Healthy pumpkin banana muffins made with gluten free flour and almond meal. Light, fluffy, delicious and easy to make! Gluten and dairy free, they make a delicious and nutritious snack!
Well hello there. It’s been a hot minute since I added a new recipe to Nourish Every Day! The last few months of 2020 have come with an absolute avalanche of work for me. And for that of course, I am grateful (especially in this crazy year) – but it does mean that my recipe blog gets so sorely neglected.
I’m hoping for a little bit more balance in 2021. Considering I’ll have 2 year old twin boys, something tells me I am not going to find it!
But let’s push that worry aside for now and celebrate the fact that I have a new recipe for you right NOW. Let’s make healthy pumpkin banana muffins!
These simple muffins have a fluffy texture that is kept perfectly moist thanks to the pumpkin puree and bananas. I think they’re best enjoyed slightly warmed with a drizzle of peanut butter.
Ever since my little ones became toddlers I think I’ve tried to keep a stock of at least 10 bananas in our fruit bowl at all times. They are my twins’ favourite afternoon snack and they are also perfect for making pancakes, baked oatmeal and muffins. I decided to jazz up my usual toddler muffin with a combination of pumpkin, walnuts and maple syrup. The result is so delicious!
It’s still a pretty healthy recipe though. These muffins are loaded up with the goodness of extra virgin olive oil, almond meal and walnuts. There’s enough maple syrup in there for sweetness, but they’re not super sweet. Totally acceptable as a weekday snack, not just for desserts, if you know what I mean.
Plus for my allergy-conscious friends, these are gluten free and dairy free!
What you’ll need to make pumpkin banana muffins
Check your pantry and see what you’ll need to add to your grocery shopping list:
- Bananas
- Pumpkin (*I usually make these when I’ve made too much roast pumpkin for dinner and have a few pieces leftover, you don’t need a lot)
- Eggs
- Maple syrup
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Gluten free plain flour (*it will probably work with regular plain flour too, I just use gluten free for myself)
- Almond meal
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Vanilla
- Walnuts (*you can substitute in pecans if you prefer…or can I suggest dark chocolate chips?!)
Nut free recipe option
I have also made a nut free version of these muffins – i.e. without the almond meal and without the walnuts.
For the nut free version, I used 2 cups of gluten free plain flour and 3 tablespoons of coconut flour. I found the end result to be slightly more dry/crumbly, but when they were warmed up slightly before eating the result was still pretty darn good.
If you’re looking for a nut free muffin recipe, make sure you also try out my Double Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins. They’re easily made nut free – just use a nut-free milk to make them (like cows milk, rice milk, coconut milk or soy milk).
These muffins are really super easy to make. You just mash together some cooked pumpkin and overripe bananas, whisk in the other wet ingredients and then dump in all the dry ones. You can make these with just one big mixing bowl!
I’d love to tell you that I measure out everything before I begin and set things out nicely, but that only really happens when I am triple-testing my recipe before publishing on this blog. The week-to-week, regular baking that I do is much more haphazard in style. That’s why lots of the recipes on Nourish Every Day are quite simple – because they need to work as part of everyday life.
I hope you enjoy my Healthy Pumpkin Banana Muffins. Don’t be afraid to swap those walnuts out for chocolate chips if you want something a little more decadent, by the way… and don’t forget to leave me a comment below and let me know how they turn out! Or take a snap and tag me on Instagram, you can find me at @moniquecormacknutrition 🙂
Ingredients
- 3 bananas as overripe as possible
- 0.5 cup mashed pumpkin
- 1.5 cups gluten free plain flour
- 1 cup almond meal
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup walnuts roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) and line a 12 cup muffin tin with muffin liners.
- Mash the bananas thoroughly to form a thick puree. Add in the mashed pumpkin, eggs, maple syrup, olive oil and vanilla, whisk together.
- Add in the gluten free plain flour, almond meal, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Stir to form a thick batter. Stir in the chopped walnuts.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 lined muffin holes. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are turning a deep golden brown at the edges and the centres feel firm but still a little spongy.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. For maximum softness and enjoyment, I recommend slightly warming the muffins in the microwave before eating (especially if coming straight from the fridge).
Notes
Nutrition
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