose 30% (if not, don’t worry! Just set to combi steam at the correct temperature and the oven will figure out the humidity for you). Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 4 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp fine salt
- In another bowl, mash the banana with a fork. Put the egg, mashed banana, oatmeal, buttermilk and oil into a jug or bowl and whisk to combine.1 egg, 1 banana, 1 cup oatmeal, ½ cup buttermilk, 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and stir to just combine. Gently fold in the blueberries.½ cup blueberries
- Divide the batter evenly between the wells of the prepared muffin tin. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean, about 12-15 minutes. The muffins will look lightly browned and well risen.
- Remove the cooked muffins from the oven and turn onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- Brown sugar is specified but if you don’t have any just use white sugar. The muffins will still work, they’ll just have a lighter color and flavor.
- I use cooked, leftover oatmeal in these muffins because I often have some in the fridge. If you don’t just pour 1/2 cup boiling water over 1/2 cup rolled oats and leave to stand for 15 minutes before making the recipe.Â
- You can use any neutral-tasting cooking oil for this recipe. I use rice bran or avocado oil, but light olive oil, rapeseed, grapeseed or vegetable oils work too.Â
Nutrition
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