A vegan flourless banana bread muffin that’s gluten-free, egg-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, oil-free and whipped up in the blender in under 5 minutes flat. Tastes just like a soft and tender slice of banana bread!
I post a pretty wide variety of recipes here on Spoons.
Some are vegan, some are not.
Some are gluten-free, some are not.
Some are healthier, some less so.
The fact that I don’t seem to have my feet firmly planted in any particular dietary camp (except the peanut-free one for life & death reasons) is actually something that used to drive me crazy, but the more time I spent thinking about it, the more I realized that my lack of a camp was actually a camp in itself… and one that aligned perfectly with the belief that’s at the root of all my views on diet and nutrition in general.
Which belief is that? That we’re all unique and that different things work for different people. I can’t say that a vegan diet is better than a Paleo diet from a health perspective because I’ve seen people do well on both ends of the spectrum, just as I’ve seen people do poorly on both.
I can’t say that going vegetarian or gluten-free will change your life or heal your ailments, because while it does happen for some, it also doesn’t happen for others (unless you’re celiac, in which case it most definitely -will- change your life).
There are as many perfect diets out there as there are people in the world — it’s all about figuring out what works for you and what doesn’t, regardless of what works for others or what’s trending at the moment.
That’s why I’m a big proponent of keeping an open, objective mind and experimenting with your diet. Over the years I’ve been raw, vegan, vegetarian, high-carb, low-carb, high-protein, low-protein, high-fat, low-fat, etc. and I feel like I’ve reached a point where I have a pretty good grasp of what works for me and what doesn’t. Most of the time, anyways.
Even now there are still times where I have to tinker with my diet depending on the season, my activity level, how much stress I’m dealing with, how much sleep I’m getting, etc. The same exact thing can make me feel great one day and crappy the next, which is a little frustrating, but at least it keeps me on my toes #glasshalffull.
And if you’re wondering what the heck my longwinded speech has to to with the muffin pictures that I’ve been littering throughout this post, it was basically my roundabout way of saying that I love experimenting with food — both with what I eat and how I make it. That might be part of the reason that I post so many gluten-free, vegan, and/or flourless recipes… it’s always fun to see what I can come up with.
These flourless vegan banana bread muffins are actually adapted from my original flourless banana bread muffins. They’re a reader favourite and a recipe that a lot of people have asked about making egg-less as well… because being gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and oil-free isn’t enough, apparently…
I kid, I kid. You guys know I’m more than happy to experiment, and even happier to say that the vegan version of these muffins is just as good as the original. In fact, they even look pretty much identical…
And they taste and feel the same, too. Maybe a tad less fluffy, but I whipped up a batch of the originals to compare and I honestly had a hard time telling the difference. Both batches were incredibly soft, tender, and tasted exactly like a slice of banana bread. And in traditional banana bread fashion, they taste even better the next day.
The only thing I’ll caution you against is taste-testing the batter. Don’t do it. Not because you have to worry about the possibility of getting salmonella from raw eggs (hooray!), but because it tastes so good that you’ll be tempted to eat it without baking it first, and you definitely don’t want to miss out on the finished product.
I’d love to know if you make this (or any!) recipe! Tag @runwithspoons on Instagram and Twitter, and be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy and delicious recipes straight to your inbox!
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Vegan Flourless Banana Bread Muffins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 9 muffins 1x
Ingredients
- 1 flax “egg”*
- ¼ cup almond butter**
- 2 ripe medium/large bananas
- 2 Tbsp. agave nectar***
- 3/4 cup rolled oats****
- 2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Prepare your flax egg by combining 1 Tbsp. of ground flaxseed with 3 Tbsp. of water. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375F and prepare a muffin pan by spraying 9 cavities with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until oats are broken down and batter is smooth and creamy. If you do not have a high speed blender, you can mix all the ingredients by hand. Simply grind the oats into a flour and mash the bananas before combining all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing well.
- Pour batter into prepared muffin pan, filling each cavity until it is about 2/3 full.
- Bake for 15 minutes, until the tops of your muffins are set and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in pan for ~10 minutes before removing. Store in an air-tight container for up to a week.
Notes
* to make a flax egg, combine 1 Tbsp. of ground flaxseed with 3 Tbsp. of water and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
** can sub with nut butter of your choice.
*** can sub with maple syrup or brown rice syrup. Or honey if not strictly vegan.
**** make sure to use certified gluten-free oats if you need these to be gluten-free.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
Looking for more flourless muffin recipes? Try one of these!
Flourless Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Muffins
Flourless Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Flourless Pumpkin Pie Muffins
Tried these this morning and they were great! I subbed a real egg and sunflower seed butter and they turned out really well. This is a solid recipe and only one blender to clean up 🙂
I’m glad you liked them, Ali! Thanks for letting me know 😀
We always have ripe bananas at home and never know what to do with them!! Loved this my mouth is melting right now <3
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I love how you say no peanuts for life or death reasons, so funny but also so legit! 🙂 thanks for another gorgeous looking recipe 🙂
Oh yes! Almost everything is better with chocolate chips, in moderation.
I haven’t baked for a week, so I think I’m going to do something tomorrow. Maybe I’ll try these bananas, if someone doesn’t eat the bananas first. Or I’ll try a different one.
Thanks for the recipe. It looks yummy Amanda.
😆 I used to have to hide my bananas when I still lived at home so no one would eat them. Now that I live alone I don’t have to worry about it so much.
I love the texture of baked goods like this… I’m with you – I don’t have my feet planted in any food camp except the “try to eat healthy most of the time” one. 🙂
These look pretty good. Is there a way to modify some of your recipes to make them in the microwave? I don’t have as much time in the AM to preheat and use the oven. Maybe I could change it to make it single serve 😎
I’m honestly completely clueless when it comes to cooking in the microwave. Sorry, Ellie!
No chocolate chips! I feel like they ruin it! These muffins look perfect!
Yes! I’m glad you agree with me! Sometimes I’ll toss them in thinking they’ll make things better, but I honestly end up disappointed that they mask the banana flavour 😆
Awkward but aren’t you paleo?
You know my thoughts on dietary experiments. Except for those whom eat smoothies. Not cool.
I totally hear you about experimenting with food. Some people might find it weird that I have chicken recipes and vegan recipes on my blog, but that’s just how I eat. Why box ourselves into one label?
These look delicious! I just so happened to bake banana muffins today too – although mine weren’t vegan or GF.
Yum these look amazing. I pin pretty much everything you post!
Aww, thanks Lauren!
Banana bread muffins are my favorite no matter what kind of free or non-free they are. 🙂
These look awesome! bummer that I.hate.bananas! Gasp! I know, I know I just can.not. embrace them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More for you! Yay! Love you girl!
I love your attitude about eating, and I try to do that in my own day-to-day as well. I love eating meat, but I also like Meatless Mondays. I love my startches, but it’s good to abstain from them every once in a while. This recipe looks DELISH, thanks for sharing 🙂
Banana bread is always better with melty gooey chocolate chips! I honestly don’t bake…I leave that up to my clients who love to bake for me and feed me. A client actually has perfected one of your muffin recipes and gave me a bag of them yesterday…She made them into mini-muffins, which I toasted, put on top of Greek yogurt, and added a spoonful of nut butter…Amazing-Balls!
Whaaaat? Jealous! I should probably start charging in chocolate 😛
totally with you on the food camp on its own. I am pretty happy with where I am today but I could not by any means put this into a diet folder – especiall when there are weekends with ordering pizza at 2am in the morning 🙂
Banana Bread sounds wonderful, especially in 5minutes!
I’m in the “I love food” camp.
Just say it, I’m okay with the fact: you added the batter warning for me and for me only. Because yes, rumor has it when I bake and the recipe states it’ll yield xyz amount of cookies/muffins – that will not be the case for me. Or – if we’re talking cookies – one or two of them will be pitifully small just so I can claim the yield was exactly what the recipe stated.
Now all that’s left to say is that these are SO cute. And likely delicious, too, but cuteness always adds bonus points.
😆 Actually I totally stuck the warning in there from personal experience. There was one batch where I only ended up with 7 muffins because I ate 2 muffins worth of batter 😛
I am impressed with those despite not having any flour in them. I do agree that everything is better with any chocolate. One reason I cannot bake a lot is because I just eat half the batter! I don’t even hide it.
I love banana bread, and with this recipe being flourless and high protein, I’m willing to bet it’s totally awesome! And it looks pretty quick and easy too. Sweet!
Everything is better with chocolate chips… Was that even a serious question? 😉 I am TERRIBLE at eating batter. Yes, even the cookie dough batter ladled with salmonella and raw eggs. Oof. I just cannot resist it. I made batches of cookie dough in college just to keep in my fridge to eat raw. I KNOW. I know. I’m ashamed of me, too. (but not really haha!)
Hehe it -is- a serious question! And normally I’d agree with you that everything is better with chocolate chips, but I actually prefer my banana bread without. Shh. Don’t tell.
It is definitely one of your major assets that you create recipes for everyone! 🙂
The last thing I baked was an apple crisp – my parents were in town for the night so I made it as a treat for all of us! So yummy!
Eeeee these sound outstanding! I’ve been dying for banana bread but we have zero ripe bananas in the store. So by the time they’d be ripe enough for bread or anything, I’ve eaten them all! Problems. I will have to wait it out with my latest batch of naners and make some of these.
I have the same.exact.problem with my bananas! I actually end up buying more than I know I’ll eat so that they have a chance to sit and ripen. Then any that start getting -too- ripe get frozen for smoothies.
This looks great!!
This recipe looks ohhhhh-mazing. Can’t wait to try it!
The last thing I baked was a huge tray of spirulina cacao granola…that disappeared in a week. Oops. And chocolate chips make everything better! 😀
For being eggless, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and oil-free these have a phenomenal texture, Amanda!
I love banana bread anyway I can get it – I’ve never ever made it myself, I have a neighbor a few doors down who drops off some when she bakes up a batch – all warm and fresh! Sometimes with chocolate, sometimes without, sometimes with nuts and one time she even put in zucchini – but everytime it is delicious!
Jealous! Apparently I need to be a better neighbour because I don’t even know the names of mine and I’ve lived here for over 3 years…
I’m so impressed that you were able to turn these vegan and have them look so good still. That is not an easy task, my friend! Or at least for me , it isn’t.
They look fabulish! Pinned!
These look like another winner. I have been obsessed with all your muffin recipes! I think I have made all of them in the last month.
Also am loving your stance on what kind of eater you are classifying yourself as. I often struggle with that because I am kind of a hybrid mix of all of them depending on the day and how I am feeling about life, how much I exercised, etc. No need to box ourselves in I guess, right?! I am glad to see you are in the same boat as me!
Thanks so much, Allison! I have to admit that muffins are probably my favourite things to bake (and eat!), and I’d probably post nothing but muffin recipes if I didn’t think it would drive people crazy 😆
These look divine! I love all your recipes, mainly because they all involve baking and let’s be honest… baking >>> cooking! I wonder if I can replace the oast with buckwheat flour in this recipe? I have a bunch of extra flour lying around that needs to be used up asap!
“baking >>> cooking” <-- Couldn't agree more! And I actually have no idea how these would work with buckwheat flour... but I'm always up for experimenting 😉
These look amazing!! I love banana bread, and yes, everything tastes better with chocolate chips IMO 😉
The last thing I baked were chocolate chip cookies for 2 (chocolate covered Katie’s recipe). I live with my bf and since there’s only 2 of us I didn’t want to be stuck with a huge batch of cookies.
I have to admit I love to taste the batter and I almost always do it, even when I’m baking with eggs. I live in Switzerland though and the risk of salmonella is not that high here.
I baked chocolate chip cookie bites yesterday – I call them bites because I baked them in my mini muffin pan. They came out really cute – vegan recipe too!
You’re probably fed-up but I miss WIAW 😀
I miss doing them sometimes, too! I’ve been thinking about talking about my meals every now and again, but I can’t promise it’ll always happen on Wednesdays 😛
Haha, that’ll still make me happy 😀
Egg, no egg, flour, no flour, gluten free, vegan, whichever way you look at it, those are some gorgeous looking muffins 😉 I like to experiment with gluten free and vegan recipes too, even though I’m neither of those!
Yum! I don’t belong to a diet camp either and I’m totally ok with that. I can’t remember the last thing I baked, which is sad. We were gonna bake a cake yesterday for my birthday, but lost motivation haha.
Cakes are a tonne of work! I went the cupcake route this year and used a box mix instead of whipping up my own from scratch. I feel like it’s a good omcpromise 😆
I’ve never made a vegan muffin or a flax egg, so interesting! I like that you are so well rounded and open to experimenting. That’s how you discover all the best of everything. These look so delicious, as usual 🙂
I have gone through bouts of thinking about being vegan, and I think I do have a mostly plant based diet, but I just dont think I could go all the way. Love these though, very cute, and perfect to throw in your bag and take with you for the day 🙂
I think that’s a great attitude to have, Tina. I’m a huge fan of plant based diets as well, but I know that I’d start running into problems as soon as I tried to label my eating habits.
These look so good and perfect for these snowy winter mornings. I have been slacking on my meal prep so I think I will make these to pack with me for classes!
I always need to taste test batter. With the lack of raw egg in this recipe, I would be in serious danger of consuming all of it before it made it to the over… or even the muffin tin…
Confession: I only managed 7 muffins in one of my batches because I ate two muffins worth of batter 😆 Oops.
are these shippable?? 😉 You are amazing girl. Come cook for me?
These muffins look wonderful. We need a reason to heat the oven here in Buffalo, NY because it’s so cold and you just gave us a good one. Very neat how you make these without any flower.
There’s no place more cozy than a warm kitchen on a cold winter day. Especially when it makes your entire house smell amazing 😀
Are there particular brands you like for almond butter and almond milk? They’re usually pricier, so I was wondering if you had suggestions for finding them cheaper (and still tasty). Thanks!
For almond milk, I really like Silk unsweetened vanilla since it doesn’t have any added sugars or Carrageenan. For almond butter, I usually go to Costco and buy the Kirkland brand since it doesn’t have any additives and it’s nice and drippy. I know AB can be pretty expensive, but Costco makes it a little more reasonable.