These vegan banana muffins are soft, fluffy and perfectly moist with a gorgeous bakery-style domed top. Packed with banana flavor and ideal for breakfast or dessert.
These gorgeous vegan banana muffins are packed with banana flavor and have the perfect high domed top just like a bakery muffin.
They’re soft and moist, loaded with flavor and just about the best thing served warm from the oven.
With some chopped walnuts mixed into the batter and some more on top, these muffins look just as good as they taste.
And if you love bananas like we do, then check out our vegan banana bread, vegan banana cake and vegan banana pancakes.
How To Make Vegan Banana Muffins
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add brown sugar, white sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon and nutmeg and mix together.
- Prepare your vegan buttermilk by adding ½ tablespoon of lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the ½ cup (120ml) line. Let it sit for a minute to curdle.
- Add mashed bananas, vegan buttermilk, melted coconut oil, applesauce and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and mix into a thick batter.
- Add chopped walnuts and fold in.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin partitions of a muffin tray and then add some more chopped walnuts to the tops of the muffins.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the muffin tray and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool.
- And then eat one! Preferably while it’s still warm. Yum.
Baker’s Tips
The best muffin recipes have a thick batter. There is just something about a thick batter that creates the best muffins and these are no exception.
The homemade vegan buttermilk and melted coconut oil along with the mashed banana and applesauce create a batter that is very thick and has to be spooned into the muffin partitions.
The thick batter also enables the chopped walnuts to be very evenly dispersed throughout the muffins which is super tasty.
The acid from the vegan buttermilk (lemon juice) is what reacts with the baking soda and causes them to rise very nicely with an awesome domed top.
The walnuts are a perfect match here. Of course they are optional and if you have a nut allergy don’t worry about it, you can easily omit them, but if walnuts are something you can eat, then they make a delicious addition.
Ripe bananas are absolutely crucial. You can’t get delicious vegan banana muffins without using ripe bananas. Ripe bananas are more sugar than starch which is exactly what you want for both the taste and texture here. So make sure they are yellow and spotty.
We used coconut oil because it’s thick so it works great with muffins. But you can switch this for a different vegetable oil if you can’t use coconut oil.
We used applesauce for a bit of extra moisture in this recipe, but you can replace this with extra mashed banana if you can’t get applesauce. I do like the addition of applesauce here though so use it if you can.
Make Them Gluten-Free
You can try these with a gluten-free all purpose flour blend but don’t try them with a single type of flour such as almond or coconut. It has to be an all purpose blend.
Our favorite brand for gluten free all purpose flour is Bob’s Red Mill.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where they will stay fresh for up to a week.
They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. When you’re ready for them, thaw them in the fridge and then bring them up to room temperature on the countertop or warm them up in the microwave.
More Vegan Muffins
- Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- Vegan Blackberry Muffins
- Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Vegan Chocolate Muffins
- Vegan Zucchini Muffins
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar (100g)
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- ½ cup Vegan Buttermilk (120ml) ½ Tablespoon lemon juice + soy milk up to the ½ cup line*
- 1 ⅓ cups Mashed Ripe Banana (300g) about 3 Medium Ripe Bananas*
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil (60ml) Melted
- 2 Tablespoons Applesauce
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Walnuts (100g) Chopped, plus more to add on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and spray a muffin tray with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the brown and white sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Prepare the vegan buttermilk by adding ½ Tbsp of lemon juice to a measuring cup and then adding in soy milk up to the ½ cup (120ml) line. Let it curdle.
- Add the vegan buttermilk, mashed banana, melted coconut oil, applesauce and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and mix into a thick batter.
- Add the chopped walnuts and stir in.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin partitions and add some more chopped walnuts on top.
- Place into the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.
- Transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack to cool and then enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method, spoon it into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into the cup.
- You can also make vegan buttermilk with almond milk, though the result isn’t as thick as with soy milk. It has differing results with other plant milks, but even if it doesn’t curdle into buttermilk, you can still use another milk if that’s what you have on hand.
- You can use a different oil such as vegetable oil if you can’t use coconut oil.
- If you don’t have any applesauce on hand, then just use 2 Tbsp of extra mashed banana.
- This recipe was first published in February 2019.
They are absolutely amazing, adore them!!!
Thanks so much Alix!
I made these for breakfast over the weekend with coconut/almond milk blend. What can I say another great recipe. I did use the regular granola cereal mix added some margarine and brown sugar and heated it in the microwave until the sugar and margarine melted. I put the granola on top of the muffins before I put them in the oven. Amazing!
That sounds divine! Thanks for sharing Fiona!
This is one of those truly brilliant recipes that ‘just works’!
I have lost count of the number of times I have made it. I don’t always have lemon juice but I find apple cider vinegar works equally well and I rarely have apple sauce but find the addition of a little more banana is fine. I also like to add some chocolate chips to the mixture!
I didn’t have a muffin tray today so I used a doughnut pan instead and adjusted the time down a little and they made excellent doughnut muffins!
Thanks for the awesome recipes 🙂
Awesome to hear that Amanda! Thanks for the brilliant review!
I am eating these warm from the oven right now. AMAZING. I made a double batch, and cut about 1/3 of the sugar because I replaced 1/4 of the flour with a lightly sweetened vegan vanilla protein powder. I blitzed the walnuts in the food processor which made short work of the chopping. I will definitely make these again. Thanks for yet another fantastic baking recipe!!! 🙂 You make being vegan so easy and fun.
Thanks so much Yvonne! 🙂
I just made this. I reduced the sugar by half to my personal taste. I put extra mashed banana in place of applesauce. It rose beautifully, moist and delicious. A recipe to keep????
Thanks Mandy!
Hi Alison, I baked these the second time yesterday and they came out so perfect ????. This time I didn’t have enough bananas so I sub 1/2 with apple. I just put the wet ingred: banana,apple,oil,buttermilk in the blender. You can try this banana apple version yourself too. Btw mine only took 22 mins, may be even 20 mins was enough but I didn’t risk it.
Hello, I don’t have muffin tins only cupcake ones and so I have an extra batch, is there a way to turn the extra into a loaf or cake? Sorry just in the middle of making this and hoping for help. Thank you in advance ????
Hi Abigail, usually cupcake pans/muffin pans are the same thing, unless you have a mini cupcake tray. I think you could use the extra as a small loaf if you want to. Just keep an eye on it for baking time.
These are wonderful but you only need 50% of the stated sugar, mine rose beautifully and tasted divine. In the UK we have plain or self raising flour, you can use any combination of plain flours but you need to add extra baking powder, it is usually 3 level teaspoons per 225g plain flour.
Make the buttermilk as the first step to give it time to curdle nicely.
I’ve been vegetarian my whole life and have been baking since I could help in the kitchen. It wasn’t until my little guy had egg and dairy allergies that I even considered baking vegan and I was so nervous! Let me tell you, Alison has saved baking for me! Her recipes are extremely accurate and reliably delicious. I bake with my little 2 year old guy all the time now and he loves it. We made these muffins tonight for the first time and they were perfect!!! I could eat the whole batch myself but since everyone else in the family loves them too, I guess I have to share! I should say we had leave out the nuts (more food allergies) and the muffins were still amazing!!!
Thanks so much Sheila! So happy the recipes have been working out well for you! 🙂
One of my granddaughters decided to go vegan. I found your site by looking for recipes for her. The whole family loves this recipe. I bake a double batch at least once a week and they eat them up. I sometimes use vegan chocolate chips in place of the walnuts which is their favorite. I am so happy I found your site. I have used so many of your recipes and they have all been delicious. Thank you for sharing them.
So happy to hear that Susann! Thanks so much!
There’s a natural foods store down the street from me that has the most amazing vegan banana nut muffins. I seriously walk to get them at least twice a week. Well, I finally found a recipe that tastes EXACTLY like them if not better! These muffins are absolutely perfect. I am so happy I can make my favorite muffins from home now.
So happy to hear that Haley! Thanks a million!
literally the best recipe online. so fluffy, so flavorful! crisp and golden on the outside but lighter than air on the inside ! they didnt even last 12 hours on the countertop … thank you alison i love your blog
Thanks so much Anastasia!
Hi Alison, I made these banana muffins today and they turned out beautifully. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Wonderful! Thanks Debbie!
I have tried a lot of vegan muffins. These are by far the best ones that I have made. I used a little less sugar and substituted half of the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour. Perfect! 5 stars plus! I am checking out your other recipes.????
Thanks Doris!
Thank you so much for this healthier version of banana muffins. They are loved by my friends and family!
So happy to hear that Donna! Thanks so much! 🙂
made these tonight, they were amazing, did it exactly as per the recipe, even used 3 frozen bananas that I had in the freezer waiting to be used. Thanks for the recipe, we LOVED it
Fantastic! Thanks Irene!
This is absolutely the best vegan banana muffin I’ve ever made. I wish I could post my pictures. They were domed and crispy outside. Not dense at all. I put a little turbinado sugar and nutmeg on top before baking. I was tempted to try a different flour but I’m glad I followed the recipe exactly. I used local apple bananas and weighed everything. Although the brown sugar seemed to take much more than 1/2 cup, it worked out perfectly. I’ll be trying some more of your muffin recipes for sure. Thanks!!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Cheryl!