These easy vegan chocolate chip banana muffins are the perfect dairy-free muffin for a healthy breakfast or grab-and-go snack. Moist, chocolatey, and delicious, these muffins bake up perfectly every time!
These vegan banana muffins with chocolate chips are a family favorite. (I think my kids purposely let the last few bananas in each bunch turn brown in the hopes that I'll make them.
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❤️ Why you will love this recipe
This chocolate chip banana muffin recipe was born out of my classic vegan banana bread recipe. With just a few simple changes to my classic recipe and you have these perfect muffins!
You'll love them because they're quick and easy to make with simple ingredients. Plus they're easy to make gluten-free, nut-free, and soy-free too.
🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Overripe Bananas - they must have at least some brown spots on them. Brown bananas are the sweetest.
- Brown Sugar - you can also use coconut sugar, maple syrup, or even regular vegan white sugar.
- Plant-Based Milk - any soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, or any other non-dairy milk will work.
- Applesauce - for extra moisture and to replace the egg in traditional baking. (If you don't have applesauce, you can use 1 extra banana, or flax eggs, or see my post about how to substitute an egg in any recipe if you want more vegan egg substitutes.) Tip: the little individual snack-size apple sauce cups are 4 oz (1/2 cup), so you can just add in one of those.
- Vanilla Extract - for flavor.
- Vegetable Oil - for moist bread. You can use any neutral-flavored oil like canola oil, coconut oil, light olive oil, or even melted vegan margarine. (Use extra applesauce instead of oil for oil-free).
- Flour - for the base of the bread. You can use white all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour, or a gluten-free flour mix. My homemade gluten-free flour mix made from oat flour works great too.
- Baking Soda - to help them rise.
- Baking Powder - to help them rise.
- Salt - to enhance flavor.
- Chocolate Chips - any vegan chocolate chips will work. You may want to double-check the ingredients on your bag to make sure they are dairy-free.
🔪 Helpful tools
Muffin Tins - A standard-sized muffin tin works well. You can also use a mini muffin tin and make 18 smaller muffins instead of 12 larger ones.
Two Mixing Bowls - A larger one to mix the dry ingredients, and a smaller one to mash the bananas and mix in the wet ingredients.
🥄 How to make vegan chocolate chip banana muffins
Step 1 - Preheat your oven to 375° F (190° C) and oil or line a muffin tin.
Step 2 - Put all of the dry ingredients (2 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder,1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt) in a large mixing bowl and give it a little stir.
Step 3 - Place 3 very ripe bananas and 2/3 cup of brown sugar in a medium bowl and mash with a fork.
Step 4 - Add 1/2 apple sauce, 1/3 cup oil, 1/4 cup plant-based milk, and 1 tsp vanilla to the mashed bananas and stir until it is all mixed well.
Step 5 - Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until all of the flour is incorporated, but don't over stir.
Step 6 - Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips and stir them into the batter.
Step 7 - Fill the greased muffin tins just over the top with batter and top with a few more chocolate chips.
Step 8 - Bake at 375° F (190° C) for about 22 minutes for standard-size muffins or 18 minutes for mini muffins or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
👩🏻🍳 Pro Tips
- Use very ripe bananas. You have to use bananas that have brown spots or have turned completely brown. These bananas are softer and sweeter than green and yellow bananas.
- Measure your ingredients carefully. Slight variations in measurements can change the final outcome.
- Spoon your flour into the measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife. Scooping flour out of the bag with a measuring cup will result in too much flour.
- Don't over-stir the batter. You want to mix it enough to see no dry flour. Over-mixing it will cause it to be chewier.
❓Frequently asked questions
To make gluten-free chocolate chip muffins, simply swap out the flour with any gluten-free flour mix. If the flour mix that you use doesn't have xanthan gum added, add 1 tsp to the dry ingredients. Follow the rest of the instructions the same way.
You can make vegan banana muffins oil-free by swapping out the oil with 1/3 cup of apple sauce or an additional mashed banana.
If you have ripe bananas, but don't want to make banana muffins right away, you can go ahead and freeze them until you are ready to use them. Simply peel them first and store them in a freezer bag squeezing out as much air as possible. Bananas can stay good and ready to use for up to 3 months. When you are ready to make your muffins, simply take 3 bananas out of the freezer bag and allow them to thaw. they will be mushy, but that's okay, you are going to mash them.
🥡 How to store and freeze banana muffins
Countertop - your vegan chocolate chip banana muffins will keep well at room temperature for about 2 days.
Refrigerator - keep your muffins sealed in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Freezer - Simply put your muffins in a freezer bag and squeeze out all excess air. They will keep well for up to 3 months. To thaw, put them in the fridge overnight or on the countertop for a few hours.
➕ Add-ins
Swap out the chocolate chips with other things too to change up your muffins.
Chopped Nuts - 1/2 cup of any type of chopped nuts that you choose mixed in the batter or sprinkled on top.
Blueberries - about 1 cup fresh or frozen.
Strawberries - about 1 cup of chopped fresh strawberries give you delicious strawberry banana bread.
Cocoa Powder - for chocolate banana muffins, add 3/4 cup of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients and increase the sugar to 1 1/4 cup to counteract the bitterness of the chocolate.
Spices - 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, or 1/4 tsp cloves are all delicious and give the muffins some extra flavor.
These banana muffins are a great grab-and-go breakfast or healthy snack.
📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!
📋 Vegan chocolate chip banana muffins recipe
Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 2 cups flour any type will work
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (Plus another 1/4 for topping the muffins if desired.)
Wet ingredients
- 3 medium ripe bananas totaling about 1 1/2 cups.
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup oil (any neutral flavored oil or melted vegan margarine).
- 1/4 cup plant-based milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375° F (190° C) and oil or line a muffin tin with paper.
- Put all of the dry ingredients (2 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder,1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt) in a large mixing bowl and give it a little stir.
- Place 3 very ripe bananas and 2/3 cup of brown sugar in a medium bowl and mash with a fork.
- Add 1/2 apple sauce, 1/3 cup oil, 1/4 cup plant-based milk, and 1 tsp vanilla to the mashed bananas and stir until it is all mixed well.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until all of the flour is incorporated, but don't over stir.
- Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips and stir them into the batter.
- Fill the greased muffin tins just over the top with batter and top with a few more chocolate chips.
- Bake at 375° F (190° C) for about 22 minutes for standard size muffins or 18 minutes for mini muffins or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Video
Notes
- Use very ripe bananas. You have to use bananas that have brown spots or have turned completely brown. These bananas are softer and sweeter than green and yellow bananas.
- Measure your ingredients carefully. Baking is a science and small variations in measurements can change the final outcome.
- Spoon your flour into the measuring cup and level it off with the back of a butter knife. Don't scoop the flour out of the bag with a measuring cup. This will pack the flour down too much resulting in too much flour.
- Don't over stir the batter. You just want to stir it enough so you don't see any dry flour. Over mixing it will cause it to be chewier.
Nutrition
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Click the stars above or leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you!
I just made these and I used organic cane sugar instead of brown sugar and used gluten free flour and they were DELICIOUS loved this recipe ❤️
I'm so happy that you liked them! 🙂
Five stars for Muffin recipe... Delicious, thanks
Thank you, Hannetjie. I'm happy that you liked it! 🙂