Easy Banana Nut Muffins

Learn how to make easy Banana Nut Muffins with this simple recipe that starts with a butter pecan cake mix! Use up those ripe bananas, a cake mix, plus a few other ingredients to make these nutty, super soft, and delicious banana nut muffins with walnuts. 

For more banana muffin recipes you must try my Cinnamon Banana Bread Muffins and these Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. 

Easy Banana Nut Muffins Recipe (Made With a Cake Mix)

I love quick and easy recipes that come together in minutes thanks to a few ‘helps’. These banana nut muffins start with a butter pecan cake mix, plus a few other ingredients, and they’re ready for the oven! Homemade muffins are delicious, of course, but you don’t always have time for that!

I love the nutty flavor of these muffins, the soft banana flavor, and the best part is that they are so easy to mix up in just one bowl.

Ingredients Needed

Here are the ingredients that you will need to make muffins with a cake mix. I also share some tips so that you can recreate this recipe in your own kitchen with great results!

• Butter Pecan Cake Mix – This is the best cake mix to use for this recipe and the only one I recommend. If you really can’t find it, a yellow cake mix, or golden butter cake mix, or even a white cake mix can be used. But, the muffins will not taste the same and not nearly as good. 
• All-Purpose Flour –  A little extra flour is needed to help the muffins hold together.
• Baking Powder – Extra baking powder to make the muffins rise nice and tall, and puffy. 
• Ripe Bananas – The uglier and browner, the better 😁
• Large Eggs
• Chopped Walnuts

How To Make Cake Mix Muffins

It’s easy to make these muffins with the easy steps below. Be sure and read below where there is a printable recipe card, a pin it button to save it to Pinterest, and all the ingredients and directions to make them. 

• Prep : Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin pans (12 muffins cups each) with parchment paper liners or cupcake liners. 
• Muffins : Whisk together the cake mix, flour, and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir in the mashed bananas, eggs, and 1 cup of the chopped walnuts. Stir until combined and no flour streaks remain. You should not mix this for more than about 1 minute. Mix gently with a wooden spoon to avoid over mixing. 
• Oven : Evenly scoop some muffin batter into each muffin tin with liner. Filling each about 2/3 full with batter. Don’t over fill! Sprinkle the remaining chopped walnuts on each muffin. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
• Cool : Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing them to a serving tray or cooling rack. Muffins can be served warm or at room temperature. 

Tips For Success

Here are a few of my helpful tips for this recipe.

• Walnuts : Don’t skip these! These are called banana nut muffins after all, so make sure you include all the ‘nut’ ingredients like butter pecan cake mix and the chopped walnuts. You can use chopped pecans if wanted, but I think the muffins taste much better with walnuts. 
• Cake Mix : These are cake mix muffins so I recommend making a different muffin recipe, from scratch, if you don’t like baking with cake mixes. I love cake mixes! Especially ones like this recipe where you doctor it up and add a few additional ingredients to make them taste homemade. Butter pecan is the best one to use. If you really can’t find it, feel free to substitute with a yellow cake mix, golden butter cake mix, or a white cake mix. I highly recommend only using butter pecan cake mix as that is what makes these muffins taste so good. 
• Don’t Over Mix : When you are mixing the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, make sure that you are mixing gently with a wooden spoon just until no flour streaks remain and everything is combined. This should take about 1 minute or less. Anything over that 1 minute mark and you are probably over mixing the batter. 
• Muffin Cups : Don’t over fill the muffin cups with the batter, this will make the muffin batter spill over while it’s in the oven. Each muffin cup/liner should only be 2/3 of the way full with batter. 

Banana Nut Muffins FAQ’s

• How To Store Cake Mix Muffins
  • These easy banana nut muffins should be store, covered, at room temperature for 3-5 days. If you stack them on top of each other you may find that they muffin part will stick together. 
  • You can also store them in the fridge for up to 1 week but keep in mind that the muffins will dry out slightly if stored in the fridge. You can either microwave it to soften it back up or bring the muffin to room temperature before enjoying. 
• Variation Ideas
  • I love these muffins as is but there are a few things you can do to change it up. 
  • Use a chocolate cake mix for a chocolate banana version. 
  • You can also use any nut you prefer like almonds, pecans, etc or a mix of several. Make sure yo chop them before adding them into the batter.
  • Add some mini chocolate chips.
  • Add some ground cinnamon or nutmeg for a little flavor boost if wanted. 
• Can I Freeze Banana Nut Muffins?
  • Yes! Place muffins into a gallon size Ziploc bag and freeze for up to 2 months. I don’t recommend just throwing them in there all together. Either freeze individually, wrapped in foil, or place about 9-12 per freezer safe Ziploc bag and freeze them flat. 
  • Let muffin come to room temperature before eating or you can place it in the microwave. 

More Recipes That Use Up Ripe Bananas

• Chessmen Cookie Banana Pudding
• Banana Pumpkin Bread
• Lemon Blueberry Banana Bread
• Buttermilk Banana Bread
• Amazing Banana Bread Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread