I am super excited to share one of my favorite recipes with you guys: Vegan chocolate chip banana muffins. Now there are plenty of recipes out there for banana chocolate chip muffins, however my recipe is extra special. I say that, because this healthy chocolate chip banana muffin recipe is made with whole foods plant based ingredients, and is totally delicious!
The combination of chocolate chips and banana was one of my favorite treats growing up. However it was one of those foods I just stopped eating when I went vegan because I was not sure how to make it. Like I said there are plenty of vegan recipes out there, but I haven't been able to find a while foods plant based chocolate chip banana muffin one. What did I do? Well, I made my own and it is incredible!
What makes these vegan chocolate chip banana muffins healthy?
Banana bread and banana muffins always get a reputation for being healthy. However this unfortunately is not always the case. Many banana muffin recipes (even vegan banana muffins) are loaded with refined sugars and highly processed oils. Therefore even though they may be healthier than a cupcake, they are still unhealthy by my standards. For something to be truly healthy in my opinion, it needs to be free of animal products, artificial colors/flavors, free of processed oils, and refined sugars. Of course it is possible to make all foods fit, but my mindset is if I can make it healthy than why not! These vegan chocolate chip banana muffins are the perfect healthy muffin recipe! They are:
- VEGAN
- OIL-FREE
- GLUTEN-FREE
- REFINED SUGAR-FREE
- NATURALLY SWEETENED
- WHOLE FOODS PLANT BASED
Almost all of my recipes here at The All Natural Vegan are just like this one, so take a look around, there's plenty to love! If you're a banana lover then I recommend my Whole Foods Plant Based Banana Bread, or my Chocolate Chip Banana Baked Oats! Make sure to subscribe to my email list so you are the first to know when a new recipe drops!
How to choose a good plant based chocolate:
These vegan banana chocolate chip banana muffins wouldn't be complete without some quality chocolate. Over my years of being vegan I have tried a lot of plant based chocolates. I have also done a lot of vegan baking with chocolate. Therefore I have narrowed down what works the best, and what works just okay. I truly think that the chocolate you choose can drastically change the flavor of the recipe. These chocolate chip banana muffins went through a couple test rounds using different vegan chocolates before I narrowed down my favorite.
Choosing the best vegan chocolate for this gluten free vegan banana chocolate chip muffin recipe was not only about choosing the chocolate with the best flavor, but also the best ingredients. There are so many vegan chocolates out there, but there are few whole foods plant based chocolates. If you are making a whole foods plant based muffin recipe, then it is important to use a chocolate that is made with the same quality ingredients.
My favorite vegan chocolates:
There are a couple brands that you can find in most grocery stores that I love using for all my vegan baking (and snacking)! My all-time favorite is Hu Kitchen. Their chocolate has the superior flavor, and ingredients in my opinion. Their chocolate is also what was used in this recipe and it baked fantastically. My second favorite plant based chocolate is Evolved. I love this chocolate because the flavor is also great, and so are the ingredients. At the end of the day it is totally up to your personal preference, but these are my go-to recommendations.
How to make vegan muffins fluffy:
Something that I have really struggled with when it comes to vegan baking is achieving the the fluffy texture. Since traditional recipes rely on eggs a lot of the time, it is hard to find a plant based substitution that works just as well. Sure there's flax eggs, but let's be real: they don't work quite the same. However I am happy to say that I have mastered the perfect mixture to obtaining fluffy vegan muffins, and these vegan banana chocolate chip muffins just may be the fluffiest yet!
How did I do it? It's a mixture of a couple different things. First and most importantly is the ingredients. These vegan chocolate chip banana muffins have banana in them already which acts almost like an oil. However if making a recipe that doesn't have banana you can always use applesauce. Second, choose a plant based milk that has some sort of fat content. My favorite is unsweetened soy. Next, use a combination of baking powder, baking soda, and apple cider vinegar. These work together to create the perfect rise. It's all about the ratios though, because you can easily overdo one of these factors and end up with a crazy mixture.
It is not just the ingredients in the vegan banana chocolate chip muffins that make them fluffy, but also the technique. I recently discovered a life hack that changed the muffin baking game! I tried it for the first time with these vegan chocolate chip banana muffins and it turned out better than I could have imagined. The trick is to only fill half the muffin slots so there's space between each muffin. This allows more heat to fill the muffins spaces and therefore giving you a fluffier muffin. Try it out and make sure to share with me how it worked!
More fluffy vegan muffin recipes:
Why I love these vegan chocolate chip banana muffins:
Besides being healthy and delicious, there is one more reason that I am so obsessed with these vegan chocolate chip banana muffins. They are the prefect healthy vegan breakfast meal prep. I have shared with you guys how I used to be a barista in college and I had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to go to work. Needless to say I did not have time to make breakfast. Therefore I was all about breakfast meal prep. These vegan banana chocolate chip muffins were one of my favorites! I love these plant based muffins because they are made using ingredients like bananas and oat flour, which is essentially my everyday breakfast anyways. Therefore I can still feel full and satiated while enjoying the ease of meal prep!
Best recipes for easy healthy vegan breakfast:
My favorite meal of the day is breakfast hands down. There's so many options between sweet and savory. I will say that I prefer sweet over savory any day, but there is something for everyone. However as much as I love breakfast, I am not a morning person at all. I won't even defend myself, I am not a pleasant person in the morning. Therefore when I make breakfast recipes like these vegan chocolate chip banana muffins, I need them to be easy! If you can relate to this, make sure to check out some of my other recipes on my blog!
Easy breakfast recipes:
Ingredients for the vegan chocolate chip banana muffins:
- Oat flour
- Almond flour
- Vanilla extract
- Date sugar
- Bananas
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Soy milk
- Apple cider vinegar
- Vegan chocolate
Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups oat flour
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup date sugar
- 3-4 very ripe bananas
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 bar plant based chocolate
- 1 cup soy milk
Instructions
- Begin by preparing your oat flour if you have not already done so. Preheat oven to 350.
- Sift all dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- In a large bowl add bananas and mash until smooth. Chop up your chocolate and add to the bowl. Add all liquid ingredients to the mixture and mix. Combine both bowls together and mix until smooth.
- Scoop out the batter and place in 6 large muffin liners in a muffin pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before enjoying!
Crystal
There is nothing better than banana and chocolate! These muffins are perfect!
Jacqui
They turned out perfectly! 11/10 recommend - the recipe is easy to follow and they are very addictive
nancy
super tasty and healthy for the morning go!
Julie
These were fabulous!!! It’s the first time I have used date sugar in baking rather then dates or date syrup! I really liked it and definitely will make these again! Thank you!
Anna
I love how tasty and healthy those Banana muffins are. Delicious as a dessert but also a quick breakfast 😋