Healthy Banana Gingerbread Muffins (Gluten Free, Paleo)

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These healthy banana gingerbread muffins are moist and soft with a mildly sweet gingerbread and banana flavor. They're made with almond flour and ripe bananas and flavored with warming spices like ginger and cinnamon. This healthy muffin recipe is gluten free, dairy free and paleo friendly.

Gingerbread banana muffins on cooling rack.

Tis the season for lots of holiday treats and I've been doing my fair share of baking, from chocolate gingerbread cookies to bi s cotti and hazelnut truffles! But I wanted to take a break from all the sugary treats and these gingerbread banana muffins are the perfect way to do that.

While these muffins contain all your favorite warming gingerbread spices and nostalgic winter flavors, they're actually healthy since they're low in sugar and made with simple, wholesome ingredients.

This banana gingerbread muffin recipe is made with almond flour and only sweetened with bananas - no sugar added. They're flavored with molasses and warming spices like ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The gingerbread flavor is mild and perfectly compliments the sweet banana taste.

Why You'll Love these Gingerbread Banana Muffins

gluten free and grain free - made with a combination of almond flour and tapioca starch
paleo friendly - this recipe contains simple, whole food ingredients that you can feel good about eating
dairy free - no butter or milk
easy to make - a one bowl batter that's poured into a lined muffin tin and baked in under 30 minutes.

Bite of a muffin to show the inside texture.

Ingredients

Here's a list of the ingredients you'll need to make these gluten free banana gingerbread muffins. The full recipe can be found in the recipe card below, near the end of this post.

mashed banana - just mashed ripe bananas. Ripe, meaning yellow with many brown speckles.
large eggs - to bind the ingredients. An egg substitute has not been tested.
avocado oil - this gives the muffins plenty of moisture. You may swap avocado oil for olive oil.
molasses - for gingerbread flavor
vanilla extract
blanched almond flour - the best substitute would be tigernut flour
tapioca starch - this is an important ingredient for texture purposes. The best swap would be arrowroot starch.
ground spices - cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove
baking soda
salt

Ingredients needed to make healthy banana gingerbread muffins.

How to Make Banana Gingerbread Muffins

The batter for these gingerbread muffins is made in one bowl, poured into a lined muffin pan and then baked in the oven. Here are the steps:

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper or silicone muffin liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients.

Whisk in the dry ingredients.

Muffin batter in lined muffin pan, ready for the oven.

Pour the batter into your lined muffin pan. Place in the oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.

After baking, cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then place them on a wire cooling rack and cool to room temperature.

Tips and Tricks

Measure ingredients by weight - although I give measurements by volume, it's best to measure ingredients like almond flour by weight (given in grams). You can easily do this with a small kitchen scale. It's less cleanup too!
Use ripe bananas - since bananas are the only sweetener in this recipe, be sure to use ripe bananas. I recommend yellow bananas with many brown speckles.
Play around with the ground spices - if you don't have a particular spice on hand, or aren't a fan of one then feel free to omit it. For instance, take out the cinnamon or remove the nutmeg and clove and replace with allspice.
Mix in chopped nuts - chop your favorite nuts like walnuts or pecans and add them to the batter
Top the muffins - drizzle icing over the muffins or top them with a cream cheese frosting

Storage

These muffins are best kept in an airtight container in the fridge, up to one week. For longer storage, place them in a baggie in the freezer, up to one month. You can reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds, or let them defrost on the countertop.

FAQ

How can I make these muffins nut free?

For a nut free version, swap the almond flour for tigernut flour. This will slightly change the taste and texture, but the muffins will still be great.

Do I have to use oil?

The avocado oil is what makes these muffins moist and tender. I like avocado oil because it is tasteless, stable at high heat and high in monounsaturated fat. That being said, any liquid oil will work as a substitute. You can probably replace the oil with yogurt as well, but I have not tried this myself.

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