These vegan apple banana oat muffins without oil are healthy and delicious. They are perfectly moist and so easy to make using only simple wholesome ingredients. Great as a quick grab snack or breakfast! Gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
One of my favorite memories of our time in Charlotte is Sunflour Bakery. It sat in the coolest part of the city and served up the BEST vegan muffins. They were big, dense, moist, and just so freaking good!
My afternoon organic coffee and banana chocolate chip muffin was a ritual. I’m actually getting weepy thinking about it.
Now, we’re in Mississippi and many miles away but the memory still lingers. So, I wanted to create a muffin that was somewhat of an homage to one of my favorite places. This vegan apple banana oat muffin is the result.
Sweet apples, ripe bananas, and a bit of maple syrup make these muffins sweet. A little lemon for sunshine brightness. I also used blended oats to replace the flour so it’s not only hearty and healthy but gluten-free as well. And, best of all this recipe is oil-free and fat-free.
FYI, these muffins are not soft and fluffy. They’re big, hearty, and dense. So, it makes them perfect for an easy and filling meal when you’re on your way out the door.
You won’t believe how delicious these muffins are and no one would ever guess they’re vegan.
OK, before I get too sad reminiscing let’s make vegan Apple Banana Oat Muffins!
Why You Will Love These Apple Banana Oat Muffins
- healthy and made with only whole-food plant-based ingredients
- super easy to make
- fat-free and WFPB (dairy-free, no eggs, and no butter needed)
- naturally sweetened, no refined sugar
- flourless, gluten-free, and oil-free
- vegan
- full of fiber, vitamins, and minerals
- loaded with fruit and oats
- dense, super moist, hearty, and filling
- freezer-friendly
Ingredients You'll Need
These vegan muffins are made with wholesome and basic ingredients like old-fashioned oats, apples, mashed bananas, and a little maple syrup for sweetness.
Dry Ingredients
- Old-fashioned Oats: be sure and use old-fashioned rolled oats. Measuring with quick oats will be too much for the recipe.
- Baking Powder: these apple banana oat muffins are very dense and will not rise as much as other muffins. So, baking powder is very important.
- Ground Cinnamon: The warming, spicy flavor of cinnamon makes it a good complement to winter foods. The aroma and taste it gives the recipe is heavenly.
Wet Ingredients
- Bananas: use very ripe bananas in this recipe, think banana bread bananas. They're much sweeter and softer.
- Apples: Honeycrisp, cosmic crisp, gala, or pink lady apples are some of my favorites. Very crisp and sweet.
- Sweetener: pure maple syrup, honey, or agave.
- Lemon Juice: lemon juice adds brightness and enhances all of the flavors.
- Vanilla: pure vanilla extract is to sweet recipes what salt is to savory foods. It can be optional, but I love the depth of flavor that it adds.
Instructions For Making Banana Oat Muffins
A moist, tender, and hearty apple banana oat muffin recipe. Great as a snack or breakfast.
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Line a large muffin tin with muffin liners, and parchment paper, or use a silicone muffin pan.
- Place oats in a food processor or blender and blend until coarse flour is formed. It should not be fine like regular flour but should have some texture.
- To a large bowl add the blended oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix and set aside.
- Roughly chop the apples and put them in the food processor. Pulse blend until the apples are finely minced. If you don't have a food processor leave apples whole and use a cheese grater to mince the apples.
- To a separate mixing bowl add the bananas and mash them but leave a few chunks. Then add the apples, maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and water. Stir to combine.
- Combine the wet mixture with the dry mixture, stir until well combined, and pour equal amounts of the batter into each section of the muffin pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Remove and let sit for 5 minutes then transfer the muffins to a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use a toothpick as a tester by inserting it into the center of a muffin. When it comes out clean the muffins are ready.
- NOTE: the baking time above is for six large muffins. If you are making 12 regular-sized muffins bake for 20-25 minutes.
You can enjoy these delicious muffins warm, room temperature, or even cold.
Ingredient Substitutions and Muffin Tips
- Add-ins: Raisins, chopped nuts, vegan chocolate chips, or diced pairs make excellent additions to these apple banana oat muffins.
- Applesauce: if you don't have apples use 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce.
- Cooking Spray: I'm not a fan of using sprays but if you don't have a decent muffin pan or silicone a light dash of cooking spray should keep things from sticking.
- Be sure the wet mixture and dry mixture are mixed very well.
- Fill each section of the muffin tin all the way to the top. Because these muffins are so dense and don't contain flour they don’t rise much. So, you don't have to worry about them overflowing.
Storage and Freezing
Leftover muffins can be placed in the fridge uncovered for up to a week or kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.
Make-Ahead & Freeze: Baked muffins can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the oven or microwave.
More Vegan Recipes For You To Try
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
- The Best Vegan Apple Crisp Recipe
- Vegan Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Muffins
- Easy Baked Cinnamon Apples
- Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
I hope you enjoy these Apple Banana Oat Muffins. Please leave a comment below with a star rating. And, be sure and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #shaneandsimple. I want to see your work. Enjoy!
Apple Banana Oat Muffins (Vegan, Oil-Free)
These vegan apple banana oat muffins without oil are healthy and delicious. They are perfectly moist and so easy to make using only simple wholesome ingredients. Great as a quick grab snack or breakfast! Gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
- Total Time35 minutes
- Yield6 large muffins 1x
- DietVegan
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups oats (gluten-free)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 5 overripe bananas
- 2 medium-sized apples, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup water
Optional Add-ins
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup non-dairy dark chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Line a large muffin pan with muffin liners, and parchment paper, or use a silicone muffin pan.
- Place the oats in a food processor or blender and blend until a coarse flour is formed. It should not be fine like regular flour but should have some texture.
- To a large mixing bowl add the blended oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt. Mix and set aside.
- Roughly chop the apples, add to the food processor, and pulse blend until the apples are finely minced. If you don’t have a food processor leave the apples whole and use a cheese grater to mince the apples.
- To a separate mixing bowl add the bananas and mash them with a fork or potato masher but leave a few chunks. Then add the apples, maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and water. Stir to combine.
- Combine the wet mixture with the dry mixture, stir until well combined, and pour equal amounts of the batter into each section of the muffin pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Remove and let sit for 5 minutes then transfer the muffins to a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use a toothpick as a tester by inserting it into the center of a muffin. When it comes out clean the muffins are ready.
- NOTE: the baking time above is for six large muffins. If you are making 12 regular-sized muffins bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Enjoy these delicious muffins warm or at room temperature.
- Nutrition info is for 1 large muffin.
Notes
Leftover muffins can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week and enjoyed cold or warm.
Add-ins: raisins, walnuts, vegan chocolate chips, or diced pairs make excellent additions to these apple banana oat muffins.
Applesauce: if you don’t have apples use 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce.
Cooking Spray: I’m not a fan of using sprays but if you don’t have a decent muffin pan or silicone a light dash of cooking spray should keep things from sticking.
Be sure the wet mixture and dry mixture are mixed very well.
Fill each section of the muffin tin all the way to the top. Because these muffins are so dense and don’t contain flour they dont’ rise much. So, you don’t have to worry about them overflowing.
- Prep Time: 10 mins.
- Cook Time: 25 mins.
- Category: Vegan Breakfast Recipes
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 308
- Sugar: 26.5 g
- Sodium: 104.3 mg
- Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 68.7 g
- Fiber: 8.1 g
- Protein: 6.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
These are freakin’ amazing!
The muffins were fantastic – but no surprise, we have loved all of your recipes! We have adhered to a low fat, plant based diet following my husband’s heart attack at the ripe old age of 43 and your recipes meet all of our dietary needs in addition to being no fuss delicious! After we made these muffins last week, I decided they were so good that I would try it as a baked oatmeal for our family Christmas brunch. Usually, I have steel cut oats and a breakfast bar with lots of toppings. This baked oatmeal would make a yummy and simple substitute.
Today it tried it out and it turns out my brunch menu will have a new item!
Great recipe! They were delicious. I did add 1 tablespoon of ground flax to it as my bananas were really wet.
Good muffins. I used a food processor for both the oats and apple and it worked fine. I only had 3 medium bananas so made a half batch, except forgot and used the full amount of apples. I wanted smaller muffins so used my medium scoop and ended up with 12 nice muffins, of a size nice to have in the freezer for a snack or to take in a car. I gave extra time to bake and the were still a bit softish on the inside, no doubt from the extra apple. They are yummy!
My apples seemed extra juicy so I eliminated the water..turned out perfect!! YUMMY
Awesome!
Hi Shane
Not sure what I did wrong, I lined muffin pans with muffin liners and baked at 400 for about 22 minutes. The toothpick came out clean when I tested, however the muffins are stuck to the lines and definitely under baked and not firming up. Hoping to selvage by putting in freezer, they taste pretty good just a really big mess to eat.
Could these be made in a loaf pan?
Absolutely!!!
I just made these without maple syrup and they came out delicious! If you’re avoiding sweetness you don’t need to add it.
That’s great to know, Tracey! Thanks so much for commenting. I love getting feedback like this and it helps others as well.
Peace,
shane
I absolutely LOVE these! I make a batch every month and have one every day as a mid morning snack. I freeze them in batches so I always have some to ea. sometimes I add pumpkin seeds for a little bit extra. I have shared this recipe with multiple friends , at work, and feel so happy to see them munching on them!
DELICIOUS! I made regular sized muffins and had enough batter to make a mini loaf. They have a great apple flavor!
DELICIOUS!!! I used regular silicone muffin pan a dead enough left to make a mini loaf. These are great!!
These are amazing muffins. I took them to a neighborhood get together and everyone loved them! Any tips on how to freeze? Separately in foil or what do you recommend?
Wow, that’s great! Love hearing stories like this. Yes, wrap each in freezer paper, wax paper, etc. and then wrap with aluminum foil…separately.
This is a favorite. I keep a batch on the freezer almost all the time. Great for breakfast on the go when traveling.
Thank you!
Wow! I made these as per Shane’s directions and these muffins are absolutely delicious! My family devoured and this will now be a staple in our household! Plus, it was fun to prepare. Thank you for another yummy and healthy recipe!
Delicious muffins and so easy! I used applesauce and added chopped walnuts. I used a regular muffin tin which yielded 15.
Not sure if the apples were supposed to be peeled or not so I’m going to peel. But for next time, I’d like to know. All your recipes are amazing and always my favorites to go to. And yes the banana bread is so moist and delish you’d never know there was no oil. Thanks!
I don’t peel them but you can if you like.
These are delicious! Best WFPB muffins I have tried. I used some homemade chunky applesauce and put in choco chips, walnuts, and raisins. I used a regular muffin tin w/silicone cup liners filled to the top for 20 minutes. I got 16 delicious muffins. I will be sharing this recipe everywhere! Thanks, Shane; your content is always excellent!
Thank you!
My goodness these are terrific! I’ve been trying a lot of your recipes here lately after discovering you and every one of them has been outstanding! You are truly gifted! Thank you so much for making plant-based cooking (and eating) fun again! These are so flavorful and moist! They are perfect! The grated apple gives extra flavor to every bite!
I love these muffins for breakfast when I want to change up my usual oats breakie. Haven’t made them in a while but I’m making another batch today.
Hi Shane,
I’ve already got some oat flour that I processed for another recipe. Do you have any idea how much oat flour 3 cups of oats makes? Thanks, and looking forward to yet another wonderful recipe from you!
Jan
In my experience, 3 cups of oats make 3 cups of oat flour.
They turned out delicious & very healthy! My 4 year old loved helping and eating them! A real keeper! I took them too fast and they were not firm enough so next time will have to be more patient 😉
Hi Shane, Can I add dates as add in?
Also, can I use this recipe to make a banana bread?
Thank you, Geri Ann
Hi, Geri! YES, I will sometimes replace the raisins with chopped dates, they’re great! Yes, this makes a great loaf but I also have a wonderful banana bread recipes. Check it: https://shaneandsimple.com/best-vegan-banana-bread-recipe-healthy-easy/
I went plant based a little over a year ago and have been searching for new recipes. Just found this blog and these muffins are the first recipe I’ve tried. They came out perfect! So moist and delicious! The walnuts took them up a notch, next time I’ll add a few more. I made the smaller cupcake size muffins and ended up with 16. I’m looking forward to trying many more of your recipes! Breakfast has been the most challenging as I’ve been a cold cereal eater all my life and just can’t get used to plant based milk. So I’m excited to try more of the breakfast recipes. Thank you Shane!
Karen, thanks so much for the kind words, and I’m pumped you’re here! I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins and hope you’ll try more recipes.
Peace,
shane
Absolutely delicious. They came out perfect! Hoping I don’t scarf them all down at once.
Excellent…and I know the feeling:)
LOVE!! Added 1T vanilla, 1 heaping T of flaxmeal, ½C toasted and roughly chopped walnuts, threw in a whole bunch of sunflower seeds. SO GOOD!! Will make again very soon. Shane, you’re amazing!
Love these. Made as written. Add ins were raisins and walnuts and they were delicious!
Thank you!
Delicious! Thank you!
I forgot the water and they were great.
Thank you and good deal.
Great tasting even though I mistakenly used wheat flour vs baking powder.
Thank you!
I made these with my 5 and 3 year old grandsons. They loved them!
Delicious! Not sure what I did, but the centers of mine were still rather wet but the tips were perfect and the bottoms a little over cooked. Was still delicious and will definitely make again. 😋
Hi, Heather! Sometimes the centers can be moist. But, I like to let them set up for a bit and they will often firm up. So glad you enjoyed them.
Just made my 2nd batch of these. Really good! Freezes great for quick healthy snacks.
These muffins are amazing and so healthy!! I put chocolate chips in them and next time I will add walnuts.
These vegan apple banana oat muffins without oil are healthy and delicious. They are perfectly moist and so easy to make using only simple wholesome ingredients. Great as a snack or breakfast! Gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
Really enjoyed these. Very nicely textured, without being gummy. Pretty sure this is going to become a favourite recipe!
Would the add ins be a total of 1/4 cup if you wanted to mix some?
Hi, Tammy!
Yes, all of the add-ins would be 1/4 cup. I hope you enjoy them.
shane