Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

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.

If you’re a fan of Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, give Healthy Chocolate Donuts a try.

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 weight issue.

How to Make Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Healthy

In order to make them healthier, I did the following:

• I replaced the all-purpose flour with whole wheat spelt flour -- which, if you haven't ever heard of spelt flour 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 removed 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.

Looking for a quick and healthy treat? Check out my Healthy Blender Chocolate Muffins for a simple, chocolatey snack that’s naturally sweetened and gluten-free!

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, 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?

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!

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!

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