Oat Flour Banana Muffins

An easy one-bowl banana muffin recipe that’s made entirely with oat flour! These muffins are soft and fluffy, naturally sweetened, and taste delicious plain or with mix-ins.

I absolutely love using oat flour for baking. I use it to make oat flour pancakes and waffles, and my kids absolutely love my oat flour chocolate chip cookies.

But up until recently, I wasn’t a huge fan of muffins made with oat flour. Every recipe on the internet left me with dry and crumbly muffins that tasted bland. This is actually pretty common with oat flour as it absorbs moisture and tends to be drier than other gluten free flours.

After months of being let down, I decided to get to it and create the best soft and moist oat flour banana muffin recipe! The secret to the perfect light and fluffy texture lies in the ratio of oat flour to wet ingredients, and using a combination of baking powder and baking soda.

My kids eat one of these muffin every day as part of their lunch at school. While they’re great plain, you can also add your favorite mix-ins! Best of all, this recipe is completely foolproof and comes together in under 30 minutes. Save this recipe—you’ll be using it for years to come!

Ingredients

• Bananas – Use overripe bananas. We’re talking plenty of brown and black spots. These make the muffins moist and sweet.
• Eggs – Use large eggs. Lay these out beforehand to bring them to room temperature.
• Coconut oil – I use an organic, unrefined coconut oil in baking. Make sure the melt the coconut oil before mixing.
• Honey – I recommend using a raw honey for the best flavor and nutrients.
• Oat flour – For best results, use store bought oat flour. Make sure to purchase certified gluten free oat flour if you need the muffins to be gluten free. While oats are gluten free, they can become contaminated with gluten in processing facilities.
• Mix-ins: While these are optional, you can use chopped walnuts or pecans, or my favorite—chocolate chips! I like to use dark chocolate chips.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions

Want to make this your own? Here are some quick and easy shifts you can make:

• Eggs: I find flax eggs work best in baking recipe if you have a sensitivity to eggs.
• Coconut oil – Use avocado oil or another neutral baking oil
• Honey – You can use maple syrup, but please note this will reduce the sweetness and flavor in the muffins.

How to Make Oat Flour Banana Muffins

1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with parchment paper liners.
2. Mix: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the banana, eggs, coconut oil, honey, and vanilla extract.
3. Combine: Add the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt to the bowl and mix until combined. Fold in the optional mix-ins.
4. Transfer: Pour the batter into the muffin liners, filling about ¾ full.
5. Bake: Bake in the center of the oven for 22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean or the centers bounce back when lightly pressed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

Baking Tips

• Use very overripe bananas. You want all the black spots. Even if the bananas seem too far gone, they’re not. This makes the banana bread sweet and moist!
• Forgot to bring the eggs to room temp? Just place them in a warm water bath for 3-5 minutes.
• Mash the banana right in the mixing bowl. Just use the paddle attachment on your mixer and let it do all of the work!
• To measure oat flour, make sure to fluffy the oat flour first, then scoop it with your measuring cup and sweep any excess off the top. Oat flour can clump and pack down, which will give you too much oat flour.

Recipe FAQs

Mix-ins

I love that banana muffins with oat flour work great with or without mix-ins! If you’re a fan of mix-ins, here are my favorites:

• chopped walnuts
• chopped pecans
• dark or semisweet chocolate chips
• rasins
• or, you can sprinkle the tops with sliced almonds, unsweetened coconut, or pumpkin seeds just before baking!

Storage and Leftovers

TO STORE: Let the muffins cool to room temperature, then store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They’ll also keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.

TO FREEZE: These are great for meal prep! To freeze, just place cooled muffins in a freezer safe zip-top storage bag and store them in the freezer for up to two months.

More Oat Flour Recipes

• Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Oat Flour Pancakes
• Oat Flour Waffles
• Coconut Milk Overnight Oats
• Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Recipe by: Noelle Tarr / Coconuts and Kettlebells | Photography by: Casey Colodny / The Mindful Hapa and Noelle Tarr