These Gluten-Free Banana Muffins are soft, chewy, and moist, made without flour or refined sugars. Plus, they’re made with pantry staples!
Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
After sharing my healthy pumpkin muffins, I knew I had to create a banana version immediately! Those muffins have become wildly popular, and I’m thrilled to share this recipe today, which is similar to the pumpkin muffins: it contains no flour, no butter, and no refined sugars.
These naturally gluten-free muffins are made with regular pantry staples, requiring no trips to a specialty health-food store or online purchases. The ingredient list is fairly short; below, I’ve listed the ingredients used in these muffins.
Quick Tip
While the ingredients in Gluten-Free Banana Muffins are naturally gluten free, make sure to check all your ingredient labels to be sure they weren’t processed in a facility with gluten.
Ingredients In Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
- Old Fashioned Oats: Blend into oat flour for your gluten-free muffins.
- Overripe Bananas: The sweeter the bananas, the sweeter the muffins.
- Egg: Helps hold everything together and improves texture.
- Baking Agents: Makes the muffins light and fluffy. Check they’re fresh.
- Ground Cinnamon and Salt: Optional, but enhance and balance flavors.
- Vanilla Extract: Optional for a subtle flavor enhancement.
- Coconut Oil: Use a small amount, melted and cooled.
- Pure Maple Syrup: Naturally sweetens and adds nutrients.
- Dark Chocolate Chips: You can also use milk or semi-sweet chocolate.
How To Make Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
- Prep: Let the coconut oil cool before adding it to the batter.
- Blend Oats: Level off the oats before blending for the right amount.
- Mash Bananas: Mash 2-3 ripe bananas with a fork until they’re smooth.
- Mix Batter: Stir until combined, but don’t overmix to keep them fluffy.
- Bake: Test the muffins by gently pressing them; they should bounce back when ready.
- Cool: Use a fork to gently lift the muffins without breaking them.
Tips For Success
- Grease Tin: Generously grease the muffin tin for easy release. Avoid liners as the batter sticks to them.
- Smooth Batter: Thoroughly mash the bananas to avoid lumps in your Gluten-Free Banana Muffins. For speed, use an electric mixer.
- Extra Chocolate: Add a few extra chocolate chips on top of each muffin before baking.
- Salty Sweet Touch: Optionally, sprinkle Maldon® sea salt flakes on the muffins fresh out of the oven.
Storage
Storage Tips
- Cool muffins completely before wrapping and freezing.
- To freeze: Wrap Gluten-Free Banana Muffins individually in plastic wrap and then place in large freezer bags.
- To thaw: Set out at room temperature, or heat frozen muffins in the microwave.
More Gluten-Free Recipes
- Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
- Gluten Free Zucchini Muffins
- Zucchini Cake
- Gluten Free Apple Muffins
- Gluten Free Brownies
Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
Soft, chewy, and moist, these Gluten-Free Banana Muffins are made without any flour or refined sugars. For a fun flavor addition, add chocolate chips. This recipe relies on pantry staples and requires no unique ingredients!
Equipment
- Muffin pan
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats not steel cut or quick oats
- 1 cup very ripe mashed bananas 2–3 large bananas
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips see note 1
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease 9 cavities of a muffin pan. Melt the coconut oil and set aside so it can come back to room temperature (we don’t want to add hot oil to the batter).
- Fill the 1 cup measure of oats to the very top. Then level off the top by scraping the back of a table knife across the top. Add the cup of oats to a blender or food processor and blend until the oats resemble flour—a fine powder. If needed, stir and reblend to break up larger chunks of oats. Set aside.
- Mash very ripe bananas in a small bowl with the back of a fork. Mash thoroughly.
- Add the mashed banana, egg, maple syrup, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract to a large bowl. Stir until well combined. Add the blended oats and stir until combined. Add dark chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips and stir again.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared muffin pan, adding equal amounts to the 9 cavities; cavities should be about 3/4 filled. If desired, add a few more chocolate chips on top. Bake for 23–26 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges and no longer gooey/wet looking on top (if you lightly touch the muffin, it should spring back). Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before using a fork to coax the muffins out onto a cooling rack.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Dark chocolate offers health benefits and a fun textural addition. Milk or semi-sweet chocolate can be used, but they do make the muffins slightly less nutritious. You can use all mini chocolate chips or all dark chocolate chips if preferred; just keep the amount to 1/2 cup total. Chocolate doesn’t contain gluten, but check the label to be sure.
Storage: Once completely cooled, store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2–3 days. To freeze, cool muffins completely, wrap them in plastic wrap, and place in large freezer bags.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 178kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 156mg | Potassium: 191mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 58IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Best healthy muffins i have come across, i only use 2 tablespoons of sugar and they’re still amazing. My kids absolutely love them and i make a batch every couple of days
So happy to hear that! That is quite the compliment so thank you! 🙂
What’s the serving size?
1 muffin
Your Banana muffins are delicious.
I made a change to the recipe. Instead of brown sugar, I used honey. They turned out great.
I used the food processor to grind the oats into a coarse flour which I used for both the flour/quick oats quantities.
I heated a tablespoon of extra honey in the microwave for 10 seconds to make a syrup and brushed it on top of the muffins then sprinkled some crushed pecans on top. Keeps them moist and adds flavour.
After I finished, I had plenty of banana and oat flour left over so I just made overnight oats with them – added milk and honey then stuck them in the fridge. Two birds, One stone.
This is now my go-to recipe. I’ve been eager to find a homemade recipe that was easy and uses Oat flour to suit my daughter and I. Thank you very much. perfect for a healthy pre-school treat!
Thank you so much for the comment!! So glad you enjoyed these muffins 🙂 And those overnight oats sound delicious! Such a smart idea!!
Made these and they turned out perfectly! My entire family (including my hubby) devoured them! Thanks for the great easy recipe!
That is so great to hear!! So happy about that! Thanks for the comment Laura!
So I follow a kinda weird diet. I should be on the Candida diet but it’s very restrictive and I find I need many more carbs than it allows, so I follow it to some extent. With that said, I try to avoid most sugars, which include natural sugars in fruits, and bananas have a lot of fruit in them. I also have a friend who has a latex allergy, so she can’t have bananas but uses pumpkin instead for things like smoothies. So I thought, what if I used the same amount of pumpkin in this recipe instead?
Holy cow. The muffins turned out amazing.
So I did make a couple adjustments to the recipe:
Instead of sugar, I used 1/4 cup stevia and 1 tbs of honey.
Instead of banana, I used pumpkin.
Instead of chocolate chips, I used carob chips.
This recipe turned out amazing even with my adjustments. I can truly say I’ve been very frustrated as of recently trying to find things that taste good on such a restrictive diet, but these are the BOMB.
That is SO great to hear!! Thank you so much for leaving a comment and sharing how you changed this recipe, I appreciate it as I’m sure many other readers do too! 🙂 Thank you!
loveeeeee this!!! i made these twice! the first time was MUCH BETTER DEN THE FIRST, and i did not use any chocolate chips. The second time i made these the inside was wet, if you know what i mean.. why is that?? they tasted awesome though!
Hmm not sure why you had different results the first from the second time, did you perhaps change anything on the recipe or measuring anything differently? The only other thing I can think since you said the inside was wet the second time is that maybe you didn’t cook them long enough or on the right oven temperature the second time you made them? And are your baking agents fresh?
I love these muffins but do you think I could make them into a loaf? I know you have other banana loaf recipes but I was looking for one that was flour less and had yoghurt.
I’d recommend this recipe:
My daughter doesn’t like bananas and she can detect them anywhere. What can I use to substitute banana in this muffin?
Hi Margaret! These muffins probably wouldn’t be the best to make as the banana is one of the most essential ingredients so replacing it probably won’t yield a great muffin. Does your daughter like pumpkin? I’d recommend these healthy and flourless pumpkin muffins: https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/skinny-healthy-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins/
What is the actual calorie content for each muffin.
177 calories
Definitely use pumpkin! I did and it was amazing!
Found your recipe on Pinterest yesterday. It was the first time visiting your blog. I wasted no time and made these last night! HUGE hit in our household this morning. Yup, I let my boys have them for breakfast! My 6 year old requested one for his lunch box today. Thank you for sharing. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!!
I love the oat flour in these! I have never tried oat flour before so I want to try it! These look amazing, love the melted chocolate in the pictures, so pretty 🙂