Classic gluten-free banana muffins. Make them with or without chocolate chips and nuts. This easy one-bowl recipe comes together in just minutes!
What was your favorite baked treat as a kid? Chocolate chip cookies? Chocolate cupcakes?
Mine was…banana bread.
Some other favorites of my childhood: watching Jeopardy, listening to adult contemporary music*, and reading an entire book in one sitting.
*Michael Bolton was the first concert I ever attended. I was, maybe, 13. And, if memory serves, I and the other attendees, who were almost all middle aged women, loved every second of it.
As you can see, I was a wild one with lots of friends and no social anxiety about fitting in at all. (<—That entire sentence is a lie. But you already knew that, didn’t you, smarty pants?)
But you didn’t come here to read about my awesome childhood. You came here because you’re wondering how to make the best gluten-free banana muffins. I got you.
This recipe was inspired by my gluten-free banana bread recipe. Like classic banana bread, these muffins bake up dense and flavorful. Unlike the original recipe, which uses butter, these muffins are naturally dairy-free.
You’ll only need one bowl to make these muffins. Start out by mashing together some really ripe,almost black, bananas with some dark brown sugar. The overly ripe bananas bring an intense flavor to muffins, while the dark brown sugar adds a caramel-like sweetness.
Then add the oil (or melted butter if you aren’t dairy-free), a couple of eggs, and a gluten-free flour blend. I really like Bob’s 1:1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour for this recipe. If you use your own blend, be sure it contains a little xanthan gum or the muffins might not rise as high as you’d like.
Mix everything together and then divide the batter evenly between 15 muffin cups. For banana muffins and gluten-free blueberry muffins, I like to line the cups with paper liners. If you want to skip the paper liners, grease each muffin cavity lightly with oil to prevent the muffins from sticking. Do this even if you’re muffin pan is nonstick.
Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Once the muffins are done, let them sit in the pan for about five minutes. I use a timer or I totally forget about them. Then move the muffins to a wire rack to cool. This prevents the muffins from getting soggy and damp in the center.
That’s it. These gluten-free banana muffins bake in about 15 minutes, which gives you just enough time to watch half an episode of Jeopardy or listen to a few Michael Bolton tunes.
Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour (9 ounces/ 260 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar (5 1/2 ounces/ 155 grams)
- 3 medium very ripe bananas (about 15 ounces/ 425 grams)
- 2 large eggs, whisked (about 4 ounces; 113 grams)
- 1/2 cup oil or (1 stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled (4 ounces; 113 grams)
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, optional (3 ounces; 85 grams)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional (3 ounces, 85 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.. Grease or line 15 standard size muffins cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher. Add brown sugar, oil, and eggs. Add the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined. Add chocolate chips and nuts if using. Fill prepared muffin cups halfway with batter.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes; remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store, wrapped, on the counter for up to three days or freeze for up to three months.
Leora says
I made these tonight and substituted the sugar for Xylitol (and used only 1/3 the amount), and added a splash of vanilla. They turned out really good! Thanks so much for the recipe!!
Leora says
Yes, 5 stars!
Cat says
I made tbese with my littles today and they did it all! Very easy recipe, I used Robinhood Gluten Free flour and omitted the salt. I made 12 regular muffins and 12 mini ones, baked for 19 minutes. 🙂 so delicious!!! Thank you!
Nichole says
Fantastic! First attempt at gluten free baking and turned out great. Thank you!
Jenna says
Tried these tonight, had to sub 1/2 the sugar for light brown sugar purely because I didn’t have enough left, they still turned out beautifully! So light and fluffy which is rare for GF cake! Thank you!
Elizabeth says
Yay! Glad you enjoyed them!
Jay says
I used an extra 1/4 cup of flour (half tapioca flour and half Bob’s gf for whole recipe), because seemed too liquidy and missed adding a splash some vanilla but turned out Great! I also threw in a couple blueberries just cuz . I filled about 3/4 full and no problem. Ty! My wife will dig when she gets home today ?
Tracey says
These were really good! Great texture, flavor and everything! I modified them a little to be egg free (used one flax egg in place of the 2 regular eggs). And I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract just for fun. They were delicious! With how over-ripe my bananas were I could have probably done 1/2 cup of brown sugar and they would have been sweet enough. They were like cupcakes. Yum! I definitely will make these again… Maybe right now since I shared them with everyone and they are gone. LOL.
Michelle says
These muffins are fantastic! We will definitely be keeping this recipe to make again and again. We have had varying degrees of success with GF baking. This recipe was perfect. Thank you so much!
Linda says
Delicious and still moist the next day! Even the non gluten free members of the family really enjoyed them
Liz S says
I put the bananas in a bowl, microwaved for 5 mins, put bananas and juice in colander to drain/separate juices. Put bananas in separate bowl. Cooked banana juice down to concentrate the sugar, let cool and add to bananas. Added a lot of banana flavor.
Adora says
These are delicious! My non-gluten free family members love them and request them!
Elizabeth says
So glad you enjoy them!
Ginny S says
Hi, I’m wondering if I could make these on a sheet pan. I’ve been looking for a GF banana cake recipe, but haven’t found any that look good and are ‘cakey’. Based on some of the comments, this muffin recipe sounds like it would work for my purposes. (I bake pastries and such for a local restaurant and would make petit fours with a cream cheese frosting. They are baked on a sheet pan, cut into squares and frosted between layers and on top. The sides are left naked.) Thoughts?
Elizabeth says
This is a great question. And I’m working on a banana cake but, sadly, it’s not ready yet.
I think this recipe might work in a sheet pan. What size sheet pan do you want to use? This recipe makes 15 muffins; so it’s not a lot of batter.
Ginny S says
I was considering doubling it and using a half sheet pan. I think that’s 15″x18″. Maybe I’ll make the recipe as is and use a quarter sheet pan as to not waste ingredients in case it’s a miss.
Lindsay Gonzalez says
You had me at Micheal Bolton.
Elizabeth says
Ha!
Sue says
Delicious and easy. I used the King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten free flour because that’s what I had on hand. I just threw all the ingredients in my stand mixer and let it rip. I did make a small modification and added a teaspoon of vanilla and a half a teaspoon of cinnamon. They were delicious. Next morning I microwaved one and slathered it in butter, and could barely tell it was gluten free!
Grace Harvat says
I have a sugar allergy (on top of gluten and dairy… I live a very sad life), and I was wondering if you had any tips for swapping the brown sugar for syrup. I think I’ll use about 3/4ths of a half of a cup of maple syrup, and just cross my fingers that it doesn’t mess with the consistency too much!
Elizabeth says
I haven’t tested it with maple syrup. Both maple syrup and brown sugar are sucrose but tablespoon per tablespoon, maple syrup is sweeter. So it’s a good idea to reduce it.
The biggest issue, as you mentioned, is that it brings additional liquid to the recipe. In gluten-free baking, it could mean the muffins turn out gummy. So I can’t say for sure this recipe would work with maple syrup. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
Lauren says
I made these into pumpkin muffins and just subbed roasted pumpkin for the banana. I added cinnamon and vanilla extract and used coconut oil for the oil. I used bob’s red mill 1 to 1 flour. They are so delicious and taste like regular muffins.
Jeannine A Sturm says
Oh what a great idea! That may be my next experiment. How much pumpkin did you use?
Jeannine says
Just took these out of the oven. They are perfect. Even though I only used two bananas since my husband went and ate the other one at breakfast, they still came out tasty! They rose well and are nice and moist and fluffy. I had to add some water to the batter as it was very thick and more like bread. So I thinned it out a bit and filled the pretty much to the top. Yielded 12 standard sized muffins. So excited to have these for breakfast this week! 🙂
Elizabeth says
Yay! Glad to hear you liked them!
And, yes, without the other banana, the batter would be thick. Glad you thought to add a bit of water!