A super easy recipe for moist, fluffy vegan gluten-free chocolate banana muffins that are perfect for snacks or lunch box treats. They’re overflowing with rich chocolate and banana flavours and will become a new chocolaty favourite to make and devour!
I had some bananas that were well past their prime as well as some frozen bananas that needed to be used, so I thought, why not make some vegan gluten-free chocolate banana muffins? You can never go wrong with muffins, right? (Click this link to see all of my muffin recipes!)
Everything about these muffins turned out so right, the results were SO GOOD. I'm glad I decided to go in this direction!
These muffins are soft, moist, and fluffy, but at the same time, they're rich and chocolaty with banana flavour and chocolate chips in every bite. It's a crave-worthy combination of flavours contained in a little muffin.
Does that sound good? If so, read on and I'll walk you through everything you need to know to make them, too!
Are you new to vegan gluten-free baking? If so, be sure to read all of my vegan gluten-free baking tips!
Ingredients You'll Need
Just a few simple ingredients are all you need for this recipe:
Flax eggs, gluten-free flour blend (the Bob's Red Mill blend in the red bag, and make sure you measure it correctly, like this!), Dutch process cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda, oil, sugar, puréed bananas, vanilla, and mini chocolate chips.
How to Make Them
(Note: I’ve outlined the step-by-step on how to make this recipe here, but find the full recipe, ingredients, and directions at the end of this post.)
Preparing the Bananas
For all of my recipes that call for bananas, I prefer to purée them so no chunks remain. I do this with a stick blender, but if you don't have one, you can use a blender, a NutriBullet, or mash them with a fork and be sure that it's as smooth as you can get it and no chunks or pieces remain.
To make the muffins, it's as simple as mixing the dry ingredients together, then the wet and combine the two.
After that, stir in the mini chocolate chips.
Next, scoop the batter into your muffin pan and if you want a little extra chocolate (because who doesn't!), you can sprinkle some mini chocolate chips on top. This is optional (but highly recommended!). That will take them from double chocolate to triple chocolate banana muffins!
The next step is to bake them and once they're finished, you'll have 12 perfect dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free chocolate banana muffins.
Remove them from the muffin pan and place them on a cooling rack. Once cooled slightly, they'll be ready to serve.
They're great with hot chocolate, a glass of your favourite non-dairy milk, or just on their own.
FAQ
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour Blend (the one in the RED bag) is the only flour I have tested this recipe with, I have not made them with any other types of flours, so I can’t say how well others would work.
If you use a different gluten-free flour blend, results will vary since ingredients and ratios are different between all of the brands.
Brown sugar can be used in place of coconut sugar.
Any neutral flavoured oil can be used for this recipe. I have not tried making this recipe oil-free, so I can’t say whether substituting it with another ingredient, such as applesauce, will work out well.
You can make yourself a chocolate banana loaf, BUT rather than adjusting this recipe, use my recipe for vegan gluten-free chocolate banana bread instead.
As for mini muffins, yes, you can do that, just bake them for less time, around 9-10 minutes.
Then they won't be "chocolate banana" muffins 🙂 But if you would like to have something without the bananas, try my chocolate muffins recipe instead.
And if you're looking for banana muffins without the chocolate, you'll need to check out my banana muffins recipe that you can make FOUR different ways!
Here in Canada, President’s Choice decadent semi-sweet mini chocolate chips are vegan and there’s also Enjoy Life brand.
In the US, look for Enjoy Life or you can check Whole Foods, or Trader Joe’s brands.
Yes, pure cocoa powder is vegan. Read this article: Is Cocoa Powder Vegan? to learn all the details you need to know before you buy.
And...What's the Texture Like?
Soft, fluffy, moist, and when they're still warm, the melty chocolate chips make them gooey and even more delicious.
Take a look at the picture below, no one will know these are vegan AND gluten-free!
Storing Leftovers
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, after that, move them into the refrigerator for another 3-4 days. When you're ready to serve, bring them up to room temperature, and you can warm them up slightly, if you'd like, before serving.
To freeze, fully cool and wrap them tightly so they are airtight. Place in an airtight container and freeze for up to one month.
When you’re ready to serve them, thaw at room temperature and serve. Just before serving, you can warm them up a bit in the microwave.
EMAIL SIGN UP FORM
If You Make This Recipe...
Please leave a comment and start rating below and if you're on Instagram, I'd love to see a picture of the muffins you've made! Just share a pic of them and tag me (@delightfuladventures).
And If You Like This Recipe...
...you may also like these!
- Rich Chocolate Banana Bread
- Fudgy Brownies
- Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes
- Easy Baked Chocolate Doughnuts
- Fluffy Banana Blueberry Muffins
- Quick Blackberry Muffins
- Flavourful Banana Zucchini Bread
You can help others to find this recipe by pinning it to one of your food boards on Pinterest. Click here to pin it now!
Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Banana Muffins
Suggested Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 6 tablespoons water
- 1 ½ cups (210g) gluten free flour blend **see important note about flour below**
- ¼ cup (21g) Dutch-process cocoa powder sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (80ml) melted coconut oil (plus extra for greasing muffin tin)
- ⅓ cup (50g) coconut sugar
- 1 cup (240ml) banana purée (approximately 2 large or 3 small bananas, see note below)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (135g) mini chocolate chips (plus more for sprinkling on top (optional))
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F (177° C).
- Prepare your flax eggs by whisking together ground flax seeds and water. Set aside to thicken.
- Line a muffin tin with liners or generously grease the inside of each cup with coconut oil.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl, mix the flax eggs, coconut oil, coconut sugar, banana purée, and vanilla together until blended.
- Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Using a spoon or a large scoop, divide batter into the 12 muffin cups.
- If using, sprinkle optional chococlate chips on top of each muffin.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle of the largest muffin comes out clean.
- Let muffins cool in muffin pan for a few minutes and then remove and place them on a cooling rack.
Video:
Recipe Notes:
- Please read all of the information and FAQ info above and below before making this recipe.
- It’s important to know that different gluten-free flour blends use different ingredients and ratios, so results will always vary if you substitute. I have never used any other brand of flour to make this recipe (other than Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour (Amazon link) in the red bag, NOT the blue bag), so please know that your results may not be the same as mine if you substitute with another gluten-free flour blend. The weight listed above is for this specific flour.
- This recipe will NOT work with coconut flour or any other single gluten-free flour, it must be a blend, preferably the one listed above for the very best results.
- Purée the bananas until there are no chunks left and it is completely smooth.
- Any type of neutral flavoured oil can be used in place of coconut oil, such as avocado or safflower.
- Don't overbake or the muffins will dry out.
- For the best results, always measure your flour correctly, like this.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, after that, move them into the refrigerator for another 3-4 days. When you're ready to serve, bring them up to room temperature, and you can warm them up slightly, if you'd like, before serving.
- To freeze, fully cool and wrap them tightly so they are airtight. Place in an airtight container and freeze for up to one month. When you’re ready to serve them, thaw at room temperature and serve. Just before serving, you can warm them up a bit in the microwave.
- Nutrition info is based on 1 muffin made as the recipe is written. Nutrition info is only to be used as a rough guide. Click to learn how nutrition info is calculated on this website.
Samantha R says
All of your muffin recipes have been amazing! I started making these and realized I didn’t have cocoa powder. So I used vegan chocolate protein and they came out amazing (it only needed a little more liquid because of the protein powder). These were so good. I doubles the recipe and between two boys and my husband they ate them quickly.
Gwen Leron says
Thanks, Samantha! I'm so glad you have been enjoying the muffin recipes and that things worked out with your substitution! Enjoy what's left 🙂
Niamh says
Thank you so much for the recipe! The muffins are so tasty, fluffy, and honestly the best muffin recipe I have found. I ate four of these already today. Oops, but not really! These will definitely be on repeat. Thank you SO much for brightening up my day! I will have to make and check out all of the other recipes in your blog.
Gwen Leron says
You're welcome, Niamh! I'm so glad to hear you are enjoying the muffins! Enjoy the rest of the recipes and please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about any of them.
Mary says
These turned out delicious! My only deviation was to use grapeseed oil instead of coconut oil. I can always count on your recipes to turn out great!
Thank you Gwen!
Gwen Leron says
You're welcome, Mary! I'm happy to know you have been enjoying the recipes. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your comment, I appreciate it!
Becky says
Holy moly these are good! I needed to use up some leftover bananas, and I’m so glad I found this recipe. It was easy to make and the muffins turned out soft and fudgy and so perfect!
Gwen Leron says
I'm so happy to hear you liked them, Becky! They really are the perfect thing to make with leftover bananas 🙂