Gluten-Free Banana Muffins (Made with Almond Flour)
These gluten-free banana muffins are made with almond flour! This easy recipe uses simple ingredients, including maple syrup as the sweetener.
Posted by Kathryne Taylor on January 9, 2025
Craving a wholesome treat? These banana muffins are for you! These muffins are tender, fluffy, and perfectly banana-y. My daughter adores them, and I love making them with her. I like to keep some in the freezer for snacks—they defrost in the microwave in about 20 seconds.
This gluten-free banana muffin recipe is notable because it’s made with almond flour and naturally sweetened with real maple syrup. The remaining ingredients are to be expected, including eggs (for structure and loft), butter (for richness), baking powder and baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, and optional cinnamon (for a hint of warming spice).
These muffins are similar in flavor to my popular Maple-Sweetened Banana Muffins, which are made with whole wheat flour, and follow the same formula as my Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins. I’ve probably made ten batches already. I hope you love them as much as we do!
I’ve been obsessed with almond flour lately. I’m not following a gluten-free diet, but I love the tender texture of almond flour-based goods. You might expect almond flour to taste overtly of almonds, but it actually lets the other flavors in the recipe shine. (In contrast, regular flour dulls them.) As a result, I’m often able to use less sugar to match the sweetness found in more conventional counterparts.
Almond flour is lower in carbohydrates than grain-based flour, so using less sugar further reduces the carbohydrates without resorting to sugar-free alternatives. These muffins are wholesome and certainly more healthy than conventional muffins!
Watch How to Make Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
More Banana Goodness
Here’s a list of my best gluten-free banana recipes. Find more banana recipes and almond flour recipes in the archives.
- 3-Ingredient Banana Pancakes: Use buckwheat or oat flour.
- Banana Almond Smoothie
- Banana Oat Pancakes
- Gluten-Free Banana Bread: This bread is made with almond flour.
- Gluten-Free Banana Oat Waffles
- Peanut Butter, Banana, Honey & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Please let me know how your muffins turn out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
These gluten-free banana muffins are made with almond flour! This easy recipe uses simple ingredients and comes together by hand. Recipe yields 1 dozen muffins.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (180 grams) blanched almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed overripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
- 3 to 5 tablespoons* maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Up to ½ cup mix-ins, like chocolate chips, toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts, or a mix
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line all 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine, then set the bowl aside.
- In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk the eggs to break them up. Add the mashed banana, maple syrup, melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk until the mixture is fully blended.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir with a big spoon until the mixture is evenly combined. If you’re adding mix-ins, gently stir them in now.
- Fill the muffin cups halfway and divide any remaining batter evenly between the cups. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until the muffins are turning golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Muffins will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my healthy banana muffins, gluten-free banana bread and gluten-free pumpkin muffins.
*Sweetness level: Use less maple syrup if your bananas are overripe (spotty brown) and/or you prefer less sweet muffins. Use more maple syrup if your bananas are solid yellow and/or you prefer sweeter muffins.
Make it dairy free: Substitute coconut oil for the butter.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi, I’m wondering to put your carbon sugar content in this recipe. I only asked because I’m diabetic and I miss banana bread a lot! I do use almond flour all the time now but unsure with again the carbs and sugars for my diet. Thank you!
Hi Jann, if you click on “nutrition information” underneath the recipe, it will expand and show a full breakdown. I hope this recipe works for you!
Can you sub whole wheat flour instead of almond flour?
Hi Monica, you’ll want to follow my Maple-Sweetened Banana Muffins recipe instead!
I planned to make these while at our ski house and then realized I didn’t have a muffin tin! But I did have a loaf tine so I made it into banana bread instead. Not enough butter so I subbed light tasting olive oil. Used pecans as the add-in. Cooked a little longer ~45’. Wonderful!
Joanna, I’m so glad to hear these muffins turned out well as bread! Thank you for your baking notes!
I’ve been making a version of these muffins for years (using your almond banana bread recipe!)
So delicious and so easy to make, thank you!
Kate, this is a wonderful alternate for those with celiac disease. I continue to make banana bread and muffins with real bananas and real wheat flour. There’s really no comparison.
Hi Julie, did you have a chance to make these muffins? I love this recipe just about as much as my regular banana muffins!
Hang on, did this person seriously rate this recipe 2 out of 5 stars just because it’s gluten free? Without even making it? Yeesh.
Gluten or no gluten, these taste really good! I consider myself a professional baked good eater…
I recommend them to all. They are a great size for the kiddos, too.
Instead of muffin tins, I used coconut oil to grease the pan. Definitely use the cinnamon.
Thank you, Beth!
Oh my goodness….these are delicious! Another Cookie and Kate recipe to add to my list of favs. Thank you!
Hooray! Thanks so much, Nicole!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I made these muffins today with choc chips and they were delicious. They will be a regular on my baking list from now on.
Delicious. The muffins came out soft and tasty. I used coconut oil instead of butter and only 3 tbsp of maple syrup.
Kate,
These gluten free banana muffins are ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS, MOIST AND ONE OF MY FAVORITES !!! I followed the recipe exactly as written. I added roasted pecans and Guittard extra dark chocolates. Your website is my go to. I’ve made so many of your recipes and I’ve never been disappointed. Thank you, thank you for this one. Continue what you are doing because I am a BIG FAN. I’m making another batch for my friends!!!!
Thanks so much! I want to try pecans and dark chocolate for my next batch!
Hi! I’ve made this recipe several times and our family loves it, even though we are not gluten free.
Today I have a good amount of batter left over and no more muffin liners, not enough to use a bread pan. Will the batter keep for a few days in the fridge? Or can I freeze it?
Thank you for this tasty recipe!
Hi Reba, I’m so glad your family enjoys these muffins. I wouldn’t keep the batter for too long. I would not recommend freezing it, either.
Hi Kathryne and thanks for this recipe – the muffins are delicious! Did you use the full 5 tablespoons of maple syrup, resulting in the 11.7 grms of carbs? I really appreciate the nutritional breakdown.
Thanks so much,
Kristi
Hi Kristi, the breakdown shows muffins made with 3 tablespoons maple syrup.
Wonderful- thanks so much!
Looks yummy! Did you use “unsalted butter”? Can I make it with salted butter too?
Hi! Yes, I used unsalted butter, and I just edited the recipe to clarify. You can use salted butter, just scale back a little on the salt (use 1/4 teaspoon or a little more).
These were a hit in our house with three young children, including with my texture-picky autistic son. Super moist and tasty! I sifted the almond flour up front and made them with a 50/50 mix of grassfed butter/coconut oil and 4T of maple syrup. I also added a few Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips for the kiddos. I’ll be coming back to this recipe often to use up my overripe bananas. Thanks!
Thank you, Sarah! I’m glad your family enjoyed them!
I just made these with half almond and half whole wheat flour and they turned out perfectly! The whole family loved them. Added in pecans, frozen blueberries, and some lemon zest! Definitely a keeper.
Hi Anita, I’m so glad you all enjoyed the muffins!
Thank you for adding more gluten free options to your blog! These were delicious!
I’m glad you’re enjoying them! Thanks, Chloe!
Thank you, Chloe! I’m having so much fun playing around with almond flour!
Hi there, these look great. I usually keep bananas in my freezer when they get overripe. Can I use frozen bananas in this recipe? Thank you!
Hi Sonia, you can defrost them and mash them very well together. I have had pretty good luck doing so, but for some reason the bananas never behave quite the same as they did before freezing!
Being a celiac I have tried lots of recipes but these are something else! Light and tasty it ticks so many boxes for myself, my husband and an adult family following different eating plans.
These are delicious! I would really like to put slices of my frozen strawberries from summer, but I’m concerned about the moisture content that this would add. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Elissa! I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins. I love the idea of strawberry-banana muffins, but I share your concern about the moisture content. Perhaps it would work if you thaw the strawberries first and discard any liquid before stirring them in.
Love this recipe. Used Miyokonos vegan butter melted as called for and ½ cup walnuts. Husband and both love them. I so appreciate good recipes that can be made 1. Without butter (cutting way down on animal based saturated fats) and 2. Without refined sugar.
These are wonderful, Kate! I subbed coconut oil for the butter. I made mini muffins (24) and baked them for about 17 minutes. Delicious! Thank you for another excellent recipe – while I’m not GF or DF, I often bake for those who are, plus I love GF baked goods and esp all things almond flour, and your site is a go-to for me :)
Always happy to find naturally GF recipes not involving oats. The bonus with these is that they are also simple and quick to make. Have made them with both maple syrup and honey and prefer honey as to my mind it gives a much more complex flavour. For those non vanilla lovers like me, it’s fine to leave out the vanilla (I realise this might be why the maple syrup version might have seemed a bit thin in flavour). But my crowd devoured both versions with great enjoyment so thank you!
While I have you, you have many fans in Australia and I assume all over the world. Do you have any plans to include metric measurements as well as imperial? It’s obviously not a complete deal breaker for me but if in a hurry, I tend to avoid recipes that involve the extra step of me having to convert measurements.
Overall, I love your recipes though and always look forward to new ones.
Hi again
I just reread my comment on the muffins and realised I wasn’t clear. I know you do sometimes include metric measurements but are there any plans to go back and do so for ALL your recipes? I know it would be a huge job!
Thanks again
Rosemary
This recipe is amazing! I love how simple and healthy these gluten-free banana muffins are, especially with the use of almond flour and natural sweeteners like maple syrup. Perfect for a wholesome snack or breakfast—can’t wait to try them out.
Just perfect! Followed the recipe exactly and it they came out so delicious the whole family raved about them. Thank you!
These are delicious. Made them because we had a guest with coeliac and it was great to share something so yum with the whole gathering. I can understand why your daughter loves them. Have bought more almond flour to make more just for us! Thanks
These muffins came out absolutely perfect! You can’t tell they are gf at all. They made my kitchen smell incredible. My boys (age 6&7) loved them as well. Definitely an easy recipe that I’m adding to my regular line up.
Kate, you are so talented and never disappoint!
Delicious! Comes together quick and makes a very moist bread. We are not gluten free and I just love this recipe. It’s a staple in our home. Thank you!
Made these with a combo of 1/3 c choc chips and 1/4 c chopped toasted pecans and 3 tbs of maple syrup. Baked only 20 minutes (my oven might run hot). They are delicious and not too sweet.
My whole family loved these— 6 & 4 year old boys and undisclosed age husband :)
We added a mix of white and dark chocolate chips and used 3T of syrup. Making another batch now… thank you!
Would love to know if anyone has had success using a vegan egg swap (whether flax egg or otherwise) — thank you!
Kate, these are delicious!
What if I sub the butter with regular 10%fat greek yogurt for more protein intake? Would they work as well?
Hi Rita, I think that would work as far as a substitution, but it would really only increase it to 5 grams of protein for a serving. If you really want to increase your protein, serving them with nut butter or 3/4 cup yogurt on the side might be better.
Can I use cassava flour instead of almond meal I find almond meal is very heavy and gives me indigestion
Hi Vevv, cassava flour is less dense and has less fat than almond flour, so you may need to experiment with adjusting the liquid and you may need more butter.