Salted chocolate banana nut muffins — need we say more!? These super fluffy, moist, vegan and gluten-free dreams take your classic banana nut muffin up a notch with flaky sea salt and melty chocolate chips.
Even better? They’re simple to make. Just 1 bowl required. Let’s go!
This recipe is inspired by our fan-favorite 1-Bowl Fudgy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins! But it’s grain-free, fluffier, has a more subtle banana flavor, and it’s decadent like a Costco chocolate muffin.
Making these chocolate banana muffins is simple – mash banana, add wet ingredients, add dry ingredients, then stir in walnuts and chocolate chips.
Add to a muffin tin and sprinkle with extra walnuts and chocolate chips (optional, but come on…life’s too short to miss out on opportunities for more chocolate, right?).
Final steps: Bake, sprinkle with flaky salt, and EAT MUFFINS! Letting the muffins cool before enjoying is ideal for best texture. But if you can’t resist (we don’t blame you), just know they’ll be a bit more fudgy!
We hope you LOVE these muffins! They’re:
Fluffy
Moist
Chocolaty
Perfectly sweet
Nutty
& Entirely delicious!
Grab a glass of dairy-free milk and snack time (or dessert) is on!
More Chocolaty Gluten-Free Recipes
- 1-Bowl Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Gluten-Free German Chocolate Cake (Vegan)
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Mug Cake (3 Ingredients!)
- The BEST Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Salted Chocolate Banana Nut Muffins (Vegan + GF)
Ingredients
- 1 small-medium ripe banana (1 banana yields ~150 g mashed)
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup avocado oil (or other neutral oil)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup almond flour (we like Wellbee's)
- 1 cup coconut sugar, sifted if clumpy (we like Supernatural)
- 1/2 cup potato starch (NOT potato flour)
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted if clumpy
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour)
- 3 Tbsp flaxseed meal (ground flax seeds)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum*
- 2/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 2/3 cup dairy-free dark chocolate chips
FOR TOPPING
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- 1/4 cup dairy-free dark chocolate chips (optional)
- Sprinkle of flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line a standard-size muffin tin with 12 muffin liners (as recipe is written // adjust if altering default number of servings). Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mash the banana with a fork — you want it pretty smooth. Add the water, avocado oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk until fully combined.
- Add almond flour, coconut sugar, potato starch, cocoa powder, tapioca starch, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and xanthan gum. Whisk well. Then fold in the chopped walnuts and dairy-free chocolate chips.
- Divide batter evenly between the muffin tins and (optionally) top with extra chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.
- Bake on the center rack for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick is removed with only a few crumbs left behind. Remove the muffins from the oven and top with flaky sea salt. Let the muffins fully cool before enjoying!
- Store leftovers lightly covered for up to 2-3 days at room temperature, 5 days in the refrigerator, or 1 month in the freezer.
Video
Notes
*Inspired by our 1-Bowl Fudgy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Vegan/GF).
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated without optional ingredients.
Jenny says
These were delicious and super easy to make, thank you! If I wanted to make them not gluten free, would you suggest subbing almond flour for regular or should I also sub tapioca as well? Thank you!
We’re so glad you enjoyed these muffins, Jenny! Thank you for the lovely review! The potato starch and tapioca starch should sub pretty well 1-1 for all-purpose flour, but we would recommend keeping the almond flour for the best result. If you want to sub out the almond flour, keep in mind it is less absorbent than all-purpose, so you will likely only need to use about half the amount of all-purpose flour. Hope that helps!
Maria says
I loved the flavor, however, I didn’t love the oats in them. I mainly don’t like them because of the texture and my kids being extremely sensitive to it and just being the pickiest eaters. Do you think I could omit the oats next time?
Hi Maria, this recipe doesn’t contain oats. Did you mean to comment on a different recipe?
Charli Tuttle says
My whole family loved these muffins! Even my non-GF hubby. I used all the ingredients listed and did not make any modifications. They came out exactly like the picture and tasted amazing! We felt like we were eating a cake in muffin form. Don’t hesitate to try this one if you are a chocolate lover
Yay! We’re so glad they were a hit with the whole family. Thank you for the lovely review, Charli! xo
ala says
Super. can you tell with which measurements of flours to replace the minimalis baker mix ? i’d like to make them and im in france and have those ingredients, so dont need tobuy mix ;) thanks
Hi Ala, we have a recipe coming out this week that will help :)
Alicia Hadley says
How might I be able to turn this into a bread?
Hi Alicia, We’d suggest ~35-45 minutes in a loaf pan.
VICKY says
These are just too good to be true, they’re so quick to whip together its dangerous lol! I forgot the salt at he end but idk didn’t seem it needed it either, everyone here loves these! Thank you MB
We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Vicky! Thank you so much for the lovely review. xo
Madison says
I made these tonight and they turned out amazing. So fluffy and moist they definitely don’t “seem” vgf! I could whip them up in 5 minutes too with your baking mix on hand. I’m not sure why everyone is up in arms about this recipe like there aren’t a dozen others on the blog that don’t call for your baking mix… I appreciate the ease and simplicity that I can just pour the bag in a bowl and bake!!
We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Madison. Thank you so much for your kind words and support! xo
Steph says
Was craving a quick chocolate treat and every recipe I’ve pulled up calls for the cake mix. Disappointed.
Hi Steph, sorry for any trouble! We have lots of chocolate treats without the cake mix, but did have a series of chocolate recipes recently using it, which is likely why you had that experience. We’d suggest searching by ingredient in our recipe index using “cocoa powder” as the ingredient. That should help you find what you’re looking for.
The Vegan Goddess says
Delicious! I made this based on your 1-Bowl Fudgy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Vegan/GF) recipe and added walnuts and topped it with flaky salt while cooling. It yielded a dozen muffins.
I prepared the batter and was about to turn the oven on when the power went out. It wasn’t restored until after midnight. So, I had to put the batter in the fridge and bake it the next day.
Turned out great — like brownies!
Amazing! Thanks so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications!
Alexandra K. says
Why oh why does every other recipe have to encompass the utilization of the premiere flour blend mix being sold for a ridiculous price?! I’ve been a loyal follower for years and I’ve found myself barely checking now, because when I do, I see flour mixes being pushed.
Thanks for the feedback, Alexandra! This recipe is a modification of our fan-favorite 1-Bowl Fudgy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. We’d recommend that recipe for a similar, from scratch option! This is just a simplified version of it if someone would like to use our cake mix in a different way.
Mari Hutchinson says
I, like several other people was very disappointed when I came to the recipe only to find it involved a baking mix I don’t have nor can I afford at $12.99 for a 1 time use, that being said though, I have to do what i can to provide for my family as well so kudos for you for taking another step in making money elsewhere. As i already had thawed my bananas and needed to use them i read through comments to see if suggestions were made on substitutions to use for the mix and I ended up going with the 1 bowl fudgy banana chocolate chip muffin recipe. I followed it as stated and added walnuts as well. Then topped with additional walnuts and chocolate chips and baked. I didn’t have flake sea sale but some coarse so I sprinkled a little of that on it. Going in they looked great, coming out, they did not hold up as well. I’m not sure if it was the fudgy batter that just couldn’t hold the weight of the walnuts or what, but they were completely baked, just fell in the center of each. I let them cool and gave one a try because I won’t waste them regardless and taste wise they are delicious. If I choose to make using this recipe again I would probably add the nuts on top after baking or closer to the end maybe, I’m not sure exactly but some form of adjustment. Overall for flavor, 5 out 5, just gotta tweak the rising part being I didn’t have the mix to use.
The Vegan Goddess says
Geez, people can’t figure out how to use another recipe with similar results.
To solve the issue of people being offended by these new product recipes, I suggest that you move them to a different section of the website and remove them from the channel as the other recipes. You can have tempting photos and captions for them on the sidebar linking to that section so people won’t be disappointed and will know that they are specifically clicking on a product recipe.
Thank you for the suggestion!
Alex O says
I have used and loved your recipes for years and I understand that you want to make more money (don’t we all?) but forcing readers to buy your mixes just isn’t right. It’s like those influencers forcing us to buy products that we can’t live without. We all have flour at home or a pancake mix, and I’m sure that i am not the only once concerned about food waste (don’t need another pancake mix i would use only once in a while!). I just think if you want to stay loyal and keep your readers who, like me, have been following you for years, you’ll go back to showing recipes made from scratch, with any flour or mix. Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback, Alex! This version is a modification of our fan-favorite 1-Bowl Fudgy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. We’d recommend that recipe for a similar, from scratch option.
Courtenay says
I love your website, and have been using your recipes successfully for years! Where other sites are hit and miss, your results are consistent, and they cut out a lot of the fuss (so great!).
And so, I am extra disappointed by the fact that I now don’t seem to be able to make some new recipes unless I buy your proprietary cake mixes, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great you are selling wholesome products, and way to go and all that, but I think it does a disservice to loyal website followers like myself who here barely get thrown a bone here with a note at the end: “try this other recipe but hey it might not even work,” and who are now left to find another recipe, and another website, for my Friday afternoon baking.
This feels beneath you guys, and I’m disappointed.
Hi Courtenay, thanks for the feedback! We understand the mixes aren’t for everyone. We do strive to provide alternatives whenever possible. As you can probably imagine, not every recipe is going to have an easy recommendation for how to sub out the products and we’ve been working to navigate that as best as possible. For this recipe specifically, we have an equally good version of banana chocolate muffins here! Adding flaky salt would work beautifully for those as well! Additionally, if you don’t want to receive emails with product recipes, you can change your subscription preferences at the bottom of any email from us. Hope that helps!
Becca says
Another disappointing plug for your products. I exclusively get my baking recipes elsewhere because of this
Chicana says
I can’t wait until you ship to Canada! All the MB blends & mix recipes look amazing! Your recipes never disappoint!
Aw! Thank you so much for your kind words and support! We hope to ship to Canada soon too!
Kadhambari says
Could you add a filter so that recipes that require your mixes are filtered out?
I have noticed that many of your sweet/desert recipes now require the use of your mixes as a way to upsell the product. Your mixes, although I’m sure are high quality and excellent, are very expensive, especially right now when groceries are so expensive. Additionally I see you provide alternatives in the notes section, but sometimes your suggestions are not tested, making me less motivated to try.
So I think the best solution would be to include a filter to exclude results that require your mixes.
Thanks
Hi, thanks for the feedback! We’ll think on how we could implement something like that. In the meantime, if you’d like to only receive recipe emails made without our products, you can update your subscription preferences at the bottom of our emails.
Juliana Leahy says
Thank you for responding to my question!!!
:-)
Marie K says
Thank you! Haven’t tried this one…yet, but I wanted to let you know that Minimalist Baker is STILL my favorite food blog. My go-to for recipes and ideas. And how exciting is it that you now offer products?! And so you know, I have your email messages filtered to pop up at the top of my inbox.
Yay! Thank you for all that you do!
Awh! Thank you so much for your kind words and support, Marie! We hope you enjoy! xo
Juliana says
Can you pass along the dry ingredient amounts when you don’t have your mix. I don’t have time to purchase and would like to make asap.
Thank you
Hi Juliana! If you’d like to try this recipe from scratch, we suggest using our 1-Bowl Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake recipe, adding chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, and flaky salt. However, we haven’t tried it this way and can’t guarantee the result.