Try these easy banana oat muffins when you need a gluten-free breakfast with no complaints! Oatmeal banana muffins have the perfect light and fluffy texture with no flour at all. Freeze for later for a healthy meal prep option!

overhead shot showing a stack of banana oat muffins on a plate

 

If you’re looking for delicious ways to incorporate more oats into your diet, these banana oatmeal muffins are the best place to start! I use the blender to completely decimate the oats, so you would never guess that this fluffy, light gluten-free muffin is providing you with a bunch of fiber and heart-healthy vitamins and minerals. This mess-free recipe limits your dishes to just the blender and a muffin pan, and you can even freeze the leftovers for an on-the-go snack. While I filled my banana oat muffins with chocolate chips and almond butter, you can easily customize these banana muffins for the whole family!

Ingredients for Banana Oatmeal Muffins

  • Brown Bananas – These are softer and sweeter than green or yellow bananas, perfect for baked goods. If you have previously frozen brown bananas, you can thaw and use them for this recipe.
  • Almond Butter – Acts as a binder and adds fiber, vitamins, and minerals. You can swap this for peanut butter for more protein or with sunbutter for allergies.
  • Eggs – Helps bind the ingredients and provides structure without weighing the muffins down and making them dense.
  • Honey – Sweetens and binds ingredients. Swap for maple syrup or even sugar-free syrup if you prefer.
  • Old Fashioned Oats – Provides a bit of a chewy texture, absorbs moisture, adds fiber, and gives these the best structure for gluten free muffins.
  • Baking Powder, Salt, and Cinnamon – The baking powder adds lift for the light and fluffy texture while the salt and cinnamon bring out the best natural flavors in the other ingredients.
  • Chocolate Chips – This optional mix-in adds tons of flavor and makes these taste more like a sweet treat than the healthy breakfast it really is! Dairy-free, sugar-free, other flavor chips, or even nuts can be used if you prefer.

How to Make Banana Oat Muffins

bananas, oats, almond butter, egg, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a blender
a standard silicone muffin pan filled with banana muffin batter and chocolate chips
perfectly cooked banana oatmeal muffins in a silicone muffin pan
  1. While the oven is preheating, prepare your muffin pan with cooking spray so that your muffins don’t stick to the edges. Set it aside for now.
  2. Toss all your ingredients (EXCEPT chocolate chips or whatever mix-in you chose) into your blender. Blend for 30-45 seconds, stopping once it looks nice and smooth.
  3. With the blender stopped, grab a spatula and scrape the batter off of the edges of the blender, then blend again for another 20 seconds or so to incorporate it all.
  4. Pour in half of your chocolate and give it a few pulses to break the chocolate chips up and distribute them throughout the batter.
  5. With an ice cream scoop (or spoon), fill the wells of the prepped muffin pan just 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops with the leftover chocolate chips. Don’t press down, there will be plenty of chocolate in the middle without forcing it.
  6. Bake muffins for 12-14 minutes or until muffins have fully set.

How to Serve Oatmeal Banana Muffins

closeup image showing a muffin cut in half with fluffy, airy insides

Storage and Reheating

  • Countertop: Allow muffins to cool completely, then store in an airtight container 3-4 days on at room temperature. Do not close up when they’re still warm as the heat turns into condensation that can lead to soggy, moldy muffins.
  • Fridge: Store in an airtight container up to 5-7 days in the refrigerator. Individually wrap each in plastic if you need them to last the maximum amount of time.
  • Freezer: Wrap each cooled banana muffin in a couple layers of plastic wrap, then store in a freezer bag up to 2-3 months.
  • Reheating: Blast in microwave for 20-30 seconds to warm throughout. If you like crisp edges, add 1 minute in the air fryer at 350 to bring a little crunch back to the exterior.

Banana Muffin Variations

  • Try different mix-ins – Roughly chop up your favorite nuts (I prefer walnut or pecans) and treat them exactly like we do the chocolate chips. It also works with leftover candy (hello, weekend after Halloween), butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, etc.
  • Use different nut/seed butters – Peanut butter, cashew butter, it all can work. Keep in mind that some (like tahini, sesame seed butter) are less sweet, so you may want more sweetener. Some are runnier (like macadamia butter), so you might want a little more oats or a couple extra minutes in the oven.
  • Add a streusel – I absolutely love this pecan crumb topping and add it to tons of muffins. You can add an easy sweet and crunchy streusel to any banana muffin and give it a banana nut vibe!
  • Make it vegan – Use your favorite plant-based egg replacer, use dairy-free chocolate (or swap for nuts), and use maple syrup instead of honey to turn these into the perfect vegan breakfast.

Oat and Banana Muffin FAQs

Are banana muffins healthy?

Generally, these banana oat muffins would be considered healthy due to the high level of vitamins and minerals that are baked into each one. It’s also flexible enough that you can use some of the suggested variations to meet your personal dietary preferences.

Can I add protein powder to oatmeal muffins?

The oatmeal in this recipe absorbs all the liquid already, so I would worry that adding protein powder would make these too dry. However, I highly recommend two of our protein muffin recipes: Peanut Butter Banana Protein Muffins or these Chocolate Protein Muffins.

Why did my muffins take longer?

If your almond butter (or peanut butter, sunbutter, etc.) was on the runny side, your batter might have a little more liquid than mine. This just means you may need an extra minute or two in the oven.

More Popular Breakfast Recipes

overhead shot showing a stack of banana oat muffins on a plate

Get the Recipe: Banana Oat Muffins Recipe

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 12 minutes
Total: 17 minutes
Yield: 12 muffins
This easy banana oatmeal muffins recipe is perfect for meal prepping and big family breakfast! These banana and oat muffins come out light and fluffy every time. Naturally flourless, gluten free, and freezer friendly!
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Ingredients
 

  • 2 large brown bananas
  • 1 cup almond butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 cup old fashioned oats, gluten-free
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips, divided

Equipment

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400F.
  • Place all ingredients except the chocolate chips in a blender. Blend mixture approximately 30-45 seconds or until completely smooth.
  • Using a spatula scrape down the edges of the blender and blend again for 20 seconds.
  • Add half the chocolate to the blender and pulse to break them up.
  • Spray a standard muffin tin with cooking spray and scoop batter into muffin tin (I use an ice cream scoop). Top with the remaining chocolate.
  • Bake 12-14 minutes or until muffins have set.
Serving: 1 standard-size muffin, Calories: 260kcal, Carbohydrates: 26.7g, Protein: 7.3g, Fat: 15.1g, Cholesterol: 31mg, Sodium: 111.5mg, Fiber: 4.3g, Sugar: 14.9g
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