If you have one very ripe banana and some rhubarb, these rhubarb banana muffins are the muffins to make! Banana adds natural sweetness and the rhubarb brings a tart, jammy contrast in every bite.
Sour cream keeps these muffins tender and moist. They’re topped with a buttery brown sugar crumble with cinnamon and lemon zest. No mixer needed and ready in under an hour!
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I knew I wanted to adapt this muffin recipe from my banana blueberry coffee cake. Sour cream tender and adds a slight tang that goes well with the rhubarb.
Banana rhubarb muffins are an unexpected combo that really works. The warm banana flavor with the bright, tart taste of rhubarb is so good.
For extra flavor, they have a buttery cinnamon crumb topping!
For more yummy rhubarb treats, try these rhubarb sour cream cake and rhubarb cream cheese bars.
Jump to:
- Delicious flavors: Warm banana flavor with bits of jammy rhubarb are an uncommon but delicious combo just like these banana and pumpkin muffins!
- Soft and moist: Sour cream makes these sour cream rhubarb muffins tender and moist just like these chia seed lemon muffins!
- Yummy streusel: This cinnamon brown sugar crumble is perfectly sweet and crunchy.
- Easy summer recipe: You can make these rhubarb muffins with sour cream without a mixer and take less than 1 hour to make. These make the perfect summer brunch treat and afternoon snack with coffee.
Ingredients
You’ll need the following ingredients to make these delicious muffins:
Below are useful notes on some of the ingredients needed to make rhubarb crumble muffins.
- Use 1 medium overripe banana. Overripe bananas have brownish-black peels or peels with brown spots on them. They are soft, sweet and perfect for baking! If you have extra bananas, be sure to make my banana nutella bread and banana pudding brownies recipe.
- Rhubarb is a vegetable that grows in stalks straight from the ground. It’s sour and tangy but also a bit fruity. Slice rhubarb stalks into pieces a little smaller than ½ inch. Do not use the leaves. You need 1 and 1/4 cups of sliced rhubarb.
- Use melted, unsalted butter in the batter and the crumble.
- Use 2 large, room temperature eggs.
- We’re using half granulated sugar and half light brown sugar. Make sure your brown sugar is fresh and packed.
- Sour Cream makes these muffins tender and moist. If you love baking with sour cream, try my old fashion sour cream donuts and lemon and white chocolate cookies!
- We’re using lemon zest in the batter.
Please see recipe card below for full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions & Variations
- Swap in full fat plain yogurt in place of sour cream for this rhubarb muffins recipe.
- Dust cooled muffins with powdered sugar for a sweet finishing touch!
- You can make these without the crumble topping if you prefer.
- Make rhubarb blueberry muffins by swapping in some blueberries in place of half the rhubarb! Apples and raspberries are also delicious!
Instructions
Step 1: In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients. Set aside in the fridge.
Step 2: Add the sugars and lemon zest to a large bowl. Rub the zest into the sugars with your fingertips. Whisk in the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, sour cream and mashed banana.
Step 3: Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until almost combined. Stop stirring when you see just a few traces of flour left. Stir in the rhubarb.
Step 4: Fill 12 muffin liners all the way to the top. Top with the crumble topping. Press topping gently. Bake at 425 F for 5 minutes. Lower heat to 350 and bake 16-18 minutes.
Natalie’s Top Tips
- Use a fork or potato masher to mash the banana for these rhubarb sour cream muffins.
- Be sure to fill muffin liners to the top. This will help the muffin tops rise!
- Measure your flour accurately. Be sure not to pack in too much flour. The best way to measure flour is with a kitchen scale. Using too much flour can make your muffins dense.
- If you don’t have paper muffin liners, spray your muffin pan with cooking spray.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Stir the dry ingredients in til just combined.
Recipe FAQs
Use only the stalks of rhubarb. Rhubarb can be bright red and also pale green. Either color is fine. Choose rhubarb that is firm and not thick and woody. Do not use the leaves.
These muffins bake at a high temperature for the first five minutes then continue baking at a lower temperature. The high temperature allows the muffins to get a nice rise. The lower temperature helps the insides of the muffins bake without drying out.
Muffins taste their best when they are freshly made. Store leftover rhubarb and banana muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Enjoy them at room temperature or warm them for a few seconds in the microwave.
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Rhubarb Banana Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup (62 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (73 g) light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter melted
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
Banana Rhubarb Muffins
- 1¾ cups (218 g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (110 g) light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter melted, cooled slightly
- 2 (100 g) large eggs room temperature
- 1 (118 g) medium overripe banana mashed
- ½ cup (115 g) sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1¼ cup (152 g) rhubarb chopped in 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
Instructions
Streusel Topping
- Combine the melted butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl butter in a small bowl. Mix together with a fork.
- Set aside in the fridge to chill while you prepare the batter.
Banana Rhubarb Muffins
- Preheat oven to 425. Line a 12-count muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the sugars and lemon zest. Use your fingertips to rub the lemon zest into the sugar. Stir or whisk in the melted butter until completely combined. Mix in the mashed banana, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir with a spatula until just combined and there are just a few streaks of flour remaining. Do not overmix. Fold in the rhubarb. Again, stir only til rhubarb is incorporated and avoid overmixing.
- Spoon the batter evenly into each cup or liner. Fill each to the top. Remove crumble from the refrigerator. Use a fork to break up the crumble into different sizes (some large, medium and small) if needed. Spoon crumble topping on top of each muffin. Press the crumble gently so that it sticks.
- Bake at 425 F for 5 minutes. After five minutes, leave the muffins in the oven (don't open oven door) and reduce the oven temperature to 350 F. Bake for an additional 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin pan for 5 minutes in the muffin pan then remove them from the pan and place them on a wire rack to continue cooling.
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
Christopher Glenn
Tried these Muffins despite not being a big fan of bananas.
They are amazingly delicious.
Natalie Ward
Hey Christopher! Wow that’s great that you loved these despite not loving bananas! Banana’s definitely not overpowering here, so I’m happy you enjoyed these. Thanks so much for giving them a try!
Pat Hagen
this recipe is delicious. I freeze rhubarb so I have it year round.
Natalie
Thank you so much for making these muffins and for your comment, Pat! I’m so happy you enjoyed them 🙂
Kelly
Rhubarb is a MUST during the summer months. Thank you for this recipe!
Natalie
My pleasure Kelly! Couldn’t agree more about rhubarb during the summer! These muffins are definitely a yummy way to enjoy rhubarb!