Grain-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Overripe bananas on hand?! Perfect!

Get ready to fill your home with a mouthwatering aroma and better yet, sink your teeth into the most delicious grain-free Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins.

There are no added sugars other than what the chocolate chips contain! Not even honey or maple syrup. The overripe bananas and mini-chocolate chips provide all the sweetness you need in these muffins. Cinnamon and nutmeg add a nice spice of flavors and who doesn’t love the addition of chocolate chips?! This recipe is grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free {if using dairy-free chocolate chips such as Enjoy Life} and paleo-friendly.

These Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins will cure any sweet tooth and are perfect for adding to lunch boxes or freezing in individual portions for later. Baked goods are a food I sure do enjoy. I like the challenge of creating recipes that are made with wholesome ingredients and that are lower in sugar. And lucky you, because I share all of my favorite recipes with you so that you can enjoy them too! Now this doesn’t mean you should go hog-wild and eat 10 mini-muffins in one sitting. What it does mean, is that having a little treat, even every day, is totally OKAY! In fact, doing so has really help me to find balance with my eats and to avoid the feeling of being restricted from foods I love or feeling guilty after I indulge in a treat – these are the kinds of feelings I’ve struggled with in the past and I’m not going back. No way!

So what causes bananas to turn brown/ripen?

According to scienceline.ucsb.edu:

Bananas, like other fruits, are ripened due to a hormone called ethylene. Ethylene breaks down complex sugars into simple sugars and breaks down pectin, a substance which keeps bananas hard. This is also the reason why overripe bananas are sweeter and perfect for baking.

In addition there are hormones that break down green pigments which you see in un-ripe bananas and replace them with yellow pigments. However as the banana continues to ripen these yellow pigments are broken down and not replaced at all producing the brown color.

Using overripe bananas in baked goods is a great way to replace added sugars and will reduce the overall grams of sugar in recipes.

There is no need to add any form of sugar to this recipe because of the delightful and natural sweetness the overripe bananas provide. In fact, you can even eliminate the chocolate chips and still end up with a perfectly sweetened, but not too sweet, banana muffin! 

If chocolate isn’t your thing, you’ve got options!

I know not everyone is as crazy for chocolate, so here are some options for you.

• Omit the chocolate chips (you’ll still end-up with a delicious banana mini-muffin). I make them all the time without chocolate chips.
• Replace chocolate chips with chopped nuts of choice
• Replace chocolate chips with no-sugar added dried fruit
• Replace chocolate chips with fresh blueberries or chopped strawberries
• Replace chocolate chips with a 2 Tbsp. chia seeds

These options would also transform this recipe into a less sweet and delicious breakfast muffin. I also love a slathering of almond butter on top of these muffins!

Making mini-muffins is a great way to quicken the baking time when compared to regular sized muffins and breads.

One of our goals is to create recipes with less than 10-ingredients and that do not require hours upon hours in the kitchen. We’d rather spend our time with our family, with friends, outdoors, etc. So one way to quicken baking time with muffins and breads is simply by using a mini-muffin pan rather than a bread/loaf or regular muffin pan. Making this Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins recipe into bread, would require 40-50 minutes of baking vs. 10-12 minutes. Plus, the shorter the baking time the faster you’ll be able to pop one of these crazy delicious muffins into your mouth!

Holy Bananas! Is your mouth watering yet?!

Are you ready to give this recipe a try? Good thing is, it only takes about 25 minutes to make so you’ll be able to enjoy these muffins in no time! However, if you’re not planning to make this recipe at this absolute very moment – feel free to pin the image below on your “recipes to try” Pinterest board! We love Pinterest – you can check out what we’re pinning here!

Grab your overripe bananas, a mixing bowl, a mixing spoon, measuring utensils and a mini-muffin tin and give this recipe a try!

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Let's Get Cookin'

Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Overripe bananas on hand?! Perfect. Here is a mouthwatering grain-free Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffin recipe. No added sweeteners in this recipe, the ripe bananas and chocolate chips provide plenty of sweetness!

• Author: The Real Food Dietitians
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 12 mins
• Total Time: 22 mins
• Yield: 24 muffins (12 servings) 1x
• Cuisine: Paleo | Grain-free | Gluten-free | Dairy-free

Print Recipe

★★★★★ 4.8 from 16 reviews

Ingredients

• ¼ cup almond flour
• ¼ cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. sea salt
• 2 bananas, mashed (~¾–1 cup)
• 3 eggs, whisked
• ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup dairy-free mini-chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease mini-muffin pan with olive oil or coconut oil well or use mini-muffin liners.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients.
3. Mix until just combined.
4. Fill each well about 1/2-3/4 full with batter.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until center of muffins are firm and spring back when gently pressed in the middle.
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Notes

All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this recipe, please rewrite the recipe in your own unique words and link back to the source recipe here on The Real Food Dietitians so credit is given where credit is due. Thank you!

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 2 muffins
• Calories: 143
• Sugar: 6 g
• Sodium: 125 mg
• Fat: 10 g
• Carbohydrates: 11 g
• Fiber: 2 g
• Protein: 3 g

 We want to know! What is your favorite way for using up ripe bananas?

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About Stacie Hassing

Stacie is a Licensed and Registered Dietitian from rural southern Minnesota where she and her husband reside on 5 acres with their two pups, Walter & Lucy. She’s a creator of simple and wholesome recipes, a lover of nature, a crossfitter, a seasonal runner, and she’s on a mission to inspire as many as she can live a healthier and happier life from the inside out.