These healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are the PERFECT way to use ripe bananas and don’t use any refined flour, refined sugar or oil!
Way back when, in a land far, far away, I posted this Banana Nut Muffins recipe.
And it was truly amazing – it even became one of the most popular posts on this blog and has been pinned a TON of times on Pinterest, and shared all across them interwebs.
I think the reason why my Easy Banana Nut Muffins recipe was so successful is because it is so super duper easy and virtually fail-proof. I mean – it’s one bowl of stuff you mix together, and then bake. And the result is delicious.
So many times over the years, though, you guys have asked me to share a new recipe that included chocolate chips. Because bananas and chocolate chips NEED to be in muffin form, peeps. It’s like a rule, I’m told. 😉
So, I went to work on making a new and improved banana chocolate chip muffin recipe. To make the best banana chocolate chip muffins ever.
BUT…I needed to make a few tweaks in the old recipe.
First off: they needed to be healthier. Really, they needed to be clean. While the original Easy Banana Nut Muffins are extremely tasty, they are not clean as written. That’s because, when I created that recipe, I hadn’t yet fallen in LOVE with a clean eating lifestyle.
In fact, when I originally created the recipe, way back in 2009, I hadn’t even ever heard of clean eating. I also happened to be struggling with this issue.
In order to make them healthier, I replaced the all-purpose flour with whole wheat spelt flour — which, if you haven’t ever heard of before, spoiler alert: it’s AMAZING. It’s everything a clean eating person could dream of for baked goods. It’s slightly sweet, full of nutritious vitamins, fiber, and protein, and completely unrefined. Oh, and it bakes up as tenderly and as lightly as all-purpose flour, which is just so very awesome.
I also wanted to remove ALL added sweeteners to this muffin recipe. That means no added sweetener of any kind. I wanted to see if I could make a sweet, delicious muffin without anything but the natural sweetness of the bananas. So, I added in 5 ripe bananas and, to my happy surprise, it turned out beautifully.
How To Make These Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Vegan (Without Dairy or Eggs)
If you’re looking to make these banana chocolate chip muffins vegan, meaning without any dairy or eggs, all you need to do is replace the one egg with a flax egg. To make a flax egg, it’s super easy. Just add one tablespoon ground flaxseed meal (I use this brand) with 3 tablespoons of water. Mix together with a spoon, and let sit for 5-10 minutes to set up and thicken. Then, add to the recipe as you would an egg. See? Super easy. You can also add that flaxseed meal to other recipes for added nutrients, like this Kiwi & Kale Smoothie – FYI.
Are Chocolate Banana Muffins Healthy?
Not all chocolate banana muffins are healthy or created equal. That’s why it’s so helpful to make them yourself because you can completely control the ingredients. In these healthy banana chocolate chip muffins, the addition of the extra bananas removed the need to add any oil to the muffins, too. While I do use a tiny bit of coconut oil to grease the pan, you could always avoid this if you used cupcake liners since there’s none that’s needed for the recipe.
So: no refined flour, no added sweeteners, and no added oils.
This means we got ourselves some healthy muffins. Hooray!
How friggin’ cool is that?
And, if you are with me and you think this is, in fact, “friggin’ cool,” then, my friend, you are gonna LOVE these healthy banana chocolate chip muffins.
Like…love LOVE them.
How to Make Banana Muffins With Chocolate Chips
For the chocolate, don’t make these super healthy banana chocolate chip muffins right here and and make the mistake of using an unhealthy-ish chocolate.
Instead, get the most out of your chocolate with a 70% cacao dark chocolate. At that level of cacao, you’ll get the maximum health benefits with the least amount of additives and processing. It’s a chocolate win-win here, peeps!
Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
So, for all you out there who asked for a healthy banana chocolate chip muffin recipe, I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.
And thanks SO MUCH for the suggestion!
These healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are the PERFECT solution to your ripe bananas and don't use any refined flours OR sugar or oil!
- 5 ripe bananas
- 1 egg, beaten*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups spelt flour (can also use whole wheat pastry flour)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup 70% cacao dark chocolate morsels
- 1/2 tbsp Coconut oil, for greasing muffin tin
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease muffin tin with coconut oil.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mash the bananas using a fork or potato masher. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the spelt flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and sea salt. Mix well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Do not over mix.
- Fold in the chocolate morsels.
- Pour the mix into the prepared muffin pan, approximately 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and tops are golden brown.
- Remove and let cool on cooling rack.
Recipe Video
* To make these muffins vegan, all you need to replace is the one egg with a flax egg. Just add one tablespoon ground flaxseed meal (I use this brand) with 3 tablespoons of water. Mix together with a spoon, and let sit for 5-10 minutes to set up and thicken. Then, add to the recipe as you would an egg. See? Super easy.
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anya says
November 1, 2018 at 3:07 pmthink i messed it up. i had to convert all measurements and temperatures into my countries ones and must have messed up there.
its been 40 mins and its still very uncooked, only a bit of fermness on top of them
Kim says
August 28, 2018 at 1:36 pmThank you for posting this recipe! I’ve probably made it 30 times just as it’s written. It is a favorite in my kids lunches. I make a batch and freeze them. I pull them out in the morning and the girls tell me they are thawed by lunch . Thank you!
Crystal | Beat Bake Eat says
June 21, 2018 at 3:47 pmWoah! 5 Bananas? I gotta try these. I love banana muffins.
Shannon says
May 19, 2018 at 7:44 pmTried these muffins they turned out great!!! Thanks for the tips.
Karen Bittner says
February 13, 2018 at 4:10 amHello Lacey,
My name is Karen and I live in Brisbane, Australia. I made a batch of you banana chocolate chip muffins and took them to work. Every one loved them! (Especially when I told them that there is no added sugar). We have fruit provided at work and sometimes there are quite a few bananas left on Friday, so I take them home and bake on the weekend.
We have had a heat wave here recently. I made your peach and ginger tea. Yum!
Rosie Dunningham says
February 7, 2018 at 10:55 amOh my goodness, thank you thank you thank you for this recipe. I made it into a banana bread as I didn’t have any muffin liners, cut it into pieces, clingfilmed & froze them to grab and take with me to work. In the afternoon I often get so tired, and that’s when I’m likely to reach for something to give me a boost, and usually that means some kind of sugary biscuit. But now I have this recipe, I absolutely love it! So banana-ey, and with the little chunks of dark chocolate, I’m still getting that boost. I honestly think I’m going to make this every week now, and the ingredients are so simple, healthy & cheap. Thank you! From a very happy reader xx
Abby says
February 7, 2018 at 9:19 amHi there,
Thanks for sharing such a clean recipe. However, I wonder if I could use half whole wheat flour and half white all purpose flour. My daughter has an extremely sensitive taste and I want to switch ingredients little by little. Hope the muffins still turn out well. Thanks for your advice.
Steve L says
January 12, 2018 at 7:42 pmInteresting recipe…very easy. My little kiddos didn’t blink an eye at the no sugar option. Thanks for sharing.
MaggieSz says
October 19, 2017 at 2:07 pmEverything was great!
Will the texture change, If I add a little Oat flour to the mixture?!
Rebecca says
October 19, 2017 at 12:05 pmTexture is great! But, they definitely taste unsweetened. Maybe if I add a little stevia in next times. Not much. Not looking for super sweet or rich. Just a hint of sweetness. But, everything else about them is awesome!!! Most spelt recipes don’t turn out great, but this one is promising.
Lacey Baier says
October 19, 2017 at 1:38 pmHi Rebecca! I’m sorry the muffins weren’t as sweet as you would have liked. From my testing and others’ reviews, the muffins have always turned out sweet and no additional sweetener was needed so I’m wondering if maybe the bananas you used weren’t fully ripe? Hopefully, that will help next time! 🙂
Aimee Cox says
October 8, 2017 at 4:57 pmMy first “clean” recipe! This was so easy and so delicious!!!!!
Lacey Baier says
October 19, 2017 at 1:40 pmYES!!!
Shanthi says
September 24, 2017 at 5:06 pmWow.. a sugar free, fat free muffin. It turned out to be delicious. I was very surprised how it came out so well without any butter/oil….? Thank you. A definite keeper that I will be making often. We added some sultanas for added sweetness.
Lacey Baier says
October 19, 2017 at 1:39 pmWoohoo! So glad it’s a keeper!!
moushmi says
September 17, 2017 at 12:44 amHi,
I tried making these over the weekend and man i am in love with them!!!They turned out so so yum! And couldnt believe they had no sugar or oil!!! Thanks so much for sharing <3
Lacey Baier says
October 19, 2017 at 1:39 pmI know, right?!?! So good! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Vivian Lee Cortes says
September 9, 2017 at 3:20 pmHi Thank you for sharing, I’ve been looking to bake healthier, I could not find the Spelt flour whole wheat, can i use 1 1/2 cups of 100% whole wheat to replace 1 1/2 cup of Spelt flour whole wheat?
Lacey Baier says
September 10, 2017 at 3:19 pmYep, it’s a 1:1 ratio 🙂
Vivian Lee Cortes says
September 11, 2017 at 5:30 pmThank you for your reply. I wasn’t sure if it would be less flour if i was using the 100% Whole Grain Whole Wheat flour. I’m very excited to try this recipes.
Thank you again for your time and help!
Ty says
September 8, 2017 at 1:49 pmOk so I used coconut flour instead of spelt flour and I’m guessing that was my mistake… My batter is super thick and crumbly, almost biscuit like.. Are there any other flours that I could have used instead??
Lacey Baier says
September 8, 2017 at 9:06 pmYes, coconut flour behaves completely differently than a lot of other flours and requires A LOT of liquid. You can use whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour, or whole wheat pastry flour, though spelt behaves the best in my opinion.
carole says
September 4, 2017 at 7:28 amDelicious! I added qia cereal 1/4c and oatmeal 1/4c for the 1/2 c od spelt flour and it worked well.
Lacey Baier says
September 5, 2017 at 10:57 amAwesome – love those ideas. Thanks for sharing! xoxo
Robyn says
August 29, 2017 at 12:25 pmThese are so easy and delicious. Perfect for a health conscious family
Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
Lacey Baier says
September 5, 2017 at 10:58 amI’m so glad you appreciate the recipe 🙂
Stephanie says
November 28, 2016 at 3:28 pmThese are incredible. Love them!!!! I feel good eating them.
Lacey Baier says
September 5, 2017 at 10:58 amRight?!? What’s better than that? 😉
Tiffany Perkins says
November 19, 2016 at 8:13 pmOMG …. so yummy! Thans for sharing this awesome recipe. I can’t wait to whip up a batch for the next office potluck.
Lacey Baier says
September 5, 2017 at 10:58 amYou’re so welcome! xoxo
Sarah says
October 16, 2016 at 1:18 pmThis recipe sounds amazing! I’m just about to make it, but I was wondering what size bananas you used, or how many cups of mashed banana you should have. I don’t want to have too little or too much!
Lacey Baier says
September 5, 2017 at 10:59 amI use med-large bananas – nothing too crazy small or big will work fine 🙂
Maya says
May 31, 2016 at 6:00 pmI am 14 and I just made these and they were so so so simple and AMAZING. I wasn’t expecting them to taste good but they were delicious. I love this recipe we are definitely keeping it
Lacey Baier says
September 5, 2017 at 10:59 amI’m so glad you were surprised with how easy and tasty they were!
Parma says
May 16, 2016 at 7:28 amI had doubts at first, but these we’re truly mazing!! Since I was making a half batch, I added a full egg instead of half an egg. It didn’t seem to affect the recipe at all. These were gone within a half hour!
Lacey Baier says
May 18, 2016 at 10:26 pmYay!! That’s a good sign 🙂
Anna Yu says
May 11, 2016 at 1:12 pmI’ve tried these! I also added some shredded carrots and some raisins and it turned out super moist. No oil and refined sugars. Healthiest recipe I ever found on youtube!
Thank you!
Anna
Lacey Baier says
May 18, 2016 at 10:21 pmYUM love those additions 🙂