Paleo Banana Muffins

These no-added-sweetener muffins are the perfect grab-and-go breakfast for busy mornings!

To skip to the printable recipe, click here.

These paleo banana muffins are the breakfast default in my house. We tend to make a double batch and stash them in the pull-out drawer of the fridge, where hungry monsters can help themselves when Monster Madre and Padre want to catch a few more Z’s.

The great thing about these muffins is that there is NO added sugar. I don’t mean no refined sugar--I mean NO. ADDED. SUGAR. No honey, no maple, no palm. All of the sweetness in these muffins comes from ripe bananas.

Part of what makes this omission successful is the lack of a starchy, flavor-muting flour-replacement, like arrowroot or cassava, so the bananas can really shine. The only downside of this is that the texture is somewhat more souffle-like than regular banana bread would be. My tribe thinks nothing of it, but you might not want to spring these on a group of non-paleo brunchers expecting something more traditional.

My recipe is heavily adapted from this one from Civilized Caveman, which interestingly, I have never tried as written. The first time I attempted the recipe, I had to make some substitutions, and it turned out so well, I never went back. I did, however, continue making changes based on what I had on hand, what worked best, what was easiest, etc. Eventually, I was making so many notes in the margins when I’d print out the recipe to share with friends, I figured it would be easier to type up an official Five Monsters Paleo version.

You can mix the batter up in a bowl, blender, or food processor. Even though it's super simple to just throw everything in the blender, I prefer the bowl method because it's easier to scrape every last bit out of the bowl and get the most out of the recipe--blender blades are death to silicone spatulas. The food processor is my second choice, but you still have to watch out for that blade!

We haven't had a microwave for a while, so I often melt the coconut oil on the stovetop and then mash the bananas and do all the mixing right in the melting pot. If you go this way, just be sure to add the eggs last so they don't get cooked before their time!

Here's what you'll need:

• ½ cup coconut oil, melted

• 4 bananas (ripe is best)

• 4 eggs

• ½ cup almond flour

• ¼ cup coconut flour

• 1 tsp kosher salt (such as Morton)

• 1 T ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

• ¼ tsp pure almond extract (optional)

Here's what you'll do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and place muffin liners in 16 muffin cups.

2. Use a masher to thoroughly mash the bananas before thoroughly whisking all ingredients together in a bowl, or place all ingredients in a food processor and blend till smooth.

3. Distribute batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, and bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Serve cold or gently reheated in the oven.

Special tools needed:

• muffin pans and/or mini muffin pans

• muffin liners or mini muffin liners (these are nontoxic and compostable!)

• blender, food processor, or banana masher

• cookie scoop (not absolutely necessary, but helpful if portioning from bowl)

For the Printable recipe, click here.