Banana Oatmeal Muffins

These are the ultimate healthy banana oatmeal muffins, made completely in a blender with no flour, no oil, no butter, and no refined sugar. My secret to keeping them incredibly moist and tender is using sour cream, a simple ingredient that makes all the difference.

Why this recipe works

Packed with lots of whole grain oats and lots of flavor from ripe bananas and just a few chocolate chips, these hearty muffins are so satisfying. They have no added butter or oil, can be made without any refined sugar, and you make the batter simply and quickly in a blender.

The secret to a moist and tender muffin without any added fat from butter or oil is the addition of sour cream that's blended with the eggs into an emulsion.

Plus, there's only 1/2 cup of coconut sugar in all 12 muffins. The only fat is what's in the egg yolks and sour cream, so avoid using anything fat free or the muffins will turn out tough since fat is a tenderizer.

Ingredients explained

These simple lowfat oatmeal muffins have just a handful of ingredients. Here's a bit about the role each one plays:

• Bananas: Use ripe bananas, and weigh out 250 grams of the fruit itself, which takes about 2 medium-sized peeled bananas. The more ripe they are, the sweeter the muffins will be, but as long as they're soft and easy to mash, they'll turn to delicious natural sugar in the oven.
• Sour cream: Adds moisture, flavor, and some fat, and emulsifies with the egg yolks when blended. Avoid anything fat free, which will lead to a much less tender crumb.
• Eggs: Helps the muffins rise, and adds structure that helps the muffins from sinking as they cool. The yolks add some fat for tenderness.
• Sugar: Coconut sugar or light brown sugar enhances the natural sweetness of the bananas, adds tenderness and some depth of flavor.
• Vanilla: Adds more depth of flavor.
• Salt: Enhances the other flavors.
• Baking powder: Adds rise in the oven. Make sure yours is double-acting so the muffin batter can rest and still activate in the oven.
• Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the sugar and sour cream to create some rise, and helps the muffins brown in the oven.
• Oats: Blended into flour, they create the main structure of these muffins. They also add a gentle sweet, slightly nutty flavor. Be sure yours are gluten free if that's necessary for you.
• Chocolate chips: Add some texture, rich chocolate flavor, some bulk to the muffins so they rise taller, and some visual interest.

Expert tips

Divide the batter in half for a small blender

If your blender is a personal smoothie size, with a maximum 24 ounce capacity, you won't be able to fit all of the batter for these muffins in one batch. Just divide all of the ingredients roughly in half, make it in two batches one after the other, then combine everything at the end.

Don't overblend the batter

Blend the mixture until the oats are finely ground and the eggs are emulsified, but avoid blending until the machine begins to overheat or overworks the batter. Overworked batter will make tougher, denser muffins.

If you don't have a blender

The blender grinds the oats into a flour, and emulsifies the eggs with the sour cream and blends the bananas for a smooth batter and high rise. A food processor is the next best thing to a blender. If you only have a mini food processor, just blend in batches, then combine at the end.

If you don't have either a blender or a food processor, start with 1 3/4 cups (225 g) oat flour. To emulsify the eggs and sour cream, beat them with a handheld mixer or whisk vigorously by hand until creamy. Mash the bananas as finely as possible, then mix all of the ingredients together by hand in a large mixing bowl.

The secret to tall, moist muffins: let the batter rest

Although the blended batter creates a smooth rise, it must be a liquid after blending or the muffins will be tough. At first, it's too thin to hold the chocolate chips in suspension. But if you allow the raw batter, without chips, to rest for 20 minutes, the ground oats are able to fully hydrate, which thickens the batter, gives the muffins a better structure and rise, and prevents a gummy texture after baking.

Variations, swaps, and mix-in ideas

Sour cream

If you don't have sour cream on hand, you can still make these muffins. Just try plain, Greek-style yogurt. It must be Greek-style or you'll be adding too much moisture and the recipe won't work properly. You can also strain regular yogurt until it resembles Greek-style or sour cream.

Dairy free

Try using plain dairy free Greek-style yogurt in its place. Be sure you're not using anything fat free or the muffins may be tough.

Egg free

You can try replacing both eggs with 2 Bob's Red Mill egg replacers, 2 “chia eggs” or “flax eggs,” or this combination: 1/3 cup (40 grams) oat flour + 60 grams plain yogurt + 1 extra teaspoon baking powder + 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar.

Oat-free

In place of the oats, since they're blended here, try using quinoa flakes and grind them into a powder as best you can. For more information, please visit our post about a substitute for oats. Sometimes, you can replace oat flour with almond flour, but if you're looking to bake with almond flour, you're better off with a recipe designed for it, like our almond flour banana bread.

Fruit

In place of chocolate chips, try the same amount of any kind of dried or freeze-dried fruit you can imagine: raisins, chopped apricots, dried cranberries, or freeze-dried strawberries. If you'd like to add fresh or frozen fruit, try our healthy blueberry muffins recipe, also made with oat flour but a thicker batter that can handle the extra moisture.

Nuts & seeds

For another variation on chocolate chips as a mix-in, try 3 ounces of chopped walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, or pumpkin seeds. I'd avoid anything that tends to swell in moisture, like chia or flax seeds.

Flavor boosters

To complement the banana flavor, try up to 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste in place of vanilla extract.

How to make banana oatmeal muffins

These so-called “blender muffins” are made by placing all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips in a blender or food processor, and pulsing until smooth.

1. Blend the ingredients

Place all of the ingredients in the order listed in the blender: peeled and roughly chopped or broken bananas, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, sugar, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Turn your machine on medium speed blend until smooth and creamy and lightened in color. Make the batter as smooth as possible. Stop the blender periodically to scrape down the sides to ensure that everything is blended in. It should bubble a bit loosely when you stop the blender, which means it hasn't been overworked.

2. Let the batter sit

Let the batter sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature. You will notice the batter has thickened considerably after resting—this is exactly what you want!It will allow it to keep the chocolate chips from sinking, and make taller muffins.

3. Mix in the chips and transfer the batter

Mix about 3 ounces chocolate chips into the batter by hand. Pour the batter evenly among prepared wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin. The wells should be about 3/4 of the way full, but that will depend on the size of the wells in your muffin tin.

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins evenly with at least 1 more ounce of chocolate chips. Press them down a little bit with your fingertips to ensure that the chips rise along with the batter in the wells, rather than being lifted off as the muffins grow larger.

4. Bake the muffins

Bake the muffins in a 350°F oven for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.

Let them muffins cool for about 5 minutes in the muffin tin, and then carefully remove them and transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. If you keep them in the muffin tin for too long, they will steam and the outside may become chewy.

Storage instructions

Since these muffins are lowfat, they will only stay fresh in a tightly sealed container at room temperature for 2 days.

For longer storage, freeze them in a single layer on a flat surface, then place them in a freezer-safe ziptop storage bag for up to 3 months. Squeeze out as much air from the ziptop bag as possible to prevent freezer burn.

Defrost frozen muffins at room temperature or in the microwave for about 20 seconds, sprinkle lightly with water and refresh in a toaster oven until warm.

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