Luckily, I don’t have a giant sweet tooth…unless of course something sweet is around. Then I eat it all. Which is why I don’t bake much. Plus I generally find the science of baking exhausting to follow. Nevertheless, I always keep my eye out for healthier baked goods that have easy to follow recipes. Found one.
I wouldn’t call these Banana Oat Muffins just healthier either, they’re straight up nutritious. No butter. No refined flour. Barely any sugar or oil. Lots of protein AND fiber, fiber, fiber. I realize that doesn’t sound all that tasty…but these muffins are of the delicious kind. Plus you get to use a pretty cool technique to make them.
You’re going to turn rolled oats into oat flour by pulsing them in the food processor until you get a consistency that’s similar to uncooked grits.
This is what you’ll use instead of pastry flour. About 2 cups of rolled oats should yield all the oat flour you’ll need. It only takes a few seconds to do.
The rest of the recipe is super easy and quick (about 10 minutes before they’re in the oven). I only bake them for about 15 minutes cause I prefer banana goods on the moist side. But take it up to 18 – 20 minutes if you like.
And remember, the more ripe your bananas are the better!
P.S. I made the muffins again since writing this. I tried adding chocolate chips a batch and they were great as a slightly less healthy option!
Recipe
Coop/prep time: 30 mins. Makes 12 muffins. Oat flour is just regular old oatmeal in powder form, which you will do by food processing. 2 cups rolled oats yields 1 ½ cup oat flour (refer to step #3 in directions below for details on that). I also have made these with chocolate chips and they’re great!You need:
- 1 ¼ cup rolled oats
- 1 ½ cup oat flour (refer to #3)
- 1/2 cup plain, low fat yogurt
- 1/2 cup low fat milk or soy milk
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup sunflower oil
- 2 large, really ripe bananas mashed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 lightly beaten egg
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup raisins, walnuts or both
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Mix rolled oats, yogurt and milk together in a bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes.
- It will require about 2 cups of rolled oats to make the 1 1/2 cups or oat flour you need. Just pulse the 2 cups rolled oats in the food processor until they turn to a powdery consistency (like dry grits).
- Now, combine oat flour, salt, sugar, spices, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl.
- Add mashed banana, egg and oil to the rolled oat mixture and mix well.
- Now add dry oat flour mixture to rolled oat mixture and mix together well. Add in nuts and/or raisins if desired and incorporate evenly. Chocolate chips are great too!
- Fill greased or lined muffin cups 2/3 of the way. Bake for approximately 16-20 minutes.
17 Comments
The first time I made these, I followed the recipe exactly. They were delicious.
The second time, I used vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt, peaches instead of bananas, a little ground ginger, and ground flaxseed instead of egg. I used white flour instead of oat. Served with a few bites of plain nonfat frozen yogurt. Amazing!
These muffins are amazing!! I used Greek yogurt and almond milk. They turned out great….I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
i made these with a few of substitutions; splenda/brown sugar, almond butter/sunflower oil, 2 scoops vanilla whey protien and 1 cup of skim milk/yogurt & milk. these subs increase the protien and decrease the sugars. they turned out delicious:)
hi there,
do you have a recipe for flourless banana cake made with oats like these muffins please??
thanks!
You can use this same recipe and to make a bread. Just use a bread pan instead of muffin tin and modify the bake time. You’ll probably have to bake a bit longer (check center for doneness). But it’s funny you should ask because I was planning on posting a flourless banana cake/muffin recipe that uses almond meal in the next couple weeks. Check back for that one!
Thanks so much for that!
I make a Banana muffin that I use shredded coconut in and it is amazing. I am going to try this recipe with the coconut. I also split the batch in half and make half with Chocolate chips and the other half with almonds. Both are great.
I just made these and they’re sooo yummy!! I didn’t have an egg, so I replaced it with 3 tbsp water/ 1 tbsp ground flax and it still came out really well. I can’t wait to eat one tomorrow morning with some natural peanutbutter.
Mind if I reblog and give you all the credit?
Nice, glad the sub worked out. Yes, go for it ;)
Just made these muffins and added fresh blueberries along with the walnuts. Very healthful and delicious. Looking forward to making them again. Loved the tip about how to make the oat flour:)
Hi,
I love your site. Thanks for the recipe. I tried it here. http://rebeccahart.tumblr.com/post/9461086806/hurricane-muffins-in-case-power-goes-out-yogurt
I made these muffins today. I used Greek yogurt w/ honey, vanilla soy milk and substituted 1/2 cup applesauce for the oil. They are fantastic – taste even better than muffins with all the butter and white flour. Thanks for the recipe!
I stumbled across your site this morning while looking for a banana muffin recipe. I also wanted something with yogurt in it as I have a huge tube which needs using.
I’ve never used oat flour, in fact I’ve never used any other flour besides wheat and was so pleasantly surprised. I don’t use veggie oil either so used olive oil instead (which I actually hate). I used a little less oil and added an extra banana. They are delicious but my sensitive taste buds get that slight taste of olive oil. I see one of your other readers substitutes applesauce for oil so I’ll definitely give that a try next time.
I’ll be begging the kids not to eat the bananas just so I can make them again.
Great site. Thanks
These muffins are fantastic!
I used vanilla protein powder and fat free milk instead of yoghurt, just like Sara suggested. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks for sharing.
Just made these with the baby’s help ( he mashed the bananas). We both enjoyed them. I know my older kids and husband will love them as well. Thank you for sharing.
I wanted a nutritious way to use my bananas, preferrably with oatmeal and found this recipe…Amazing! I changed up some ingredients. I used all natural sour cream instead of yogurt (because I didn’t have any), agave nectar instead of sugar, olive oil instead of sunflower oil, and added a small dab of low fat cream cheese in the center of each muffin. I also sprinkled them lightly with raw sugar. They still fit into my all natural lifestyle even with the substitutions and additions, but taste divine!
Perfect! Followed the recipe exactly and these muffins are moist and delicious. Husband loved them as well. I used coconut oil, that was my only change. Do they freeze well? (Not that there will be any leftover to freeze.)