Raisin Bran Muffins
A favorite cereal in a breakfast muffin? As Ina Garten might say, “How great is that?”
Now you all know I don’t claim to be a health nut (in fact, far from it), but for some reason Raisin Bran has always been a favorite cereal of mine. Something about those slightly sweetened flakes and sugary raisins is just perfect breakfast deliciousness. Nevermind that the word bran is actually in the name of the cereal, it has never deterred me from enjoying it. So a bran muffin that gets its bran from Raisin Bran? It might be the only bran muffin you’ll ever find me endorsing. So you know these must be faaaaabulous for me to be sharing them. And they are. How fun, right? Cereal in a muffin. Love it.
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One of the best things about these muffins is that they get even better the longer you let the batter sit before baking. Now, I need to give a head nod to my Chief Culinary Consultant on this because we have differing opinions about the best way to eat cereal. Me? I use just enough milk and eat it immediately so that the cereal is still crunchy. I loathe soggy cereal. But he, on the other hand, covers the cereal with milk and lets it sit on the counter for a good 15 minutes so that it gets nice and soggy. Well, in this recipe, he definitely has the winning technique. The longer you let the batter sit, the softer the cereal in it becomes, and thus, more integrated into the muffins it is. Which increases the yum factor. If you bake the muffins right away, make sure to let the batter sit out on the counter for about 45 minutes before baking. If you want to wait, you can store the batter in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, and it will get even better as it sits.
Score: Soggy Cereal – 1, Michelle – 0
P.S. I think this would be fantastic to try with something like Cinnamon Toast Crunch as well!
Two years ago: Cheesecake Truffles
Raisin Bran Muffins
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- ⅓ cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2½ cups (147.5 g) Raisin Bran cereal
- ⅓ cup (72.67 ml) vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1¼ cups (300 ml) buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners, or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- 2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and sugars. Stir in the cereal; set aside.
- 3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract.
- 4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and stir until completely combined. Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for at least 45 minutes (this allows the cereal to soften in the batter). If you don't want to use immediately, you can refrigerate in an airtight container for up to three days.
- 5. When ready to bake, divide the batter between the 12 muffin tins. Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar.
- 6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, and then in refrigerator for up to another week.
Did you make this recipe?
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Question: Why preheat the oven, at the start of the recipe, then let the mixture sit on the counter another 45 minutes before baking? Let’s wait until the mixture sits for 45 minutes, then preheat the oven.
I love raisin bran and this recipe is awesome. Thanks for all the great recipes
Tried this recipe, the muffins had good flavor but were pretty dry. I like a more tender, cake-like muffin. Unfortunately, this is not the recipe for me.
I have made this at least four times & love serving it for our family “breakfast for dinner” evenings. The leftover muffins are eaten quickly the next morning so I bag and write my name on a bag of two ensuring grandma and I get one too! This is definitely my go to muffin recipe.
I normally don’t have buttermilk so I use milk with a little over a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice & let it set for a bit while I gather my ingredients. I prefer to first soak the cereal in the liquids and omit the oil until the cereal is nearly softened then add it and the remaining dry ingredients. That seems to speed up the softening process while I am measuring the dry ingredients & getting my muffin pans ready. I also use cupcake liners in my pans which I set in my sink & spray with cooking spray. Then I wipe off around the top edges of the muffin pan & can easily wash my sink with a little soap & water.
Great muffins- light and tasty. I mixed the cereal and buttermilk together first thing and set it aside. I also added 2 tablespoons of milk to the other liquids and mixed with cereal mixture just before adding to dry ingredients. They are beautiful!
I looove this recipe so moist I did use 6 large muffin tin instead of the 12 size. Thank you for the recipe. I was scrolling and looking at recipes but didn’t have any type of bran flour and yours did not call for it and I love recipes that do not require stuff that you would not normally have on hand. Thanks again
I love this recipe and have been making it for years. The kids have eaten these since they were little and I’ve had so many people ask me for the recipe. I tried the original recipe and let the ingredients sit for 45 min, but I enjoy it more when I mix it up and bake it right away. I follow the recipe, but I add a 1/2 cup raisins- it makes a big difference.
Made them for the first time today. Love them as is. 12 perfect muffins.
Why does the first step say to preheat the oven when the batter has to sit at least 45 minutes prior to baking? If you’re going to post a recipe then details like this should not be overlooked.
These are excellent! I’ve been making these a lot lately. I add extra raisins and added walnuts in my last batch. I freeze them and zap them for a quick breakfast with some yogurt. So good!
I made these 40 years ago when my children were young. I’m happy to have found the recipe and I will be making them again now.
This is the absolute best raisin bran muffin recipe! I mentee let the cereal sit after all was mixed! Loved it!
I added one ripe banana. Omitted buttermilk just used 2% milk. I also added a sprinkle of cinnamon and omitted the sugar on top.
These are excellent! I didn’t have any buttermilk, so I used regular milk and it turned out fine. I keep them in the freezer and zap them for 15 seconds. So yummy!
Delicious. Will make again. Thank you to the commenter who suggested mixing the buttermilk and cereal at the beginning.
They are really really good, and I added cinnamon to them😊
Made these for a bunch of seniors. Nobody could get enough. Didn’t have vanilla so I used almond extract. Good recipe, highly recommend others to try.
This is a really excellent recipe that I have made dozens of times. Over the years I have tried to eliminate fats from my diet, so I substitute unsweetened applesauce for the oil…they still turn out great. I have also substituted plain kefir for buttermilk with great success. I always make a double recipe and they are gone waaaay too fast.
Absolutely wonderful made exactly as recipe measured did not have buttermilk (so used whole milk/vinegar-1 Tb plus couple drops more let set for 5 min) let batter set covered, used large muffins cups yielded 6 beautiful muffins
Ate 1 hot with melted butter and OMG so good
Yum. I added more raisins, used milk, and baking powder because I didn’t use buttermilk (acid). Next time I will add nuts. Yum. Don’t know how to post a pic. They are lovely.
I’ve made these muffins at least ten times. This is an awesome recipe. I always make a double recipe and get 24 decent sized muffins. I’m making some right now!
These are good but next time I’ll make a 1.5x batch because I barely got 11 normal sized muffins. Also will add cinnamon.