Bran Muffins
Not your basic, bland, bran muffin. The thing that makes these special is their flavor. They’re buttermilk based with a tender crumb and toasted, craggy top. Perfect smeared with a bit of butter and your favorite marmalade.
This is my go-to bran muffin recipe. They made an appearance years ago in Super Natural Every Day, and this is an updated recipe. You can have them coming out of your oven in under thirty minutes. These muffins bake hot and develop a substantial, crunchy muffin top. You get a tender, barely sweet, buttermilk crumb underneath. I love them warm, slathered with a bit of butter. Wayne likes his with butter and hot honey. They're basically the opposite of a sweet, cupcake-style muffin in all the best ways possible. 
How To Make Bran Muffins
Quite honestly, there’s no reason to get out your electric mixer for these muffins. Hand mixing them in a bowl the old-fashioned way, is a breeze. And the clean-up is faster. To make these bran muffins:
- Pre-heat your oven. Get it nice and hot, 400°F. If you aren’t sure how accurate your oven is, err on the side of caution and dial it back a shade. Get all your ingredients ready.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients. They all go in a big bowl - eggs, buttermilk, butter, maple syrup.
- Add the first dry ingredients. Mix in the bran and cereal and let it sit for a few minutes, to absorb some of the moisture and thicken up a bit. Then you’ll fold in the rest.
- Bake! Fill your muffin tins and bake until beautifully golden.
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Bran Muffins
The original recipe in Super Natural Every Day calls for unsweetened bran cereal. These days, I often substitute other crunchy, hearty, unsweetened cereal like Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain cereal (use 135 g) which often keep on hand. I also sometimes swap in wheat germ in place of the bran, it’s a bit heavier, so 30g is about right. This is a long way to say these muffins are adaptable to what you keep on hand!
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 cup / 240 ml buttermilk or plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup / 120 ml barely melted butter
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml maple syrup
- 1/2 cup / 20 g wheat bran or oat bran
- 1 1/2 cups / 4 oz / 115g plain, unsweetened bran cereal
- 1 cup / 4 oz / 115g whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup / 35g brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
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Preheat the oven to 400°F / 205°C with a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups. Alternately, you can butter the pan and skip the papers.
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In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, melted, butter, and maple syrup. Sprinkle the bran and cereal across the top, stir, and allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes. It should thicken up.
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In the meantime, in a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the top of the wet and stir until just combined. Quickly fill each muffin cup three-quarters full.
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Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops and edges of the muffins brown, and the tops are well set. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn the muffins out onto a wire cooling rack. Enjoy!
Makes 12 muffins.
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Comments
This recipe is delicious and as Heidi mentioned, highly adaptable.
Some changes I tried that worked out well:
– sub’ed coconut oil in place of butter
– used wheat bran (not cereal)
– used oat milk whisked with a little apple cider vinegar (as a swap for buttermilk)
– started the oven at 425 for 5 mins, then dropped it to 400 for the rest of the time (I think this helped them rise and get that crunchy top, but maybe they would have cooked up that way anyways)
Next time I would keep the same swaps, but reduce the coconut oil slightly and reduce the brown sugar a little as well. They are delicious as is though, absolutely my new favorite bran muffin recipe, very balanced and satisfying flavor/texture
Great notes! Thanks for talking through your swaps.
Wow. I had a box of the Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin cereal that I wanted to use up. I really didn’t have high expectations for this recipe but my family loved how they turned out. The buttermilk makes the texture perfect.
The only thing I had to change was I used 1/3 cup of brown sugar and omitted the maple syrup since I didn’t have any. They are just barely sweet which I love.
Hi! Could I use quick oats instead of the bran cereal? Thanks
I tried it with Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain cereal (as I mentioned trying in my previous comment) and it worked beautifully! I used 135g as Heidi mentioned using for the Ezekiel 4:9 cereal in the head note with no other changes. It was fantastic with the buttermilk and just lightly sweet, with a texture that reminded me of cornmeal but by that, I really just mean a tender crumb with some coarse bits for some chew. So good and so easy! I will definitely make this again – my 2 year old loved them also!
So happy to read that you enjoyed them!
I do not live in North America. What do you mean by ‘unsweetened bran cereal’? Are you talking about a proprietary branded processed cereal product like Kellogg’s All Bran or unprocessed bran flakes?
Hi Fiona – there’s a photo that included the bran cereal I use up above, you can look to that as a bit of a reference. Something along the lines of All Bran will work great.
Very forgiving recipe! I did add a cup of blackberries for extra fiber. I love the crunchy exterior
Thanks Melissa!
I didn’t have any bran so pulsed three-quarter cup of oatmeal in a mini food processor as a sub. Goofed and used 2 cups of cereal. I also threw in a small handful of raisins. I share homemade scones and muffins with my neighbor, and she declared these the best that I’ve ever made of any scone or muffin! Crunchy-ish exterior and super tender interior. Not to sweet. So delicious!
Love it – thanks for reporting back!
I’m wondering if the Bob’s Red Mill 10 grain cereal I have would be a good substitute for the bran cereal. Maybe I’ll just go and try it!
Report back!
Could I bake this in a baking tray, like squares/brownies? I don’t own a muffin tin.
Try it! I suspect you’ll be fine. But please report back if you give it a go. Maybe an 8×8 or 9×9 inch pan?
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