These banana buckwheat muffins are a delicious way to use up ripe bananas you have on hand. They make an easy gluten-free breakfast, or snack on-the-go.
Why You’ll Love Them
They are easy to make. All you need is one bowl and a few simple ingredients to make these buckwheat banana muffins.
They’re nutritious. Buckwheat contains minerals like manganese, iron, and copper. When you pair it with mashed bananas and ground flax seed, you’ll get plenty of filling fiber and vitamins in each bite!
They are allergy friendly. Despite its name, buckwheat is actually a seed, and not a grain. So, it’s naturally gluten-free! You can make this recipe with, or without eggs, if you need a vegan option, and it’s dairy-free, too.
They are fun to customize. Feel free to stir in some chocolate chips for extra sweetness, or a big handful of walnuts for a banana nut muffin.
They are portable. These muffins pack well for a school lunch or snack. You can keep them stored in the fridge for up to a week, for an easy option that travels well.
Ingredients You’ll Need
What’s in buckwheat muffins?
- Ripe bananas
- Buckwheat flour
- Maple syrup
- Flax egg (or real eggs)
- Olive oil
- Bakingpowder
- Cinnamon & salt
Since buckwheat doesn’t become as gummy as oat flour does, it’s easy to use a flax egg in this recipe to keep it higher in fiber and vegan friendly. But, I’ve also tested this recipe with 2 eggs as a swap, if you prefer a muffin recipe with more protein.
How to Make Banana Buckwheat Muffins
1. Mash the bananas.
Peel the ripe bananas and mash them with a fork. If you’re in a hurry, you can also use an electric hand mixer to break them down quickly.
If you are using a flax egg for this recipe, add the ground flax seed to a large mixing bowl, along with 3 tablespoons of water. Mix well, so the flax can begin to gel.
2. Mix the wet ingredients.
Transfer the mashed banana to the large mixing bowl, and add in the maple syrup and olive oil. Mix the wet ingredients together, until they look relatively uniform.
3. Add the dry ingredients.
Next you’ll add in the buckwheat flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix again, until the batter looks smooth and fluffy.
Fold in some chocolate chips, or any other add-ins you like, such as walnuts or pecans.
4. Bake.
Use a 1/4 cup to scoop the batter into a muffin tin lined with 12 silicone or paper liners. Once the muffin cups are filled, you can add a few extra chocolate chips on top, if you’d like to.
Bake in an oven preheated to 350ºF for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins rise slightly and start to crack on top.
Let the muffins cool for at least 30 minutes in the pan for the best texture and flavor. Then they are ready to serve!
Leftover muffins can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Or, you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Substitutions & Common Questions
Can I use real eggs? Yes, you can replace the flax egg in this recipe with 2 chicken eggs, if you prefer. In my opinion, using real eggs gives the muffins a better texture, with more bounce and fluffiness. You can try it out to see what you think!
Are these muffins very sweet? With only a 1/4 cup of maple syrup, this muffin recipe is not as sweet as a bakery muffin. But, when you add in the chocolate chips, I think it balances out! My kids love these as an after-school snack. You can add a little more sweetener, to taste, if you’d like to, or replace it with water for a lower-sugar snack.
Do I have to use olive oil? I use this type of oil so the muffins will stay softer when they cool. If you use coconut oil or melted butter, the muffins will become more solid in texture when chilled. But feel free to experiment with it!
Looking for more buckwheat recipes? Try Buckwheat Pancakes or Buckwheat banana bread!
Banana Buckwheat Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe bananas (about 1 ½ cups mashed)
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup olive oil , melted
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 cup buckwheat flour (light colored)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional Add-Ins
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper or silicone liners. Peel the bananas and mash them on a plate with a fork until they look relatively smooth.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground flax seed and water and whisk well. (Alternatively, you can replace the flax seed + water with 2 eggs.) Then add in the mashed banana, olive oil, and maple syrup. Mix well.
- Add in the buckwheat flour, cinnamon, and baking powder, and stir again. Fold in any extra add-ins you like, such as chocolate chips or walnuts.
- Use a ¼ cup to scoop that batter into the lined muffin cups, distributing the batter evenly in the pan. Bake at 350ºF for 22 to 25 minutes, until the muffins rise and the tops have started to crack.
- Remove the muffin tin from the oven, and let the muffins cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Leftover muffins can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Update Note: This recipe was updated in August 2022 to create more of a bakery-style muffin, but if you prefer the older version, you can find it below.
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 1/4 cup water, or non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Mix the ground flax seed and water together, and wait 5 minutes. Then add in the flour, cinnamon, salt, coconut oil, mashed banana, water, baking soda, and vinegar. Stir well, then fold in the walnuts. Divide the mixture into the lined muffin cups, then bake at 350ºF for 20 to 22 minutes.
If you try these buckwheat banana muffins, please leave a comment & star rating below letting me know how you like them!
being that hemp seeds soak up a lot of water do you think they would work? or maybe my sprouted rice protein powder?
Do you want to add them as an “add in” or are you trying to use them as a replacement for an ingredient in the recipe?
i was thinking a replacement for the flax
I wouldn’t expect either of those to work like flax, but let us know if you give it a shot! Chia seeds would work like flax, if you have that option available. Or you could use an egg, if you consume those.
Is that coconut oil in a BPA free container? I saw you were using trader joes last time which comes in a glass jar and seemed reasonably priced compared to other brands.
If you have access to a Trader Joe’s, I do prefer that their coconut oil comes in a glass container at a good price! Tropical Traditions also sells a good quality coconut oil in larger glass jars, but I’ve dropped them before and that was not fun…
These look great! 🙂 I’ve been on a muffin kick lately also 🙂 I’ve made morning glory and blueberry!
I’m all about buckwheat flour. I think it’s my favorite of all of the gluten free varieties. Besides coconut – but that’s hard to deal with when baking eggless like I do.
These look excellent!
These look yummy Megan! I had a question about the buckwheat flour…are you buying and grinding the groats, or are you using the pre-ground kind that has a bluish tint? I’ve been having some digestive trouble with the groats lately and am wondering if the other might be more agreeable. Thanks for any input!
I’ve been using the Bob’s Red Mill flour more often lately, to accommodate my readers who can’t grind their own flours. The homemade version definitely bakes differently than the store-bought flour, so it might have a different affect on your digestion, too!
Megan,
I have some Bob’s Mill Buckwheat Pancake & Waffle Mix. Do you know if I could use it for this recipe?
I hope so!
Thank you, love your recipes
These look great! We recently bought buckwheat flour and have been looking for recipes in which to use it. So these muffins would be the perfect fit!
One question though–what could I use in place of the ACV?
Regular white vinegar or lemon juice would work well:)
YUM!!!
Looks EXTREMELY nutrition dense! 😀
I just made these for my son without the egg since he’s allergic to egg. I used Ener-G “egg” instead and they came out fantastic! Just delicious! Thank you!!!
These muffins are moist, fluffy, and delicious! I have made them several times already. I added nuts and a few mini chocolate chips on the top to make them look “chocolate.” LOVE THEM!
Very delicious! I substituted the buckwheat flour for gluten free flour and added raisins. Very moist and very YUM! Simple, quick, and easy.
I tried these and loved them so much I made another batch, doubled this time, to freeze. These pass the taste test at my house! My two kids along with their 3 friends devoured a dozen of them in under 20 minutes 🙂
Forgot to mention : I added a quarter cup of maple syrup and about a half cup of raisins instead of the nuts. Otherwise I followed the recipe.
Hey, this recipe is awesome, but I was wandering if I could substitute the buckwheat flour for sorghum flour?
I love this recipe! I have made them about 10 times now. I do add about 1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce to it. I find it is sweet enough from the bananas and applesauce that I don’t need any additional sugar added to the batter. My husband likes it a little sweeter and will slice the muffin and add a little honey after they are cooked. Thanks so much for all of the wonderful gluten free recipes.
mine came out wonderful thank you for sharing…just wondering why yours came out so dark? mine came out a nice tan. i used raw buckwheat to make fresh flour.
I used Bob’s Red Mill brand flour, which includes the buckwheat hull when ground– giving it a dark color.
I think the difference is that their buckwheat is roasted first. You can buy both raw or roasted buckwheat (kasha) groats and the raw grinds into a nice light flour with a mild flavor. Bob’s Red Mill is roasted and definitely has a stronger flavor. Both are good but my family prefers the raw buckwheat flour.
I made these muffins for a class I was teaching on Specialty Flours and needed something dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free, gluten-free and (almost) oil-free…whew. These were very nice & everyone liked them! Thanks for the recipe. I want to add a little cacao powder and see what happens 😉
I tried these and they are great! The first time I made them I added shredded coconut, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds because I didn’t have walnuts, so they were more like Trail Mix muffins. I made them again today, but I substituted the bananas for pumpkin puree and I added 1/4 cup of molasses and some ground cloves, and I sprinkled more pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds on top, and they turned out really well again! Thanks for posting this recipe. It’s reliable and there’s lots of room to make substitutions.
I love these muffins. I make them all the time now. I followed a suggestion in comments, and started adding chocolate shavings on top – or chocolate chips in the mix. I especially add chocolate if I’m baking for other people’s kids, to pump up the yum factor. Thanks for this great recipe!
anxious to try this recippe but This will be my first time baking with Chia seeds. Do I have to grind then?
You don’t have to grind them for binding purposes, but I prefer the texture when they are ground.
Thanks!
Delicious! My children loved them. Especially because I added 1/2 cup dark choc chips to the recipe. I decided not to grind the chia seed and you could barely notice their crunch because of the walnnuts. They were also very moist. Thank you!!!!!
These muffins are so wonderful. I have made them so so many times for our family. Our kids don’t get enough fat in their diet, so I replace the water with avocado oil or coconut oil. Thank you for an amazing recipe!
Made this recipe today, added carob chips in half of the batch and both are very delicious! Even though I forgot the flaxmeal mix and added it separately in each muffin on the tray (giggles)!
Thanks for the recipe, works great on Ekadasi 😉
Perfect for ekadasi! <3
do you have the nutrition facts?
Made these today… actually still “making” technically!
My muffins have been in the oven for over an hour and they’re still not done!! I have a bad experience every time I try making something with buckwheat, which is really frustrating because I’m an otherwise great cook and I do so love eating buckwheat (when it’s someone else who’s made it!)
I only have two muffin cups so while those are cooking I spread the rest out thin on a sheet. Waiting for it to cool to make a log cake.
Just an FYI, BRM buckwheat flour is not milled in their gluten free facility and therefore is likely contaminated (many people have reacted when looking at the reviews). Here it is in their own writing on their pancake recipe (which calls for their milled buckwheat flour):
http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=324
Seems crazy to me that they would mill a GF grain in a gluten filled facility when they have a GF dedicated one… :/
These are AMAZINGGGGG! I’ve been looking for baking recipe that don’t include sugar for so looooong, and I’ve finally found the perfect recipe.
Thank you 🙂
Great Recipe! Working with what I had in my house, I substituted a 1/4 cup of applesauce and a tablespoon of hempseeds for the chia seeds (still used 3 TBSP of water). The muffins came out solid and moist in the middle – however I did have to cook them for about 5-7 more minutes.
I probably wouldn’t make this recipe again. I added raspberries to add a little sweetness, which I do recommend if you make this, but all in all they were very bland. I had to put cream cheese on top in order to eat them. My two year old would eat a couple nibbles, and he eats ANYTHING.
I found the battery a bit dry and added more liquid and raisins for flavour. Delicious! I’d love to make this in to a loaf. Can you tell me how to recalculate the cooking time?
Delish, followed recipe exactly. Doesn’t need any extra honey.
Great recipe! Can you use Stevia instead of Banana?
I’m making my son’s birthday cake this weekend – he has an egg allergy and hasn’t had any grains yet. I’ve been using flax and chia ‘eggs’ in different muffins but find they don’t always work well. Have you ever used aquafaba and do you think it would work in this recipe?
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! These muffins are delicious! I can’t believe how moist and fluffy they are. I am dealing with some food intolerance issues and now I have just found out my 4 year old daughter cannot have wheat, dairy, or eggs. This yummy recipe will definitely help me to transition her to the new diet. We will be making these a lot!
These were great! My 3 year old loves them and my husband thought they were good too. I added 1/2 cup of finely grated carrot and zucchini.
MMMMMM! Delicious! I followed the recipe reasonably closely – though I did add some protein powder, shredded carrots, cocoa & chocolate chips. (I was hungry ,.. those sounded like good additions). Will definitely be making these again — thanks for posting!
Just made these and they are absolutely delicious!! I actually used half carob, half buckwheat flour to make them chocolately and it really worked. Thanks for an awesome healthy recipe
Thank you very much!
Just made these, and they’re delicious! The texture was just perfect. Thank you!
WOW I am SO impressed with this recipe and grateful I found this . Just made these and they are PERFECT !!!! Soooooooo good. Seems my family is allergic to everything these days and I cannot stop craving muffins …these are so darn good and cannot believe the ingredient list!i did not a change a thing. Woo ! Finally! Thank you 🙏
These are exactly what I have been searching for. I recently discovered buckwheat, and I am loving it! I mill my own in a vitamix from the raw groats, and they turned out light brown, I also topped with some frozen huckleberries I had in the freezer. They look so delicious I wish I could post a picture. Haha. My kids loved them even though they are only mildly sweet, which I love. If you are used to eating sugary muffins, you may need to add some sweetness. They are so moist and fluffy for a gluten free muffin. Totally doubling the recipe next time! This will be my new go to muffin recipe! Thanks so so much!
This is my kind of recipe!! Gf vegan And nut free And so nutritious!! I forgot the oil (!!), used 1.5 very ripe and 1.5 not so ripe bananas so added some stevia and 1/4 c choc chips. Also subbed in a tiny bit of tapioca to fluff it a bit. And added some hemp flour. All those changes, including the mistake, made for delicious muffins! I will make them again, with the oil and maybe a few diff changes. 😉 Thank you!
Excellent! Very forgiving recipe. I omitted the bananas and substituted with 2 grated Granny Smith apples, half a cup of rhubarb and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. I used avocado oil rather than coconut oil. Also added a tsp of baking powder. Forgot the ACV and added a bit more coconut milk to get the right consistency. Next time will use ACV! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
These muffins are the perfect way to use up ripe bananas. They are super quick and really delicious! I mixed in chopped dried figs and it was really lovely. Will definitely make these again.
I was just curious if there was a reason for the Cider Vinegar?
First time experience with Buckwheat flour. They did not disappoint, they are excellent!
Vinegar reacts with baking soda when you don’t use eggs.
Delicious and so easy to whip up!
These are the best buckwheat muffins I’ve made yet. Thank you for this awesome recipe!!!
Great recipe! We all loved it! Just added a bit of cocoa powder, apple sauce and a bit of mini chocolate chips on top…so happy it’s refined sugar-free! Thanks!
Gorgeous fluffy muffins, perfect for my daughters lunch box.
I used an egg instead of flax and I also added 1 TBS of rice malt syrup.
Instead of walnuts I added some cranberries and 70% dark choc.
Absolutely delicious and nutritious.
Thank you Megan