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Home » Recipes » Vegan Baking

Gluten Free Banana Muffins

Published: Aug 28, 2021 · Modified: Sep 26, 2022 by Lexi

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These vegan and gluten free banana muffins are packed with walnuts and mini chocolate chips for an easy-to-make, delicious snack! They're perfect for meal prep, school lunches, or breakfast on the go. You can even freeze a batch to enjoy later!

Several banana nut muffins in a muffin tin.
Studded with mini chocolate chips and walnuts, these banana muffins are filling and delicious.
Jump to:
  • 🍌 Why We Love This Recipe
  • 🌰 Ingredients
  • 📋 Ingredient Notes
  • 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
  • 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
  • 🍽 Related Recipes
  • 📖 Recipe

🍌 Why We Love This Recipe

  • Gluten free and vegan: It's hard to find muffins that are both dairy and gluten free, but still have the taste and texture of regular muffins. We think these muffins pull it off, so look no further!
  • Great texture: We fold in walnuts and chocolate chips into the batter, and top with a walnut and brown sugar "streusel", giving these muffins a great crunch with a tender, soft interior.
  • Good way to use up those ugly overripe bananas: If you've got bananas that are too soft or mushy for your liking, this recipe is a great way to make use of them! The bananas are mashed in this recipe, so you don't need to worry about using a perfectly ripe banana.
  • On-the-go breakfast or snack: I like to make an extra batch of these vegan and gluten free banana muffins and store them in the freezer. When I need a quick bite, I just heat one up for about 30 seconds in the microwave. Easy and delicious!

🌰 Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make these gluten free banana muffins:

overhead view of ingredients for gluten free banana muffins.
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour is the key for a perfect texture without any gluten.

📋 Ingredient Notes

  • Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour: Let's face it – gluten free baking is tough. Without gluten, baked goods can lack body and structure, becoming dry and crumbly. There are ways to overcome this problem, like adding xanthan gum or flax eggs, but this takes extra time or requires another run to the grocery store for a special ingredient. Lucky for us, Bob's Red Mill solved this problem with their 1-to-1 baking flour. It's a mixture of flours, starches, and xanthan gum, which makes it super easy to transform traditional cookies, cakes, brownies, muffins and pancakes into amazing gluten free creations! We use it in pretty much every single one of our recipes, so we've found that it works well across the board.
    • You can purchase Bob's Red Mill products at thousands of stores across the country, or order online for easy and convenient delivery. Now's a good time to stock up in preparation for holiday baking!
    • One more thing: this flour is not recommended for recipes that that use yeast. If you're baking yeasted breads or something like a cinnamon roll, opt for Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour.
  • Walnuts: We used raw, unsalted walnuts in this recipe. Feel free to sub with another nut of choice, like pecans. You can also leave them out if you have any nut allergies in the family.
  • Mini chocolate chips: We think that the smaller chocolate chips make more sense in a small baked good like a muffin, but regular sized ones will also work fine.
  • Nondairy milk and butter: We used dairy free milk and butter in these gluten free banana muffins, but you can substitute for regular dairy if you're not vegan.
  • Bananas: bananas add flavor and act as a binder in these muffins, so they're a great replacement for eggs, keeping these muffins fully vegan. Just like you would for banana bread, opt for super ripe bananas in this recipe.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Fill two muffin tins with liners.

(1 & 2): Mix together the brown sugar walnut topping ingredients with a spoon and set aside.

On the left: walnut sugar topping before mixing. On the right: topping after mixing.

(3): In a large mixing bowl, stir together gluten free flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

(4): In a separate bowl or stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

On the left: dry ingredients in a bowl together. On the right: butter and sugar being creamed.

(5): Mash bananas with a fork.

(6): Add mashed bananas and the vanilla extract to cream and sugar mixture and continue mixing.

On the left: mashing bananas and then adding them to creamed butter. On the right: mixing in mashed bananas.

(7): Combine lemon juice and milk. Alternate adding portions of the milk mixture (wet ingredients) and the flour mixture (dry ingredients) to the mashed banana mixture until batter is fully mixed.

(8): Stir in chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips with spatula.

(9): Fill each muffin tin almost to the top (since these are gluten free, they won't rise as much as regular muffins).

(10): Top with the brown sugar walnut mixture, and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool slightly before enjoying!

On the left: batter in muffin tins. On the right: batter topped with topping in tins.

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

  • Make sure the butter is softened: Leave your butter at room temp for 30 minutes before creaming the butter and sugar together. You can also pop it in the microwave for a few seconds at a time, checking frequently, until it's soft.
  • Use liners: You can opt to grease the muffin tin instead of using liners, but we find that the muffins can still stick even with a greased tin, so the liners just make life easier.
  • Add-ins: feel free to add in any nut or seed of your choosing. These would also be great with some blueberries folded in instead of chocolate chips. You can also add in some other spices – pumpkin spice would be great here!
  • Storage: store leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Be sure to let the muffins cool completely before storing.
  • Freezer storage: for long term storage, store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3-6 months. (As long as there's no freezer burn, they're fine to eat!) Reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds, until warmed through.
  • Adapt for mini muffins: if using a mini muffin tin, start checking the muffins for doneness between 10-15 minutes.
Banana muffins stacked on top of one another, one with a biten taken out of it.

🍽 Related Recipes

  • Vegan Strawberry Muffins
  • Vegan Blueberry Muffins
  • Carrot Zucchini Muffins (Vegan)
  • Raspberry Rhubarb Muffins

Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or by subscribing to our newsletter.

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📖 Recipe

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Banana walnut muffin in a muffin tin with a bite taken out.

Gluten Free Banana Muffins


  • Author: Lexi
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 24 muffins 1x
  • Diet: Gluten Free
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Description

These vegan and gluten free banana muffins are packed with walnuts and mini chocolate chips for an easy-to-make, delicious snack! They're perfect for meal prep, school lunches, or breakfast on the go.


Ingredients

Units Scale

Muffins:

  • ½ cup vegan butter, softened
  • ¾ cup granulated cane sugar
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 large, ripe bananas, mashed (between ¾-1 cup)
  • 3 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon fine kosher salt
  • 1 ¼ cup nondairy milk (we used oat milk)
  • 1 cup chopped raw walnuts
  • ¾ cup mini chocolate chips

Brown Sugar Walnut Topping:

  • 3 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoon finely chopped raw walnuts
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1-2 teaspoon vegan butter, melted

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Fill two muffin tins with liners.
  2. Stir together the brown sugar walnut topping ingredients and set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together gluten free flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
  4. In a separate bowl or stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
  5. Mash bananas with a fork.
  6. Add mashed bananas and the vanilla extract to cream and sugar mixture and continue mixing.
  7. Combine lemon juice and milk. Alternate adding portions of the milk mixture (wet ingredients) and the flour mixture (dry ingredients) to the mashed banana mixture until well combined.
  8. Stir in chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips.
  9. Fill each muffin tin almost to the top.
  10. Top with the brown sugar walnut mixture, and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool slightly before enjoying!

Notes

Storage: store leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Be sure to let the muffins cool completely before storing.

Freezer storage: for long term storage, store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3-6 months. (As long as there's no freezer burn, they're fine to eat!) Reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds, until warmed through.

Walnuts: We used raw, unsalted walnuts in this recipe. Feel free to sub with another nut of choice, like pecans. You can also leave them out if you have any nut allergies in the family. 

Bananas: be sure to use super ripe bananas in these muffins. 

Adapt for mini muffins: if using a mini muffin tin, start checking the muffins for doneness between 10-15 minutes. 

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Category: Baking
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 muffin
  • Calories: 189
  • Sugar: 11.5 g
  • Sodium: 99.7 mg
  • Fat: 8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 29.1 g
  • Fiber: 1.3 g
  • Protein: 2.1 g

Keywords: gluten free banana muffins, banana nut muffins

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Hi, we're Lexi and Beth, a mother-daughter team from Michigan. The recipes you'll find here are a reflection of how we bring our family together around the dinner table despite various dietary differences.

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