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This easy recipe for Almond Flour Muffins comes to you from my friend Dale. When I first read her recipe I thought, “These are going to be little hockey pucks.” Not so! In fact, they’re the opposite. It must be the nut flour, which also makes these muffins gluten free.
When I’ve made similar muffins using regular flour, they’re dense and chewy the next day. But cold from the fridge or at room temperature, these almond flour muffins are moist, delicate and sweet – though they have no refined sugar, just bananas and dates. They are also grain free, dairy free, and at about 200 calories, they’re a light and filling breakfast or snack.
Table of Contents
Almond Flour Muffins FAQs
You’ll get 16-18 generous almond flour muffins from this recipe and they freeze beautifully. I like to cook them 6 at a time, freezing extra batter portioned into paper liners ready to bake.
The day before I plan to bake them, I pop them into a muffin tin from the freezer, cover and thaw in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning I bake them and store any leftover muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They’re even better the next day.
For these muffins, you’ll only use almond flour or almond meal. Though you can’t use almond flour 1:1 for all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour), in many recipes, you can substitute 25% of it.
Once opened, it’s best to store almond meal / almond flour in the refrigerator to extend freshness. Nut flours go rancid faster than standard grain flours with little or no oil.
Both are ground almonds and used for gluten free baking. These terms vary by brand, but typically almond flour is more finely ground than almond meal. In most recipes you can use these interchangeably, though the texture may be slightly different.
I’ve made these muffins with both and could barely detect the difference.
In blanched almond flour, the almond skin has been removed. Natural almond flour is ground from almonds with the skin intact. There is a noticeable difference in color between the two, with the blanched flour being a light, off-white color and natural a warm brown.
Recipe Options
- To mix up the spice profile, swap in ground nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice for 1/2 teaspoon or more of the cinnamon. You can also add almond extract to intensify the almond flavor.
- For a sweeter muffin, add in a tablespoon or two of a natural sweetener like coconut sugar or maple syrup. You could also stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract along with a handful of dried cranberries and/or chocolate chips.
- Mix in chopped pecans instead of walnuts if that’s what you prefer or have on hand.
- For a vegan version of these muffins, use flax eggs (replace each egg with 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water), chia eggs (replace each egg with 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 2 1/2 tablespoons of water), or 1/4 applesauce for each egg. If you substitute with applesauce, add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder to the recipe as well to retain the light texture.
More of My breakfast and snack favorites:
- Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins (A riff on this muffin recipe with plump frozen blueberries or fresh blueberries and lemon zest and juice!)
- Banana Oatmeal Cookies (Another one of my favorite almond flour recipes, these delicious cookies have no flour and are refined sugar free. They make a great portable breakfast or snack.)
- Almond Flour Banana Pancakes (Tender, fluffy and gluten free!)
- Banana Oatmeal Pancakes (Everyone loves these flourless pancakes – the batter is so easy to make in the blender!)
- Almond Flour Brownies (Thick and fudgy gluten free and grain free brownies.)
- Almond Flour Sugar Cookies (Make them thick and soft or thin and crispy – your choice!)
- Oat Flour Banana Bread (Dense and moist with nutty oat flour and rolled oats.)
- Almond Flour Pumpkin Bread (Delicate, moist, warmly spiced and studded with pecans and dried cranberries!)
How to Make Almond Flour Muffins
Step 1: In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients: almond flour, shredded coconut, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Step 2: Process dates, bananas, vinegar and coconut oil in a food processor until smooth. Add eggs and again, process until smooth.
Step 3: Add wet ingredients (date mixture) along with carrots and walnuts to almond flour mixture. Stir to combine.
Step 4: In a standard muffin pan, line muffin cups with paper liners and fill 2/3 full with batter.
Step 5: Bake 25 to 30 minutes at 350˚F, until muffin tops are set.
Almond Flour Muffins
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour 224g
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 8 pitted medjool dates
- 3 ripe bananas
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vinegar white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 large large carrots shredded (recipe note #1)
- 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts 100g
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line standard size muffin tins with muffin liners or generously grease.
- Combine almond flour, shredded coconut, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine; set aside.
- Add dates, bananas, vinegar, and coconut oil to the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth. Add eggs and again, process until smooth.
- Pour date mixture into almond flour mixture. Add shredded carrots and chopped walnuts; stir until combined.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each cup about 2/3 full.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until muffin tops are set and a sharp knife or toothpick comes out clean. Cool in muffin tin on a wire rack.
- Enjoy warm, at room temperature, or cold. Store extra muffins covered in the refrigerator and enjoy within a few days.
Notes
- Time Saving Tip: If you have a shredding disc for your food processor, shred carrots before processing wet ingredients – no need to wipe out the bowl in between.
- The uncooked batter freezes very well. I like to portion the batter into muffin wrappers before freezing then thaw overnight in a covered muffin tin in the refrigerator the day before I plan to bake them.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These muffins are foolproof and DELICIOUS!!!! I am not supposed to eat a lot of almonds though – any suggestions what non wheat/oat flour I could add to the mix to halve the almond content ? Many thanks in advance !
debra
Hi Debra! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipe. I’ve made these with hazelnut flour with great results. Other than that I haven’t tested this recipe with other flours so I recommend experimenting by substituting 25% to 50% of a flour that you tolerate well and go from there. I hope that helps!
Hi Marissa ! Thank you for the substitution amounts – very much appreciated! Also I have to tell you that I sent this muffin recipe to a dear friend and she makes variations on it EVERY week and she is in love with your recipe!
You are our muffin maven !
: )))))))) Debra
That’s so kind of you, Debra! Thank you.
My grandsons loved these muffins! They were moist & delicious & we didn’t miss the sugar!💙💙💙
I love to hear this, Sandra! Thank you for coming back to let me know!
Great recipe! I tried it twice and came out delicious. Thanks a lot!
So glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Genta!
I loved the texture but found the flavor salty! 1 tsp of salt is too much for me. Next time I’ll make it with 1/4 tsp.
Thank you for sharing this recipe
My pleasure, Brenda! Thank you for your cooking notes – I’m glad you’re making this recipe your own!
I WAS NOT planning on making muffins today. But when I saw the ingredients in this recipe, having everything except coconut oil (will use a different fat), I cannot wait until tomorrow! Thanks so much!
My pleasure, Mar. I hope you love them!
I followed your recipe list to a tee and when the muffins were in the oven your video started to play saying add the baking powder,🙃 your ingredient list says baking soda and also cider vinegar not regular vinegar. Turned out ok, but I do believe an update should be made on the list of ingredients.
I was surprised they turned out like they did with the errors in the list. Will make them again using the proper ingredients next time!!
Hi there, Lori. 🙂 I misspoke in the video, the written recipe is correct calling for baking soda. For vinegar, you can use white or cider vinegar interchangeably.
Thanks so much for your reply, I will make them again using the baking soda as directed and try cider vinegar the next time.
This was the first time I have baked with almond flour and was impressed with the texture and flavour for sure.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Lori! I’m with you on the almond flour – it’s such a pleasant surprise. Hazelnut flour is pretty great too if you’re ever looking to mix it up. 🙂
You made my day with this one, my friend! I have everything I need and have been craving a sweet muffin with my morning coffee!
aww….I love to hear that, Annie!
You know almond flour isn’t something I’ve baked with before Marissa. I’ve done Gluten Free flour and that was fine for muffins. I’ll need to give this a go. I love the combination of bananas and dates too. Definitely the next muffin recipe I try!
These look wonderful. I don’t even mind hockey pucks, if they’re healthy hockey pucks. If you want the most perfect muffins, use cake flour and go to town. But it nutrition is a priority, my criteria are different. Loved your video!
I’m so glad you reposted this recipe, because I needed the reminder to make these! I don’t know what it is about cold weather, but it makes me crave muffins like craaaaazy! These are getting made PRONTO!
So excited for you to try them, Chey! xo
Haha, Marissa! I have made some “hockey pucks” myself using almond flour, so good to know you’ve found a recipe for us that isn’t rock hard!! These sound terrific, and i love the alternative to regular all-purpose flour!
Thank you, Katherine!
Is there anything else you can use other than dates ? Boyfriend allergic, is there a substitute?
Hi there, Cathy. Absolutely! Soft, dried figs or prunes are both good substitutes. Hope you two love them!
What a great recipe! We are exclusively grain-free so I do lots of almond flour baking. This recipe is wonderful because it yields so many muffins for only 2c of almond flour, thanks to all the yummy nutritious ingredients. My kids loved these!
I love to hear this, Natalie! I’m so glad that your “kids loved these” – the highest compliment! Thank you for coming back to let me know!
These muffins look so good. Thanks for sharing such a nice and detailed recipe.
My pleasure! Thanks, Betty.
I love the use of almond flour in these muffins, Marissa! And the combination of bananas and dates could not be more delicious! I could definitely eat these marvelous muffins for breakfast, snack-time AND dessert! They look heavenly! Pinned!
aww…thank you so much, Cheyanne!