The Best Healthy Banana Muffins (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
These healthy banana muffins are the best you’ll ever try! Vegan, gluten-free, made with oat flour, and naturally sweetened with coconut sugar—they’re soft, fluffy, moist, and ready in just 20 minutes!
Since my healthy banana bread is one of my most popular recipes on my website, with so many 5-star reviews, I knew I had to create a muffin version.
And let me tell you, these banana muffins are amazing!
This recipe is almost identical to my healthy banana bread, but with a few tweaks, like oven temperature and baking time. The result? A healthy banana muffin you won’t want to share—but you definitely should!
Not only are these vegan banana muffins delicious, but they’re also made with wholesome ingredients you can feel good about.
Perfectly soft, moist, and fluffy, they are everything you could want in a banana muffin—and more! I love adding dark chocolate chips and walnuts because, well, why not?
All the flavors of banana bread, but in muffin form, and ready in 20 minutes. Sounds almost too good to be true, right? Well, let’s dive in!
What Makes These Banana Muffins Healthy?
You may be wondering, what makes these banana muffins healthier than other recipes? Well, let’s take a look!
- Made with oat flour: A nutrient-dense whole-grain alternative to refined flours that’s also gluten-free (just use certified GF oats!). Oats are very nutritious and a great source of fiber.
- Naturally sweetened: Bananas, coconut sugar, and maple syrup add natural sweetness without the need for refined sugars.
- No dairy or eggs: 100% vegan and dairy-free. The mashed banana helps bind the ingredients together without the need for eggs.
- Wholesome ingredients: Simply whole-food, plant-based ingredients!
Why You’ll Love These Banana Muffins
- Made with healthy ingredients: Like nutrient-dense oat flour and naturally sweetened with coconut sugar and maple syrup. 100% dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free!
- One-bowl recipe: Easy to make and easy to clean up!
- Ready in 25 minutes: All the flavors of banana bread, but quicker!
- Soft texture: These muffins are melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
- Jazz it up: Add walnuts, chocolate chips, pecans…the possibilities are endless!
Ingredients Needed to Make Healthy Banana Muffins
Scroll down to the recipe card to get the full recipe with measurements.
- Bananas: An essential! This recipe uses 3 bananas. The riper the bananas, the better. They act as the egg replacement and help bind the muffins together.
- Oat Flour: This recipe uses nutrient-dense oat flour instead of regular flour. You can buy oat flour, or, make your own by blending rolled oats or quick oats in a blender until it turns into a flour. For gluten allergies be sure to use certified gluten-free oats.
- Coconut Sugar: This natural sweetener adds extra sweetness and a subtle caramel flavor that pairs so well with the bananas.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: Reacts with the leavening agents to give the muffins height and fluffiness.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: To help the muffins rise. It can be tricky to get vegan and gluten-free breads to rise, so we have to use a bit more leavening agent to assist.
- Vanilla Extract: An essential for added flavor.
- Non-Dairy Milk: I prefer unsweetened soy milk, but any dairy-free milk will work in this recipe, such as almond milk or oat milk.
- Coconut Oil: Melted coconut oil adds the perfect amount of moisture. Make sure to use refined coconut oil to avoid any strong coconut flavor.
- Spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt.
- Dark Chocolate Chips: Optional, but I love adding a handful of dark chocolate chips to my banana muffins for extra sweetness and richness! Make sure to use vegan chocolate chips to keep this recipe dairy-free.
- Walnuts: Optional, for crunch!
How To Make Healthy Banana Muffins
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 375°F and line or grease a muffin pan (I grease mine with refined coconut oil).
- Mix Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until smooth, then stir in the dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Fill Muffin Pan: Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin pan, filling each cavity about ¾ of the way full. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and extra chocolate chips, if desired.
- Bake: Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or with a few crumbs).
- Cool: Remove the muffins from the oven and let them sit in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Use ripe bananas. This is the secret to naturally sweet and flavorful muffins! The darker, mushier, and more speckled the bananas, the better.
- Cool completely. I know it’s tempting to dig in right away, but patience is key! If you cut into the muffins too soon, they may turn gummy inside. Let them rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely to ensure that perfect soft and fluffy texture!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I need to use spotty/brown bananas?
The riper, the better! Dark, spotty, and mushy bananas add natural sweetness and moisture to the muffins.
Can I substitute the oat flour?
I haven’t tested this recipe with a different flour, so I’m not sure it will work! Oat flour has a unique texture and absorbency, so swapping it may affect the structure and texture. But if you don’t have oat flour on hand, you can easily make your own! Just blend rolled oats or quick oats in a blender or food processor until it turns into a flour. And if you have a gluten allergy, be sure to use certified gluten-free oats.
got more ripe bananas? You’ll Love These Recipes
Find all of my banana recipes here and more healthy snack recipes here.
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and ★★★★★ star rating below letting me know how you liked it! This helps others find my recipes. I appreciate your support, as always. xo, Megan
The Best Healthy Banana Muffins (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas, = 1 ½ cups mashed banana
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup non-dairy milk
- 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups oat flour, use certified gf oats if needed
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup vegan chocolate chips, plus more for topping, optional
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line or grease a muffin pan (I grease mine with refined coconut oil).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, coconut sugar, maple syrup, non-dairy milk, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar until combined.
- Mix in the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and vegan chocolate chips (if using) until just combined.
- Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin pan, filling each cavity about ¾ of the way full. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and extra chocolate chips (if desired)
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or with a few crumbs).
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let them sit in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Equipment
Video
Notes
- Use ripe bananas! This is the secret to naturally sweet and flavorful muffins. The darker, mushier, and more speckled the bananas, the better.
- Make your own oat flour by blending rolled oats or quick oats in a blender or food processor until it turns into a fine flour.
- Use certified gluten-free oats if needed.
- Let them cool completely! I know it’s tempting to dig in right away, but patience is key! If you cut into the muffins too soon, they may turn gummy inside. Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely to get that soft and fluffy texture!
I made the muffins yesterday as a breakfast option for my family. Most of the time they don’t like healthy muffins with oats, but these are so moist en tasteful. Thank you so much!
Awe that’s great, I’m so happy your family enjoyed these muffins! Thanks for sharing, Sofie 🙂
Delicious! My favorite muffins recipe 🤍
So happy to hear that 🙂 thanks for sharing, Elisabeth!
After many different recipes…this is my favourite ! Gf and vegan is not easy so thanks for this!
First time to comment on any recipes!
Marianne
Aww, I’m so happy you found a winner! Thanks so much for sharing, Marianne, I hope you’ll try more of my recipes!
Great muffins all the family enjoyed them
Yay I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Loved the muffins and the texture. I only changed it and put 1 cup oat, 1 cup cocnut flour. They turned out great! Definitely will do them again 🙂
I’m so happy you loved them, Lorena! It’s great to hear it worked with that substitution too – thank you for sharing 🙂
This banana muffin looks so delicious!
Do you think I can use greek yogurt or coconut yoghurt instead of milk? Let me know!
Hi Lisa! I haven’t tried swapping the milk for yogurt — it might make the muffins slightly more dense, so you may need to add a little extra liquid to get the right batter consistency. Let me know if you try it — I’d love to hear how they turn out!
These could be my favorite – healthy option!
So glad you like them!
I LOVED your healthy banana bread recipe so I had to try these too…they are SO good!!! And taste just like the banana bread but in muffin shape!! Thank you!!
Awww I’m so happy to hear that you loved these muffins just as much as the banana bread! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Hi Megan! I made these today and they were hands-down some of the most tasty muffins my family has ever eaten. They turned out super moist and fluffy, just like you said. My husband gobbled his up! And thanks for tip about the apple cider vinegar; I didn’t know they were the secret ingredient that turned baked goods extra fluffy. The only change I made was leaving out the coconut sugar as the sweetness from the bananas and the maple sugar was sufficient for us since we usually prefer a lower sugar content than most people. That said, all of your recipes I’ve tried so far have come out super tasty—kudos to you. You obviously are very good at your craft.
Aww, Khurty, I’m so happy these muffins were a hit with your family, and I’m glad to hear that they were still delicious without the coconut sugar! It brought such a smile to my face reading your comment, so thank you 🙂 I hope you’ll continue making them!