Grain Free Banana Protein Mini Muffins
Simple, delicious, toddler-friendly grain free banana muffins.
How do you get enough protein into your babies (or yourself!)? I’m stumped!
Between Milo and Sophie, we’ve got texture issues with meats of all kinds (other than bacon), beans (refried or whole), eggs (scrambled, fried, boiled) and whole nuts. Neither child will eat bread spread with anything on it (so no peanut butter sandwiches), and no one will eat whole nuts.
My best successes come in the form of almond butter in banana “ice cream” (frozen bananas blended to soft-serve consistency with a little milk), these homemade fudgecicles, and a few varieties of homemade larabars (like these or these). I’ve really been struggling to get enough healthy fats and proteins into their little tummies.
Sigh.
Thank goodness for almond meal.
My babies love muffins, so these were a slam dunk. The almond butter and almond meal lend healthy fats and lots of great protein. They’re light, fluffy, and delicious. They freeze like a dream and make a great quick addition to breakfast or snacks. I hope you love them like we do!
I really would love to know, what do YOU use as your protein tricks?! My go-to’s were cheese sticks and Greek yogurt before we went gluten and dairy free. I’m just fine with nuts, eggs, beans, and some meat in my diet, but for my texture-sensitive little eaters… I’m stumped!
p.s. if you don’t have a mini-muffin pan, you can definitely bake these in a standard muffin pan. You’ll just need to bake them a bit longer.
Grain Free Banana Protein Muffins (gf, df)
- Yield: 36 mini muffins 1x
Description
Feel free to add in chocolate chips or chopped nuts, if you like!
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1c almond butter
- 1/4c coconut oil, melted
- 3 eggs
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup or honey
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
- 1c almond meal (I used Trader Joe’s)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir bananas, almond butter, coconut oil, eggs, maple syrup, vanilla, and almond extract (if using). Stir in almond meal, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.
- Scoop into greased or lined mini muffin pan, filling each cup 3/4 full.
- Bake at 350 degrees 20-25 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Cool completely and enjoy!
Adapted from Amazing Paleo
Lara ALT bars are great (10g of pea protein in each bar)! But, they’re pricy, I’ve been trying to work how to make them from scratch and it’s still, most definitely, a work in progress.
I’m wondering though, if you can make protein pudding with pea protein powder (vegan & GF).
xo
Ashley – I’ll have to see if I can find some at my market. We LOVE Lara bars, and if my kids can’t detect the pea protein, I’d love to try making them myself too!
I saw a recipe for chia pudding somewhere that had you soak the chia seeds so they expand and then blend it the next morning so they are smooth. I did it this ironing with my smoothie and no seeds! I’ll see if I can find the link.
Found it! http://www.edibleperspective.com/home/2014/1/31/breakfast-friday-chocolate-peanut-butter-creamy-chia-pudding.html
She made a pudding, but it works in smoothies too. I have almond milk, chia, kale, pineapple and mango this morning.
Oh perfect! I’ll totally have to try this! I have chia seeds in my pantry!
We are egg fanatics so I always count on those! I’ve been pretty good about a smoothie that is spinach, blueberries, banana, chia, whole raw almonds, flax seed, and almond milk blended up in my good blender (so it’s super smooth) and drink half and turn the rest into popsicles that my kids eat on all day long. Power food that tastes delicious? Done!
Will your kids eat oatmeal or other hot cereal? I add a spoonful of nut butter to mine to add some protein.
Made these tonight. I must say they are delicious. Made them for my great granddaughter who is 14 mo. I am babysitting her tomorrow night. This will be great for her. I made my own almond butter ,too! ha
My Trader Joe’s didn’t have almond flour. They only had almond meal. I thought I saw almond flour there before but they couldn’t find any even in the back. The back of the almond meal bag said it can be used as flour up to 50%. Since we don’t eat gluten free I guess I’ll just sub regular flour for the other 50%. I wonder how the texture will change.
Oh I see now it says almond meal.
Great recipe — I’m going to make them for my family this weekend! My two-year old doesn’t always love foods that contain protein, either. Sometimes when I make spaghetti sauce I puree the meat for her so that she can’t see it. It’s definitely the texture that’s a turn-off sometimes, I guess.
This sounds like a great recipe. We just finished up a round of Whole30 and loved it. We decided we are sticking to grain free foods and I would love to try these. We have a lot of coconut flour left over from some other recipes, do you think we could use that instead of almond meal? Thanks!
Kelly – I haven’t tried coconut flour in this recipe. Coconut flour absorbs several times its volume in liquid, so the muffins may turn out dry. I think you’d have to add more eggs to adjust the texture, but to be honest, I’m not sure how many.
I would recommend this yummy recipe that’s similar for banana bread by PaleOMG. She uses coconut flour and almond butter in the recipe. We’ve tried it a few times with good results (with or without the chocolate swirl). I hope that helps!
Thanks Emily!
If you have a powerful blender like Vitamix, you can put a hardboiled egg into a smoothie for whole food protein.
I’ve got a Blendtec! I have never tried this, but it sounds interesting! Any smoothies that work best?
are there any subs for the 1c almond meal?
Tanya,
I’ve never made them without the almond flour, so I’m afraid I don’t have a great substitute idea on hand. If you try one, I’d love to know how they turn out!
Hi!
They look so yummy!
Can i make a cake with this recipe?
Lb is turning 1 next week and looking for a birthday cake recipe.
Chantell – I’ve never tried it as a cake…I’m not sure how the batter would cook in a standard 9″ cake pan. It might work if you used a smaller individual cake pan (like one of the 6″ ones), but I haven’t tried it, so I’m not sure. If you do give it a go, I’d love to know how it turns out!
The last time I attempted to bake was 20 years ago and, back then, I used a PLASTIC plan to bake cookies. My boyfriend (now husband) ate ALL the cookies in a matter of minutes, but then passed out….probably from the plastic toxins. Fast forward to tonight and, once again, I attempted to bake these muffins and they turned out GREAT. Not sweet at all and perfect for my 11 month old. Substituted sunflower seed butter for almond butter and used coconut nectar instead of maple syrup. Will try adding blueberries next time. Great and VERY EASY recipe.
★★★★★
Oh Vanessa, I’m so glad you liked them! And THANK YOU for this comment. I think we’ve all been there!
Hi Emily = do you have the calorie count, protein/sugar count for this recipe?
I don’t for this recipe, but you can plug it into free calculators like MyFitnessPal!
I made this recipe yesterday it came out perfectly! The only change I made was that I made them regular size, instead of mini. My kids love them and I can’t wait to make them again!
★★★★★