Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
Make this delicious gluten-free banana muffins recipe for a perfect breakfast treat any day of the week. These muffins are tender and tasty with a lovely streusel topping.
There’s nothing better than the flavor of banana muffins. Making them gluten-free and vegan made them even better, especially with that tasty streusel topping!
Why This Recipe is a Winner
- Adding streusel transforms a simple muffin into a delightful treat
- Using brown sugar keeps these muffins moist and delicious
- Gluten-free flour keeps these muffins perfect for those who are minimizing gluten in their diet.
Key Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe:
- Ripe bananas — this recipe uses 3 ripe bananas. I prefer ripe bananas for the flavor they add, but you can use less-than-ripe too.
- Vegan buttermilk — it’s easy to make your own vegan buttermilk with only two ingredients!
- Brown sugar — using brown sugar keeps these muffins moist and lightly sweetened.
- Vegan butter — we’ll use a little melted vegan butter. I used Earth Balance, but you can substitute vegetable or coconut oil too.
- Gluten-free flour — use a general, all-purpose, baking gluten-free flour. Any 1:1 flour will do here.
- Baking soda & powder — we want tall muffins and adding both baking soda (especially when combined with the buttermilk) and baking powder does the trick.
- Salt — adding just a bit of salt adds complexity to the overall flavor profile of these muffins.
- Optional Chopped Nuts — If you’re into nuts in your muffins, then I highly recommend adding some chopped pecans or chopped walnuts.
It’s so much easier to be gluten-free these days thanks to the wide range of gluten-free flour mixes available!
What Bananas are Best for Muffins?
Using ripe bananas brings out the sweet flavor in these muffins. I like using bananas with a few or even a lot of brown spots. If the banana is too ripe (verging on dark brown or even black), the flavor may be too overpowering. If you have bananas that are not ripe enough, you can bake peeled bananas in the oven at 350°F/180°C for 8 to 10 minutes until they’re soft and tender. Allow them to cool and then mash them.
How to Make Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
- Mash the bananas in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk, brown sugar, and melted vegan butter.
- Stir the dry ingredients, from the flour to the salt. Add the chopped nuts.
- Make the streusel by stirring the ingredients together.
- Make the muffin batter by stirring the wet and dry ingredients.
- Spoon muffin batter into prepared muffin compartments.
- Distribute crumble topping equally over each muffin.
- Bake muffins then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.
- Add an optional drizzle of vanilla frosting.
Here are more detailed step-by-step instructions.
Step One: Combine Wet Ingredients
- Mash the bananas using a fork, blender, or food processor.
- Add the buttermilk, brown sugar, and melted vegan butter.
- Give this all a stir to combine and set it aside.
Step Two: Combine Dry Ingredients
Now combine the gluten-free flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Sift this all together until well combined. If using nuts, add the chopped nuts to the flour mixture.
Step Three: Make the Crumble Topping
Take a moment to mix together the crumble topping ingredients, including the vegan butter, gluten-free flour, and brown sugar. Stir this all together and set it aside.
Step Four: Assemble the Muffins
Make the muffin batter by combining the wet and dry muffin ingredients. Stir until combined (some small lumps are ok).
Distribute the batter into the prepared muffin compartments. I like using a cookie dough dispenser to help keep things neat.
Then equally distribute crumble topping over each muffin, using your hand to gently press it into the batter.
Place the pan in preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Then remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool for a few minutes before devouring.
For an even more dramatic flair, add a drizzle of vanilla frosting (1/2 cup powdered sugar combined with just enough soymilk to make it spreadable).
Marly’s Tips
Here’s some of my favorite tips to make these gluten free banana bread muffins perfect every time:
- Add some dairy-free chocolate chips to make gluten-free banana chocolate chip muffins.
- I find gently pressing the crumble topping into the batter helps that crumble topping bake into the muffins.
It really was fun to make these gluten-free banana muffins, and everyone loved them!
More Muffin Recipes
Whether gluten is an issue for you or not, these gluten-free vegan banana muffins are easy to make and tasty too. So, if you or someone in your life needs gluten-free, this recipe will make everyone happy!
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Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas mashed
- ⅓ cup vegan buttermilk
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup vegan butter , melted
- 1⅔ cups gluten-free flour (see note)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup optional: pecans , chopped
Crumble Topping
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter , softened
- 2 tablespoons gluten-free flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare muffin pans by lining with papers or spraying with vegetable cooking spray.
- Next, mash the bananas in a medium bowl. Add the buttermilk, brown sugar and melted vegan butter. Stir until well combined and set aside.
- Now combine the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Stir until well combined. If using, add the chopped nuts to the flour.
- Take a moment to mix together your topping ingredients – the vegan butter, gluten-free flour, and brown sugar. Stir well and set aside.
- Make the muffin batter by combining the wet and dry muffin ingredients. Stir until combined (some small lumps are ok) and spoon into prepared muffin compartments. Then equally distribute crumble topping over each muffin, using your hand to gently press it into the batter.
- Place the pan in heated oven and bake for 20 – 22 minutes. Once they're done, remove them from the oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes before devouring.
- For an even more dramatic flair, add a drizzle of vanilla frosting (1/2 cup powdered sugar combined with just enough soymilk to make it spreadable).
Recommended Equipment
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The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2012 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.
Making for the first time. I don’t see where the 3/4 cup of brown sugar, the third time down on the list is being used? Can you help?
Make that the third item down!
Thanks Greg! I missed putting the brown sugar in the original directions, but they’re included now. Hillary may say it takes a village to raise a child, but sometimes it feels like that can apply to other things…like recipes. Thanks for your help with this one!
Marley – you are brilliant! These are simply amazing. The best gluten free muffins I have ever had. I’m on my THIRD one. I hope I can stop soon 😉 My little twins said they love you for this recipe and are devouring them too! Keep the recipes coming!
WELL, I think I have found the recipe ! THanks so much for taking time to post this! Oh and great pictures by the way! I’m so hungry for banana muffins now LOL !! I wonder how they look inside? Maybe next time when your posting pictures, have one cut open so we could see 🙂 YUM. Cant wait toget home from work and bake this tonight with my 2 year old !
I lost my old g-f Banana Muffin Recipe and found this when I was searching for another one. Boy am I glad! These are by far the best gluten free muffins I have ever tasted.
You are so sweet – you just made my day. Now, I think I’m gonna head into the kitchen and make some more of these muffins. Dang, they were good!!!
Those look good! I feel another attempt at gluten-free baking coming on 🙂
Watch out, world!
It’s hard to go wrong with banana nut muffins! These look perfect, especially with that golden crumble topping.
Golden crumble topping. I LOVE IT!!
Holy YUM! Now I’m craving muffins…
Come on over, Sommer!