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Dec 31, 2019 By Stacie Hassing

Grain-Free Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins

Dairy-Free
Gluten-free
Grain-Free
Paleo
Jump to Recipe

Leftover sweet potatoes and ripe bananas come together to create these healthy Grain-Free Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins.

A fluted tin tray filled with Grain-Free Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins on a medium gray surface.

Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins aren’t just any ol’ muffin!

I love all kinds of freshly baked muffins. I’m not too picky about the flavor, I just love sinking my teeth in a freshly baked warm muffin slathered with butter. Are you with me?

In fact, back in my college days, I worked at Perkins and any broken/deformed muffins (and other baked goods) were fair game. I definitely had to use my willpower not to go too crazy with the baked goods, otherwise, I’d end up with a carb crash and stomach ache city. While I do love me a good mammoth muffin from Perkins every once in a while (yes, the whole thing), I also know that they’re made with way too much sugar, white flour, and really no beneficial nutrition provided. Bummer, I know!

Close up of two Grain-Free Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins stacked on top of one another (with chocolate chips and walnuts on top).

But I’m here to save the day with the solution to this muffin dilemma. While these Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins may not be as mammoth as Perkins muffins, they’re MUCH more nutritious, have about an ⅛ of the amount of sugar (and not the white stuff), made with only whole food ingredients, high in fiber and also include an option to boost the protein with your favorite protein powder. In addition, they’re gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and paleo-friendly.

By adding a little protein powder to this muffin recipe it helps to balance out the nutrition and provide an adequate source of carbs, protein (10 g) and healthy fats. This results in better fuel for your body and a longer-lasting source of energy. If you don’t have protein powder on hand, no worries. While I recommend it, I’m all about sharing simple substitutions so feel free to substitute almond flour in its place.

Enjoy Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins for breakfast, as an afternoon or post-workout snack, or a tasty lunchbox addition that kids will love.

I love that these muffins not only provide a good source of quality protein but also great nutrition thanks to the sweet potatoes, banana, and walnuts. In addition to the ingredients called for in this recipe, feel free to add additional flavor with coconut flakes, dried cherries or cranberries, raisins, mini chocolate chips or change up the chopped nuts with pecans or almonds.

You can enjoy the muffins as is or top them with some banana slices and slather them with a little butter, almond butter OR…

A grain-free sweet potato banana nut muffin topped with banana slices and almond butter.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links that won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Drizzle ’em with coconut butter! So good.

To drizzle with coconut butter, melt the coconut butter until drizzle consistency. If tackling this task in the microwave, microwave in 30-second increments until drizzle consistency is achieved. You can also melt the coconut butter on a stovetop. What’s nice about topping baked goods with coconut butter is that it’s low in sugar, hardens nicely, tastes delicious and a little goes a long way.

Fun fact: Coconut butter is simply a spread made from the meat of the coconut. To make your own coconut butter you can process unsweetened coconut flakes in a food processor until a butter is formed. 

Close up of a Grain-Free Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffin that has been sliced in half revealing the delicate crumb.

Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins are freezer-friendly too.

It’s always nice to stock the freezer with a few re-heatable items – and muffins are great for that. Simply remove from the freezer, pop in the microwave for 30-60 seconds or in the oven set at 300ºF until heated through.

Are you ready to sink your teeth into these Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins?!

EnJoY!

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Let's Get Cookin'

Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins

Leftover sweet potatoes and ripe bananas come together to create these perfectly textured, high-protein, Paleo-friendly, Grain-Free Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins.

  • Author: The Real Food Dietitians
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 17 mins
  • Total Time: 27 mins
  • Yield: 12 servings 1x
  • Cuisine: Grain-Free, Dairy-Free, Paleo
Print Recipe
★★★★★ 5 from 4 reviews

Ingredients

  • ½ cup cooked sweet potato puree
  • 1 banana, mashed (~⅓ cup)
  • ⅓ cup almond butter, room temperature (may substitute any nut or seed butter of choice)
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 3 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ⅓ cup coconut flour
  • ⅓ cup almond flour (may sub with protein powder)
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt (decrease to ¼ tsp. if nut butter contains salt)
  • ⅓ cup walnuts, chopped
  • ½ cup optional add-ins – chocolate chips, dried cranberries, dried cherries, raisins, or coconut flakes.

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease with oil.
  2. In a bowl, combine sweet potato, banana and almond butter; stir until smooth.
  3. Next add the whole eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla; stir until smooth.
  4. Lastly mix in the coconut flour, almond flour, ground cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and walnuts.
  5. Divide the batter evenly, filling each of the 12 muffin wells about half full.
  6. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 muffin
  • Calories: 130
  • Sugar: 7 g
  • Sodium: 210 mg
  • Fat: 8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 12 g
  • Fiber: 3 g
  • Protein: 5 g

We’d love to hear if you give this recipe a try – comment below!

Pin it now to make ’em later!
Pin image for Grain-Free Sweet Potato Banana Nut Muffins


Photo Credit: The photos in this blog post were taken by Jess of Plays Well with Butter. 

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. Thank you!

 

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About Stacie Hassing

Stacie is a Licensed and Registered Dietitian from rural southern Minnesota where she, her husband and daughter reside with their two pups. She’s a co-founder of The Real Food RDs and content creator of simple and wholesome recipes. She loves all kinds of fitness and has a passion to inspire as many as she can live a healthier and happier life both in and out of the kitchen - the driving force behind the co-development of the The Real Food RDs brand.

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Reader Interactions

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  1. Meagan says

    September 9, 2018 at 6:06 am

    Love these! So delicious and the whole family enjoys. But when I make them I feel like they are very oily, the bottom and cupcake tin are almost “wet”. Any suggestions? 🙂

    Reply
    • Jessica Beacom says

      September 15, 2018 at 5:07 pm

      Hi Meagan,

      Part of the wetness is due to the high moisture content of the ripe bananas. You could try decreasing the amount of oil called for in the recipe to see if that give you more satisfactory results (note: we haven’t tested this, only making a guess here).

      Also, be sure not to leave the muffins in the tin for more than 5-10 minutes after removing them from the oven. Allowing them to rest in the pan too long will cause them to ‘sweat’ and thus be wet on the bottoms.

      Reply
  2. Michelle Emme says

    January 1, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    I have one celiac daughter, another with tree nut allergies and the other is a vegetarian. Is there a way to sub 1:1 gluten free flour for the almond/coconut flour? I would assume I’ll need to compensate for the drier flour by adding more moisture if so? Thanks for your suggestions!

    Reply
    • Stacie Hassing says

      January 2, 2020 at 6:53 am

      Hi there! This recipe has not been tested with 1:1 gluten-free flour. However, we do have a similar recipe that I think you would like. https://therealfoodrds.com/gluten-free-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins/ These muffins are made with 1:1 gluten-free flour and you can sub the pumpkin for sweet potatoes in this recipe if you’d like. Hope you enjoy!

      Reply
  3. Emily Wolf says

    January 3, 2020 at 1:59 pm

    Hi! First off, thank you for all the wonderful recipes on this site – it is one of my go-to’s anytime I’m looking for a recipe 🙂 Second, how much and when do you add the protein powder? I saw you mentioned it in the post, but I didn’t see it in the recipe. Really looking forward to making these!

    Reply
    • Stacie Hassing says

      January 6, 2020 at 8:10 am

      Hi Emily! You can replace the 1/3 cup almond flour with protein powder. I updated the recipe to include that 🙂

      Reply
  4. Sandra says

    January 6, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    Simple, quick and delicious
    Definitely a keeper
    Should have doubled the recipe 😁
    Mixed everything up in my kitchen aid
    Just started following you and I am loving what I see
    Can’t wait to make many more recipes

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Stacie Hassing says

      January 7, 2020 at 6:17 am

      Awesome! So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for sharing your feedback and for following us.

      Reply
  5. Chris Behr says

    January 8, 2020 at 4:38 am

    Made these muffins and they were the BEST! Thanks for a nice treat that’s healthy as well.

    Reply
    • Stacie Hassing says

      January 8, 2020 at 6:19 am

      Awesome! And you are so welcome!

      Reply
  6. Deb says

    January 9, 2020 at 9:16 am

    Just about to make these and I’m out of coconut flour😳. Is there an alternative that I can use? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Stacie Hassing says

      January 10, 2020 at 5:57 am

      Hi Deb. Sorry, but there is not an alternative to coconut flour in this recipe. At least we haven’t tested it with any other flour. Coconut flour is a hard flour to substitute because of the way it absorbs liquid.

      Reply
  7. Danielle Brandt says

    January 13, 2020 at 6:45 am

    My son is allergic to nuts /treenuts and egg. Was going to use chia seed for the egg but what could I use for the almond flour?

    Reply
    • Stacie Hassing says

      January 13, 2020 at 9:07 am

      We have not tested this recipe without almond flour or eggs. For the almond flour you could sub protein powder of your choice, flax meal, cassava flour or a gluten-free flour of choice. I’m not sure how the egg sub will work so if you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it turns out. I do however know that our Gluten-free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins as well as Gluten-free Pumpkin (or Sweet Potato) Muffins can be made egg-free and nut free. Here are the recipes: https://therealfoodrds.com/gluten-free-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins/ and https://therealfoodrds.com/gluten-free-banana-chocolate-chip-muffins/

      Reply
      • Colleen says

        January 17, 2021 at 4:16 pm

        I used flax egg and it worked well!

        Reply
  8. Lake Girl says

    January 26, 2020 at 9:52 am

    Wow – can’t wait to finish my Whole30 so I can try these!

    Reply
    • Stacie Hassing says

      January 27, 2020 at 10:48 am

      They’re so good! Happy Whole30 🙂

      Reply
  9. Rae says

    February 1, 2020 at 11:32 am

    Hi,
    My muffins came out dry, and didn’t look anything like the pictures. The batter was very thick, and I even double checked the ingredients. I was reading the reviews and saw that you mentioned oil, which IS NOT listed in the ingredient list. I’m willing to try again but was very disappointed, as everything on your website that I have tried so far, has been delicious…

    Reply
    • Stacie Hassing says

      February 4, 2020 at 6:39 am

      So sorry these didn’t turn out for you as you expected. It’s a recipe I make often and mine always turn out more on the moist side. A couple of things that could have happened 1) different brands of coconut flour can produce different outcomes. I use Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur. 2) The consistency of almond butter tends to be different from brand to brand. I use one that is more on the runny side. Again, I apologize that these didn’t come out the way that you had hoped and that it made you so disappointed!

      Reply
      • Rae says

        February 7, 2020 at 8:17 am

        I will attempt making them again. Thanks so much for the tips!

        Reply
  10. Katelyn says

    June 16, 2020 at 11:55 am

    Have you ever tried making this recipe in a loaf pan? How long would you cook it for as a loaf?

    Reply
    • Jessica Beacom says

      June 16, 2020 at 7:51 pm

      We haven’t tried making this in a loaf pan. Our guess is that it will take about 45-50 minutes to bake.

      Reply
  11. Sabrina says

    June 29, 2020 at 9:16 pm

    These turned out better than i could have hoped! The texture was perfect. I can’t wait to make them again!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  12. Carney says

    July 2, 2020 at 1:02 pm

    Fabulous fresh or frozen & grilled. A new go to in my home!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  13. Laurel says

    July 21, 2020 at 11:38 am

    I love making these for my small kids and me! I do half almond flour and half protein powder for that part of it. I freeze these and pop them in the microwave on busy mornings. Delicious!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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The Real Food Dietitians is the passion-driven product of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists Stacie Hassing and Jessica Beacom. They’ve combined their love of nutrition, health and real food with the concepts of ease and convenience to bring you recipes that are big on flavor but short on ingredients.

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