Banana Walnut Muffins are a delicious breakfast or snack. This healthy recipe uses brown rice flour and is sweetened with honey for a nutritious and delicious muffin!
I made this recipe for the first time for Mother’s Day in 2013. Not only was it a hit with my mom, but my whole family enjoyed these healthy muffins. They were gone in a flash!
Made with wholesome ingredients like ripe bananas, brown rice flour, and lightly sweetened with honey, this easy muffin recipe is nutritious and lower in sugar and fat than regular muffins.
Easy to make and easy to customize, these gluten free banana walnut muffins are one of those feel good baked goods you’ll want to keep on constant rotation!
Let’s discuss the basic ingredients for this healthy banana muffin recipe.
Ingredients for Gluten Free Banana Walnut Muffins:
Brown Rice Flour: Taking the place of regular all-purpose flour, I used brown rice flour in the original recipe. Since then, I have made this recipe several times using other kinds of flour (see options below).
While I enjoy the brown rice flour version, the muffins turn out a little dense. If you are alright with this, stick with the original recipe. If not, choose from one of the flour options below.
Large Ripe Bananas: We need three overripe bananas to bring moisture, volume, and sweetness to these delicious banana nut bread muffins! Be sure to choose bananas that have plenty of brown spots. If your bananas are fairly small, use four instead of three.
Eggs: We need a couple of large eggs to help the muffin batter rise. One person reported back that she made the muffins using flax eggs with success. Feel free to go with flax eggs for an egg-free version.
Honey or Pure Maple Syrup: While the ripe bananas bring a great deal of natural sweetness to the muffins, adding a little honey or pure maple syrup makes them perfectly sweet.
Avocado Oil: We need a little fat for moisture, and I love using avocado oil for this job. Melted coconut oil or butter works too.
Baking Powder: The leavening agent. We need baking powder to help the banana muffin batter rise.
Ground Cinnamon: Banana bread and banana muffins aren’t the same without cinnamon! I add a lot to my banana baked goods.
Raw Walnuts: The nut in our banana nut muffins! Use chopped pecans instead or stick with walnuts.
You can also add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips for an extra delicious treat.
Looking to use a different flour? Here are some options.
Flour Alternatives:
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour.
- 2 cups almond flour + 1/2 cup tapioca flour.
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour.
Now that we’re familiar with the simple ingredients, let’s bake a batch of muffins!
How to Make Banana Walnut Muffins:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly oil a muffin pan or line with paper liners.
- In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas. Whisk in the eggs, oil and honey.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the brown rice flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and walnuts (dry ingredients)
- Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until completely combined.
- Fill the muffin holes three-quarters of the way up with batter.
- Bake in for 30 minutes or until muffins test clean.
- Serve with butter and honey!
I have found that taking the internal temperature of baked goods is the best way to check for doneness.
To do so, insert a digital thermometer into the center of one of the gluten free banana nut muffins. They are fully cooked once they reach 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
And that’s it! The next time you have a craving for banana nut muffins, whip up this easy recipe!
If you love making homemade muffins, also try these reader favorites.
More Muffin Recipes:
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Healthy Oatmeal Double Chocolate Muffins
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
- Blueberry Protein Muffins
Gluten free banana nut bread muffins on repeat!
Gluten Free Banana Walnut Muffins Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe bananas mashed
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup avocado oil*
- 2 Tbsp honey or pure maple syrup
- 1 1/3 cup brown rice flour or all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- ¾ cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly oil a muffin pan
- In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas and whisk in the eggs, oil and honey.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the brown rice flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and walnuts.
- Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until completely combined.
- Fill the muffin holes three-quarters of the way up with batter.
- Bake in for 30 minutes or until muffins test clean.
- Serve with butter and honey!
Notes
Nutrition
I originally shared this recipe on May 12, 2013. I have since updated it to include more information and ingredient substitutions to provide more options
Hi Julia! I followed the recipe but the batter turned out very dried. What can I add to it?? Water? Milk? Oil? 😭
Thank you!!
Hi Tatiana! I’m sorry the recipe didn’t turn out as expected! Quick question: did you stick with the brown rice flour, or did you use a different kind of flour? For more moisture, I would recommend one of three options: add in another ripe banana, 1/4 cup of additional oil, or 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of some form of milk.
Hi can I use melted plant based margarine instead of the avacodo oil in this recipe? Would that change the texture? In any gf corn free muffin recipe, I’ve ever made, I always end up with the same sticky consistency, burnt bottoms and the muffins always stick to the paper.
Hi Kaylyn! The dairy-free margarine should work! I’d love to also point you to another recipe I have for GF banana muffins that gets rave reviews (you can use melted margarine there too): https://www.theroastedroot.net/gluten-free-chocolate-chip-banana-muffins/
That was my first time using brown rice flour and I wish I wasn’t celiac. My muffins burnt too on the bottoms. I hate myself for being celiac and I feel like a failure every time a recipe fails.
I’m never making these muffins again. The muffins stuck to the cupcake liners and this made me really mad. I hate when my recipes don’t turn out and I’m throwing out the brown rice flour in the garbage. I’m never using it again.
Hi Kaylyn! I’m so sorry to hear the recipe didn’t turn out for you! I have a couple of questions. How long have you owned your muffin pan, and what is it made out of? Have you checked to be sure your oven bakes at the correct temperature? Sticking an oven thermometer inside of your oven and testing it at 350 can at least rule out the oven as being an issue. And lastly, when you bake, do you put the item on the shelf in the middle? If you’re putting it on a shelf that’s closer to the bottom of the oven, this could definitely be the culprit. If you’re able to answer these questions, I’m happy to troubleshoot further. xoxo
Great recipe to use up some of my brown rice flour stock! They rose beautifully when I baked at 425 for 5 minutes, then lowered the temp to 350 for 16 minutes. Doubled the recipe easily and got 22.5 super tasty muffins
Is that one cup AND 1/3 cup brown rice flour?
Hi Lindsay,
Yes, it’s one and one third cup 😀 Hope you enjoy!
Well… so much better than I’ve expected! (had a bad day for cooking)
I have used white rice flower and a bit of almond flour + all purpose, used coconut oil, also did a smaller batch. The texture is beautiful! The only thing I would change, I would use less honey as muffins turned out nearly too sweet :O :p
Thanks for an easy and really good recipe 😉
I used flax eggs instead and it turned out so good!!!
thanks!!!!!!!!!!
That’s awesome, Nat! I’m so happy to hear it! Thank you for letting me know 🙂 xo
Adorable story about your mom. Thank you for posting this recipe! I’m getting ready to cook for a crowd and this is perfect for some food intolerances.
I tried this with safflower oil and a tsp of vanilla extract to the wet. I also subbed 1/3 of the flour for buckwheat, and added a tsp each of allspice, ginger root powder, and nutmeg. Other than that I stuck to the recipe….
The results out of the oven looked pretty good. Evenly cooked, good texture on the first appearance. When they cooled, I cut it and they were a little dense. There were nice moist little chunks of banana still in the muffins which I love. The nuts cooked perfectly inside, I don’t like raw walnuts and considered caramelizing them first, but didn’t for the sake of time and an extra pan to clean! The flavor was flat, but overall they were a bit bitter, and dry. I’m cooling them in the fridge because that somehow has elevated the banana flavor with breads I’ve made in the past, and I hope it does so with these as well. My quick fix to not waste them would be to slice them in half and spread some jam for flavor. Toasting them with butter might help as well, but the crowd I’m testing these for won’t be able to add anything to them, its a grab and go kind of thing.
Next time, I will try using coconut oil, sub 1/3 almond meal, double the spices, double the honey, and maybe a splash of coconut milk. I’ll also make half with a light oat streusel topping to give it more flavor. I hope it’ll work out better!
Can coconut flour substitute rice flour?
Coconut flour is very absorbent and fluffy, so it might eat up the wet ingredients quickly. Almond meal would probably be the best, but with a nut/almond allergy, you might also consider oat flour (aka blended rolled oats), which are less absorbant options. As it is, my attempt was on the dry side. You can read my notes from attempting this in the comment below.