Home > Desserts > Flourless Banana Muffins Flourless Banana Muffins July 1, 2020 | 66 Comments SAVE TO RECIPE BOX Jump to Recipe This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy. Soft, chewy, and moist, Flourless Banana Muffins are made without any flour or refined sugars! Add chocolate chips for a fun flavor addition; nuts or dried fruits work well, too. This recipe relies on pantry staples — no unique ingredients needed! Flourless Banana Muffins After sharing these healthy pumpkin muffins, I knew I had to create a banana version– stat! Those muffins have been wildly popular, and I’m thrilled to share this recipe today that stacks up similarly to the pumpkin muffins: no flour, no butter, and no refined sugars. These naturally gluten-free muffins (see quick tip below) are made with regular pantry staples. No strange ingredients that require a stop at a specialty health-food store or online purchase. The ingredient list is also fairly short; below I’ve listed out the ingredients we use in these muffins. QUICK TIPWhile the ingredients in Flourless 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 Old fashioned oats. More on this ingredient below! Overripe bananas. The riper the bananas, the sweeter the muffins! I wait until the banana skins are very spotty all over. A large egg. Baking agents. Baking soda and baking powder make the muffins light and fluffy. make sure your agents are fresh before starting. Ground cinnamon. While you technically don’t have to add this ingredient, it adds a nicely complementary flavor to the bananas. Salt. This helps balance everything and intensify flavors. Vanilla extract. Another optional ingredient, but it adds a nice subtle flavor. Coconut oil. Just a little bit of oil is all it takes, but make sure to use melted oil when measuring it. Allow melted coconut oil to cool back to room temperature before adding it to the batter or it will clump up. Pure maple syrup. These muffins are sweetened naturally with pure maple syrup — a natural sugar alternative. Maple syrup supplies important vitamins and nutrients among many other health benefits. Dark chocolate chips. Dark chocolate offers health benefits and a fun textural addition to these muffins. Milk or semi-sweet chocolate can be used, but it does make these muffins slightly less nutritious. Without flour in these flourless muffins, what are we using? Regular old-fashioned oats! (Make sure to use old-fashioned or rolled oats, not quick or steel-cut oats). The oats are blended up before getting added to the batter, and they resemble flour and serve the same function; below is a quick breakdown of the process. How to make powdered oats This recipe uses quick oats or old-fashioned oats. Add the old-fashioned oats to a food processor or small blender jar. Pulse the oats until they are ground into a powder-like consistency that resembles flour. Stir the oats around to be sure that all the oats have been finely ground and there aren’t any whole oats left (this will affect the texture and liquid absorption of these flourless muffins). QUICK TIPMake sure to fill the 1 cup measurement of old fashioned oats to the very top. Then level off the top by scraping the backside of a table knife across the top. (There is no need to measure the oats after they’ve been blended and are in powdered form). Flourless Banana Muffin tips Generously grease the muffin tin. I don’t recommend muffin liners for these muffins; the batter sticks to the liners. Make sure to really grease the cavities well. Of course, a good muffin tin also makes a world of difference. These tins are my absolute favorite, and I’ve never had a problem with muffins not releasing nicely. Thoroughly mash the bananas to avoid unpleasant chunks in the muffins. If you don’t want to take the time to mash with a fork, use an electric hand mixer to mash them quickly. Add a few dark chocolate chips on top. I like to add a few extra chocolate chips on top of each muffin before putting them into the oven. Not only does this make the tops look nicer, it also ensures there is a chocolate chip in every bite! Love salty sweet? Add a small sprinkle of Maldon® sea salt flakes to the tops of these Flourless Banana Muffins right out of the oven. Flourless Banana Muffin storage Once completely cooled, store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature. Flourless Banana Muffins are best eaten within 2-3 days. To freeze/thaw: Cool muffins completely before wrapping and freezing. To freeze: Wrap Flourless 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. MoreRecipesApple MuffinsChocolate Banana BreadEasy Banana BreadApplesauce Muffins FOLLOW ALONG! Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates, recipes and content. Flourless Banana Muffins 4.75 from 20 votes - Review this recipe Soft, chewy, and moist Flourless Banana Muffins are made without any flour or refined sugars! Add chocolate chips for a fun flavor addition; nuts or dried fruits also work. SAVE TO RECIPE BOX Print Recipe Flourless Banana Muffins 4.75 from 20 votes - Review this recipe SAVE TO RECIPE BOX Print Recipe Soft, chewy, and moist Flourless Banana Muffins are made without any flour or refined sugars! Add chocolate chips for a fun flavor addition; nuts or dried fruits also work. Course Breakfast, Snack, Vegetarian Cuisine American, Vegan, Vegetarian Keyword flourless banana muffins Prep Time 15 minutes Cook Time 25 minutes Total Time 40 minutes Servings 9 muffins Calories 178kcal Author Chelsea Lords 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 pure 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)US - Metric USMetric InstructionsPREP: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease 9 cavities of a muffin tin. 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).BLEND OATS: Fill the 1 cup measure of oats to the very top. Then level off the top by scraping the backside 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 re-blend to break up larger chunks of oats. Set aside.BANANA: Mash 2-3 very ripe bananas in a small bowl with the back of a fork. Mash thoroughly.BATTER: 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 in the blended oats and stir until combined. Add in the dark chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips and stir again.BAKE: Transfer the batter into the prepared muffin tin, 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 no longer gooey/wet looking on top and lightly browned around the edges (if you lightly touch the muffin, it should spring back). Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before using the tines of a fork to coax the muffins out onto a cooling rack. Recipe NotesNote 1: Chocolate: Dark chocolate offers health benefits and a fun textural addition to these muffins. Milk or semi-sweet chocolate can be used instead, but it does make these muffins slightly less nutritious. You can use all miniature 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. Nutrition FactsServing: 9muffins | 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 We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed. DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? I love hearing from you when you've made one of my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @ChelseasMessyApron or leave me a comment below.
I love this recipe, I made something similar, but I actually used a little flour, and blueberries, but I love all that chocolate, may have to try it your way! Reply
Ohhh I LOVE those big chunks of chocolate chips inside these cute lil’ muffins! And because they’re on the healthier side, you can have 3 or 4, right ;). Reply
These look great– and I happen to have two sad looking bananas on my counter. Still love your flourless oat pumpkin muffins- made a batch or two of them this week and froze some extras. Can’t wait to try these. Thanks! Reply
These look insanely good! I love baking with oat flour. I am going to have to let my bananas go brown so that I can make these ASAP. Reply
Love these flourless muffins! They look delicious and perfect for a healthier start to the morning! Reply
WOW-these muffins are gorgeous! the texture is perfect, I love all those chocolate chips, and the fact that they’re so healthified is amazing! YUM YUM YUMMERS Reply
So I am a huge muffin person but never make them! Obviously I needed this recipe. Love that they are flourless! Genius, Chelsea!! Reply
Just saw these on FG and they look great! I just posted banana oatmeal choc chip cookies today with very little butter. But they do have flour 🙂 Your muffins look awesome! Need to try! Reply
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 🙂 Reply
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!! Reply
My daughter doesn’t like bananas and she can detect them anywhere. What can I use to substitute banana in this muffin? Reply
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/ Reply
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. Reply
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! Reply
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? Reply
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. Reply
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! Reply
Made these and they turned out perfectly! My entire family (including my hubby) devoured them! Thanks for the great easy recipe! Reply
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! Reply
Thank you so much for the comment!! So glad you enjoyed these muffins 🙂 And those overnight oats sound delicious! Such a smart idea!! Reply
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 Reply
Great! I hope you love it! I wouldn’t make the batter ahead of time. It’s important for the baking agents to hit the heat of the oven soon after being added to the other ingredients. Reply
Hello, did you change this recipe? I had this saved on pinterest and just made them last week. The ones I made used honey and there was no sugar in the recipe. The pictures were different too. I LOVED the sugarless recipe so I’m hoping I’m just looking in the wrong spot. Thanks! Reply
Hi Heidi, I did not change this recipe. A few other readers have told me about this; apparently my recipe got linked on Pinterest to someone else’s photo which has caused a mix-up. I’m not sure which recipe you are looking for either. I apologize! Reply
Never mind – I found it. For some reason my pinterest link is sending me to your website and not to the website I originally pinned. Reply
Hey! Did you find the other recipe? The same thing happened to me and I’m trying to track down the other recipe that doesn’t use sugar but honey instead. If you’d link it or tag me I’d so appreciate it! Reply
Made them yesterday and am looking forward to eating them all week! Funny story – I didn’t notice the part about instant oats ahead of time. The only instant oats I had were honey and almond flavored, but I was already halfway through the recipe, so decided….why not? They came out great! I’ve been working through several of your recipes in the past week and have enjoyed them all. Reply
These were great! I did change a few things: I used old-fashioned oats and did not pulse the whole ones. They worked great for my taste; added a little chew. I used blueberries instead of chocolate chips, and only used 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. I think they were plenty sweet enough 🙂 thanks for sharing Reply
I haven’t tried that substitution in these muffins, so I’m not sure how it would work. Oat flour absorbs a lot more liquid than whole wheat flour so it wouldn’t be a 1:1 substitution. Wish I could be of more help! Reply
I tried it and they worked out! My 2 year old loved eating them for breakfast 🙂 Thanks for all the great recipes! Reply
These were so delicious! Subbed blueberries for the choc chips and added a little bit of vanilla protein powder and a little less maple syrup YUM! Reply
Lovely recipe! Just made these on a rainy day and they are just what I needed. Perfect amount of sweetness, choc chips & cinnamon flavour. Reply
I’m so happy to hear this! These are perfect for a rainy day! Thanks so much for your comment Amy! 🙂 Reply
This recipe is now made on repeat in my house. I love how easy it is to make & how yummy and moist the muffins are! I usually make 1 1/2 of the recipe at a time to fill a whole 12 pan of muffins. Reply
These are incredible! I took a chance and used instant oats, and sprinkled a tad bit of walnut on top of each one. Too good to be true! Reply
Can I use an immersion blender to make oat flour? I don’t have a regular blender or food processor. Reply
I’ve never used an immersion blender but if it blends it down enough that it’s the same consistency as regular flour it’s great! 🙂 Reply
Just made these today and they are scrumptious! Don’t like dark chocolate, so used milk chocolate chips instead. This is a recipe I will use often! Yum! Reply
My kids love these!! I have to make a double batch because my son eats 4-5 in one sitting! I use only mini chocolate chips and use half the amount the recipe calls for and find that it’s PLENTY! I sprinkle a few more on top of each muffin for looks. I also stir in a few teaspoons each of ground flax and hemp seeds for an omega boost. Great recipe! Thank you!! Reply
I made these and they are perfect for breakfast along side a bowl of cereal. Or they would make the perfect snack…so good! Reply
I love this recipe. I don’t see Greek yogurt in the list of ingredients? Is it needed for this recipe? Thank you – Debbie Reply
