Are you ready for a magically easy and gluten-free muffin recipe? Whip a batch of homemade banana oat muffins using only oatmeal and no flour. Grab a couple ripe bananas, some simple pantry ingredients and a blender to make 10-minute oatmeal flour banana muffins that taste like bakery-level success.
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Oatmeal Flour Banana Muffins – No Flour & 100% Oats!
If you’ve been following my website for any sort of time you know how much I sing the praises of using oat flour to create gluten-free recipes. After one bite of these homemade oat flour banana muffins you’ll know exactly what I mean. It seems like it should be possible to achieve such a light, fluffy banana muffin made without flour, but my oh my, is it.
First of all, I always have gluten-free oats on hand, so if you have a blender or food processor there’s no need to buy any speciality ingredients, like oatmeal flour. Which brings me to the other reason I’m oat flour’s biggest cheerleader – the process couldn’t be simpler or quicker. Just like miraculously fluffy oat flour bread, it all comes together in the blender. Mix, pour, and bake.
However, to make a gluten-free banana oat muffin mimic the same texture as traditional ones, I do have one easy trick for you. Once the batter is poured in the muffin tins, wait 10 minutes before baking. This allows time for the oat flour to absorb the moisture and bind the crumb.
As a general rule of thumb if I’m creating flourless oat recipes with longer bake times, like a spiced carrot oatmeal cake, generally the resting isn’t necessary. Since these banana muffins have a shorter bake time, it really helps soften the crumb and build out the structure.
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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.)
Whiz up some 1-minute oat flour
If you have a high-speed blender, like a Vitamix, first dump the oatmeal in and process into a fine, powder. You also have the option to make with ready-made oatmeal flour and mix the batter by hand. Those instructions are in the recipe card below. 👇
Dump and blend (yep, it’s that easy)
Here’s the magic of making oat flour muffins without even bothering to mash bananas. First add the other dry ingredients to the processed oatmeal – brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse to combine, and add in the remaining ingredients – bananas, eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.
The batter will be thin at this point, pretty much nothing like traditional banana muffins, but don’t worry. Oats soak up liquid like nobody’s business, and I promise they will bake up airy and dreamy!
Pour, wait a tad, and bake.
For these muffins, I like to pour the batter a little higher, about 3/4 the way up the muffin tin. I’ve tested resting the batter for 10 minutes and baking right away. Resting won out.
However, it didn’t make such a large difference that you couldn’t bake straight away if need be. It did help build out a fuller structure and fused the crumb together better.
Bake in a 350℉ oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are set, bounce back when lightly pressed and a toothpick comes out clean.
Can I Make This Without A Blender?
Yep, you sure can! You will need to purchase oat flour instead of blending the oatmeal first. In the full recipe card below I list exactly how to do this, which is just as simple as the blender method, but involves a bowl and a whisk.
I also include the metric ingredient weights if you’d rather weigh out the oat flour first. When making any sort of gluten-free banana muffin recipe I also always include the banana’s weight. Bananas can vary drastically in size, and since they contain a lot of moisture, I prefer an exact measurement for consistent results.
What Else Can I Add or Swap Out?
These flourless muffins use less oil because bananas act as replacement for it. Any preferred type of oil may be used from melted coconut oil, avocado, olive oil, to canola.
The sugar is another ingredient that can be swapped out to work for you. You can reduce the sugar amount, but it will reduce moisture slightly. Alternatively, swap out another type of granulated sugar, like date or coconut. If using pure maple syrup, the crumb will be slightly more heavy.
There’s a lot more yummy twists to add to GF banana oatmeal muffins, like a spiced version (add in nutmeg, ginger, or cloves), chopped nuts, plump raisins, or a grated carrot. My family loves adding mini chocolate chips as well.
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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
Fluffiest Oat Flour Banana Muffins (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (180 g) gluten-free rolled oats , for oat flour, 1 ½ cup + 3 tbsp
- ½ cup (117 g) packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 (140 g) medium ripe bananas, about 140 g each with peel on
- ¼ cup (55 g) oil , any preferred
- ¼ cup (61 g) milk or non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- (optional) turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with 11 cupcake liners or lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
- To make the oat flour, place the oats in a high-powered blender or a food processor. Blend the oatmeal until it turns into a fine, powdery flour, about 30 seconds – 1 minute. NOTE: At this point you may continue making the blender or transfer the oat flour to a bowl. Using a bowl does make the batter easier to portion out at the end.1 ¾ cups gluten-free rolled oats
- To continue making in the blender, add the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Otherwise, transfer the oat flour to a large bowl. Pulse to combine or whisk together dry ingredients.½ cup packed brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder , ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add the remaining ingredients – eggs, bananas, oil, milk, and vanilla to the blender. Alternatively, mash the bananas in a small bowl, then whisk in the remaining ingredients.2 large eggs, 2 medium ripe bananas, ¼ cup oil , ¼ cup milk or non-dairy milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Either combine everything in the blender, stopping to scrape down as needed, or transfer the wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine.
- Divide the batter between 11 prepared muffin cups, filling about ¾ to the top. Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar, if using. For best results, let the muffins sit for 10 minutes before baking. This yields a lighter, tender crumb, but they can be baked right away if necessary. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out without wet dough and tops are set.(optional) turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
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Made these to share with kids in our mommy and me group. They absolutely loved them and I’ll be making them again!
Love this! Thanks for sharing.
Best,
Melissa
THANK YOU for this recipe! Not personally GF, but trying to use up some oats. Tested a couple of other muffin recipes that came out dry, bland, and gummy. This one blows them out of the water. Brown sugar + bananas is THE combo. Adding this to the weekly rotation.
Aww thanks so much for sharing, Emmy! I appreciate it!
Best,
Melissa
I added raisins and pecans and they are delicious!
Sounds good, MaryAnn! I appreciate the note.
Best,
Melissa
This is a fantastic recipe! I used maple syrup in place of the brown sugar and added dried cranberries. It turned out great!
Cranberries sound yummy! Thanks for sharing your experience, Cassie!
Best,
Melissa
These went down really well, even with non-GF folks who commented on how light, fluffy and delicious they were! I have made them a few times now and have had good results using GF oat flour for convenience and substituting buttermilk for regular milk. They definitely turn out better if the bananas are super ripe, as this adds more flavour and sweetness. I bake them on 160 degrees C fan but have found they need to stay in the oven longer than the 18-20 minutes indicated. Thank you so much, Melissa, for this fantastic recipe!
Sounds great, Helen! Thanks for taking the time to share such a detailed review of your experience. I appreciate it!
Best,
Melissa
Yum.
Thank you, Yahshitaba!
Best
Melissa