These perfect bite-sized mini banana muffins are made with whole-grain flour, maple syrup, and heart-healthy olive oil. Easily made vegan, these are wonderful lunchbox treats or an after-school snack.
Looking for a quick and wholesome snack? Mini banana muffins (with or without chocolate chips) to the rescue! Sort of a mash up of banana chocolate chunk muffins and vegan banana muffins, these delicious morsels are packed with whole grains and are naturally sweetened.
I love serving a warm bowl of muffins to my girls along with ice-cold glasses of fresh homemade lemonade or a pot of tea. Enjoy!
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What You'll Love About Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Everyone can eat them. These muffins are egg-free, nut-free, naturally sweetened, and easily made vegan and/or gluten-free. See my tips below. Plus, they are SO yummy!
- They're kid-friendly. I dare you to find a kid who doesn't love a little 2-bite muffin! My girls absolutely adore these banana mini muffins.
- So easy. This is a one-bowl recipe, one of my favorite types of recipes.
Want to make these gluten-free? Check out my recipe for gluten free mini banana muffins on my gluten-free site.
Ingredients
Scroll down to my recipe card to see the full amounts and detailed instructions.
- Bananas - You'll need 2 medium-ish bananas, mashed up.
- Olive oil - I love using heart-healthy
- Milk - Your choice of milk here, which can be any variety of dairy or non-dairy milk.
- Maple syrup - Or substitute ¼ cup of brown sugar.
- Whole wheat flour - Use whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour. Try all-purpose flour if you don't have whole grain flour in the pantry.
- Leavening - Baking powder and baking soda.
- Cinnamon
- Salt - Fine sea salt or table salt.
- Chocolate chips - Optional, but reccomended! Use semisweet chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips.
Instructions
One bowl and a spoon are all you'll need to whip up the batter!
- Step 1: Whisk eggs, maple syrup, milk oil in a bowl.
- Step 2: Stir in the remaining ingredients. Add chocolate chips if using. Batter will be thick.
- Step 3: Grease a mini muffin tin and divide the batter between the muffin cups.
- Step 4: Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.
How to Adjust for Special Diets
Mini banana muffins are a great for school events because you can change the recipe to suit many dietary needs. Here's how:
- Banana-free - If anyone can't eat bananas, you can make these muffins with 1 cup of applesauce or 1 cup of pumpkin puree.
- Gluten-free - Substitute 1 ¾ cup 1:1 gluten-free flour or oat flour for the whole wheat flour to make these gluten-free.
- Dairy-free - So easy to make this dairy-free. Use your favorite non-dairy milk. This will also keep the muffins vegan.
Recipe Notes
- Add nuts - Add ½ cup of crushed walnuts or almonds for a little crunch.
- Substitute some almond flour - If nuts aren't an issue, substitute ¼ of the flour with almond flour for extra protein and added moisture.
- Double the batch - You can easily make a double batch of muffins! Just multiply the quantities in the recipe card by 2.
- Make as regular-sized muffins - Bake these mini banana muffins in a regular-sized (12-cup) muffin tin. You will need to adjust the baking time if you bake larger muffins.
- Use coconut sugar - For another natural sweetener option, swap coconut sugar for the maple sugar.
- Adjust the amount of maple syrup - If your bananas are really ripe and sweet, you can lower the amount of maple syrup or omit it altogether.
Proper Storage
Always cool muffins completely before storing them so that they don't get soggy.
- Counter - Place cooled mini muffins in an airtight container and store them on the counter for up to 3 days.
- Fridge - Transfer the container to the fridge and keep it for up to 5 days.
- Freezer - Add muffins to a freezer-safe bag and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the muffins thoroughly in the fridge before serving.
Happy baking! If you make this recipe, I'd love to know. Please leave a comment below, reach out with any questions, and tag me on Instagram @Cucina Nicolina ❤️
Recipe
Mini Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 mashed medium bananas
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup whole milk or non-dairy milk
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips , optional
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and grease or line a mini muffin tin with liners.
- In a large bowl, stir together the bananas, olive oil, milk, and maple syrup.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold together until combined. Add chocolate chips if using.
- Pour the batter into muffin cups until almost full, about ⅔ the way up the cup.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and a tester inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out mostly clean. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.
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