Chocolate Banana Oat Muffins (gluten-free, dairy-free option)

Chocolate Banana Oat Muffins are an easy and healthy breakfast for kids and adults! Made with oat flour (for extra fiber and protein), less butter, filled with mashed banana, and double chocolate flavor throughout. These will quickly become a family favorite recipe!

Chocolate and banana go together like peanut butter and jelly.

In fact, it’s one of my families favorite flavor combinations. I like it, but my kids go crazy for it!

Sweet banana AND sweet chocolate?

Combine them together for a healthy and easy muffin for breakfast and you’ve got a winning recipe! My kids love these muffins. I’ve made them several times over the last year. I’m excited to finally be sharing the recipe with ya’ll!

They’re light and fluffy with sweet banana flavor throughout, and plenty of chocolate. These muffins are made with oat flour, for some extra protein and fiber too. A healthy whole grain – I love to eat baked goods made out of oat flour for breakfast.

Plus, these Chocolate Banana Oat Muffins have less butter (only 1/4 cup), only 1/2 cup of sugar, and are chock full of mashed banana! Throw a few chocolate chips in (or don’t!) for a perfectly sweet breakfast.

If you need a healthy muffin recipe that picky kids won’t turn their noses up at, these muffins are it! 🙂

Let’s talk muffin details.

To make these Chocolate Banana Oat muffins gluten-free, be sure to use certified gluten-free oat flour.

To make these muffins dairy-free, be sure to use coconut oil (or a dairy-free butter alternative), almond milk, and dairy-free chocolate chips (or omit the chocolate chips).

And to make these muffins vegan, you could do all of the dairy-free adjustments above, as well as use flax or chia eggs (I recommend 1 tbsp of flax/chia seed and 2 1/2 tbsp of water, set till gelled). The muffins may be a little more flat with flax or chia eggs, but will still be delicious.

Oat Flour:

First, I recommend using store bought oat flour. It has the finest consistency. Which, will give you baked goods that don’t crumble much. Alternatively, you could blend up rolled oats to make your own oat flour. You’ll need a high powered blender or food processor to do that. The flour should be almost as fine as all purpose, but with a bit more texture to it.

If you’d like, you could do a combination of regular flour (or gluten-free all purpose flour) blended with the oat flour, to ensure your muffins aren’t too crumbly. I’ve heard from several of you that you love oat flour, but it can easily be too crumbly. I’d recommend 1 cup of oat flour with 3/4 cup of all purpose flour.

Be sure to let your batter rest prior to baking, for the oat flour to soak up your wet ingredients and thicken up a bit.

Bananas:

The more brown spots, the better. Be sure to use overripe, mushy bananas. The more overripe they are, the sweeter your muffins will be. If your muffins aren’t quite there yet, it’s worth the wait! Put your bananas in a brown paper bag to speed the process up a touch, if you’d like them to brown a bit quicker.

Sugar:

I recommend using 1/2 cup of white sugar. Alternatively, you could use coconut sugar. You could also try using 1/3 cup of maple syrup or honey instead, but the muffins won’t be quite as sweet. I like them best with white sugar.

One last tip: Be sure to thoroughly whisk your cocoa powder and oat flour together. Or, use a fine mesh strainer when adding them to your bowl. This will ensure no chunky cocoa powder (or oat flour) clumps in your batter.

I hope you and your family love these healthy, simple, and still chocolate loaded muffins! I know I’ll be making them over and over again. 🙂

If you make these Chocolate Banana Oat Muffins, let me know what you think! Find me on Instagram, or leave a comment and rating below. I love to see what ya’ll make!

And if you love these muffins, and want more healthy and simple muffin recipes, check out my Orange Carrot Oat Muffins, Pumpkin Banana Muffins, and Double Chocolate Pumpkin Oat Muffins.