How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (Healthy) – Easy Gluten Free Vegan Recipe! (2024)

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How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (V, GF): this moist vegan muffin top recipe is easy & healthy! Learn how to make banana muffin tops – gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free.

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When we were little kids, my sisters LOVED tearing the muffin tops off of muffins. They were the best part—crispy top, moist interior and they had this beautiful dome full of goodies, like chocolate chips!

Naturally, I stood in horror when these poor muffin tops were torn off and their did-nothing-to-anybody bottoms were cast aside. You know me, I’m a softie for the underdog/under-muffin… Just… thank goodness the tops can’t be ripped off of banana chocolate chip oatmeal breakfast bars or this vegan banana nut bread… is all I’m sayin’.

Well, I promised myself that one day, I’d find a way to get them back them & all muffin-top lovers of the worldtheir yummy muffin top halves without having a bin of discarded bottoms leftover. 😉

Easy Gluten Free Vegan Muffin Tops Recipe

Since muffin tops were already fully a thing by the time I was an adult, I figured I could contribute to the cause (lol) by creating an easy gluten free vegan muffin top recipe! Today, we’re gonna learn how to make/bake muffin tops without a muffin top pan (or a muffin pan).

Who’s excited?!? Let’s do it!

How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (Healthy) – Easy Gluten Free Vegan Recipe! (2)

How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (GF, Vegan, Healthy)

If you’re looking for a muffin top pan recipe, but then realized you don’t want or need a muffin top pan (hehe), then look no further than this gluten free banana muffin tops recipe! We’re baking these banana muffin tops on a regular ‘ol baking sheet!

First, mash bananas then whisk in all wet ingredients. Then, whisk in all the dry ingredients. Fold in vegan chocolate chips. Use a cookie scoop to drop mounds of muffin top batter onto a prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, cool and enjoy! Related banana recipe: my yummy Vegan Gluten Free Banana Coffee Cake. 🙂

How to Store & Freeze Gluten Free Vegan Banana Muffin Tops

Store your vegan muffin tops in an airtight container at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, for up to 1 week. Or, you can freeze your GF muffin tops for up to 2 months. Just store the muffin tops in a freezer-friendly container or bag. Thaw for 30 minutes before enjoying, or heat in 10-second increments until just a bit warm. Similar storing instructions for my super yummy vegan peanut butter banana breakfast cookies!

How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (Healthy) – Easy Gluten Free Vegan Recipe! (3)

Substitution Notes for this Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Tops Recipe

  • Coconut Oil: sub with melted vegan butter, flavorless oil. Applesauce might add too much moisture in this muffin top recipe, so I wouldn’t recommend it.
  • Maple Syrup: sub with brown rice syrup, honey (if not vegan), or agave
  • Flax Egg: sub with chia egg or chicken egg (if not vegan)
  • Gluten Free Oat Flour: sub with gluten free all purpose flour or make your own homemade oat flour.
  • Almond Meal: sub with almond flour, cashew meal, sunflower seed meal

Are you ready to get your gf muffin top on?!? Okay, I know how that sounds… LOL. Anyone else thinking of Janet Jorplin’s Muffin Top song?!? 😉 Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I absolutely love baking and enjoying kitchen adventures with you. I can’t wait to hear what you and your loved ones think. In the meantime…

Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️

☀️Click below to Pin ☀️

How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (Healthy) – Easy Gluten Free Vegan Recipe! (4)

. Did you make this gluten free vegan recipe? Take a pic & share it on Instagram with the hashtag #beamingbaker and tag @beamingbaker. I’d love to see it!.

Healthy Gluten Free Vegan Banana Muffin Recipes & More

  • Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins Recipe(GF, Vegan)
  • Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins(GF, Vegan)
  • Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins(GF, Vegan)
  • Gluten Free Banana Oat Muffins (Vegan)(GF, Dairy-Free)
  • Best Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe(GF, Healthy)

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How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (Healthy) – Easy Gluten Free Vegan Recipe! (5)

How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (Healthy) – Easy Gluten Free Vegan Recipe!

★★★★★5 from 11 reviews
  • Author: Demeter | Beaming Baker
  • Total Time: 45 mins
  • Yield: 29 medium muffin tops or 20 large muffin tops 1x
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Description

How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (V, GF): this moist vegan muffin top recipe is easy & healthy! Learn how to make banana muffin tops – gluten-free & dairy-free! Refined Sugar-Free.

Ingredients

Scale

Wet Ingredients

  • 3 medium, very ripe bananas (1 cup + 2 tablespoons, mashed)
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax + 3 tablespoons water, whisk together, set for 15 mins)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups gluten free oat flour if using homemade, make sure it’s very finely ground, not coarse
  • 1 ¼ cups unblanched almond meal
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Add-ins

Optional Topping

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or greased foil. Set aside.
  2. Peel bananas and add to a large mixing bowl. Using a sturdy whisk, fork or pastry cutter, mash bananas until smooth. Add coconut oil, maple syrup, flax egg and vanilla. Whisk until well incorporated.
  3. Add oat flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together until just incorporated, making sure no flour patches remain. Fold in vegan chocolate chips.
  4. Using a cookie scoop, scoop and drop balls of thick batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spaced evenly apart. I used 3 tablespoons of batter for the tops. Tops will expand and spread just a bit. Optionally, dot each muffin top with chocolate chips. Give the pan a few taps to help lightly flatten the tops.
  5. For smaller tops, bake for 13-18 minutes. My smaller tops took 15 minutes. For larger tops, bake for 15-20 minutes. My larger tops took 17 minutes.
  6. Allow tops to cool on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes (on a cooling rack). Using a heatproof spatula, transfer tops directly to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing. Storing instructions below. Enjoy!

    Adapted from my Best Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

    Try my favorite Gluten Free Vegan Banana Recipes: Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bars, Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Cookies, Banana Bread Coffee Cake.

Notes

– Storage notes: Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
– Freezing instructions: store in a freezer-friendly container or bag for 1-2 months. Allow to thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or heat in the microwave in 10-second increments until just warm.
– Nutrition Information: is an estimate based on the best-selling, most common brands per ingredient. Also, it’s estimated based on 29 servings per recipe, without the optional chocolate chip topping.

  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Category: Healthy Breakfast, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 medium muffin top
  • Calories: 122
  • Sugar: 7g
  • Sodium: 20mg
  • Fat: 7g
  • Carbohydrates: 14g
  • Fiber: 2g
  • Protein: 2g
  • Cholesterol: 0mg

© beamingbaker.com. All content and images are protected by copyright. Please do not use my images or recipe without my permission. Please do not republish this recipe, instead, include a link to this post for the recipe.

Tools forBaking GF Muffin Tops like a Boss!

Click the links below to check out my favorite tools & ingredients used to make this healthy banana muffin tops recipe.

  • Cookie Scoop – an absolute baker’s essential. Makes scooping batter super easy & uniform!
  • Baking Sheet – my go-to baking sheets. Long-lasting and amazing!
  • Vegan Chocolate Chips – Top-8 Free, dairy-free, great in my Best Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
  • Almond Meal – such great quality & perfect for healthy, gluten free vegan baking
  • Coconut Oil – a vegan baking essential!
  • GF Oat Flour – so convenient to buy when you’re in a pinch.
  • Homemade Oat Flour – my favorite recipe for homemade oat flour!

This post may contain affiliate links, which allow me to make a small commission for my referral, at no additional cost to you.

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How to Make Banana Muffin Tops (Healthy) – Easy Gluten Free Vegan Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What is gluten free muffin made of? ›

Gluten-free muffin base ingredients:

avocado oil, or neutral oil of choice. milk of choice at room temperature - If you're dairy free, use dairy free milk. vanilla extract. 1:1 gluten-free flour - Buy a gluten-free flour blend with xanthan gum added.

How many calories are in a vegan banana nut muffin? ›

Plus, thanks to wholesome ingredients like flaxseed, whole-wheat pastry flour, and whole, shelled almonds, they're actually quite healthy. At about 370 calories a piece, one of these constitutes a full breakfast meal.

Why are my banana muffins tough? ›

If you over mix muffin batter then you will likely end up with dense rubbery muffins. When baking muffins you want to mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients and stir only until they are just combined. This step should literally take a few seconds.

Which gluten free flour is best for muffins? ›

What's the best gluten-free flour for baking? Bob's Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 baking mix is my favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour blend for baking. It has a mild texture and plenty of "stick" thanks to a blend of sweet rice flour, brown rice flour, and sorghum flour, plus some starches and xanthan gum.

Are gluten-free muffins healthier? ›

Key findings and conclusions

The differences between the nutritional values of muffins with and without gluten are less important than with other products, where gluten plays an essential role. However, the gluten-free products present the highest variability in nutritional values, compared to the products with gluten.

What should be avoided in making muffins? ›

12 Muffin-Making Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
  1. Mistake: Over-Mixing The Batter. ...
  2. Mistake: Not Preheating The Oven. ...
  3. Mistake: Filling The Muffin Cups Too Much. ...
  4. Mistake: Leaving The Muffins In The Pan Too Long. ...
  5. Mistake: Not Preparing The Pan Properly. ...
  6. Mistake: Using Milk Instead Of Water In Store-Bought Mixes.
Jan 7, 2024

Which is healthier muffin or cupcake? ›

Cupcake recipes generally contain much higher levels of sugar and fat. This makes cupcakes sweeter, and juicier with finer crumbs. Muffins usually have fruit, nuts, and other ingredients mixed into the batter to compensate. Because of this, muffins are usually considered healthier than cupcakes.

Are muffins healthier than bread? ›

Is an English muffin better for you than bread? A. English muffins are slightly healthier than bread because they include fewer calories, carbohydrates, fats, and sugar than bread. However, both have a high carbohydrate content, which can offer energy throughout the day, and many nutrients.

Do banana muffins have carbs? ›

Muffins, banana (1 medium - approx 2 3/4" to 3" diameter) contains 53.5g total carbs, 51.4g net carbs, 12.4g fat, 6.6g protein, and 348 calories.

How many calories in a vegan muffin from Whole Foods? ›

Whole Foods Vegan Blueberry Muffins (1 serving) contains 22g total carbs, 21g net carbs, 8g fat, 2g protein, and 160 calories.

What is banana nut muffin made of? ›

Recipe overview

Add eggs, vanilla, and mashed banana. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the chopped nuts. Scoop the batter into a muffin pan and sprinkle the top of each muffin with brown sugar and chopped nuts.

What happens when you put too much banana in banana bread? ›

Using too much banana could make your bread heavy and damp in the center, causing it to appear undercooked and unappealing. If you have bananas leftover, you can always freeze them for later use.

How do you keep muffins moist and fluffy? ›

The Best Way to Store Muffins
  1. STEP ONE: Let the muffins cool completely on a wire rack.
  2. STEP TWO: Line an airtight storage container with paper towels.
  3. STEP THREE: Place muffins in the container, on top of the paper towels.
  4. STEP FOUR: Place an additional paper towel layer on top of the muffins.

How do you soften muffin tops? ›

First, prick the muffin tops all over with a toothpick. Next, pour your liquid of choice (e.g., milk or fruit juice) into a bowl, dip a pastry brush into it, and brush the tops of the muffins. The liquid will seep into the muffin's interior, soaking the crumb and softening the muffins, turning them as good as new.

What is the difference between gluten-free muffins and regular muffins? ›

Highlights. Gluten-free muffins present higher egg-content in their formulation. A greater percentage of gluten-free muffins have thickening agents in their formulation. The average nutritional differences between muffins with and without gluten are minimum.

What are gluten free baked goods made of? ›

Naturally gluten-free flours, such as amaranth, buckwheat, corn, rice flours, sorghum, and teff (often grown, harvested, and/or processed alongside wheat) Sprinkles. Corn products like cornstarch and cornmeal. Baking powder.

What is gluten-free dough made of? ›

In most cases, gluten free pizza is made with a combination of gluten free flours and starches like rice flour, almond flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch. These are combined with wet ingredients like oil and flavorings like sugar and salt. Some recipes also use yeast to give the dough some rise.

What is the difference between gluten-free and regular cupcakes? ›

Texture Differences

Gluten-free baked goods don't have quite the same texture as wheat-based products. However, huge improvements can be made by using combinations of flours and mixing in additives. Measuring according to weight and not volume also helps.

References

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