This Banana Quinoa Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins recipe reminds you of banana bread with am added great chew from the quinoa and fun bites of mini chocolate chips!
I did it! I found another way to use overripe bananas! 😉 In all seriousness, I kinda love "accidentally" getting too many bananas at the store and then oops, guess I need to bake something! Baking with bananas is awesome because they're naturally a sweet fruit (and get sweeter the more overripe they are!), plus can offset some added fat in your recipe. You can totally up your baking health game by using a 100% whole grain baking flour (like I did here with oat flour) and whole grain add-ins, like the rolled oats and quinoa in this recipe.
Oat flour, by the way, is super easy to make - and surprisingly affordable! All I do is use the regular old fashioned rolled oats you can buy at the store (look for buy one, get one free deals to offset the savings even more, and be sure to get gluten free oats if you need to). Then, grind them up! I've used a food processor and blender to grind oat flour, which works fine, but my favorite way to grind the oats is actually with a cheap coffee bean grinder I picked up at a grocery store almost ten years ago. Fun fact: I have never used it for grinding coffee beans! Usually just for grinding flax seed and oats. It's great though, because it gives a pretty finely ground texture which is perfect for baking! And if you're using certified gluten free oats, it makes a much more affordable gluten free "flour" than others on the market.
These little muffins are surprisingly addictive and their bite-sized nature makes it hard to not keep grabbing one as you walk by (just ask my husband). If you can keep it to one or two, though, it makes a great sweet, whole grain add-in as part of a meal, snack, or dessert substitute. Enjoy them!
Ingredients
- 3 large overripe bananas mashed
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup oat flour
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup quinoa uncooked
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. Mix wet ingredients, then add dry ingredients and stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared mini muffin pan and bake for 12 minutes. Let cool and store refrigerated. Makes 24 mini muffins.
Nutrition
Claire says
Would this recipe work for regular sized muffins?
Lindsey Janeiro, RDN, CLT says
Yes, you'll just want to bake a little longer (I'm unsure exact time, but bake until a toothpick or butter knife inserted in the middle comes out clean)
Mimi says
How many muffins in a serving and how many calories per serving?
Lindsey Janeiro, RDN, LDN says
The recipe makes 24 mini muffins and each muffin has 61 calories. All nutrition information has now been updated, thank you!
Mo says
What can I substitute oat flour with?
Lindsey Janeiro, RDN, LDN says
I haven't tested this with any other flours, so I can't guarantee results with any different flours. If you try anything (i.e. almond flour, whole wheat flour, gluten free flour), let me know how it turns out!