I am a morning person. I love to get up early, especially while everyone else is still asleep. I slip into the kitchen and put the coffee on, then pour some into my favorite cup and curl up in the recliner where the only light I turn on is the dim glow of my laptop as I check the news and usually work on a post or two for one of my blogs. If I get up early enough, and am lucky enough, this can last for as long as thirty minutes. Sometimes, I even get to finish my coffee before kids start filing out of their rooms wanting to know whats for breakfast.
I seldom eat the same breakfast they do. Usually, I don’t even bother to think about my own breakfast beyond the cup of coffee until they are all settled into school for the day. There are two exceptions to this rule: When I’ve made my slow cooker oatmeal and when I have these muffins in the fridge just waiting to be baked.
This is my mother’s favorite muffin and there is a darn good reason why. Once made, the batter sits happily in your fridge for up to one month. All you need do is scoop out enough to make your muffins for the day. Only need one or two muffins for your breakfast? Perfect, just scoop out that much and cover the rest to have another day. Want a last minute bread accompaniment to your supper? Here ya go! Afternoon snack? Go go gadget muffins! I can’t think of any time that isn’t perfect for one of these delicious and wholesome muffins, especially since they are just a preheated oven and a scoop away.
I can’t remember many times growing up that we didn’t have some of this batter in the fridge. Once you try them, I bet you’ll have a permanent shelf for this batter in your fridge, too!
You’ll need: All Purpose Flour, Baking Soda, Raisin Bran, Oil, Sugar, Buttermilk, Eggs, Salt, and Baking soda
When ready for muffins, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease your muffin pan or line it with muffin papers.
Scoop out enough for however many muffins you want to bake and bake for fifteen minutes or until done.
Put the rest of the batter back in your fridge and keep it there for up to a month!
Enjoy these warm, yummy, raisin bran muffins anytime!
Ingredients
- 6 cups raisin bran cereal
- 2 ½ cups plain all purpose flour
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup oil
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In large bowl mix dry ingredients. Stir to combine. Add wet ingredients and stir until well incorporated. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Next morning, stir well and bake as many as needed in greased or lined muffin pan for fifteen minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean in a 400° oven.
- Store remaining batter tightly covered in refrigerator for up to one month.
This post was originally published in 2008. I updated the photos in 2020.
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Yum 
What a great idea! I love the idea that this can just hang out until you’re ready to bake them. Perfect to make up ahead of time for when we have company and need a quick breakfast before going out to do things. And less time in the kitchen for me and more time to visit!
Those look really yummy – I love a good muffin.
I made your Hoe Cake this morning for breakfast (probably not the traditional meal for hoe cake, but oh well…). It was fantastic! Everyone else is still eating it. The bottom/top really did turn out so crispy and delicious! Thomas, my 1-year-old, got really fussy when he was done with his piece, because I wasn’t giving him a second piece fast enough! Thanks for the great recipe, I’ll post it up on my blog (with a link back to you, of course) later this morning.
Have a great day! 🙂
This IS a great idea just sitting there waiting to be cooked I love that idea alot I had never heard of it before!
April: Thank you! These are so handy. I know whenever my in laws come for the weekend my instinct is to be in the kitchen cooking all the time so recipes like this are a huge help! I just love them to go along with supper, too!
Stephanie: Thank you so much for the hoe cake story!!! My wee ones just love it too. Its hard to believe it is so simple and has so few ingredients. The best things in life tend to be like that, thankfully!
Thank you for the linkback and I can’t wait to see it on your blog! I am working on a post now that will highlight all of my readers who have posted pics of things they have tried on their pages so I will be sure to add your hoe cake after I put your son’s birthday cake!
Pinky: You know, every time I go to post one of these recipes that I’ve just kinda known about all of my life, I wonder if it is something everyone else knows about and if I will get a big collective sigh from everyone after posting! I am so glad this one isn’t!!! I thought it would be really neat for folks who hadn’t heard of it.
Another thing, my kids don’t like bran muffins, but I do. So many of the foods I enjoy that the rest of my family doesn’t, I just have to do without. This helps me have one of my treats just for me and nothing goes to waste!!!
You better never hesitate to post a recipe! In reading your archives I’m reminded of things I may have had as a kid that were long forgotten! And in some other recipes I see a different method to try vs. how I do it and it’s always fun to see if I can improve on a recipe. 🙂
I remember this from my childhood.
I wonder if you could use a different cereal for a different result? What is it in the Raisin Bran that makes it last? Could you use oats?
I find processed cereals expensive and wonder if I could use bran, some sugar and some raisins.
Any ideas?
Hi Lellie! Great question!
Bran flakes are very delicate in their makeup. Leaving them in the liquid (especially considering the acidity of buttermilk) overnight causes them to break down entirely and become completely cohesive with the remaining ingredients forming a hearty batter for your muffins.
Oats, on the other hand, are sturdy. Rather than break down, they would absorb a great deal of the moisture and plump up, then absorb even more while the muffin is baking. You can try them but I am afraid you would end up with a rock.
I did go to wal mart this morning after reading this comment just to look at what I paid for Raisin Bran. I purchase store brand in just about everything and a box of store brand raisin bran was only 1.88 compared to 3.12 for the name brand. This box is enough to EASILY do one and a half batches of these muffins, but I feel pretty certain you could do two batches out of it.
Hope this helps!!!!
Christy
Christy, Have you ever used applesauce in place of the oil? I know it can be used as a substitute in baking, but wasn’t sure how it would do since this is something that can be left in the fridge. Thanks! 🙂
Hi April!
While I’ve never substituted applesauce for the oil in this recipe, technically it should work.
You can substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for the 1/2 cup of oil or do half applesauce (1/4 cup) and half oil.
It should still keep fine in the fridge but since we’ve never tried this before, I’d just keep an eye on it.
Let me know if you try it, how it turns out!!!
Thanks!
Christy
I how much will this batch make? I was going to make some up, but was wondering if I needed to double the recipe to hold for a while?
Hi Beth! I would estimate this makes about two dozen. I usually bake one or two at a time and it lasts a pretty long while!
Hope this helps!
Christy
I LOVE these muffins! My husband is a big cranberry fan so I add dried cranberries to the mix and when the batter is getting low I throw in a few pecans. Delicious! I also chopped up too many apples for your fabulous Apple Dapple Cake and added them to some batter and it was wonderful as well. These muffins have become a staple in my house! Thank you so much for all of your wonderful recipes.
Betsy
I made these this weekend and I have to say they were fantastic. I did however, add some cinnamon and chopped pecans to the batter which gave it an extra crunch. This recipe is a keeper. Thank you!
Hello,
I have made thes muffins and they are great. I added the dried cranberries or crazin’s to this and it is wonderful.
try it next time and see how good they are.My aunt and uncle love them also.
thanks for your wonderful site.
Hey Christy,
I love your website, though I have never commented before, I just couldn’t resist this time. It is just too funny, because I was just thinking how I needed to make some raisin bran muffins. I make a whole bunch and then freeze them. When you heat them up, they are soo moist. I make them and give them to my friends who have just had babies since they help with that regularity thing. I am going to make a whole bunch for my family as well since I am about to pop. Now I am motivated! Thanks so much for all you do!
These muffins are great. I add dried cranberries to them and add a little less sugar(I only add 1/2 cup sugar), as the raisin bran cereal has sugar in it and the raisins are sweet, so are the cranberries when I make it with them. You can’t beat them for a wonderful snack . I make some up ahead and freeze them and take them out and heat them up , as I always don’t have time to bake them in the oven.
Thanks for all the great recipies.
Christy, I LOVE Love Love this recipe, and the beautiful rose pattern dish you have the muffin sittin on!!
Thank you for all the recipes, they’re ALL great!
I mixed up a batch of these last weekend. I really like the fact that I can just bake some whenever I need them. i am wondering if it would be possible to substitute hald whole wheat flour instead of using all white flour. I have been baking these for my husband to take a few to work each morning. Thanks again for another great recipe.
Well it is me again, I tried 1/2 wheat flour and it worked just fine, my husband takes a couple of these in his lunch each day, fresh baked of course, he really likes them I have been adding blueberries and walnuts to them YUMMY
Can you use raisin bran crunch?
I’m not sure it would work exactly the same way but I think it would still be good, albeit a slightly different.
Just a comment to say I still LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe 🙂 only thing I do different is add a handful of dried cranberries! I always have a batch in the fridge!
Sounds absolutely delicious,have been looking for a good raisin bran muffin recipe for a long time.Could this recipe be made into a bread cooked in a loaf pan and if so at what temp. and how long would you cook it? Thanks for the great recipes,Happy Cooking!
I think it could Dianne, the temperature would be the same, just increase the cooking time. I can’t say for sure how long the cooking time would be but I would probably add about 10 minutes and start checking it using the toothpick method.
This recipe is wonderful!! I’ve been making it for a little over a year now and almost always have a batch in the refrigerator. It’s great for every day, but super great for company. It’s very versatile as well. Some days I take out enough for 6 muffins and add chopped apples, golden raisins and cinnamon, or vanilla and blueberries. Some days it’s chopped dates and nuts. I’ve even tried shredded carrots, cinnamon and nutmeg or allspice. You can’t get tired of it when it changes so easily. Thank you for the post!
Thank YOU Melissa, I am so glad to hear that you like this recipe so well!!!
I just love how it says, “Can stay in the fridge for a month” I mixed this batter up at 3am this morning it’s now 9pm at night SAME DAY last of the batter is now muffens cooling on top of the stove. My Mother loved them, My Son actually ate them picky eatter, and My Husband wants them for work, I got one of the muffens and raved about them; now I’ve lost them all!!!
This is m6 all time go to muffin mix. Thank goodness Christybintroduced me to this keeper of acrecipe…its just fabulous.
You just made my day Mandy, I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying the recipe!!
Making these in a few minutes, can you also use paper cupcake liners?
Thanks 🙂
So happy to find this recipe. 25 years ago I made these a few times absolutely fantastic. So I made your recipe exactly and this morning when I went to bake a couple the batter was extremely dry, stiff, I could not stir the batter. used a small ice cream scoop get batter out and into my muffin tin. I added a little more buttermilk to one muffin, left the other dry, they both came out ok. seemed like salt or baking soda over powered the raisin bran flavor. Is the batter very stiff?
How many calories are in 1 muffin?