Almost every New Year’s Eve, my family stays in. As homebodies, we avoid the crowds and sit on the family room floor instead, flipping through childhood photo albums, slowly pressing together the pieces of a new jigsaw puzzle, and toasting the Ball Drop at 9 pm with Martinelli’s.
But this year, after my brother’s friend raved about the Cirque de Soleil that was visiting San Francisco, he and my parents changed their minds about a low-key day. They snagged tickets for the three of them, plus my guy and me, for an afternoon showing. Their logic? The event would still finish with plenty of time for us to head home to our puzzle!
(In case you were wondering… This was the one we worked on this year!)
So we drove into the city late Wednesday morning. After arriving with over an hour to spare, we walked around near the piers, posed for pictures with the Giants baseball stadium in the background, and eventually made our way back to the big blue and yellow striped tent.
We spent the next two hours gasping, clapping, and cheering as the troupe performed their acts. There were a few more traditional ones, like the extremely flexible ladies contorting their bodies into incredible back flips and the two men gymnastically swinging from the ropes hanging from the ceiling, as well as more modern acts like a girl treating a bicycle as a trapeze swinging in a circle from the top of the tent and a group bouncing on a humongous trampoline suspended in midair.
By the end of the show, our mouths were permanently hanging wide open and we joked about how my brother’s New Year’s Resolution would be to run away and join Cirque de Soleil!
But since most people come up with slightly more traditional resolutions like eating healthier, I decided to start off the month with one of my new favorite breakfasts: these Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bran Muffins! They’re supremely moist — the exact opposite of the stereotypical crumbly cardboard bran muffins. And just look at all of those temping chocolate morsels! 😉
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HEALTHY BANANA BRAN MUFFINS
Let’s go over how to make the best healthy banana bran muffins! Just like the majority of my recipes, these are completely homemade and entirely made from scratch. If you’re a regular here at Amy’s Healthy Baking, you’ll know that I already make healthy goodies all year round, but in honor of New Year’s Resolutions and improving our diets after the holidays (I definitely ate a few too many of these sugar cookies and pieces of this incredible fudge!), I’m starting this month with extra healthy clean eating recipes like this one that contain nothing processed or overly refined.
That’s right! These healthy chocolate chip banana bran muffins are made of 100% whole wheat flour and oat bran. They’re naturally sweetened with mashed banana, molasses, and pure maple syrup. Use the most speckled bananas you can find! The darker, the better. Those contain more natural sweetness, but if yours are more yellow than brown, feel free to add an extra tablespoon or two of maple syrup.
Hint: I also included my favorite gluten-free options in the Notes section of the recipe, if you’d like to make your healthy chocolate chip banana bran muffins gluten-free!
When it comes to bran muffins, I love mine packed with oat bran. I practically treat it like flour, not just another mix-in, so we’ll actually use more oat bran than whole wheat flour in these. However, many muffins with that much bran turn out crumbly and dry—and practically taste like cardboard. But my one simple trick will give you the exact opposite texture.
My secret? Soak the oat bran. Stir it together with the milk, mashed banana, and vanilla, and let that bowl rest while measuring and mixing the rest of the ingredients. That allows the oat bran to soften and makes your healthy chocolate chip banana bran muffins extremely moist and tender.
Hint: The mashed banana actually replaces the eggs! So these easy bran muffins are eggless (and it’s totally safe to sneak a taste of the batter! 😉 ). Any type of milk will work, but I love using vanilla unsweetened almond milk because that’s what my family drinks the most. Both of these things mean that your healthy chocolate chip banana bran muffins are naturally dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan!
And the chocolate chips… Who can resist those chocolate chips?? I wanted to pick them off of every muffin — they’re my weakness! I use minis because they disperse better and melt more evenly. Plus it ensures more chocolate in every bite!
I always save some chocolate chips for pressing into the tops just before baking as a cute finishing touch, but be careful when slipping the muffins out of the pan. Don’t completely invert them or you’ll end up with a fist full of melty chocolate and none on the muffins! Although come to think of it, that wouldn’t be so bad after all…
I can already tell 2015 is going to be a great year… My dad ate two of these Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bran Muffins for a snack before we even counted down to midnight. Such a sweet compliment!
So happy New Year, and thank you for making 2014 such a wonderful year at Amy’s Healthy Baking!
And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy chocolate chip banana bran muffins!
| Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bran Muffins | | Print |
- 1 ½ cup (180g) oat bran (gluten-free if necessary and measured like this)
- ⅓ cup (80mL) unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- ¾ cup (200g) mashed banana (about 2 medium - see Notes!)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup (60mL) pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses
- 3 tbsp (42g) miniature chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat 10 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the oat bran, milk, banana, and vanilla extract. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the melted butter, maple syrup, and molasses until thoroughly combined. When the oat bran mixture is ready, stir it into the butter mixture. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in 2 ½ tablespoons of chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups, and lightly press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops of the batter. Bake at 350°F for 19-21 minutes, or until the tops are just barely firm to the touch. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack.
Any milk may be substituted for the unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the regular whole wheat flour.
It’s extremely important to measure both the oat bran and flour correctly using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much of either will make your muffins dry, instead of supremely moist and soft.
Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the pure maple syrup.
This is the molasses that I use. I don't recommend substituting blackstrap molasses! It's much more bitter in flavor. I also don't recommend substituting for the molasses, if at all possible, because it's what gives bran muffins their iconic flavor.
Soaking the oat bran before measuring and mixing together the remaining ingredients in Step 1 ensures that the oat bran will be soft and ready to use. It's my trick for the best supremely moist bran muffins!
GLUTEN-FREE VERSION: For a gluten-free version, use certified gluten-free oat bran and the following gluten-free flour blend: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, ¼ cup (30g) tapioca flour, ¼ cup (30g) brown rice flour, and ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this one!) will also work, if measured like this.
DAIRY-FREE, EGG-FREE + VEGAN VERSION: Use the coconut oil option and vegan-friendly miniature chocolate chips (these are my favorite!).
{gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
I’ve made these many times now and it is just a great recipe. I never have oat bran so I’ve just used a mix of oats and bran buds, no issues! Also love that this has a very low amount of butter and no sugar, just honey and molasses. Such a great recipe to experiment with add-ins as well. Thanks so much.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying these muffins Catherine! That means a lot to me that you’ve made them many times already. Thank you for sharing that with me! 🙂
I know this is an older post but I thought I’d leave a review for fellow metric bakers. This recipe was a bit of a flop for me. Perhaps I’ll try again using the imperial measurements some day.
I thought the weights for the leaveners looked off, but made the recipe as written. When my muffins did not rise properly I compared to my other recipe books. All my other baking books consider 1 tsp of baking soda to be between 5 and 6 grams, and baking powder to be between 4 and 5 grams per teaspoon.
The other glowing reviews did not say which set of measurements they used, so metric bakers should consider making adjustments before trying this one.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Jenny! Using teaspoons for the baking powder and baking soda should really help you. Many kitchen scales aren’t quite sensitive enough when measuring amounts that small. 🙂
Thank you for sharing they came out yummy- I substituted the molasses with maple syrup..
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins Michelle! 🙂
Hi! Do you think peanut butter could be added to this recipe. If so how would you go about it? Btw I love these muffins! I make them for my family almost weekly.
I’m so glad you and your family are enjoying these muffins so much Heather! That means so much to me. 🙂 I haven’t tried myself, but I’m sure you could add a couple tablespoons of peanut butter to the batter! I’d stir it in right before the molasses. I’d love to hear how that turns out!
Hi! I know I’m a little late to the conversation here, but I just came across this recipe and really want to try it – they look delicious! Do you happen to have any nutritional info on these? I have come across lots of “healthy” recipes that turn out not to be so healthy once you break them down. I could try to piece out calories/carbs/fat based on the ingredients, but thought I would ask. Thank you!
Oh my word – I just saw the View Nutritional Information button! Totally missed it the first few times I looked. My mistake – I’m glad you have this info available, that is awesome!
Thanks!
My pleasure Jordan! I’m glad you find that useful. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these muffins!
Hi ,
I am just done baking your oat bran chocolate chips muffin and your liquid is way off . It was so dry I had to had more liquid . 1 1/2 cup of oat bran and 1 cup flour for 1/3 cup milk and 1 egg ? The mix was so dry I measured with my scale so I know the dry ingredient were right . I used all maple syrup , please let me know if your mix should be very thick because a thick mix means sometimes dryer muffin . Mine are in the oven right now they look very nice and big .
Thanks
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Brigitte! The batter should be very thick but not dry. Did you use wheat bran, by chance? Did you also include molasses, not just maple syrup? Did you measure the banana by weight too? When measuring the milk and maple syrup, did you measure with measuring cups or the kitchen scale? We’ll get this sorted out! 🙂
these were so good! made them before the holidays and totally loved them. i too was thinking of adding peanut butter, might give that a try as well!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins Jeanne! That means a lot to me. 🙂 I’ve actually had another reader add 1-2 tablespoons of PB to the batter, and she said it tasted amazing! I’d love to hear what you think if you try that too!
i love these muffins. i make a dozen every week and eat them for breakfast every day. i have added avocado, and peanut butter as well. they are always good. just love them!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying these muffins Jeanne! That means so much to me that you make them every week. I’m truly honored — thank you for sharing that with me! 🙂