Moist, tender, and perfectly sweet, these vegan banana muffins are bursting with classic homemade flavor and perfect for a light dessert or indulgent breakfast! Made in one bowl with a handful of simple ingredients, they’re just the thing to bake when you’ve got overripe bananas on hand.
My kitchen is perpetually stocked with bananas. Partly because I love bananas, but also because I do so much baking. Bananas are pretty essential for vegan baking. For one thing, they work great as egg substitutes. But also, banana-based treats are deeeeeelicious! Whether it's vegan banana pancakes, vegan banana cake, or vegan banana French toast casserole, when there are overripe bananas in the kitchen, you know there's a real treat on the way.
Jump to:
One of my favorite banana treats is my vegan banana bread, and it's one of the most popular recipes on this site. A lot of readers ask if the banana bread can be made into muffins, and the answer is yes, but with some small tweaks.
Well here it is: my banana bread recipe transformed into a vegan banana muffin recipe!
Choosing Bananas for Baking
One of the most important things to keep in mind when making vegan banana muffins, or nearly any other kind of banana baked good for that matter is this: your bananas need to be overripe.
What's that mean? Lots of brown spots. If they don't have any brown spots, they're nowhere near ripe enough. My general rule is that at least a third of the peel should be brown. Using overripe bananas ensures your vegan banana muffins are sweet enough, moist enough, and have the perfect texture.
How big should the bananas be? I usually just grab what I consider medium-sized bananas while I'm at the supermarket. In the interest of accuracy, I weighed my bananas before putting them in my muffins and they were about 5 ounces each.
Note: If you're weighing your bananas, do it right before baking, as the weight might change as they ripen.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Bananas. Once again, make sure they're overripe!
- Vegetable oil. Any neutral baking oil will work. You can use melted coconut oil, corn oil, or canola oil if you'd like.
- Brown sugar. Use organic to keep the recipe vegan. Conventional brown sugar is sometimes processed using animal bone char.
- Vanilla extract.
- All-purpose flour. I've also successfully made these muffins with spelt and whole wheat pastry flour, so feel free to substitute one of those varieties.
- Baking soda.
- Cinnamon.
- Salt.
- Vegan chocolate chips. These are optional, but so good! Feel free to lave them out if you prefer.
- Walnuts. These are also optional, or they can be swapped out with another type of nut, such as pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts.
Tip: If you ever have overripe bananas but aren't ready to make them into muffins, freeze them! I keep a stash in a freezer bag at all times, and they're generally good for at least 3 months. When adding them to the recipe, add the banana as well as any liquid that accumulates as they thaw.
How They're Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Prepare. Start by preheating your oven to 425°F and lining a muffin tin with papers.
Step 2: Mash the bananas. Peel them, place them into a large bowl, and mash them well using a fork or potato masher.
Step 3: Add wet ingredients. Stir the oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract into your mashed bananas.
Step 4: Add dry ingredients. First, add your flour to the bowl, then sprinkle the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt over the flour before stirring everything up.
Step 5: Add stir-ins. Gently fold in your chocolate chips and walnuts, if you're using them.
Tip: Don't overmix the batter. Just stir until you no longer see flour streaks in the batter. This will ensure your muffins have the best possible texture.
Steps 6 and 7: Distribute the batter and bake. Spoon the batter into paper-lined muffin cups, and optionally, sprinkle some brown sugar on top of each one. Pop the tin into the oven. You'll bake your muffins for 8 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350°F for the last 10 or 12 minutes.
Step 8: Cool. Let your vegan banana muffins cool in the tins, on a cooling rack.
Variations
- Berry banana muffins. Instead of chocolate chips and walnuts, add a cup to a cup and a half of blueberries or finely chopped strawberries.
- Spiced banana muffins. In addition to the cinnamon, add ½ teaspoon of ground ginger and nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves.
- Crumb topping. Instead of topping your muffins with just brown sugar, stir together ¼ cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cup rolled oats, 3 tablespoons organic brown sugar, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and 2 tablespoons of melted vgen butter. Let the topping chill in the fridge while you mix the batter, then press it into the tops of the muffins immediately before baking.
Shelf-Life & Storage
Vegan banana muffins will keep in a sealed bag or container at room temperature for about 3 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven't tried making them gluten-free, so I'm not sure. If you'd like to try it, your best bet would to use a one-to-one gluten-free flour blend, such as those made by Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur Flour.
Usually this is due to old baking soda. To test yours, sprinkle a bit in a glass of vinegar. It should fizz. If it doesn't, it's time for a new box.
This is a hack for keeping the recipe a one-bowl deal. Rather than combining the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, you'll sprinkle the leavening and seasonings over the flour then stir. This ensures that those ingredients are evenly distributed in the batter without the need for a second bowl.
Starting the muffins out at a higher temperature helps them rise quickly, so they develop nice domed tops, while finishing at a lower temperature allows them to bake for extra time so the crumb can fully set.
More Vegan Muffin Recipes
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 overripe bananas (about 5 ounces or 140 grams each), peeled
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup organic brown sugar, plus an optional tablespoon for topping
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Optional Stir-Ins
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF and line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin liners (Note 1).
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas well with a fork or potato masher.
- Stir in the oil, brown sugar, and vanilla.
- Add the flour to the bowl, then sprinkle the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt on top of the flour. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until the ingredients are completely blended. Don't overmix the batter. The batter will be very thick.
- Fold the chips and walnuts into the batter, if using.
- Divide the batter into muffin cups. Optionally, sprinkle the top of each muffin with a bit of brown sugar, gently pressing the sugar into the batter.
- Bake the muffins for 8 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350°F and bake for an additional 10 to 12 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin. It should come out clean of batter when the muffins are done.
- Transfer the muffin tin to a cooling rack. Let the muffins cool until they're just slightly warm before removing them from the tin.
Notes
- You could also coat the muffin pan lightly with oil or cooking spray, if that's your preference.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
They are unfortunately too dry - could ve something I did wrong though, I have only made them once
Sorry to hear that! How ripe were your bananas? Bananas that aren’t ripe enough are often the culprit when banana muffins or bread turn out dry — you want lots of brown spots (there’s a photo in the post for reference). Overbaking or slight measurement differences can also lead to drier muffins.
Yummm, very tasty. Since I have a lot of almond milk fiber “waist“ I'm trying to replace a bit of the wheat flours with that when I bake. Subbing 1/2 cup worked in this recipe .
It came out fantastic. It is moist and full of flavor. I saved this recipe to make it again.
I used olive oil.
Hi Alissa, could I replace the oil with the same amount of banana or omit the oil?Thank you.
I haven't tried an oil free version of this one, but I have heard from some readers that had success replacing the oil with applesauce, so It think that would be your best bet!
Hi Janice,
when I bake I replace eggs with unsweetened applesauce, and oil with nut butters. You can even use Greek yoghurt too. I am a plant based eater so I am always substituting ingredients. Good luck with this one. 🙂
Delicious and so easy to make! Thanks for the recipe!
These definitely live up to their name!! I was out of eggs and was craving muffins so bad. Beautiful high tops, rich dark color, i used light spelt flour, avocado oil, and coconut sugar. I didn’t add the sugar on top but next time i will so the tops are crispy. 1000/10
Hello! I've tried out baking this muffin and it's delicious! I stored the extras in air tight container on my table and noticed that the top turned a bit sticky the next day. Wondering if you know what could have caused the stickiness?
Glad you like them! It's the sugar mixing with moisture from the air. This tends to happen often when it's humid out (it certainly is where I live today!). If you heat them up for a few minutes in the oven it will help dry up some of the moisture so they're less sticky.
Hi Alissa, thank you, I'll try your suggestion the next time ! 🙂
Making these for the second time tonight! This recipe makes me want to intentionally let the bananas get super ripe instead of eating them cereal (which is what I buy them for). 😋
We add chopped pecans and semi-sweet Guittard chips (vegan). They are AMAZING!
This is my new go-to banana muffin recipe. I used all-purpose flour, coconut oil, coconut sugar, but didn't change anything else. I love how dense they came out!
I own at least 40-50 cookbooks and couldn't find one simple delicious recipe for banana bread or muffins. This was perfect. Made a double batch to freeze ;)
Can this be made oil free?:)
I'm haven't tried, so I can't say for sure, but I do have a similar recipe for banana bread (here: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-banana-bread/) and some readers tell me they've had success subbing applesauce for the oil, so so that might be worth a shot!
Has anyone made these gluten free? If so, is there a particular flour that works best?
I haven't made them gluten-free, but generally in recipes like this I find that one-to-one gluten free blends like those made by Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur Flour work best.
Thank you! I'll give it a try!
I don't have muffin tins, can i bake it as a loaf? thanks!
You can! It will need to bake much longer but I'm not sure how long. I'd check it every 5 minutes after the first 30.
Thank you for this vegan recipe! I wanted to ask if yours have ever turned out "dry" mine were, sadly, dry in the middle. Suggestions? Thank you :)
Hi Lori! Mine usually come out very moist, but I could see a few things that might go wrong. The bananas add a lot of moisture, so it's possible that if you use smaller bananas the muffins could end up dry. You could also check your oven temperature, because if it's too high things will overcook a bit and dry out. I've used this test before and found out that my temperature was off. The only other thing I can think of is the brand of flour. I love Bob's Red Mill, and I've found that sometimes if I use another brand my baked goods will sometimes end up gritty. I hope that helps!
My batter came out super dry like dough i added 2 tbsp of almond milk and they came out amazing
The batter should be pretty thick. :) Glad you enjoyed them!!
Made these last night - BEST banana bread muffins I've EVER had. Will be my go-to. Mind if I share the recipe on my page with a link you site of course? :)
THESE ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER. I put both dark and 'milk' chocolate in plus extra walnuts...These were all I ate when I was in hospital after my c section 6 weeks ago. AMAZING <3
Yay! Glad you enjoyed them! I make these muffins all the time. Thanks Elle!
Oh. My. Goodness. I decided to make 6 large muffins instead of 12 regular ones. I also made half with chocolate and half plain because I'm funny about the taste of chocolate and cinnamon together. I was pleasantly surprised to find both types quite delicious! Not too dry - not to doughy. This is one I will definitely make again! Thanks!
Ok, they're in the oven now. Can't wait to try them. Maybe I'll leave a couple for the hubs for breakfast.
Well.... as I'm about to go to bed, definitely too late for my breakfast today- but hopefully next weekend cause these look SO GOOD!
I added a few tablespoons of vegan milk and these muffins rose to perfection. They are delicious 👍