These Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins are made with oat flour, almond flour and sweetened naturally with bananas and coconut sugar! This banana oatmeal muffin recipe is not only healthy but Gluten-Free & Vegan too!
Remember last summer when I was on that strawberry-banana kick? I made those Strawberry Banana Quinoa Breakfast Bars practically every day.
But unfortunately, fresh strawberries are a luxury I can only truly enjoy during the summer. Any other time of year they're just too expensive and the flavor almost isn't worth it. Now that we're moving into summer again, bring on ALL the strawberries.
Already this week I've shared my Triple Berry Quinoa Salad and now it's these super simple, super healthy Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins.
Simple + Healthy Oatmeal Muffins
I've shared a few batches of my “skinny” muffins here on the blog, my faves being the Coconut Yogurt Quinoa Muffins and the Chocolate Chip Zucchini Quinoa Muffins, but for some of you, the ingredient on those muffins are a bit long. So this time around I wanted to try and strip down the ingredients even more.
I took out the quinoa flakes because those can be hard to find, increased the banana so I could take out the yogurt and swapped maple syrup for coconut sugar. Otherwise, these are still the skinny oatmeal muffin base and are every bit as healthy, nourishing and tender.
Making Gluten Free Muffins
Just as the title suggests, the primary ingredient in these muffins is oats. We use it both as oat flour, which can be made easily at home in your blender, plus quick oats which help give the muffins a really nice texture.
If you're celiac and oats are tricky for you, I recommend looking online for some certified gluten-free oats. Here are some places to shop:
- Bob's Red Mill (my fave)
- Amazon
- Thrive Market
- Vitacost
What I really like about starting my day with oats is that it provides long-lasting and sustaining energy from the combination of complex carbohydrates and fiber. Oats digest more slowly than something refined (like the flours that are used in most bakery-style muffins) and therefore will keep you fuller for much longer.
Lightening Up Your Banana Oatmeal Muffins
But oats aren't the only star to this show! I mean since we're making Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins, we've also got lots of banana for sweetness and flavor, plus chopped fresh strawberries for another burst of sweet deliciousness.
I really like using fruit puree in my baking because it not only helps us reduce the amount of sugar we need to add (after all, fruit is nature's candy!), but fruit, and in particular banana, can do wonders for the texture of baked goods.
When a banana is mashed up, it gets this kind of sticky texture which helps bind ingredients together but also makes them moist and springy. Just like these muffins. They're light, tender, not too sweet, and actually quite nutritious.
A Healthy Breakfast
When I shared my Skinny Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins, I showed you a comparison between the nutrition of a bakery-style muffin from a place like Starbucks, to one of my “skinny” muffins and you're looking at saving on more than 60% of the calories, fat, sugar and carbs.
That will make a HUGE difference for you in the long run, especially if you're a muffin-for-breakfast type of person.
Starting your day with a breakfast with one of these banana oatmeal muffins over one you just pick up on your way to work, will not only keep you more full but will help you stay on track with your health goals!
Make-Ahead Muffins (Vegan + GF)
These make a great meal prep option if you're short on time during the week. You can whip up a batch, keep half on the counter for the beginning of the week and freeze the rest. I'd recommend taking two with you to work, heating them up (if you have access to a toaster/microwave) and spreading them with a bit of peanut butter. Honestly, one of the best breakfast combos you could ask for you!
Other Healthy Muffins
- Blackberry Lime Quinoa Muffins
- Carrot Cake Blender Muffins
- Gluten-Free Banana Bread Muffins
- Skinny Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins
If you end up making this recipe, I'd love to see a picture! You can share them with me on Instagram using #simplyquinoa or tagging @simplyquinoa. Love seeing what you create in the kitchen!
Skinny Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg or regular egg
- 1 cup mashed banana about 3 medium bananas
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk I like unsweetened vanilla
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups oat flour ground from rolled oats
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats or quinoa flakes
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup chopped strawberries + more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a muffin tin with paper liners (or grease with coconut oil) and set aside.
- Beat together wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry (minus the strawberries). Add dry ingredients into wet and stir together until incorporated. Fold in chopped strawberries. Top each muffin with a strawberry slice if desired.
- Divide batter among the 12 muffin cups. Bake on the center rack for 16 - 18 minutes until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
Video
Nutrition
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These look delicious!! I’m trying to cook and bake more, so I’ll have to try these out!
Kendal // Life With Kendal
Wow, those muffins look amazing!!!! Healthy and delicious at the same time. Thank you for adding the
nutrition facts:)
Can’t wait to hear how they turn out for you! xx
I remember there being coconut sugar in this recipe but didn’t see it in the ingredients. I’ll reference the video again but thought I’d let you know so you could add it in the ingredients list 🙂
Yes, thank you! It’s 1/2 cup and is updated now 🙂
I didn’t see the coconut sugar in the instructions but it’s in your description? My muffins are baking now so we’ll see how they turn out. Hopefully the banana and applesauce were enough to sweeten them.
Sorry about that! How’d they come out sans sugar? It would be great to have a sugar-free option 🙂
Hi, these look delicious. I was wondering how much coconut sugar did you use?
Just updated! It’s 1/2 cup 🙂
Hi Alyssa, I am new to your blog and YouTube. I forgot to add almond milk in the wet ingredients and while whisking and folding the batter it looked dry so I added extra homemade apple sauce. I was worried it would taste dry but surprisingly they came out fine. I am going to bake again next month when strawberries are on sale (here in Singapore) 🙂
So happy it worked! And thanks for sharing about the applesauce 🙂 xo
I have a question about the serving sizes….is it 182kcal per muffin? or the whole batch?
Per muffin 🙂
I loved these muffins! healthy and delicious.it just came out a little dense,is that how it is supposed to be?
Hmmm maybe the oat flour wasn’t quite ground up enough? Usually, they’re pretty light and fluffy!
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what I can use in place of the almond flour to make a nut-free version?
You’ll have to do a seed based flour like sunflower or pumpkin seed. You could also *try* using more oat flour, but I’m afraid they might get a little dry!
What are the measurements for the flax egg. A flax egg is listed in ingredients, but no measurements. In the video, you just dumped it in.
You also don’t mention to grind up the oats into flour if you do not have preground oat flour. Thank you.
The measurements for one flax egg are:
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
3 tablespoons of water
Thanks for pointing that out!
Can we substitute the coconut sugar with maple syrup? If so, how much should we use?
Yes, definitely! 1/4 cup maple syrup 🙂
I don’t know where I went wrong in this recipe. I used muffin liners to bake my muffins and the liners are really sticking to the muffins and are hard to take off. I used the same liners in a different recipe and did not have this issue. Any suggestions?
I was thinking about what might of happened to make the muffins stick to the liners and why they might not of been as fluffy. I noticed in your video that you folded in the wet ingredients by hand but I used a beater because the directions said to beat the wet ingredients. Could that of been the problem?