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Moist, fluffy and naturally sweetened with banana, these Paleo Banana Nut Muffins are studded with chopped walnuts. Most Paleo muffin recipes use almond flour—but coconut flour is the secret to these muffins light texture.
I need a little bit of cheering up today, so I’m focusing my energy on something that always makes me happy: healthier muffins! Fluffy, light, and delicious – muffins are being embraced wholeheartedly today.
I love all recipes with ripe bananas, because I know we’re all familiar with the feeling of thinking we’ll eat that bunch of bananas eventually…and then we watch them turn from golden yellow into a dark brown that has us hesitating to grab them for anything other than banana bread…or even better, these delicious banana nut muffins!
These coconut flour banana muffins were my major hit recipe of the month! I ended up making them midway through the week when I majorly needed a pick-me-up — and boy did they do the job. Thankfully, they only take a few minutes to get into the oven. The cinnamon makes everything smell so warm and comforting while these are baking.
No sugar added muffins?!
This paleo banana muffin recipe is adapted from my paleo chocolate chunk banana bread, which is one of my favorite recipes and the all-time most popular recipe on my site! It’s a winner, for good reason.
Like that bread, these banana coconut flour muffins have NO added sugar. None. All the sweetness here comes from your ripe bananas, so make sure you let them get nice and ripe. The darker and spottier, the sweeter your muffins will be!
Ingredients in these banana nut muffins:
- Ripe bananas: since these are our main source of sweetness, make sure you use very ripe bananas!
- Eggs: I wouldn’t recommend a vegan replacement here since this muffin recipe requires the structure eggs provide. Use this vegan banana muffin recipe instead!
- Coconut Oil
- Vanilla Extract
- Almond Butter: or any other nut or seed butter of your choice. Use sunflower seed butter for a nut-free options.
- Coconut Flour: you can’t sub anything else here! Coconut flour is uniquely absorbent and no other flour will match the texture you get from using coconut flour here.
- Cinnamon
- Baking Soda, Baking Powder & Salt
- Walnuts: for crunch! Any favorite nut will work, or skip, or replace with chocolate chips!
Are bananas Paleo-friendly? Yes, they are! Although most strict Paleo diets recommend only eating them in moderation due to their high starch and sugar content, they are Paleo-friendly. In this recipe, we capitalize on their sweetness by allowing them to sweeten the muffins on their own.
How to store banana nut muffins:
To store: Store these moist banana nut muffins at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. Since these are moist muffins, I’ve found they keep better when loosely covered rather than in an airtight container when storing at room temperature.
How to freeze muffins:
To freeze: place the muffins in an airtight container or zip back, label and date, and store in the freezer for up to six months.
To reheat: microwave a muffin from frozen for about 30 seconds, thaw at room temperature for about an hour, or thaw in the refrigerator overnight. I love prepping these healthy banana nut muffins ahead of time and storing them in the freezer to have muffins-on-demand.
These banana coconut flour muffins smell amazing coming out of the oven, and they taste even better! They’re sweet enough even without the sugar, allowing the banana flavor to shine. The texture is spot-on – fluffy, tender, and the toasted walnuts add a little extra crunch and warmth. These are a real treat, whether it’s for breakfast, a snack, or welcome lunchbox addition. Happy baking!
If you like these gluten-free muffins, you’ll love these too…
- Paleo Morning Glory Muffins
- Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
- Paleo Banana Blueberry Muffins
- Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
- Gluten-Free Vegan Carrot Cake Muffins
- The Best Double Chocolate Muffins
Paleo Banana Nut Muffins
Ingredients
- 3-4 large ripe bananas, 1⅔ cups mashed or 380 grams
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup almond butter or other nut or seed butter of choice
- ⅓ cup 50g coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 12 pan muffin tin with paper liners or grease with coconut oil.
- In a large bowl or mixer, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and ⅓ cup almond butter until fully combined.
- Add the coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in the walnuts.
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin tins.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 16-19 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Flip out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, or in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
To Freeze
- Once completely cool, seal in an airtight container or zip bag, removing as much air from the bag as possible. Freeze for up to 4 months for best taste!
I’ve made these muffins on multiple occasions and they are so easy and a scrumptious way to use up extra ripe bananas! I’m curious if they could be made vegan? Has anyone ever tried before??
Hi Freya, so glad you’re loving the muffins!! I haven’t tried making these vegan specifically, but others have used flax eggs and reported that it worked well. Hope this helps!
COULD I USE ALMOND FLOUR INSTEAD OF COCONUT??
Hi Katie, coconut flour is much more absorbent than almond flour so they don’t substitute 1:1. I haven’t tested this with almond flour so I can’t make any guarantees, but if you try it, you’d want to use 3x the amount of almond flour.
These were amazing! So rare you get that spongey-ness in a GF recipe and these were spot on, especially when eaten warm! Also so pleased that they don’t have any added sweetener/sugar!
Woohoo! So glad you’re enjoying them Kat :)
I love these muffins! I keep the recipe on the refrigerator with a magnet. Whenever I have extra bananas I try to make these. The only challenge is will I have enough energy to cook when the bananas are ripe! I made some today to share with a friend. And I just noticed you had instructions on how to freeze them too. Thanks!
Haha, me standing in my kitchen looking at my ripe bananas right now so glad you’re loving these, Lisa!
These are by far the best GF/DF banana bread or muffin I have tried…and there have been several! I love that there is no added sweetener, the texture is great and I like getting away from almond flour for a change and cheaper option! And thank you for providing a weight for the bananas!
SO glad you’re loving this recipe!! Thanks so much for your feedback :)
Can you substitute the nut/seed butter with normal butter or margarine? Am trying to make these school friendly. TIA
I wouldn’t recommend it – the nut butter provides structure in addition to the fat so the result would likely be really oily. Sunflower seed butter would work if that’s allowed!
Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I really appreciate it and if school won’t allow I will just have to eat all myself which by the sounds of it will be easily done!!