Vegan Banana Oatmeal Muffins with Streusel Topping

I know there are a million banana bread and vegan banana muffin recipes out there, but I promise that this recipe is both foolproof and truly delicious. It’s made with whole-grain spelt flour and doesn’t include any extra binding ingredients like chia, flax, or starch.

The streusel (crumb) topping and added chocolate are optional, but if you want some really fantastic, slightly over the top banana muffins, do both. Even with the added topping, the recipe is low in added sugar. Mix in whole grain flour and rolled oats, and it’s a pretty good snack.

Have loads of ripe bananas and need some good recipe ideas? Make vegan banana blueberry muffins (frozen berries work well), banana oatmeal cookies, or a quick and easy vegan banana milkshake made with frozen bananas.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Spelt flour: the recipe calls for whole grain but you can use light spelt or a mix of the two. Plain white flour, whole wheat, and other ancient grains like einkorn can be substituted 1:1. I haven’t tried making these GF but you can try my vegan gluten-free banana bread in muffin form.
• Coconut sugar: substitute regular cane sugar or brown sugar with no changes to the amounts. I don’t recommend subbing a liquid sweetener.
• Olive oil: bananas and olive oil go quite well together, but if you want a more neutral flavour, choose a very mild oil like avocado instead.
• Chocolate: yes, they’re banana chocolate chunk muffins, but that’s just because I can’t get chocolate chips in Sweden. Use dark chocolate chips, chunks, or a chopped chocolate bar, any are good!
• Milk: I always use oat milk but any non-dairy milk (other than canned coconut milk) can be used.

Step by Step

If you don’t make the streusel topping, it’s a one-bowl recipe – so you can decide how much effort you want to put in and how many dishes you want to do!

1. Mash the bananas: and mix with the other wet ingredients to combine.
2. Mix in the dry ingredients: stir until just combined, adding the chopped chocolate if using.
3. Divide: spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups and set aside.
4. Make the streusel: mix the ingredients in a smaller bowl, using your hands, until a crumbly topping forms.

5. Top: sprinkle the streusel over the muffins in an even layer.
6. Bake: on the centre rack if possible (doesn’t matter if using fan-forced air) until golden.

Recipe Notes

If you prefer to grease the muffin cups rather than line them, that works too. I do find that any chocolate pieces touching the sides of the tin, if unlined, tend to burn, so keep that in mind. Cooling the muffins fully before removing the liners will help make sure crumbs aren’t sticking to the paper.

The topping does make the muffins quite a bit sweeter, and can easily be left out if you’d rather have a muffin better suited to breakfast. You can also top with chopped nuts or more plain rolled oats.

How to Store

Storage: these will keep for a couple of days at (cool) room temperature in a sealed container, and can be refrigerated for longer storage. The topping tends to soften over time.

Freezing: place cooled muffins in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months.

Expert Tips

• Don’t over mix: spelt is slightly delicate, and the muffins can quickly become tough if the batter is over mixed. Stir until just combined.
• Make the streusel first: if you’re a bit more methodical and slow when baking, it might be a good idea to mix up the streusel first and set it aside, so it’s ready to top the muffins once the batter is ready.
• Use ripe bananas: the riper the bananas, the sweeter the muffins will be. Use fruit that has, at minimum, brown spots on the skin.
• Blend the bananas: if you’re not a fan of banana pieces, blend the banana and milk mixture with an immersion or standing blender before adding the dry ingredients. Don’t blend the muffin batter (that’s fine if it’s gluten-free, but not with spelt flour).

More Whole Grain Muffin Recipes

Vegan Apple Muffins
Lemon Cranberry Muffins
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
Raspberry Yogurt Muffins

If you make these Banana Streusel Muffins or any other muffin recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.

This post was first shared in December 2016. It has been updated with some very slight improvements to the recipe as of January 2023.