Vegan Banana Bread Muffins with No Added Sugar
Vivid flavor, moist, yet delicate, these vegan banana bread muffins are everything you want for breakfast on a lazy day off. Absolutely NO refined sugar is added and they come together in under 30 minutes — I think that’s a win-win!
I know, I know…No one likes the word “moist,” but I really can’t think of another word to describe the deliciousness that is these vegan banana bread muffins…because they’re definitely not “damp,” nor “humid.”
Let me tell you how these muffins came to be…
When I was home over the holidays (yes, nearly two months ago), my dad bought this HUGE bag of dates from Costco so obviously I HAD to use it!
Have you noticed I’ve been date-obsessed lately?
Dates are a nutrition-loving baker’s dream! But if I’m being totally honest, I never really eat dates plain (for no specific reason), but they’re perfect in recipes to cut out refined sugar!
Well, I lost a {friendly} bet to my younger brother and promised him banana bread. He saw me looking at this recipe from The Whole Tara, and, well, anything with chocolate calls his name. Although the recipe is a great treat, as is, I wanted to healthify it even more by using (yup, you guessed it!) DATES to sweeten the banana bread. I was inspired by these fellow bloggers — thanks and thanks — but then put together my own recipe as I saw fit.
Ultimately, I decided I like the plain banana bread much better than the chocolate version (I know…shocking because I love everything chocolate!). I also like these vegan banana bread muffins as muffins better than the entire loaf of bread because they’re perfectly portioned so there’s no guessing the serving size!
These muffins are so [cover your eyes] moist, and not as dense as you might expect from the ingredients used. But I don’t want to trick you…you will not get a fluffy muffin like you would from the bakery. Think of them as banana bread muffins and you’ll get exactly what you expect!
I’ve now made these vegan banana bread muffins three times and every time they’re gone within days…and maybe I live by myself and don’t share (insert monkey emoji covering its eyes!).
I’m talking the perfect breakfast with some nut/seed butter, snack with some milk, or even dessert! On that note…I personally think these muffins are a great dessert, but my older brother enlightened me that it’s more of a “breakfast bread.” To be fair, I don’t think my bananas were ripe enough the first time I made this recipe (they weren’t nearly as dark as in the photo below), plus, my brother remembers my mom’s banana bread that has 2 cups of refined, white sugar, so these definitely have more of a naturally sweet taste (but just as scrumptious!).
Which brings me to another VERY important point…make sure your bananas are nearly brown/black (see below)! If your bananas aren’t ripe enough, you’ll lose SO much natural sweetness from the fruit, that the recipe just won’t be the same!
This bread is made with white whole wheat pastry flour (whole grains!!), bananas (fruit!!), a tiny bit of oil (healthy fat!), and milk (protein!)…pretty healthy to me, so some sugar in the dark chocolate chips is A OK in my book! If you prefer a 100% no sugar added dessert, go ahead and omit the chocolate chips…but I don’t recommend it.
Also be sure not to over mix the batter! It’s a “quick bread” recipe so you just want the ingredients to be combined.
While you’re off from work celebrating President’s Day, make these vegan banana bread muffins…you won’t be sorry!
- ¾ cup medjool dates
- 1 ¼ cup white whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3-4 extra ripe bananas
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ cup milk (I used soy milk, but I assume any will do)
- Optional: ¾ cup dark chocolate chips (if strict vegan, be sure to use vegan chocolate chips!)
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Soak dates in water while you prepare the rest of the ingredients, about 5-10 minutes.
- In a medium sized bowl, add all dry ingredients. Set bowl aside.
- In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork or potato masher.
- In a large (10-cup) food processor, process drained dates until mostly smooth. Add about half of the bananas, and continue to process until smooth.
- Transfer the date/banana mixture back to the large bowl with the other bananas and add the oil, vanilla, and milk. Mix just until combined.
- Gently and slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. Do NOT overmix!! If desired, add chocolate chips.
- Spoon into a lined muffin tin or loaf pan and bake for 25-35 minutes, until golden brown. You will know if the muffins/bread is done if it starts to separate from the side of the pan or an inserted toothpick comes out clean!
- Enjoy!
Nutrition info [per muffin]: 150 calories, 5g fat, 3.5g fiber, 2g protein
I hope you enjoy this one as much as my family did!
Nutrition tip of the #MeatlessMonday day…spend just 30 minutes today on food prep so you have healthy options at your fingertips for the rest of the week!
XO
Here’s what I’m eating today:
Breakfast: Sprouted whole grain toast with homemade sunflower seed butter with chia jam
Lunch: Mexican Egg Bake with Spinach, Black Beans, and Cheese from The Lemon Bowl
Snack: Purple Powerhouse Smoothie from Peas and Crayons
Dinner: Mushroom Burgers with salad (don’t mind the old photos, the recipe is delicious!)
Dessert: Leftover Chocolate Coconut Date Truffles from Valentines Day!
I made this recipe exactly as written, except in place of the oil, I just dumped in a snack-sized container of organic applesauce (there really aren’t too many recipes where oil is necessary – just leave it out or replace with another wet thing – and no, I’m not McDougall..just don’t like to use much oil). I also added some raisins because I was worried it wasn’t sweet enough. The raisins made it too sweet. So next time I will make it exactly the same, but leave out the raisins and add some chopped walnuts. I freeze them and throw them into my lunch bag for a yummy breakfast with hot tea once I get to work.
Oops. I also used coconut milk. I’m allergic to all soy products.
I always sub applesauce too, but I do happen to think the oil adds a little something extra! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe though and were able to customize it to your tastes! 🙂
Hi, I made this recipe as a Christmas cake and it was simply wonderful!! I replaced the flour with a gluten-free option and as I don’t have a food processor, I only chopped the dates in very small cubes. My family loved it and they noticed nothing about the cake being sugar-free, gluten-free and vegan. Thank you very much for the very nice (and moist, indeed) recipe! 😀
Thank you so much for your kind words Bee! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Have a very Merry Christmas! 🙂
These are fabulous and so healthy! XOXO
Thanks Rebecca!
Ha ha! Totally true about the word moist. Bleh. But these muffins are not bleh. Wow! Love that you did it with great ingredients and a little chocolate makes the world go round. 🙂
Thanks so much, Katie! I hope you like these muffins as much as I do! And totally agree about the chocolate 🙂
so that’s what i need to do with those over ripe bananas!!!!