Extra rich yet super healthy double chocolate banana muffins made with tahini for a nutty flavor and moist, cake-like texture. They’re gluten free, grain free, dairy free and Paleo and even kid friendly! Have one for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or anytime you need a chocolate fix.
Can you really every have enough chocolate?! Obviously I’m always saying that about many of my favorites – namely things like sausage, bacon, kale (so much kale love), Japanese sweet potatoes, and fried eggs, and coconut oil. Throw in bananas and I will happily live on all of the above and nothing else. Plus ground beef. If I left out ground beef I’d be kicking myself for the rest of my life.
These double chocolate banana muffins, surprisingly, weren’t totally inspired by chocolate, though, or even the existence of a batch of uneaten, dangerously-ripe bananas. Nope! They were actually inspired by two things – 1.) Seed & Mill Tahini that was given to me by a friend, and had been sadly sitting unopened in the pantry for a month or so, and, 2.) the super cute lotus baking cups I decided to buy on Amazon and NEEDED to use ASAP.
So, between those two items plus the bananas sitting in the corner and a raging chocolate craving, these muffins were born!
I believe I’ve used tahini in just 3 recipes total on the site – salted chocolate tahini fudge, double chocolate tahini cookies and now these muffins. The chocolate theme is STRONG for me when it comes to tahini, as you can see. I honestly haven’t experimented with it as much as I’d like – especially with savory sauces – but I wind up being swayed by the idea of making something we can all enjoy (kids included), and then again, I seem to now have this chocolate-tahini association that I can’t break.
I will say one thing – it can be tough to find a tahini that doesn’t leave an odd bitter aftertaste, requiring a lot of sugar to cover it up. The Seed & Mill is probably the best one I’ve tried, one that you can actually eat from the jar without noticing the bitterness. Success!
More about these muffins! The tahini gives them a sort of nutty flavor and also a texture that’s rich and almost cake-like. They’re moist, yet not too moist (the way some banana muffins can be!) and I included flaxseed for a healthy boost of omega-3s and antioxidants.
One note on the chocolate chips: I personally don’t mind using the Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels (which are dairy and soy free) even though they aren’t strictly Paleo due to the inclusion of cane sugar.
You might have already found that most dark chocolate bars, even those that are dairy and soy free, almost always contain cane sugar which many of you are avoiding. If this is the case, you can either make chocolate chunks yourself (this recipe from Bakerita is awesome!) or you can purchase Paleo friendly maple-sweetened dark chocolate. And, all of that said, you can also simply omit the chocolate chunks/chips and these chocolate banana muffins will still make you very, very happy! It’s all good!
Are you guys ready to bake?! Let’s go! Let me know what you think 🙂
Double Chocolate Banana Muffins with Tahini {GF, DF, Paleo}
Double Chocolate Banana Muffins with Tahini {GF, DF, Paleo}
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 2 med very overripe bananas mashed well
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup tahini I used Seed & Mill
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/3 cup flaxseed meal
- 6 tbsp raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate or dairy free/soy free chocolate chips*
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners, or grease with coconut oil (make sure you use a reliable non-stick pan if you're going liner-free)
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In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas with the eggs, tahini, maple syrup and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, flaxseed, cacao or cocoa powder, baking soda and salt until well blended.
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Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet, until JUST moistened - do not use a mixer for this step or your muffins won't properly rise. Lastly, fold in the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips.
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Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups/liners until about 3/4 of the way full. I have made between 10-12 muffins with this recipe depending on how big I make the muffins.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, or until muffins are set and a toothpick inserted near the center of one comes out batter-free (melted chocolate is okay)
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Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 2-5 minutes, then remove to finish cooling on wire racks. Store leftovers loosely covered at room temperature for the first day, and then in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can also freeze them, tightly wrapped in plastic for longer. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*You can also make your own chocolate chunks using this recipe from Bakerita.
Nutrition
What I Used to Make My Double Chocolate Banana Muffins with Tahini:
Want more Paleo muffins recipes? Try one of these!
Paleo Almond Butter Banana Muffins with Flaxseed
Paleo Cinnamon Raisin Sweet Potato Muffins
Simple Paleo Blueberry Muffins
Paleo Lemon Blueberry Muffins {Nut Free}
Tell Me!
Do you go sweet or savory with tahini?
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Your recipes always make me crave chocolate, because they are so rich and delicious and wholesome. 🙂 I have loved every one we’ve tried, and I think the big thing that I’ve noticed in a lot of your baking recipes is that you don’t skimp on healthy fats, and as a result, your baked goods are full of so much flavor.
These look great and are exactly what I am looking for! Attempting to limit the sugar my super active boys take in ( ;
Can I make these without the tahini and any idea if the rest of the measurements stay the same? Thanks!
These were a big hit! My 7 and 5 year old loved them. Thank you!
So happy to hear it! Nothing better than hearing little ones like something 🙂
Delicious! My 13 and 5 year old sons loved them as did my non Paleo friends! I didn’t have flax meal so I just used almond flour in place of and made mini muffins baked for about 18 minutes and they turned out great!! They also freeze beautifully!
That’s awesome! So happy to get comments like this 🙂
These were a big hit with my 5 & 7 year olds (and me, too!). I froze some to take on our trip to Yosemite, and I can’t wait to dig in!
That’s great to hear!!
Hello! Thanks for the recipe.. can I replace almond flour by coconut? Im allergic to almonds..thanks
It’s very difficult to determine the exact amount of coconut flour to use since it’s so much more dense and absorbent than almond flour. Typically I would use less than half the amount of almond flour, sometimes 1/3 of the amount depending on the recipe. It also makes the batter thicker, but this is normal. I would probably try about 6 tbsp of almond flour if I had to guess.
Making our second batch this week. First batch lasted less than 48 hours. I’m adding cocoa nibs, pecan pieces and only 2T of maple syrup this time. Thanks again!
That sounds perfect! So glad you like them 🙂
MAde these yesterday and loved them!
These were AMAZING! So yummy.
Woohoo! So happy you liked them!
Do you think adding fresh raspberries will make them too mushy?
Also – tried to give 5 stars but it wouldn’t click the last one – this deserves 5 stars!
Haha so happy you liked!
Not sure, since raspberries do have a high water content, but I think you’ll be fine as long as you don’t overload them 🙂
YASSS speak to me! Recipe of my dreams. 🙂 I know how annoying this is, but thought on using flax eggs here? Anyone tried it? This weekend baby!
Hi! I don’t recommend using flax eggs to replace more than 2 eggs in a recipe, not sure how it would turn out here.
These get the cravings done!!!! Super light, yet super chocolatey :p
For something that’s supposed to be paleo, these have an awful lot of carbs! 21g!
So I’ve made the a zillion times and I added fresh cherries to this and it was EPIC!!!!!