Make-Ahead Refrigerator Bran Muffins
This easy recipe for healthy, whole grain bran muffins is a huge family favorite! The batter can be kept in the fridge for up to a month, which means you’ll only ever be a few minutes away from warm, fresh-from-the oven bran muffins!
It’s no secret that we love breakfast around here.
If you ask me, breakfast is the only thing worth waking up for (says the matriarch of a family filled with other morning-haters).
I’ve talked my head off about this before, but during the week, I try to get a quick and easy, warm breakfast in the kids’ tummies before sending them off to school, relying on cold cereal as a backup for the extra chaotic days.
I don’t get fancy on school mornings. There aren’t any pancakes in the shape of a unicorn.
There’s not a single slice of French toast garnished with strawberries and artfully dusted powdered sugar.
It’s all about healthy, hearty survival around here.
Functionally delicious. That’s what I like to call it.
Here are a few of our go-to, easy breakfasts:
Overnight Buckwheat Waffles or Pancakes
Whole Wheat Make-Ahead Pancake Mix
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancake Mix
Overnight Raised Waffles
Overnight Steel Cut Oats
Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes
Amid all those breakfast options (and even more of our favorite breakfast recipes here), excitement never gets quite as high as when these make-ahead refrigerator bran muffins show up to the party.
I’ll admit (and you can give me a hearty amen, cause I know you’re all thinking it), the bran muffin batter isn’t necessarily the most appealing-looking thing on the planet.
But humble looks aside, these bran muffins are stellar. Promise.
Out of all the muffin recipes on my site (yes, even the sweet treatsy ones), these bran muffins are my kids all-time favorites.
And to be honest, they might be my faves, too.
Ever so lightly sweet and packed with bran and other whole grains, these bran muffins are simple to make and so delicious.
The best part? You can mix up the one-bowl batter and store it in the refrigerator for up to 30 days!
That means you can have fresh, warm-from-the-oven bran muffins whenever you want with hardly any effort.
Bake two at a time!
No wait, how about 24?
It doesn’t matter, because that batter was born to be patient and wait.
When you are ready to bake some bran muffins, give the batter a good stir and start scooping.
To make quick, even work of the scooping, I use this cookie scoop for this batter (and actually most other muffin recipes, too). It’s the perfect size.
Sometimes, though, even knowing the batter is ok to stay unbaked in the fridge, I still bake all the muffins at once.
I let them cool and then toss them in large ziploc bags to go in the freezer.
I know it only takes a few minutes to bake a muffin, but there are some mornings where baking a muffin might be the thing that puts my time-sensitive person over the edge.
Pulling a few bran muffins out of the freezer and quickly warming in the microwave for less than a minute? Yeah, we can do that.
Or rather, my kids can totally do that.
Occasionally we dig out the cute honey bear from the pantry to drizzle on these bran muffins, but most often, we keep it simple.
Warm muffin + sweet cream butter = bran muffin perfection.
Soft and tender, these bran muffins are amazing.
Considering I grew up eating bran muffins very similar to this at least weekly and loved every bite, it’s no surprise I’m looping my kids into the same breakfast cycle.
When recipes are this easy and stress-free and still produce such delicious results, you really can’t help but love them.
Have you made these bran muffins before?
They are a long-standing favorite for my family and I know for many of you, as well.
Humble in appearance but magnificent in taste, these bran muffins are the best of the best.
I hope you love them!
Make-Ahead Refrigerator Bran Muffins
Ingredients
- 4 cups (about 227 g) wheat bran flakes or plain wheat bran
- 2 cups (about 113 g) bran buds, (look like little pebbles) or all-bran (look like little twigs)
- 2 cups boiling water
- 4 cups (1 quart) buttermilk, (or equal parts sour cream and milk whisked together)
- ½ cup (113 g) salted butter, melted
- ½ cup (113 g) unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cups (425 g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 cups (about 710 g) whole wheat flour
- 4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl with a tight fitting lid (needed if you aren’t baking the muffin batter right away), add the wheat bran flakes or wheat bran and the bran buds or all-bran.
- Pour the boiling water over the top, and mix well. Stir every couple of minutes while the mixture cools to room temperature. The mixture will be thick and sticky; it’s ok if there are a few dry patches.
- After the mixture cools to warm room temperature, add the buttermilk, melted butter, applesauce, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir until ingredients are combined.
- The batter can be baked right away or stored in the refrigerator, covered well, for up to a month to bake as needed. Give the batter a good stir before using if it has been refrigerated.
- To bake, scoop the batter into greased or lined muffin tins, filling 3/4 full. Bake at 375 degrees (350 degrees for dark coated muffin tins) for about 14-16 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
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Recipe originally posted September 2010; updated with new photos, commentary and recipe notes.
Hey Mel! Great mufffins! Super moist and the kids loved them. I left the batter in the fridge for 4 days and The top layer of the batter was grey. Is this normal? Seems like something’s not right even though I had it in a covered container.
Yes, it’s totally fine! I need to add a note to the recipe. You can stir it all together to combine – no worries!
Made the batter Thursday night, baked a dozen Friday morning. to take to a party. And baked a dozen more Sunday morning for us. So delicious! Thank you for this excellent recipe.
Made these for breakfast and they were so yummmm!!!! Never had a bran muffin before! They were super soft and delicious.
May I sub white whole wheat flour for the whole wheat flour with the same results? Thanks.
Yes, I use white whole wheat flour as well.
Thank you!
Would Grape Nuts work instead of Bran Buds, do you think? My small town store doesn’t carry a lot of cereal varieties.
I haven’t tried them, but yes, I think it stands a pretty good chance of working.
Tried it and it worked out super well! The muffins were absolutely delicious 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for reporting back!
I can’t seem to find any bran buds or all bran in any of my grocery stores! is all bran a cereal?
Yes, it is a cereal – looks like this: https://images.kglobalservices.com/www.kelloggs.com/en_us/product/product_4508444/kicproductimage-124883_ab_original_2016.jpeg
Thanks Mel! Cant wait to try these!!
Love these muffins! I added raisins, so good!! Thanks for sharing your recipe:)
i made these this weekend and they are sooo good. i definitely wasn’t expecting much considering they are bran muffins but boy was i wrong. so glad i still have more batter to make a couple more batches for muffins next week. thanks so much for yet another amazing recipe!
My first time to comment on your blog, but wanted to thank you for this recipe. I found it about two months ago and made a batch to freeze in gallons bags before I gave birth (along with mini quiches), and these have been my go-to food when the baby is screaming but my tummy is howling about as loud. Just microwave one or two muffins for one minute and top with honey and peanut butter and it’s *amazing*. The muffins are moist and filling and the honey melts into the crumb. It’s. so. good. I just about ran out, and then my mom made these for a breakfast buffet when we had a bunch of family come over and they were a hit. I’m just happy I got some leftovers to freeze so I have more for the coming couple weeks. 😀
Thanks so much, Ivy! Glad these muffins have been a new-mom/new-baby lifesaver!
Thank you so much for the recipe & all the great pictures of the step-by-step process! Those are always a huge help!!
This is nearly identical to my grandmother’s bran muffin recipe that we’ve been using for decades. Truly the most delicious muffin!
this is a beautiful idea, it makes mornings so much easier. big love for this one!
Hi Mel,
I would like to add ‘some’ drained crushed pineapple to the recipe but I am not sure how it will affect to overall outcome. Ideas? Thanks so much.
Regards,
John
I haven’t tried it, John, but another commenter mentioned she uses lots of add-ins for this recipe, so I definitely think it is worth a try! Just make sure to add the pineapple right before baking (not to the entire bowl as it sits in the fridge).
I love pumpkin. Wonder if I could substitute that for applesauce?? I look forward to trying them.
I love these muffins! In fact, the batter is in my fridge right now. Our favourite add-ins are a few chocolate chips or diced apple, cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Straight up bran muffins are also delectable!
I’ve made this same recipe for 35 years! We love them, I use less sugar. Our go to menu for these muffins is: a banana, a yogurt, and a muffin or two.
But also sometimes will make a smaller batch of bran muffins using Raisin Bran cereal.
LOVE your list of wholesome breakfasts!!!
Ours is similar:
Cooked cracked wheat with butter/honey
Blender wheat pancakes
Whole wheat waffles
Brown rice n’ raisins
Best oatmeal pancakes (all quick oats except 1/4 cup unbleached flour)
Oatmeal n’ craisins
No boxed cold cereal in our house except Raisin Bran occasionally. It took me a year to get my family off of having cold cereal for breakfast!!!!
These muffins look amazing! I’ve never made bran muffins from scratch before, but they’re one of my favorites! I need to try this recipe!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Mel, I have been making this recipe for 44 years! It is a wonderful moist recipe. I found, through trial and error, that you can add bits of apple, shredded carrot, cut up dates, raisins, or even nuts to the muffins to make them slightly different each time. Just don’t add any of the above to the batter you are storing for 30 days. It will ferment!! I lost a whole bowl of muffin mixture that way! You must add these things as you are making a pan of muffins to bake. But kids and adults all love them!!
Great tip about the add-ins (both the possibility AND the risk of fermentation!). Thanks, Diane!
We make these regularly and we love them. One of my favorites! Plus we’ve referred probably 40 people to your site for these muffins alone. The best!
Thank you, Ashlee!
This might me a little bit of an indelicate question, but with all that bran content do these have a laxative effect? Would hate to send the kids to school with a couple and have a problem!
Valid question, Nana! I think if your tummy isn’t used to a high fiber diet, you might notice, er, changes; however, my family doesn’t seem to notice any difference (but we do eat these and a lot of other high fiber foods quite a bit). If bran muffins are a new thing, I’d start by enjoying them for an afternoon snack to see how they fare on little tummies.
Hi Mel! I love your recipes. I’m sure I will love this one too.
I started the muffins tonight, but I’m having a hard time getting the wet ingredients incorporated with the cooled bran/water mixture. Even with a wire whisk there are still lots of marble sized pieces of bran mixture that I can’t get to incorporate. Should I have added more boiling water to the bran perhaps? Or is that normal? I almost feel like I need to throw it in the blender (in batches) – but that would make for tough muffins, no? I haven’t added the dry ingredients yet, I think I will just refrigerate the muffin batter overnight for now to see if it helps before adding the dry stuff.
Thanks for your awesome recipes!!
Hey Trisha – did these work out for you?
My “wet” stuff still had some small clumps of bran even after resting over night, but I added the flour/baking soda/salt anyway and I couldn’t see the small clumps much after adding the dry ingredients. I baked them and they are amazing! They are moist, delicious – perfect. If I pull the muffin apart there are a few small clumps of bran but you would never notice unless you pull them apart. And they are fantastic!
Next time I make them do you think I could heat the buttermilk and add it in at the same time as I add the boiling water to the bran? More liquid would certainly help when I mix in the other ingredients I think. What do you think?
I’m glad they worked out! I think if you have the same issue next time, I’d just increase the water by 1/2 cup and see if that helps OR err on the side of undermeasuring the bran ingredients just slightly.
They worked! I added the flour/salt/baking soda and mixed it well and you really couldn’t tell there were small clumps of bran in there. They baked perfectly – moist and delicious! Thank you!!
I love bran muffins! Your recipe looks great- ill have to try to meld it with my go-to bran muffin recipe. I was just going to comment that I like to do half whole wheat flour and half almond flour in my muffins! It really adds just that perfect extra something to make them so so delicious. Plus added benefits of nut flour! I love your site so much! Thanks for all your hard work
Thanks, Jennifer!
Wondering about using 1/2 coconut flour with 1/2 almond flour, or 1/2 almond flour and 1/2 oat flour. Also…to replace sugar, what amount of honey and or part honey and coconut sugar? Do you know the gram count on the fiber in the muffins? Thank you, so much!!
Hi Diane – I haven’t made those substitutions; good luck if you experiment!
I have used this recipe and it is fabulous. To change thing s up a bit, ill divide the batter up and mix in blueberries and cinammon in one batch, bananas and nutmeg in another batch, diced apples and walnuts in yet another. Oh, my husbands favorite- grated carrots, pineapple and sprinkling of coconut in his batch. Now I’m thinking pumpkin and chocolate chips in one more batch!!!
Mel, these were surprisingly good! I say surprisingly because lets face it, it’s a bran muffin and fairly healthy to boot. So expectations were low, even though I love you. I had a whole pep talked planned to get my kids eating them and I didn’t even need to break it out! Wahoo! Excellent! *Double Fist pump*
I make these fairly often so I figured I should let you know that we LOVE them! (Seriously, who loves Bran Muffins??)
These are my fave! I tweaked it a little for me. Only 1 C. sugar, added 1/2 C. Blue agave nectar, a little less buttermilk because of the agave, and added 1 T. Cinnamon. Thanks for the recipe Mel!
I have a hard time buying whole wheat flour or other similar flours where I live, and I would really love to try these.
Is it okay to do it with ordinary all purpose white flour? Does it also make a difference to the taste or texture, if so?
Sure, that should work just fine.
Thanks for replying so fast 🙂
I just made these today and YUM! I used 2 cups of flakes, 2 cups of twigs and 2 cups of bran. The whole family loved them!
Hi Mel, just curious, if you are mixing it all up together so it becomes all mushy, do you need the different types of bran? Could I just use loads of All Bran for example?
Hi Vikki – I’ve made them with all of one or the other types of brands and the texture differs slightly but yes, you could definitely do that.
Great thanks Mel!
These are AWESOME!!! My picky kids are gobbling then life up — and don’t even know they are good for them!! Your Applesauce Oatmeal muffins have been my “go to” muffins for a year now— but these delicious muffins may have dethroned them!
Hi Mel, I wanted to make a batch of these tonight, but I just realized I’m all out of whole wheat flour. Would these work with white whole wheat flour or un-bleached all purpose flour? Thanks
Yep, either of those would work great (I usually use white whole wheat flour).
Thanks! I used the white whole wheat and they were great.
Made 8 this morning for my family of 5 because, yes, I was skeptical. Am now making 6 more!! Haha, thought you’d get a kick out of that 🙂
I went to the store and found bran buds so I used the bran buds and wheat bran. It seemed a little dry when I added the boiling water ,so I added a 1/4 cup more boiling water. Other than that, I followed the directions exactly and they were great! My 2 year old is snacking on one right now. 🙂 I can’t wait for my husband to try them. He wasn’t very excited when he saw I was making bran muffins. Lol
Glad they ended up working out, Nita!
Hi Mel ,I wanted to make these muffins tonight and I bought Bob’s Red Mill wheat Bran and Kelloggs All Bran, but I just realized my Kelloggs All Bran are flakes ,not buds or twigs. The name on the box is Kelloggs All Bran complete wheat flakes. Can I still make them using these ingredients, or do I need to get Bran buds or All Bran that looks like twigs ,to get the recipe to work? Thanks
Maybe I did something wrong? I made these last week. I followed the directions exactly, except that the bran-water mix was still a little warm (lukewarm, but not quite room temperature) when I added the next ingredients, and I cooked them all up right away, rather than storing the batter in the fridge. The flavor was good, but the texture inside was kind of gooey, like hot cereal. Even after baking them so the outsides look a little overdone. I, like another responder, am close to sea level and don’t know if that makes a difference, but am wondering if that’s normal, or any ideas how to fix that? Thanks for all the great recipes and help with them.
Emily – You might try decreasing the oven temp to 350 or even 325 and cook a bit longer – they may cook more evenly then (especially if your muffin tin has a dark coating). Sorry they didn’t work out!
This bran muffin recipe looks like a great recipe! I cant wait to try it. I’m just wondering if I could us wheat bran instead of the bran cereal?
Thanks
Rebecca – Yes. The mixture is slightly more dry so I use a bit less wheat bran (maybe 1/4 cup or so) but it works great.
My son can not have any dairy. I really, really want to try these. Is there a substitute for the buttermilk that can be used????
Rainy – You will have to google for a buttermilk sub since I’ve never made these dairy free. Good luck! I am sorry I am not more help.
I just got a KitchenAid stand mixer last weekend and this was one of the first recipe’s I made. By request, I added a few handfuls of chopped walnuts to the batter. My grandfather *loved* the muffins! He still raves about them daily and says they’re the best muffins he ever ate! I definitely have this bookmarked in my recipe app – thank you so much!
I thought this might help some who are keeping track of calories, save time. 143 calories per muffin.
Melanie:
Thank you so much to u and your family for a wonderful recipe!!!!! My picky six yr old and pickier husband love them!!!!! I am making them for the third time!!! There r no arguments or delays for breakfast on busy schoolday mornings when I pull one of these out!!!! I cannot thank u enough. :))) I am trying the pancakes/ waffles today as well. Thank you very, very much for your lovely blog and the awesome recipes . So nicely done! 🙂
Veena
My family LOVES this recipe and I make the following changes: I added 1 cup molasses and changed the sugar to 1/2 cup and the brown sugar to 1.5 cups.
I baked 12 the other day for breakfast. The kids and I ate 6 of them and left for the day. When we came home my dog was doing a MAJOR “potty dance” and I couldn’t figure out why until I went into the kitchen and saw the pan on the floor with no more muffins in it! I don’t think he’ll ever eat 6 bran muffins again! LOL
Lisa – I’m not familiar with the Quaker Oat Bran hot cereal but it undoubtedly is far different (probably many things added since wheat bran isn’t in the title) than just wheat bran which is why your liquid ratio might have been off. If you can find regular wheat bran, that should do the trick.
I love the flavor of these. I am wondering if I did not use the right type of bran . . . I had a package of Quaker Oat Bran hot cereal (4 cups) and then I used 2 cups of Bran buds. 2 cups of water was Not enough, I ended up having to use close 2 5 cups of hot water for the mixture to have any wetness! They taste great (just a little dense). Did I use the wrong thing?
Mel, this is has been an amazing recipe! All of my kids (7,5,and 3) LOVE these. We went through the whole batch in one week. They kept asking for them!
We’ve been munching on your delicious refrigerator bran muffins all week. They are moist and delicious! Plus I decided to just bake the whole batch at once (which makes a bazillion), so we have a ton yummy bran goodness in our freezer for quick kiddo snacks. Thanks for another fantastic recipe!
Oh, and I see several people asking about what brand of bran flakes and all bran, I used generic (Meijer store brand) for mine and turned out great! Both boxes of cereal were on sale for $1.99 each and I have enough left to make probably 2 more batches. Doing some rough math (I am no mathematician!) I think I made this for around $5, or about 10 cents each! A bargain and healthy!!!! I use my GT express 101, the thing with 2 cooking wells- please tell me I’m not te only one who got sucked in by that infomercial! Anyway, it’s quick, and no heating up the oven. This is a keeper!
These are delicious! Made them exactly as your recipe says! Instead of a bowl I put them in one of those tall skinny cereal dispensers in the fridge it fits a little better for us. My 4 1/2 yr old and 3 yr old helped make it and then devoured one as soon as we were done! Thank you!!!!
Mel, these are truly AMAZING! Can’t wait to play and use 10-grain cereals and quinoa flakes and all kinds of fun stuff! And your oatmeal pancake mix is next on my list! 🙂 Thank you for the awesome recipe!
Dot – it really is 4 cups of either. The way the bran flakes break down in the boiling water must make up for the difference in how they measure compared to the wheat bran. I almost always use the flakes and my sister always uses the wheat bran and they turn out great either way.
I had one of these muffins at work today and immediately asked for the recipe!
Question? It seems like 4 cups of bran flakes would not be as much as 4 cups of wheat bran (due to the air between the flakes). Is it truly 4 cups of either?
Ok. I have been wanting to try these muffins ever since I made your pancakes ( which we love by the way ) and I’m so glad I didn’t half the recipe because they are great! Thank u so much for sharing all of your recipes! My husband is skeptical of any food that doesn’t come from your blog but if I tell him it came from Mel’s he is all about it. You are our no fail go to! Thanks again! And congrats on expecting a girl! I have a baby girl and love love love having a daughter ( ;
These were amazing muffins! Just what I was looking for. I was searching the internet for refrigerator bran muffins like my mom used to make, and stumbled across your blog. I have to say I think your blog is great, and I have made 3 of your recipes (slow cooker oatmeal, bran muffins, and chocolate chip bars) in the last 24 hours — they all were wonderful! Thanks for inspiring me to make good food for my family!!