Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bran Muffins
These bran muffins are some of the moistest you’ll ever eat! They’re lightly sweetened with a bright banana flavor and full of chocolate chips. Leftovers will keep if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least four days (if not longer!).
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (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 – and 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, divided
Instructions
- 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.
Notes
IMPORTANT MEASURING NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: 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!) Too much of either will make your muffins dry, instead of supremely moist and soft (especially the oat bran; it acts like a sponge and soaks up so much liquid!).
IMPORTANT BANANA NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: Use the ripest, most speckled bananas you can find! Ones that are almost purely brown or black are the best. They have a stronger, sweeter flavor and yield a moister muffin texture.
If your bananas are more yellow than brown, substitute an additional 1-2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup in place of an equal amount of milk to yield sweeter muffins. (For example, use ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup and reduce the milk to 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon.)
Measure the bananas by grams or cups. Not all "medium" bananas are the exact same size!
OAT BRAN NOTES: Other readers have had success substituting wheat bran for the oat bran. I have not tried that myself and cannot personally vouch for that substitution. If you decide to try substituting wheat bran, measure by volume (cups) not weight (grams).
Soaking the oat bran (in Step 2) before measuring and mixing together the remaining ingredients in Step 3 ensures that the oat bran will be soft and ready to use. It's my trick for the best supremely moist bran muffins!
MILK ALTERNATIVES: Any milk may be substituted for the unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
FLOUR ALTERNATIVES: White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the regular whole wheat flour.
PURE MAPLE SYRUP ALTERNATIVES: Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the pure maple syrup. Do not substitute pancake syrup or sugar free syrup; these change the texture of your muffins.
MOLASSES NOTES + ALTERNATIVES: This is the regular unsulphured molasses that I use. I do not 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.
In a pinch, pure maple syrup, honey, or agave may be substituted for the molasses to produce the same muffin texture — but their flavor will be different and lack that classic "bran muffin" taste!
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. Many store-bought gluten-free flour blends (I like this one from Bob's Red Mill) will also work, if measured like this.
DAIRY-FREE, EGG-FREE + VEGAN VERSION: Use the coconut oil option or stick-style vegan butter (I like this one and this one) and vegan-friendly miniature chocolate chips (I like these).
{gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, clean eating, low fat}
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I'd love to hear what you think of it in a comment below! If you take a picture, tag @amys.healthy.baking on Instagram or use the hashtag #amyshealthybaking.