Paleo Banana Nut Muffins

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Paleo banana nut muffins make for a healthy way to start the day. They’re light and fluffy, moist and delicious, gluten-free and dairy-free. These paleo banana muffins are easy to make (only takes one bowl) and will quickly disappear before your eyes.

Paleo banana nut muffins are easy to make, delicious and gluten-free and dairy-free. The perfect healthy breakfast recipe and snack!

Paleo Banana Muffins

Friends, I feel like this is a bit of a cheater recipe. In all honesty, it’s simply my Paleo Banana Bread recipe plus chopped nuts and baked in a muffin tin rather than a loaf pan. But sometimes a muffin is just more convenient, don’t you agree?

My Paleo Banana Bread recipe has been a reader favorite for several years so I knew I didn’t have to do much tweaking with that recipe.

Not surprising, these Paleo Banana Nut Muffins have proven to be just as delicious as my banana bread. And bonus – they’re even easier and faster to make.

One thing you’ll probably notice right off the bat as well is that they’re light, fluffy and raised up. They’re not dense and flat on top, like most paleo banana muffin recipes. Yet, they’re still incredibly moist on the inside.

Paleo banana muffins ingredients
Paleo banana muffins with nuts

Paleo Banana Muffins – with or without Nuts

This is a simple paleo banana muffin recipe and you can choose to make it with or without chopped nuts. I used a combination of walnuts and pecans in this recipe, but you can choose one or the other or forgo nuts altogether. You could even add in chocolate chips for a sweeter treat.

Paleo banana nut muffins are easy to make, delicious and gluten-free and dairy-free. The perfect healthy breakfast recipe and snack!
Paleo banana nut muffins are easy to make, delicious and gluten-free and dairy-free. The perfect healthy breakfast recipe and snack!

How to Make Paleo Banana Nut Muffins

I love that this is an easy one bowl recipe and comes together fast. Just add all of the ingredients – mashed bananas, almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, eggs and butter (or coconut oil), honey and vanilla extract to a bowl.

Use a hand blender to blend everything together for about 30 seconds until you’ve got a lovely batter, then stir in the nuts. Seperate the batter evenly between a 12 muffin-pan and sprinkle a little extra chopped nuts on top to make them extra nutty.

Pop the muffin pan in your 350 degree fahrenheit oven and bake for 22-25 minutes or until the top is just slightly golden. Let them cool for a minute (if you can wait that long), then enjoy!

Paleo banana nut muffins are easy to make, delicious and gluten-free and dairy-free. The perfect healthy breakfast recipe and snack!
Paleo banana muffins with nuts

More Paleo Quickbread & Muffin Recipes You’ll Love

Paleo banana nut muffins are easy to make, delicious and gluten-free and dairy-free. The perfect healthy breakfast recipe and snack!

Paleo Banana Nut Muffins

4.98 from 96 votes
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Servings: 12 muffins
Author: Lisa Bryan

Description

This is an easy paleo banana muffin recipe with chopped nuts. They’re light, fluffy and delicious. And if you want to make them extra special, add in some chocolate chips.

Ingredients 
 

  • 2-3 ripe bananas, approx 1 1/4 cups mashed
  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 1/2 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, with extra for topping

Instructions 

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
  • Mash the bananas with a fork in a mixing bowl. Add all of the other ingredients to the mixing bowl, except the nuts.
  • Use a hand mixer on medium speed to blend all the ingredients together for 30 seconds. Add the chopped nuts and stir together.
  • Line a muffin tin with muffin cups and evenly divide the batter between 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle a little extra chopped nuts on top.
  • Bake the muffins for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and they’re lightly golden on top.

Lisa’s Tips

  • Make sure to use super fine almond flour for the best texture. This is the brand I use.

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 251.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 21.5g | Protein: 5.7g | Fat: 17.5g | Saturated Fat: 3.7g | Cholesterol: 41.3mg | Sodium: 167.5mg | Fiber: 3.4g | Sugar: 10.6g
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: banana muffins, banana nut muffins, paleo banana nut muffins, paleo muffins
Did you make this recipe?Mention @downshiftology or tag #downshiftology!

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About the author

Lisa Bryan

Lisa is a bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, and YouTuber (with over 2.5 million subscribers) living in sunny Southern California. She started Downshiftology in 2014, and is passionate about making healthy food with fresh, simple and seasonal ingredients.

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Recipe Rating




274 Comments

  1. Lisa, I been baking your muffins, zucchini, banana very delicious thank you for all your teaching and helping us with with healthy meals. 5 stars

  2. This is the best paleo muffin recipe I have found! The texture is nice and fluffy, similar to that of regular baked goods. I did switch out a cup of almond flour for tigernut flour to keep it lower FODMAP and added chocolate chips! I can’t wait to try your other paleo recipes!5 stars

    1. Good to know this worked out with tigernut flour in replacement of almond flour! Can’t wait to see which paleo recipe you try next Jaysie :)

  3. Wow…excellent! Took them to work and the guys at work loved them! I didn’t add any walnuts, used chocolate chips instead, oh and olive oil instead of butter. I also checked them at 18 minutes and they were totally done, so maybe check yours early just in case. This recipe is a keeper!5 stars

    1. Happy to hear everyone loved them at your work Erin! Also it’s always good to check on your baked goods early on as each oven heats differently!

  4. So moist and yummy. I felt good putting healthy ingredients in my body. I put butter on the warm muffins and savored every bite.5 stars

  5. This was by far the best banana muffin I’ve ever made!! Super easy yet super moist and delicious. Thank you!!5 stars

  6. Hi, can I substitute almond flour to oat flour instead? It is quite expensive here in Indonesia. Or any gluten free flour would work?

    1. I haven’t tried oat flour in this recipe so not sure how it would turn out. But if you give it a try, let me know!

  7. If I don’t have tapioca flour what can I use in its place? I have almond, coconut or paleo baking flour, 

    1. You can use a gluten-free flour blend, which could be similar to the paleo baking flour you have. I haven’t tried it though, so if you do, please let me know how it turns out!

  8. I didn’t have any nuts and these turned out great. I used gf flour and almond flour. Will make again.5 stars

  9. Made these for an easy grab and go breakfast meal prep since I had 3 overripe bananas. I followed the metric measurements. I’m not gluten free so I subbed the tapioca flour with AP and used about 60g honey since that’s all I had. Subbed walnuts for sliced almonds and cacao chips. Baked for 22 mins and texture is light and fluffy! 5 stars

  10. These are really good with drizzle of maple syrup too. I ground my own tapioca flour in dry vitamix. Plus added a scoop of bone broth vanilla powder and lemon extract. Divine!!!!5 stars

  11. I have cup for cup Bobs Red Mill gf flour. Do you think that could be used in place of the two gf flours in this recipe?

    1. Hi Marsha – You will need the almond flour still. But you can use the gluten-free flour blend to replace the tapioca flour.

  12. These baked up perfectly and even my children who don’t want or need to be gluten free were thrilled! They disappeared so quickly I forgot to take a picture. Thanks!5 stars

  13. These are now my go to recipe. I added Hu Gems to the mix as well and they were so delicious. It gave that little chocolate hit without being too much. I also didn’t have honey so I used maple syrup. Love these.5 stars

  14. Awesome muffins! My entire family loves them including my toddler. Made them to the letter & they came out moist & flavorful. Thanks for sharing! 5 stars

  15. So yummy!!!! I made mini muffins out of this recipe as I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen so I used my toaster oven….they turned out perfect! I had to adjust the baking time to 12 min 👍🏼😋👍🏼 Definitely a keeper!5 stars

  16. I made these today. But I only had one medium egg. So I added 1/4 cup of applesauce to substitute. I also used 3 bananas. I baked for 22 minutes but the center was mushy. I baked for another 2 minutes, then 3 minutes, then another 3 minutes. The toothpick still came back with a little product but I went ahead and pulled them because they were starting to get dark on the outside. They still tasted great even though they we a little mushy in the center. My toddler loved them! Could the problem have been the applesauce? Thank you! I love your website!5 stars

    1. Hi Jennifer- It might have been the apple sauce as I haven’t tried this recipe without eggs just yet! But I’m glad you and your toddler were still able to enjoy this :)

  17. OMG these are sooo good; just the right amount of sweetness, perfect moisture and very simple to make!! I threw some chocolate chips in there too!! Can’t wait to make another batch!!  
    Asking for a Keto friend- anyway to make these low carb? I believe it’s the tapioca flour and honey contributing to the high carb count?? If honey is omitted would it change the texture?  5 stars

    1. Hi there! So glad you enjoyed these banana nut muffins :) As for removing the honey, it will change up the wet ratio and the texture as well unfortunately. There might be some way to make it low-carb, but haven’t tested it yet.

  18. Hi Lisa! I’m planning to bake these muffins tomorrow but don’t have tapioca flour, what else I can use instead?  Thanks tali 

    1. Hi Tali- Another substitution for tapioca flour is arrowroot flour, or any gluten-free flour blend :)

  19. My banana muffins came out horrible. The only thing I changed was I substituted coconut flour for almond flour. They were very difficult to mix with the handmixer. Very heavy. And when I bake them they took forever to cook. The insides were still raw. I tried to re-cook them and all I did was burn all the nuts. What did I do terribly wrong, substitute the flour?

    1. Yes, you can’t substitute coconut flour for almond flour. They bake entirely differently and coconut flour is highly absorbent, hence why you had a problem mixing the batter. When it comes to gluten-free and grain-free baking, it’s always best to follow the recipe exactly as written. Even a slight tweak to the ingredients can significantly alter the results.

  20. Holy crap batman! I’m so excited! 10 recipes later finally one without almond butter 🤣 thank you!!!!!

  21. Just made these and used Arrowroot powder instead of tapioca flour and it turned out great! Amazing texture! I used 3 ripe bananas but I’m wondering if adding 1 more banana will ruin the texture of the muffins… What do you think?5 stars

    1. Hi Ana- So glad these came together with arrowroot flour! And I would leave out the 4 the banana for these as it would change up the ratios.

  22. I made this Recipe but the muffins were a little mushy at the bottom. I used an extralarge 6 cups muffin pan…is that the reason why?

    1. Hi Sandy – yes, if you used an extra large muffin pan then they likely needed a little bit more time to cook through.

  23. Best gf banana muffins I have made! Unfortunately, my husband also likes them. But my kids are easily deterred by nuts, so I get them almost all to myself. :-) I put them in the fridge right away and they are even delicious cold. Thanks for another great recipe!5 stars

    1. So glad you and your husband enjoyed these muffins :) You can also omit the nuts if you’re making them for your kids!

  24. Do you use homemade almond flour in any of your baking? If so, which recipes do you use it for as I have plenty of almond flour from making my own almond milk.

    1. Hi Maria- I actually haven’t tried making my own almond flour yet! But, I’m sure you can use it for any of my paleo baked goods :)

    2. love this…made this 2x this week…and most importantly my kids love it..i feel so good giving this to them no sugar…no flour… just pure goodness
      Thank you so much5 stars

      1. Hi Elvina- This is definitely the perfect healthy sweet treat for your kids :)

  25. This is the second time I’ve made these in a week. These are so good! Thank you for the recipe.5 stars

  26. thanks for the instructions, I have mashed the bananas with a fork in a mixing bowl and then added all of the other ingredients to the mixing bowl, except the nuts.

  27. I made these last weekend and was delighted with how well they turned out. Fluffy, perfectly moist & beautiful! They looked just like your pics. I subbed 1/3c arrowroot & 2.5T coconut flour for the tapioca flour. I’m SO glad to have found your website finally! I’d grown weary of having to modify paleo recipes so much or having subpar results. Can’t wait to try out lots more of your recipes! Thanks Lisa. 5 stars

    1. Hi Ariel- I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins! I always make sure to test my paleo baked goods til they’re perfect and taste just like the real thing. So I can’t wait for you to try my other paleo recipes :)

  28. This has been my go-to recipe since discovering it about two months ago. Hands down the best paleo baked good I have ever made! Thank you for taking your time to develop this recipe!5 stars

    1. Hi Sarah- You can store them in the fridge for up to 4-5 days, but you can also freeze them for up to 3 months!

  29. I followed the recipe exactly as written and they are delicious!  Mine, however, do not look like yours.  They came out very moist (too moist).  They were cooked through, but the texture wasn’t right.  They were not light and airy as yours appear.  I always seem to have this problem with gluten free baking.  And the tops fell flat.  Do you have any ideas on what might have caused this?  I really like the flavor and would like to try to fix this.  Thank you!4 stars

    1. Hi Julie – if you didn’t make any substitutions to the recipe, it might be your oven (assuming you’re not baking at high altitude as well). It’s amazing how much different ovens can impact cooking. Next time try reducing the amount of banana a smidge and see if that helps. :)

    2. You could also try adding a bit more tapioca flour. I was about 1/8 cup short of 2 cups of almond flour today so I filled in the rest with tapioca and did the 1/2 cup the recipe also calls for. They came out moist but not wet and were still fluffy in the middle like a real gluten muffin. I also always use 2 bananas only. I tried it with 3 one time and had a similar issue as you describe. I’ve made a few subs to this recipe here and there and they always turn out. For instance I added 1/4C peanut butter instead of coconut oil today…still perfect! Maybe do 2 bananas and a few more tablespoons of tapioca and see if that helps?

    1. Hi Morgan- I haven’t tried these as mini muffins yet, but I might keep the temperature the same, just decrease the time to 15-20 minutes. Just make sure to keep an eye on it and do the toothpick test!

  30. Wow! These are SO SO good. I actually wanted to make the banana bread and discovered I don’t even have a loaf pan in my house, lol. I’m not a big baker but every now and then get the motivation for a classic like banana bread. I noticed there was a link to the muffins which I do have a pan for, so I made them. I was really surprised and how easy these were to make. I followed the recipe to the letter and it was well explained and easy to follow. I’ve always thought paleo cooking would be more challenging for some reason. Mash the bananas, add the dry/wet ingredients, mix it all up and done. They turned out so light and tasty! This is going to be a new staple for me. Thank you Lisa for this easy and delicious recipe and showing me paleo cooking can be a breeze! 5 stars

    1. Hi Anna- I’m so glad you found this muffin recipe! I always make sure that my baked goods are easy to follow, as well as taste like the real thing since they are paleo :)

  31. Seriously fantastic! Lisa, your recipe is spot on! I loved how fluffy and spongey the muffins came out! I chose to top half of my muffins with chocolate chips and the other half with raisins. I gave a few out to some co-workers and they had no idea they were paleo! Double win! Thanks again! :) 5 stars

    1. Hi Keren- Love the additions of chocolate chips and raisins! Glad to hear you and your coworkers enjoyed this recipe :)

  32. Just made these!!! OMG. They are amazing.

    We used almond for nuts. And maple sirup, and arrowroot powder – that was what we had and they turned out amazingly fluffy and delicious. Amazing recipe Liza. 5 stars

    1. Hi Josephine – Wonderful! Glad this recipe turned out great for you :) Looks like you’ll need to try my blueberry muffins next!

  33. Hello! I can not used almond flour, but have coconut flour. I know it will change the consistency, but can you suggest what ratio of coconut flour to use? Thanks!5 stars

    1. Hi Becca – unfortunately all flours bake differently and because I haven’t tried it with only coconut flour, I’m not sure what the right ratio would be.

  34. Hi,
    I have tried the recipe with flax eggs. 2 tbsp golden flax and 5 tbsp water. I do not know much about baking, but it is not like the muffins that you got from regular bakeries. I guess this is also because of the consistency of gluten free flours. We got used to this kind of consistency. I mean inside was like – just a tiny bit gooey”, And it was rised up in the oven but the moment it was out from oven “pıfff” :). Maybe these are all the reason that I have used flax eggs, as I said I am not sure. If you have any idea, I am open to hear from Downshiftology family :) We really liked the muffins (3rd day – still eating). Thanks for all your recipes, suggestions and everything. Most of the ingredients I used for this recipe from Costco- just wanted to mention because I know brand makes the different especially for gluten free baking! Thanks sooo much again. 5 stars

    1. Hi Duygu – This recipe shouldn’t come out goo-ey inside. Instead, it should be airy and fluffy like regular muffins, so I’m guessing it might be the flax eggs being used! Other than that, I’m glad you still enjoyed these banana muffins :)

    1. Hi Lindsey- Happy to hear you and the children love these muffins! Looks like you’ll have to try my paleo blueberry muffins up next!

  35. I make your banana bread all the time and absolutely love it. This will be my first time making these but I was wondering what you suggest for an egg replacement. I’m going to be making these for my grandpa and he’s vegetarian/has never eaten an egg. Thank you! 

    1. Hi Sharmaine – the ingredients in this are pretty similar to my paleo banana bread :) But in terms of egg replacements, I haven’t tried it yet using any substitutions. But, you might be able to add more mashed banana, arrowroot powder, or yogurt. If you do test with any of these, I would love to know how it turns out!