Ready for an uber fluffy, bakery-style gluten-free banana muffin ready in 30 minutes? These homemade muffins use oil in the batter, ensuring they are extra moist and tender. Plus, a bonus trick of letting the batter rest for 10 minutes before baking means you can say goodbye to a dense or gummy texture that often plague GF banana muffin recipes.

a stack of 2 muffins with a blue muffin paper coming off one
See for yourself why everyone has made this gluten-free banana muffin recipe their go-to! It’s quick, easy, and turns out every time, without fail.

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Gluten-Free Banana Muffins To End All Searches!

Gluten-free baking can lead to some disappointing results. No one enjoys wasting time and expensive ingredients on dense, gritty, crumbly, or gummy baked goods. It’s much more enjoyable to savor moist bananas muffins that happen to be deceptively gluten-free!

When using GF all purpose flour, adding ripe bananas to muffins makes a moist and delicious texture. Mashed banana hydrates the gluten free flour to eliminate a gritty texture. The same can be said for applesauce, which is the winning ingredient in these highly-reviewed gluten-free morning glory muffins.

But, there’s a catch. Combining high-moisture ingredients with GF flour can be problematic. The starches have a harder time absorbing it all, which is why some banana muffins and breads can be very dense and heavy.

Luckily it’s not hard to right the ship and turn out some of too-good-to-be-true gluten-free muffin recipes, or even an exceptionally light and fluffy gluten-free banana cake. (I know, seems impossible, but I’m here to shake up the GF baking scene.)

It’s all about hitting the perfect balance of bananas and fat (oil), to dry ingredients. Then give a brief rest before baking to work the magic. The starches will saturate more fully, eliminating the dreaded gumminess that usually is characteristic of homemade gluten-free banana bread muffins.

It’s all pretty simple stuff. It’s just about balance…isn’t it always?

Melissa, these muffins are incredibly delicious! They are moist, fluffy and very flavorful. You nailed the ingredient ratios! My whole family LOVED the batch I baked and have requested I never lose this recipe…..or else 🤣. Thanks for putting in your time and resources to create a gluten free muffin that is delectable.

—Teresa

Let’s Make This Together!

(Below shows step-by-step photos and modified instructions. For the complete recipe, along with ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card.)

Easy peasy – whisk dry ingredients

First, whisk together all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl – gluten free flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. If you want to play around with the spices, here’s a good time to do it. Add a little ground cloves, nutmeg, or up the amount of cinnamon.

the dry ingredients in a glass bowl.

Still simple – whisk the wet

Use a separate bowl to whisk together liquid ingredients – mashed bananas, egg, vanilla extract, and oil. Don’t forget to measure your bananas! More on why that is key for gluten-free banana bread muffins below. 👇

the mashed bananas being whisked with other wet ingredients.

Combine, scoop, and wait a tad…🤔

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until all the flour is combined and batter is moistened. Divide the batter between muffin pan cups. To quickly and evenly portion out muffins use a trigger ice cream scoop. It is the perfect size with no mess!

Now, just let the muffins rest for 10 minutes before baking. I’ve tested the recipe without resting and with. Rest wins! The muffins baked up taller, fluffier, and with a slightly softer texture. Bananas have a lot of moisture, so this just gives extra time for the GF flour starches to homogeneously saturate before the brief baking time.

a scoop of batter going into paper liners.

Why Measuring Bananas Is Key For GF Baked Goods

Many recipes simply indicate how many bananas to mash for a recipe, but I find this inaccurate and leads to inconsistent results. When you grab bananas from the produce aisle they can range in size from 80 grams, all the way to 120 grams!

If a recipe calls for 3 bananas mashed, depending on the banana’s size that can result in a difference of a ½ cup! So if you were expecting a light, fluffy banana muffin or bread, you will be very disappointed by how an extra ½ cup mashed bananas can drastically change results.

Therefore, when testing this recipe, I not only weighed the bananas I used, but measured how much it yielded once mashed. I highly recommended relying on volume instead of number of bananas when baking gluten-free banana recipes. A GF flour blend is much less forgiving with excess moisture.

a bite taken out of a muffin with melted butter on it
I love to make these muffins Sundays to freeze for easy weekday breakfast idea. The kids just grab and go.

Add Muffin Pizzazz With Toppings!

Let’s level-up those from-scratch muffins by sprinkling on one of these toppings before baking.

  • Sprinkle on coarse sugar before baking. Easy and delish!
  • Streusel topping: Combine ¼ cup GF quick-cooking oats, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle on muffin tops before baking.
  • Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle on before baking.
  • Crumb topping: In a small bowl mix together ½ cup GF flour, ⅓ cup packed brown sugar, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Use a fork to mix in 1 egg yolk and 3 tablespoons softened butter. Sprinkle over muffin tops and bake. This is the winning topping for these legendary GF apple crumb muffins as well.
overhead shot of banana muffins in a muffin tin on a cooling rack
No sunken muffin tops here! Light, fluffy GF banana muffins bake up with bakery-style domed tops.

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Did you make this recipe? I love hearing from you! Leave a star rating and comment below the recipe card. It helps others when searching for recipes and I appreciate feedback from our community. You will always hear back from me! -Melissa

a stack of 2 muffins with a blue muffin paper coming off one
4.56 stars (43 ratings)

Fluffy, Moist Gluten Free Banana Muffins with Oil

Melissa Erdelac of MamaGourmand headshot in patterned dress.Melissa Erdelac
Yield: 11
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Ready for an uber fluffy, bakery-style gluten-free banana muffin ready in 30 minutes? These homemade muffins use oil in the batter, ensuring they are extra moist and tender. Plus, a bonus trick of letting the batter rest for 10 minutes before baking means you can say goodbye to a dense or gummy texture that often plague GF banana muffin recipes.
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Ingredients
 

Equipment

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Lightly grease 11 muffin tin cups or line with muffin papers. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl whisk together gluten free flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
    1 ⅔ cups gluten free all purpose flour, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup packed brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • In a smaller bowl whisk together mashed bananas, egg, oil, and vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined. The batter will be very thick. Gently mix in any desired mix-ins, such as chocolate chips, nuts, dried cranberries, or blueberries (see recipe notes).
    1 cup mashed ripe bananas, 1 large egg, ⅓ cup oil , 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, about ¾ full. To do this quickly, cleanly, and evenly I use an ice cream scoop. Let the muffins rest for 10 minutes before baking, giving time for the moisture to saturate the starches, softening the texture and eliminating gumminess.
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in muffin tins for 5 minutes then remove to a wire racks to cool completely.

Notes

Suggested Mix-Ins: 
  • Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins – Add 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or mini chips to the batter. Sprinkle tops with coarse sugar and additional chocolate chips before baking. 
  • Banana Nut Muffins – Stir in ¾ cup chopped walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts.
  • Peanut Butter Banana Muffins – Add ¼ cup creamy peanut butter to the liquid ingredients. Stir in ½ cup chopped peanuts to batter and sprinkle additional nuts on top before baking. 
  • Banana Coconut Muffins – Use melted coconut oil in place of the canola oil. Add 1/2 cup shredded sweetened or unsweetened coconut to the batter. Sprinkle tops with coarse sugar and additional coconut before baking. 
  • Banana Blueberry Muffins – Add 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries to the batter. 
  • Cranberry Banana Muffins – Stir in ½ cup dried cranberries the muffin batter. 
Freezing / Storing
Make sure the muffins have completely cooled before freezing. If the muffins are warm they will create condensation and ice crystals will form. This leaves baked goods soggy and alters the texture upon thawing.
If you plan on freezing the muffins longer than 4 weeks, I recommend wrapping each muffin in plastic wrap and storing them in a ziplock freezer bag.
Muffins may also be stored at room temperature in an airtight container up to 2 days. Refrigeration is not recommended because it will dry them out.
Calories: 193kcal, Carbohydrates: 32g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 14mg, Sodium: 195mg, Potassium: 150mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 17g, Vitamin A: 39IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 33mg, Iron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below. It helps others when searching for recipes and I LOVE feedback!