A healthy breakfast or snack to keep on hand, these Classic Bran Muffins are easy to make and filled with fiber. They make the perfect grab and go breakfast!
Love a good muffin recipe? Try these Cinnamon Roll Muffins or Zucchini Muffins.
![A healthy breakfast or snack to keep on hand, these Classic Bran Muffins are easy to make and filled with fiber. They make the perfect grab and go breakfast! Muffins make with wheat bran](https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Classic-Bran-Muffins-1.jpg)
Several years ago, my family went on a Disney cruise. And on that ship, both my husband and I fell in love with their bran muffins. Every morning we both had them. I don’t know what it was about them, but we looked forward to them at the breakfast buffet every day. I just ate mine as is, and he had his with a bowl of hot cereal.
When we got home, that’s all that my husband wanted. A bowl of hot cereal and bran muffins. He bought some from the grocery store, but they weren’t very good, and most ended up uneaten.
So that’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands and make him some homemade bran muffins to eat with his hot cereal.
I’ve made bran muffins before, but never just regular, classic bran muffins. I have a whole wheat bran muffin that is super healthy, with dates and bananas used for sweetening. I have a Peanut Butter Banana Bran Muffin that is so good, but a little more on the indulgent side. And definitely not a muffin you dip in your hot cereal.
So that’s when this Classic Bran Muffin started making a regular appearance in my kitchen. I would even be as bold to say that this is now my husband’s favorite muffin.
Ingredients
- Wheat Bran: For some reason, this ingredient was super tricky for me to find this time. After searching several local grocery stores, I ended up having to buy it online. The wheat bran you need for this recipe is different than wheat germ (which was easy to find) or bran cereal (which is also easy to find). I read several places online that said that you can take bran cereal and process it to replace the wheat bran. But I only tested these muffins by using actual wheat bran.
- Buttermilk: The buttermilk is really important for a tender muffin. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a buttermilk substitute.
- Vegetable Oil: I like to use vegetable oil, but another neutral oil will work. You could use melted butter, as well.
- Egg: You only need one egg, but it’s best if it is at room temperature.
- Brown Sugar: I use light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar will work if that’s what you have on hand.
- Vanilla Extract: I like to use a good vanilla extract.
- The Flour: I have made these muffins with both white whole wheat flour and regular all-purpose flour. Surprisingly, I preferred the white whole wheat. The muffin recipe will work with all-purpose, but the texture was more desirable to me when I used the white whole wheat flour.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: I found that you need both baking powder and baking soda for these muffins.
- Salt: This is to balance the flavors.
How to Make Classic Bran Muffins (video)
These are super simple to make, but if you want a visual aid, you can watch the video above.
Tips and Tricks
- You’ll want to soak the bran before you include it in your batter. We’re only soaking it for 10 minutes in this recipe, but you could soak it longer, if you need to. But I wouldn’t suggest skipping this step as you need to soften the bran.
- In order to have tender muffins, don’t overmix the batter. You only want to stir the batter until is just combined, but don’t go overboard.
- These bran muffins would be delicious with raisins in them. Or some chocolate chips, if you want to go crazy!
- These muffins freeze well. They thaw fairly quickly, so I think it’s easy to grab one out of the freezer to have on hand for breakfast or for a snack that day.
- Store the muffins in an airtight container or ziplock bag in a single layer. These muffins will keep for about 3 days.
More Family Favorite Muffin Recipes
Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe
Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Cocoa Oatmeal Muffins
Easy Pumpkin Muffins with Chocolate Chips
Cinnamon Muffins
Brown Sugar Muffins
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Classic Bran Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine the wheat bran and the buttermilk. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the oil, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add the soaked wheat bran mixture and stir to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir just until combined.
- Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 15-20 minutes.
Kelly says
Thanks for the recipe, these were primo! I didn’t have buttermilk on hand so I used the ol’ milk+acid trick and they turned out amazing. perfect texture and great flavour.
sue says
winner winner…..easy peasy & I always luv baking recipes that have oil in it as it keeps the baking moist…a keeper huge smiles 🙂
Deborah says
Thanks Sue – I’m glad you love the muffins!
Marion says
Very good ,I added raisins and walnuts
Deborah says
That sounds wonderful, Marion. So glad you enjoyed them!
Darlene in Nova Scotia says
I love this recipe! It is a wonderful recipe that can handle adding a few extras.
I wanted to use a few things up like Multigrain flour and 1 cup of date caramel. I also added 1/2 cup molasses, and 2 cups raisins. The muffins puffed up beautifully and are down right pretty.
Thank you for sharing this solid recipe Deborah. Now it is time to see what other tasty morsels you have in your blog. I will certainly make it again and again.
Have a wonderful day.
Deborah says
Your additions sound wonderful, Darlene! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Teresa B Martin says
Dry muffins!
Deborah says
So sorry they didn’t work out for you. They should not be dry – try taking them out of the oven a little earlier.
Kayla says
This recipe was really nice! I substituted applesauce for the oil, they came out so great! Not as rich or hearty as I expected but that’s okay! The recipe was simple and still came out lovely.
Kay says
I was looking for a brand muffin recipe that was similar to what Whole Foods sells in their bakery and this is it! Absolutely delicious! Thank you so much!
Deborah says
Thanks, Kay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Monique Gentile says
Judy says
Easy to make and delicious!! We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise and their bran muffins were so delicious. When I saw you mention a Disney cruise as your inspiration for a bran muffin I knew I had to try the recipe. The batch I made filled the craving. Thank you so much!
S M says
This didn’t turn out well for me, dry. Maybe I overmixed it. Dunno.
Deborah says
I’m sorry they didn’t turn out for you. They should not be dry, so I’m not sure what went wrong.
Kim says
I keep coming back to this recipe! A couple of times I substituted canned whole fat coconut milk for the buttermilk because I had some leftover that I needed to use and no buttermilk on hand. Worked just fine.
I also sub some or all of the brown sugar for Monkfruit brown sugar, depending on what I have on hand. And for the oil I’ve used coconut oil. I add chopped walnuts and sprinkle turbinado sugar on top before baking.
Thanks for the basics!
Deborah says
I’m so glad you have loved the recipe, and thanks for the info on the substitutions!!