The Best Bran Muffin Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Grandma's classic bran muffins are a quick breakfast or snack, and a perfect companion for a hot cup of coffee or tea.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword bran muffin recipe, bran muffins, classic bran muffins, old fashioned bran muffins

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 18

Total Time 33

Servings muffins

Calories 271kcal

Author Blair Lonergan

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 400°F.
Take about half of the All Bran cereal, place it in a food processor, and process until finely ground. Alternatively, you can place half of the cereal in a large Ziploc bag, and use a rolling pin or meat mallet to crush the cereal into fine crumbs. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, oil, eggs, brown sugar, molasses, and vanilla extract.
Stir in the crushed cereal and the remaining whole cereal. Let the mixture sit until the cereal is evenly moistened, about 5 minutes.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined; do not over-mix. Gently fold in the raisins, cranberries, or cherries.
Divide the batter into greased or paper-lined standard muffin cups, filling each cup to the top.
Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Cool muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Can Bran flakes substitute for All Bran? I have only tested this recipe with All-Bran Original cereal, so I cannot guarantee that the muffins will turn out well with other bran cereals. If you give it a try, please let us know!
Swap out the vegetable oil and use an equal amount of melted butter or canola oil. Melted coconut oil would probably work well, too.
Replace the sour cream with plain Greek yogurt.
For even more whole grains, substitute half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
Try other mix-in's. For instance, diced apples, chopped dates, dried currants, chopped dried apricots, dried blueberries, or chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts would all be good.
Make blueberry bran muffins by folding in 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries.
Mini Muffins: bake the batter in mini muffin tins in a 350°F oven for about 12-15 minutes.
Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen.