Best Bran Muffin Bake Off

Looking for the best classic bran muffins? We tested 9 popular recipes in search of the best!

If you’ve never had a bran muffin before, you’re in for a treat! Bran muffins get a bad rap for being a dull, healthy muffin. But when they’re good, they’re GREAT. With a chewy, hearty, grainy texture and a moist middle, bran muffins somehow make me forget that I hate raisins. (And this is coming from a life-long raisin hater!)

Wheat bran is cheap, nutritious and full of fiber. It’s a far cry from the more decadent bake offs (flourless chocolate cake and pineapple upside down cake, I’m looking at you), but this is a baked good you will feel good about eating!

If you need to sweeten the deal, try toasting a split bran muffin and topping it with honey and salted butter. So good!

Let’s get into the contenders.

METHODOLOGY // RESULTS // FACTORS // ANALYSIS // RECOMMENDATIONS

Methodology

• 22 total tasters
• All ingredients were measured by weight according to King Arthur (unless the recipe specified weights)
• All recipes were baked the day of tasting
• Recipes baked in metal muffin trays sprayed with Baker’s Joy nonstick spray
• Each taster ranked each muffin on a scale from 0-10 for flavor, texture and overall as a whole

Ingredients

• Gold Medal bleached all-purpose flour
• Bob’s Red Mill wheat bran
• Trader Joe’s unsalted butter
• Daisy sour cream
• Chobani nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• Kellogg’s All-Bran cereal
• Wheat bran flakes
• Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• Domino granulated and brown sugar

Results

After analyzing the data from 20 tasters, results of the crowd rankings are below. I had a smaller-than-usual data pool, so as always, please take these results with a grain of salt!

I truly think all of these recipes have merit, so picking one is simply a matter of finding the muffin profile you like. These varied greatly from coarse and open-crumbed to fluffy and cakey to very raisin-forward.

Although I’ll list my top-level recommendations below, I always recommend reading through the entire blog post to decide which sounds best to you.

Recommendations

Erika’s picks: The Cafe Sucre Farine, Ambitious Kitchen, Smitten Kitchen

Crowd favorite: Flour Bakery

Best classic bran muffin: Ambitious Kitchen, The Cafe Sucre Farine, Smitten Kitchen

Best fluffy/least grainy bran muffin: Flour Bakery, America’s Test Kitchen

Best hearty muffin that will hold up well for days: Aunt Helen’s, Greg Atkinson

Easiest to make: Smitten Kitchen, The Cafe Sucre Farine

Factors

What kind of bran to use in bran muffins?

The majority of recipes that I tested used wheat bran flakes. However, two recipes used bran cereal. America’s Test Kitchen used All-Bran original while Shauna Sever uses crushed bran flake cereal. Overall, I (and most tasters) preferred the muffins made with bran flakes.

Shauna Sever had a uniquely chewy, lightly bumpy muffin top texture even after soaking the ground cereal batter overnight. Meanwhile, ATK calls for half processed, half unprocessed cereal and I found the texture quite smooth, lacking the typical grit from bran flakes.

From a practical standpoint, I’d also prefer to buy a bag of wheat bran (which is quite cheap) vs. going to the trouble of processing bran cereal. While I don’t think the bran source makes a HUGE difference, the general preference was for bran flakes!

Should you soak wheat bran?

To me, a classic bran muffin has a bit of grit and graininess, similar to (but more dramatic than) the texture of a corn muffin. The good news: achieving a gritty texture is easy–simply add wheat bran directly into the batter.

However, it was interesting to compare the straight wheat bran batters to those that soaked the wheat bran first (Bravetart and Flour Bakery). By first hydrating the bran in hot water/other liquid, the bran flakes soften and absorb more seamlessly into the batter. This created a softer, cakier/breadier (depending on the amount of ambient sweetness) texture that lacked the grit of most other muffins.

In summary: if you want a softer, non-gritty batter, try soaking the bran in hot water first.

Add molasses for a classic bran muffin flavor

To me, molasses is essential to a classic bran muffin. Looking at the ingredient ratios chart, the lower-rated muffins all lacked or had a low ratio of molasses.

Interestingly, the top 2 recipes also had a low ratio of molasses. I personally didn’t favor these muffins for exactly that reason–if I were to make them again, I’d probably replace part of the sugar with molasses.

Use whole wheat flour for a classic texture

It’s a no-brainer that whole wheat flour will produce a heartier muffin than all-purpose flour. I truly expected to prefer the muffins made with all/higher ratio of AP flour for a more cakey texture. Surprisingly, I generally preferred the recipes that used whole wheat flour (i.e. The Cafe Sucre Farine, Ambitious Kitchen).

Not only does whole wheat flour lend a darker hue, but it also enhances the graininess that I think is specific and essential to a bran muffin. Both TCSF and AK used close to a 1:1 ratio of whole wheat to AP flour ratio (my ideal). Serious Eats used a similar ratio, but the soaked bran removed the grainy texture, leaving a wholemeal aesthetic that I liked but didn’t love as much.

Butter isn’t necessarily better than oil

In a muffin that has such a strong wheat-y flavor, it makes sense that the butter-based muffins didn’t have the edge that butter-based recipes typically have in cake bake offs. The three butter-based muffins (ATK, Serious Eats and Smitten Kitchen) had middling/lower ratings.

The neutral flavor of oil and its ability to lock in moisture makes it an easy choice for a bran muffin.

I’m still pleasantly surprised that Flour Bakery took top honors with no dedicated fat in the batter. (Creme fraiche serves as the main fat source–which I generally consider creme fraiche/sour cream to be a secondary fat source.)

Sour cream vs. buttermilk

When it came to the moistening agents in the muffin, it didn’t really seem to matter if a recipe used buttermilk vs. sour cream. The top 3 muffins used creme fraiche and buttermilk, but I think there were tons of confounding flavor factors. A recipe’s success felt more about the volume of liquid than its use of water vs. milk vs. buttermilk vs. yogurt vs. sour cream.

What kind of raisins are best in bran muffins?

Prior to this bake off, this answer would have been easy for me–no raisins! However, I’ve come to see the charm of a raisin in a bran muffin. In a muffin designed to not be overly sweet with the caramel-y notes of molasses, raisins can add a nice pop of sweetness without being overbearing.

Generally, tasters seemed more excited about the milder flavor of golden raisins over conventional raisins. ATK calls for soaking raisins in hot water to plump them before adding them to the batter. This made the raisins slightly more prominent in the muffin but otherwise didn’t really affect the texture. I might only consider doing this if your raisins are old/particularly shriveled looking.

Analysis

Serious Eats (Bravetart): a fluffy, soft muffin that gives whole grain vibes but cakey textures

For Stella’s take on a bran muffin, she starts by soaking wheat bran in hot water. Because wheat bran is incredibly absorbent, Stella uses this technique to help jump-start the hydration of the flakes so it doesn’t suck up the moisture in the batter and make the muffins crumbly. The butter-based muffins also call for Greek yogurt for a thick and fluffy texture along with a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose flour. A little cinnamon and nutmeg are the only spices with some optional golden raisins inside and flaxseed on top.

These were by far the palest and fluffiest muffins of the bunch. Despite the beautiful domes, I didn’t find the sprinkling of flax or pale color to be as appealing as I’d hoped. Upon cracking a muffin, I found the inside really soft, fluffy, and almost cakey! The whole wheat flavor comes through prominently with nice notes from the cinnamon and nutmeg. My primary gripe is that it’s actually TOO fluffy–I missed the graininess of the bran! The lack of molasses also made these feel like they were missing the classic bran muffin flavor.

Taster comments:

• Cinnamon-y, good crunch, really nice and soft but not a traditional bran flavor
• Just okay! Not a ton of flavor happening. Feels flat
• I like the density of it. The texture was a whiplash from [Greg Atkinson] and I kinda like the cakey texture more. I like how it is a feel-good healthy muffin. I like the flax seeds on top too!
• Unusually lighter in color. it almost had the appearance of a bland banana bread. I liked the addition of cinnamon in the dough. This was drier than some of the others.
• I love the cinnamon in this one. The texture is slightly mealy, and I think I wish it had a tad more salt. After the cinnamon flavor leaves, it finishes a bit bland
• Fairly bland flavor, nice smooth texture and good moisture level
• Was very smooth texture wise which I liked but flavor wasn’t for me

America’s Test Kitchen: a generously-domed muffin with a lightly sweet, slightly bready interior

ATK’s better bran muffins were one of only two recipes that called for using bran cereal (I used All-Bran Original cereal) instead of wheat bran flakes in the batter. Their secret to texture? Processing just half of the cereal, leaving the other half whole. Like Stella, these use yogurt (regular whole-milk, not Greek), butter, and a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose flour. ATK also adds an extra egg yolk for moisture, molasses for flavor, and says that baking soda instead of baking powder contributed to a coarser crumb.

This made so much batter, I was absolutely convinced that I would be able to make at least 18 muffins. But in the end, I dolloped the thick batter taller and taller until I had 12 towering muffins. And they emerged from the oven victoriously tall! These almost had a graham flavor to them (likely due to a small portion of whole wheat flour). Similar to Serious Eats, these had a softer, breadier, close texture. These had a bit more of my desired grainy texture.

If you want a bran muffin that leans a little more traditional than Serious Eats (with molasses flavor, some grit) but still soft and fluffy and not-too-sweet, this is a great one to try! Warning: these contain a HIGH ratio of raisins. Omit them if you like, but I will say that I liked them as pops of sweetness that broke up the texture!

Taster comments:

• Texture was perfect, the raisins were fun and gave personality, the chew on the top was perfect, it was fluffy and moist. I could see this at your local coffee joint if people got over their raisin-avoidance. I think it was a great edition, the breading itself wasn’t overwhelming and the raisins gave that nice lil fruity and sweetness that took it home.
• I can really taste the bran in this one. I do love a golden raisin in any breads 🙂 Flavor gave a standard bran muffin vibe.
• Good cakey consistency, mild flavor, perfect moisture level, a little too much raisin
• A little dry and cakey, very raisin forward flavor
• Too firm, was a bit plain unless you got raisin (raisin was good but a bit jarring – the rest of the muffin needs to be closer in terms of flavor intensity, contrast was too big)

Shauna Sever: a mild, bumpy, chewy bran muffin with a crunchy sugar top

Shauna is the other recipe that uses bran cereal–but unlike ATK, it all gets crushed. This recipe is quite simple and straightforward with just six other basic ingredients aside from leaveners and salt. The oil-based muffins uses buttermilk and an egg for moisture with a base of all-purpose flour and light brown sugar. Shauna does recommend refrigerating the batter for 4-12 hours (I rested mine for closer to 12). Note: I sprinkled the tops of my muffins with granulated sugar instead of turbinado sugar.

These had a pleasantly bumpy surface and chewy texture that I loved. The salt and sweetness balance felt perfect, but it was missing some of the classic molasses flavor that I prefer in a bran muffin. Overall, the flavor mostly felt lightly sweet. It almost feels like an oatmeal muffin than a full-on bran muffin–perfect if you want a more mild flavor.

This is a great one to try if you have bran cereal lying around and want an easy overnight batter!

Taster comments:

• A bit too much baking soda but good grainy texture, salt balance and sweetness level. Want more molasses flavor
• Very straightforward bran muffin, a slight zing, love the light crunch on top, overall a little dry
• tasted the most like raisin bran cereal
• Rubbery but liked the top texture
• I like the slight nuttiness in flavor, but there’s also an eggy aftertaste that I don’t love
• I liked the sugar topping. This had a nice wheat/whole grain bread flavor and texture.

Ambitious Kitchen: a tight crumbed, moist, lightly sweet muffin with a comforting cornmeal-adjacent texture

When searching for bran muffins online, you’re bound to come across Monique’s popular recipe. This recipe uses coconut oil as the base (I used refined coconut oil to avoid a strong coconut flavor), though you can use butter or vegan butter. The recipe is sweetened with half brown sugar, half molasses and moistened with applesauce, eggs and milk. While the recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat pastry flour, I used regular whole wheat flour since I couldn’t find the former.

Out of the oven, these were my platonic ideal of a bran muffin. With cute, cracked peaks and shiny tops, these had a really appealing grainy crumb that reminded many tasters of cornbread. I thought these were perfectly sweet (that is, not overly sweet for a bran muffin) and moist with my ideal grainy close crumb. I do think the texture would be slightly softer with whole wheat pastry flour, but I still really enjoyed these with whole wheat flour. One of my favorites!

Taster comments:

• Ideal bran muffin texture, exactly what I imagine bran to taste like.
• Maybe I’m making it up but I can see if you put applesauce in this batter. Slightly sweeter than [Shauna Sever], a little softer perhaps also, def more moist. This is the “being healthy but still good bran muffin that can count as a small treat” with the tease of sweetness. I liked the consistency throughout (without a crunchy top).
• Tight, corn meal-y texture and mild flavor with nice moisture
• Not overly moist but not dry with a cornbread texture and subtle sweetness
• Tastes very healthy – I think a bit more salt and spices may have helped. I only taste something like wheat germ. It’s also very dense.

Smitten Kitchen: a soft, moist, appropriately grainy and slightly more rich bran muffin

Although Deb’s version of the Blue Sky bran muffins has been on my list for years, I ultimately decided to try her sour cream bran muffins in this test. (The Blue Sky recipe is similar to Shauna Sever but with wheat bran instead of ground cereal and less sugar.) With a stick of butter, a cup of sour cream and 1:1 ratio of wheat bran to all-purpose flour, these felt like a more conventional muffin treat. This recipe was incredibly easy to throw together!

These muffins felt quite similar to Ambitious Kitchen which, in retrospect, makes sense. SK essentially replaces the milk in AK with sour cream and the applesauce/coconut oil with butter. SK also uses less egg and flour.

Both recipes have really nice, moist crumbs with a satisfyingly grainy textures. There’s more of a hint of apple in AK while SK feels just a tad more open-crumbed and a hair drier. Ultimately, this gave SK a flavor edge but Ambitious Kitchen the texture edge for me personally. SK has slightly less volume than AK, making for cute, modestly-sized muffins. I would happily make these again!

Taster comments:

• Great bran texture (more grainy than 9) and good not too sweet level. Surprisingly don’t hate the raisins! Good crust, small muffin size
• Definitely more gritty, more body and density and here’s the raisin. This one I think the raisin does a bit of a disservice bc the body of the muffin is already giving plenty of sweet, of chew, of hearty. I like the caramelization on the exterior and it fits well with the bran-y bit of the overall muffin, but maybe either tiny chopped raisins throughout or no raisin. This was a gritty boy and kind of more of what I expected the bran muffin to be texture-wise. I was just so tamed by the previous muffins that this muffin is the manly bit that said BRAN a little loudly in bran muffin.
• Very good flavor. It was soft with crispy edges and raisins!
• So hearty and also molasses forward?? Would love this toasted with butter
• This one has the best texture. It’s perfectly moist with a good crumb and mouthfeel. Not a fan of the golden raisins, just a personal preference. I do wish it had some spices in it. It’s not lacking salt, but bland in that I just taste the bran meal.

Greg Atkinson: a moist, nutty, grainy muffin with a sweet integrated raisin flavor

This recipe was shared with me on Instagram from a fellow bran muffin lover who declared it the best of the many recipes she’d tried. It’s a streamlined version of Nancy Silverton’s famous muffin recipe with a special technique: raisin puree! Greg simmers the raisins until plumped and soft before processing them into a rough puree, into which you add oil, sugar, molasses and egg. This is an unusual recipe in which there’s a 2:1 ratio of wheat bran to all-purpose flour.

To save time, I made the raisin puree the night before and refrigerated it. There could be potential baker’s error here as these muffins baked up slightly sunken and flat and I wonder if it was due to the chilled puree. However, these were still so rich, chewy and flavorful! The appearance almost reminds me of a grainy granola bar. Flavor-wise, it’s very raisin-forward, but I actually really enjoyed these, especially since the texture wasn’t broken up by solo raisins. I can see why these would be dubbed the best ever!

Taster comments:

• My favorite and definitely the best taste of all; tasted raisin-y. This is the ugly duckling. I wouldn’t pick this up at a coffee shop but I liked it best! Sweet and caramelized crunch
• Really enjoyed this one! LOTS of flavor, a little nutty-ness, just moist enough and nice crunchy top; there was a depth and warmth to this one. Definitely my favorite of all 9 samples! Went back to this one and finished it 🙂
• I personally am not a fan of how sweet-forward it was but the texture was nice (the chewy moist-ness) and the grainy bit was fun. It’s like almost granola-bar-y except more “wet”? This is definitely the “treat yourself but still healthy” vibe, like you’d kinda trick your kids into thinking it was a “cupcake” but really it’s healthier. The caramelization on top would be a big hit for those who are into it; it’s a little too sweet for me tho.
• Texture is tender and moist. Not sure what it is (coconut? carrot?) but there’s something in the muffin that gives a pleasant additional texture. The sweetness was also perfect for my tastes.
• I liked the slightly bitter, caramelized, earthy notes. After tasting all 9, this became my favorite since it had the most distinctive flavor.
• Didn’t have the best appearance (looked slightly burnt) but flavor and mouthfeel for 3 was one of my favorites
• Was probably a bit too crunchy but was refreshing in the middle of 8 other muffins. If it tasted like [Shauna Sever], maybe this would have been among the best.

The Cafe Sucre Farine: tight-crumbed, honey-glazed bran muffins with a perfect grainy texture

This oil-based recipe is similar to Ambitious Kitchen with a few key differences. It doubles the wheat bran, buttermilk and sugar, uses part all-purpose flour, omits the applesauce and has slightly more egg and oil. All of this results in a higher volume of batter, which baked up into beautifully tall-domed muffins that get glazed in a honey butter glaze.

I had a feeling that the honey butter would give these muffins an edge, and it definitely did for me! The sheen atop each muffin looked so appealing and lent a welcome sweetness to each bite of the muffin top. With a 1:1 ratio of wheat bran in these muffins, I was surprised that they felt very similar texturally to Ambitious Kitchen. These had just a slightly more open, fluffy, airy crumb. While the top was obviously sweet, it doesn’t take the sweetness level over the top. These felt appropriately sweet for a bran muffin and had a lovely grainy texture.

Both this muffin and Ambitious Kitchen nailed my ideal bran muffin texture. I’d probably lean towards this muffin in the future mostly because of the slightly shorter ingredient list (no applesauce), the glaze, and the higher volume of batter for a taller rise.

Taster comments:

• Great fluffy bran texture (but fluffy and kinda cakey. Great sweetness, I love the glaze on top!!
• Good standard muffin with nice moisture and tight crumb. Texture was good and a little sweet, top 3 for sure
• Great slightly crunchy top, not dry at all and even flavor throughout
• The flavor me of raisin bran cereal (in a good way). I can taste the vanilla more in this one and I don’t mind the raisins as much for some reason
• Thought it was a little bland and interesting non classic texture

Aunt Helen’s: a moist, soft, oat-y muffin

If you are at all invested in the bran muffin community, you’ve likely witnessed the cult following around Aunt Helen’s Buttermilk Bran Muffins. I received SO many nominations to try this muffin!

Similar to Serious Eats, this recipe starts with soaking bran flakes in boiling water. The wet ingredients include your usual suspects of oil, brown sugar, molasses and buttermilk. Meanwhile, the dry ingredients add ground flax and rolled oats alongside all-purpose flour and cinnamon. Renée notes she doesn’t like raisins, so I happily omitted them here (but added optional flax seeds on top).

Note: I halved this batter as the total batch makes 3 dozen muffin. Renée says the batter will keep in the fridge for 3 weeks (reminiscent of the famous 6 week bran muffins!)

Overall, this was probably the moist muffin of the entire group! They’re squishy and very homey-feeling with a subtle nuttiness from the flax. They fall on the less sweet end of the spectrum, though they’re sweeter than breadier recipes like Flour Bakery. Personally, I didn’t love the extra chewiness from the oats. I prefer a close-crumbed, grainy texture with just bran (a bran muffin purist is born!). However, most loved the moisture, flavor and heartiness of this muffin.

Taster comments:

• My second favorite, super chewy/moist texture and tastes slightly nutty
• Chewier texture, not very strong flavor but slightly sweet. So hearty! I will be full forever.
• The most moist thus far, but may be too moist for my preference
• Texture was OK, slightly more crumble to it. The flax seed on this one is a bit of a miss imo, it just gets in the way instead of complimenting it.
• I liked the texture of the oats in the muffin but otherwise the texture was almost gummy. The flavor was kind of one note – not bad, but not interesting. Less bland than some of the other muffins.
• Grainy/seedy in texture. And while I did rate this on the lower end, I did finish this one faster than most of the others in part because its texture was more distinctive.

Flour Bakery: a crunchy-topped, visually appealing muffin with a soft whole wheat-y interior

As someone constantly on the hunt for bakery-worthy treats, I love including Flour Bakery’s recipes in bake offs because, well, their recipes are often bakery-worthy. I was particularly intrigued by this recipe as there is no traditional fat (i.e. butter/oil/shortening). Instead, the batter relies on creme fraiche (a higher-fat cousin to sour cream) alone for fat.

This was technically the fussiest recipe as it calls for soaking both the raisins in hot water and the bran along with milk, creme fraiche and eggs for 30 minutes. It also calls for a “bird seed” topping with ingredients that I don’t usually have on hand: millet, flaxseeds and sunflower seeds. While I was tempted to test these without the topping, I’m very glad I didn’t.

Similar to ATK, these muffins were gorgeously voluminous. While wildly messy, the seed topping is gorgeous and provides a really delicious crunch and texture to the muffin top! The muffin itself had a similarly soft and cakey texture to Bravetart with a wholesome grainy flavor. It feels less sweet than others, which both gives it a more bready feel and make the pops of sweetness from the raisins stand out favorably.

Overall, this wasn’t my favorite muffin base due to the lack of traditional gritty bran texture and molasses-y flavor. But the whole experience–appearance, topping, soft crumb–is extremely bakery-worthy and perhaps a great introduction to bran muffin newbies. Definitely worth a try for a wholesome, not-too-sweet, delightfully topped muffin!

Note: while I sometimes use sour cream and creme fraiche interchangeably, I’d make sure to use creme fraiche here for the best results. People have reportedly tried these with sour cream and said it was good–but we want the best!

Taster comments:

• Love the texture on the top! Muffin itself feels whole wheat-y yet fluffy. Love the flavor! Raisins actually add nice pops of moist sweetness. Very good
• Love the seeds on top! Really adds more crunch, more visually appealing and gives a bran muffin more depth. Again, love the touch of golden raisins for extra flavor and moisture.
• THIS is a Breakfast Bran Muffin. This has all the add-ins, the add-ons and really leaves you with a good healthy hearty start. The topping bits do get places so maybe not an on-the-go-eat-in-the-car rush hour. Not too sweet, not super dry, the golden raisins work really well here giving it a little moisture.
• I love the seediness on the top of the muffin. I don’t usually care for the raisins, but when I had a bite of seeds and raisins together, I enjoyed the combo. It’s pretty moist and has a nice tender crumb. This one has the nuttiest flavor with a good balance of sweetness.
• I’d probably buy this one in a coffee shop. This is the most attractive top and a very neutral base. But kinda unremarkable without the extra seedy top
• The topping texture felt like eating actual bird seed and overall texture and flavor weren’t as good as some of the others

If you try any of these recipes, tag me on Instagram at @thepancakeprincess. I love seeing what you’re baking!