These Almond Flour Banana Muffins are topped with a buttery crumb topping, have lots of banana flavor and come out incredibly moist, soft and fluffy inside. You'll find these are as perfect for a healthy breakfast or snack as these reader's favorite Banana-Walnut Muffins.
Jump to:
- Tell me about these muffins
- Ingredients you'll need
- Add-in options
- Step-by-step photos
- 5 Tips for success
- Storing, freezing & reheating
- Can I substitute almond flour
- How to use frozen bananas
- Can I make it dairy-free
- The nuts and bolts of almond flour
- What else to make with almond flour & bananas
- 🎥 Recipe video
- 📖 Recipe
Tell me about these muffins
These delicious banana muffins are made with almond flour and have just the right amount of sweetness. They are sweetened with bananas and dash of honey, which is optional since bananas and almond flour are naturally sweet. I only add a tablespoon of honey if my bananas haven't turned brown.
Crowned with a delightful crumb topping that is also made with almond flour and lightly spiced with cinnamon, these banana muffins are addictive and a fabulous healthy, gluten-free, grain-free and Paleo alternative to include in your weekly meal planning.
Making banana muffins is an excellent way to use up your overripe bananas, especially because they're fast and easy to make. This recipe only takes 15 minutes to whip up, doesn't require any special equipment – just a couple of bowls.
Ingredients you'll need
Adding a few key ingredients to these Almond Flour Banana Muffins gives them their signature flavor and texture and here’s how:
Almond flour: One of the best and easiest gluten free and grain free flours to use for baking. It's the key ingredient that gives these healthy banana muffins a soft, fluffy texture and a taste closest to traditional banana muffins made with wheat-based flours such as all-purpose flour. Plus it makes the streusel topping nice and crumbly.
💡 Tip
- Where to buy almond flour: The best places to buy it is on Amazon or at Costco. My favorite brands are Honeyville, Wellbee's or Costco's Kirkland brand.
- Make your own: I showed you how to make almond flour so be sure to check that post and video for more information.
Bananas: Bananas help bind the ingredient, add sweetness and moisture to these almond flour muffins.
Pecans: Adding nuts like pecans to your banana muffins is optional. However, I recommend it because it gives a lovely crunch that lends to their addictive nature.
Butter: Butter makes the muffins and crumble on top tender, moist and super flavorful. See substitute for dairy free.
Eggs: Eggs create a lighter and fluffier texture.
Add-in options
Add-ins are completely optional, but I suggest adding nuts and/or seeds and shredded coconut for a little texture. Other options to include are raisins, dried cranberries or blueberries, oatmeal, or a blend of these.
To enhance all of the flavors you could also throw in some lemon or lime zest as well as vanilla extract and other spices besides cinnamon such as all spice, cardamon and nutmeg.
Make it for dessert! Add mini dark chocolate chips or chunks and serve it for dessert with a scoop of ice cream! SO good!
Step-by-step photos
Though you can find the full printable recipe below, let me walk you through the steps with photos to show you how to make the best banana muffins with almond flour. Also be sure to watch the recipe video!
- Dry ingredients: Using a spatula, mix together in a medium bowl the flour, baking soda and salt until there aren't any lumps left. Or sift the ingredients into the bowl using a fine mesh sieve.
- Mash bananas: Then in separate large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher.
- Wet ingredients: Using a whisk, mix together the mashed banana, egg, butter and sweetener.
- Mix wet and dry ingredients: Using a rubber spatula, gently mix the wet and dry ingredients to form your batter. Mix until just combined - the batter is supposed to be thick.
- Add nuts: If you're adding pecans or other flavorings such as the ones mentioned above, fold them into the batter now.
- Fill muffin pan: Use a spoon or ice cream scoop to fill each cup in your muffin tin to the top.
Note: Using paper liners is an option, but you can also grease the pan with butter or coconut oil.
- Make the crumb topping: This is super simple! Add to a bowl the flour, cinnamon and butter, and use your fingers to mix everything together. Next sprinkle the crumbs on top of each muffin.
- Bake: Bake in a preheated oven to 350°F for about 18 to 20 minutes or until a stick inserted into the center comes out clean. Then set the pan over a wire rack to allow the muffins to cool.
Note: Every oven is different so if you need to bake your muffins longer but the tops look done, place a piece of aluminum foil on top and that will prevent the crumbs from burning while your muffins bake all the way through.
Servings: This recipe makes 6 to 8 standard size muffins depending how full you fill each muffin cavity. It's not a problem to overfill each one. You can also bake them in a mini muffin pan.
5 Tips for success
- Flour: Use finely ground blanched almond flour so that your muffins don’t sink in the middle or crumble apart. Also don't overmix your batter because the flour releases it's oils and overmixing can make your muffins wet and oily.
- Banana: Since banana adds sweetness to these muffins, the type of banana you use can make a difference. I recommend and use Apple Bananas. Or use overripe bananas - the more ripe the sweeter they are. If your bananas aren’t ripe enough yet you can speed up ripening yourself! Just bake them (in the peel) at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until they blacken.
- Crumb topping: Add a tablespoon of maple or coconut sugar to the crumbs mixture to give your muffin tops more texture and sweetness. Also, reduce the amount of flour to 2 to 3 tablespoons to make it less crumbly and more buttery.
- Measure ingredients by weight: I recommend measuring your banana by weight using a scale so that your muffins have just the right amount of moisture. If you don't have a scale use measuring cups. Chop the bananas into little pieces and fill the measuring cup to the top. You’ll need 1 ½ cups (about 2 regular bananas or 4 Apple bananas).
- Wait a day: Yea... this is a hard one! These are delicious warm right out of the oven, but if you let them sit overnight all of the flavors intensify and you get the moistest, most buttery muffins with tons of banana flavor.
Storing, freezing & reheating
- Storing: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a few weeks. Or at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freeze your muffins: Place in airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Then allow them to come to room temperature and enjoy them again.
- Reheating: If you like your muffins warm, reheat them in the microwave or oven at 350°F for a few minutes.
Can I substitute almond flour
I get a lot of questions asking if you can replace almond flour with coconut flour. This substitution is not easy and I do not recommend it. But I made it simple for you by creating the best Coconut Flour Banana Muffins recipe. Be sure to check it out next.
How to use frozen bananas
If you have overripe bananas but aren’t ready to bake with them yet, freeze them to use later! When ready, take them out of the freezer, let them come to room temperature, dry out the excess moisture with a paper towel and start measuring the amount called for in the recipe.
How to freeze bananas: Remove the skin and place them in an airtight container or ziplock bag. You can freeze them with the skin on, but I find it messy and unpleasant to peel them after frozen and thawed.
Can I make it dairy-free
Butter is one of the key additions in this recipe to achieve great flavor. But I know some of you need it to be dairy-free, so try substituting it with coconut oil or avocado oil like I do in my Banana-Walnut Muffins recipe. You'll need the same amount of oil in place of butter both for the muffins and crumbs. I personally love (and prefer) them with coconut oil!
The nuts and bolts of almond flour
Just like wheat flour is made by grinding wheat grains, almond flour is made by grinding almonds into fine flour.
It is the most commonly used flour in gluten-free, grain-free and Paleo baking for making cakes, cookies, muffins and breads because the texture and flavor it gives baked goods closely resembles recipes made with all-purpose flour.
Depending on the brand, the terms almond flour and almond meal are used interchangeably. The majority of brands don’t differentiate between the two terms, and there are currently no reliable standards for naming the product flour or meal.
They are the same thing, simply almonds ground up into fine flour. The biggest difference is that some brands refer to almond flour if it’s made from blanched almonds and is finely ground, and some refer to almond meal when the almonds are coarsely ground and made from almonds with the skin on.
When it comes to baking with almond flour, the most important thing is that in order to give baked goods the right texture, you must use blanched almond flour that has been milled into very fine flour.
Blanched almond flour is made from whole almonds that are blanched (have the skins removed) and are then ground into very fine powder. The finer the grind, the better your baked goods will turn out because there’s a larger surface area for all ingredients to bind and react with each other. This will assure that whatever you’re baking cooks evenly and doesn’t sink in the middle, turn out oily and dense, or crumble apart.
What else to make with almond flour & bananas
In addition to making these gluten free Paleo banana muffins here are a few more healthy recipe ideas for you to make with almond flour and bananas.
If you make these almond flour banana muffins I would love to hear your opinion! Please leave a comment and rating below.
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🎥 Recipe video
📖 Recipe
Banana Crumb Muffins (Paleo, Gluten Free, Low Carb)
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (171g) blanched almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine himalayan salt
- 1 ½ cups (233g) bananas
- 1 tablespoon (22g) raw honey, optional
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 5 tablespoons (70g) melted butter, or melted coconut oil - 5 tbsp (57g)
- ⅓ cup (38g) pecans, chopped
Crumbs:
- 4 tablespoons (30g) blanched almond flour, (or 2 to 4 tbsp)
- 1 tablespoon (14g) butter, cold or coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a standard size muffin tin with baking cups.
- Using a spatula, mix together in a medium bowl the flour, baking soda and salt until there aren't any lumps left. Or sift the ingredients into the bowl using a fine mesh sieve.
- In a separate bowl, mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher, then using a whisk mix in the honey, egg and butter.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently mix the wet and dry ingredients to form your batter. Mix until just combined - the batter is supposed to be thick.
- Fold pecans into the batter.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each to the top.
- Sprinkle the top of each muffin with the crumbs and bake until a stick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18 to 20 minutes. Then set the pan over a wire rack to allow the muffins to cool.
Crumb topping:
- Using your hands, mix together all ingredients for the crumbs until mixture resemble coarse meal.
Notes
Nutrition per serving
*This post may contain affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure policy for more details.
This recipe was originally published on Mar 22, 2013 and this post has been updated with new information, photos and recipe video. The only adjustment made to the recipe was to the crumb topping: changed adding ⅛ to ½ teaspoon cinnamon; and changed adding 2 tablespoons almond flour to 3 to 4 tablespoons.
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