These Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins are easy to make, moist and tender, and a great way to use up your ripe bananas. They’re a perfectly sweet breakfast or grab-and-go snack.
If you like bananas and chocolate, you have to try these tasty gluten free muffins!
Although my husband isn’t a big fan of sweets, he really enjoys these muffins. The combination of ripe bananas and chocolate chips make the muffins moist, tender, not too sweet, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
If you love bananas, but prefer to skip the chocolate, try my recipes for Gluten Free Banana Muffins, Gluten Free Banana Cake, or Caramelized Banana Bread. All of these recipes are full of tasty banana flavor and completely free of chocolate.
I’ve been adjusting the quantity of mashed bananas in this recipe for a while, and finally settled on just the right proportion. The ripeness of the bananas also makes a difference.
How Do You Know If Your Bananas Are Ripe Enough?
These simple chocolate chip banana muffins turn out the best, moist and filled with banana flavor, when you use ripe bananas.
If the fruit is firm and the peels are pale yellow, the bananas are under ripe. You could use bananas that are under ripe (not green), but they won’t be as sweet, and you’ll want to increase the amount of sugar you use.
The bananas are overripe, if the fruit is mushy and the peels are brown. You can use bananas that are overripe, but the fruit may be overly sweet, and you’ll want to reduce the amount of sugar you use.
If the fruit is soft and the peels are yellow with brown spots, the bananas are just right for making these muffins.
This one-bowl recipe is so easy to make, you can have warm, fresh from the oven, muffins on the table in a little more than 30 minutes.
If your family enjoys muffins as much as we do, check out my other gluten free muffin recipes.
Why this Recipe Works
- Using melted butter makes it easier to combine with the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Plus the butter adds rich flavor to the muffins
- The vanilla extract enhances the banana flavor.
- Chocolate chips give sweetness to the muffins without being overly sweet.
Ingredient You’ll Need:
- Butter - Unsalted butter, melted and cooled.
- Sugar - White granulated sugar
- Egg - Use a room temperature egg. Room temperature ingredients mix together more easily than ingredients straight from the refrigerator.
- Vanilla - Pure vanilla extract.
- Bananas - Mashed ripe bananas.
- Gluten free flour blend - I use a 1 to 1 gluten free baking flour in my baking.
- Baking soda - The baking soda gives lift to the muffins.
- Salt - Table salt.
- Chocolate chips - I use semisweet chips.
How to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.
- Add the mashed bananas and stir to combine.
- Stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared muffin pan and bake.
Step by Step Instructions
(For ingredient amounts see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.)
Line or grease 12 standard muffin cups. I use muffin cup liners to make the muffins more portable, but you can spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray instead.
In a mixing bowl, add the cooled butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and stir until mixed together.
Add the mashed bananas and stir until combined.
Add the gluten free flour blend, baking soda, and salt and stir until combined.
Use a rubber spatula to fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
Use a large cookie scoop to transfer the batter to the prepared muffin cups.
The muffin cups will be filled almost to the top.
Bake the muffins for 16-18 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the muffins for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Tips for Making Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Check the ingredients of your gluten free flour blend for xanthan gum. If your flour mix doesn’t contain it, try adding ½ teaspoon to the recipe. I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour which has xanthan gum in it.
- Let the melted butter cool a bit before adding it to the sugar and egg mixture. You don’t want the heat from the butter to scramble the egg.
- Be sure to use ripe bananas for these muffins. Under ripe bananas don’t add enough sweetness and overripe bananas can make the muffins gooey.
- When adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, be careful to not overmix the batter. Overmixing can lead to muffins that are tough.
- Use a large scoop to fill the muffin cups with batter. This will keep the muffins similar in size and ensure even baking time.
- Remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a wire rack. If you leave the muffins in the pan to cool, the bottoms of the muffins may become soggy.
Does the Type of Gluten Free Flour Make a Difference?
Always use a good quality all-purpose gluten free flour blend when making these muffins. I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour which contains xanthan gum. If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum, try adding ½ teaspoon to the recipe.
Xanthan gum helps to hold the muffins together. In traditional baking, gluten in all-purpose flour acts as the binding agent for the baked good. Gluten free baking requires a substitute for the binding agent and that’s where xanthan gum comes in.
Your results may vary depending on the gluten free flour you use. I haven’t tried almond flour or coconut flour with this recipe.
Remember to use the “spoon and level” method when measuring your gluten free flour. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and use the back of a table knife to level off the top. Using a measuring cup to scoop the flour out of the canister or bag can result in more flour than needed in the recipe.
Recipe FAQs
The muffins will last for 3 to 4 days, at room temperature, if stored in a sealed plastic bag or airtight container.
Yes. Cool the muffins completely, then place in a freezer safe container or bag. Store the muffins in the freezer for up to 2 months.
These banana and chocolate chip muffins are wonderful at room temperature, and irresistible when warm. Bake up a batch and let me know what you think. Happy Baking!
More Gluten Free Muffin Recipes You’ll Love
- Easy Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins
- Gluten Free Cinnamon Banana Muffins
- Easy Sweet Cornbread Muffins (Gluten Free)
- Gluten Free Banana Blueberry Muffins
- Almond Butter Oatmeal Muffins
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Banana Muffins
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Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup butter (melted and cooled)
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups mashed ripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
- 1 ½ cups gluten free flour blend
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line or grease 12 standard muffin cups.
- In a mixing bowl, add the cooled butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and stir until mixed together.
- Add the mashed bananas and stir until combined.
- Add gluten free flour blend, baking soda, and salt and stir until combined.
- Use a rubber spatula to fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
- Use a large cookie scoop to transfer the batter to the prepared muffin cups. The muffin cups will be filled almost to the top.
- Bake for about 16-18 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the muffins for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- Check the ingredients of your gluten free flour blend for xanthan gum. If your flour mix doesn’t contain it, try adding ½ teaspoon to the recipe. I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour which has xanthan gum in it.
- Let the melted butter cool a bit before adding it to the sugar and egg mixture. You don’t want the heat from the butter to scramble the egg.
- Be sure to use ripe bananas for these muffins. Under ripe bananas don’t add enough sweetness and overripe bananas can make the muffins gooey.
- When adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, be careful to not overmix the batter. Overmixing can lead to muffins that are tough.
- Use a large scoop to fill the muffin cups with batter. This will keep the muffins similar in size and ensure even baking time.
- Remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a wire rack. If you leave the muffins in the pan to cool, the bottoms of the muffins may become soggy.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information provided is an estimate and will vary based on products and brands you use. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the ingredients you are using with your preferred nutrition calculator.
This post was originally published in 2017. It was republished in 2019 and again in 2022 with updated images and additional text and tips.
This blog post is also available as a Web Story, "Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins."
Laveda Nichols says
Oh my, moist and ooey gooey! A must try.
Lynn says
These are absolutely wonderful!!
Elyse Finlay says
These are excellent! Like a slice of banana bread in a muffin. They're super moist and the texture is really nice and comforting.