A few days ago, I showed off the silicone cupcake liners that I use every Friday when I bake vegan banana muffins.

I’m going to share my super simple, go-to recipe for these muffins in just a minute, but first, I feel like I have some explaining to do.

Baking muffins every weekend might make you think I have some strange banana muffin obsession, or maybe I have a banana tree in my backyard. But the truth is simply that I refuse to give my kids cereal for breakfast. [Just bear with me, I’ll explain.]

[If you don’t want to hear my rant about breakfast cereal, by all means, skip down to the recipe below.]

My Rant about Breakfast Cereal

I have a sort of hatred for breakfast cereal.

Of course, I grew up eating cereal [like every other American I know], but when I decided to start eating healthy foods, cereal was the first thing to go. In the past ten years, I have had cereal maybe three times, and each time it made me feel like crap and almost immediately hungry again. So I don’t like giving it to my kids. I also used to preach against it to my personal training clients.

Cereal might not be so bad if we didn’t eat waaaaay too much of it. A serving size for most sugary cereals is 2/3 to one cup. A typical bowl of cereal probably has three or more cups in it! [You can find some great YouTube videos on this topic to see for yourself – or actually do the unthinkable and measure your cereal!] And don’t even get me started on the highly processed, super refined carbohydrates and sugars that make up pretty much the entirety of boxed cereal. Any food that has to make dubious health claims like “may reduce your chances of heart disease” is probably not worth eating – take it from me…and Michael Pollan.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, banana muffins aren’t exactly a healthy breakfast either, vegan or not. And you are correct. But I’ve made the following “deal” with my children because…well, I want them to love me…or at the very least, not hate me.

On weekdays, we all eat oatmeal with fresh fruit and brown sugar. And as a concession [and so I won’t be accused of a being a terribly cruel mother], I make special breakfasts on the weekends: banana muffins on Saturday and pancakes on Sunday. [I still eat oatmeal.] Both special meals usually contain chocolate chips. [No, I am not afraid to use chocolate chips as bribery.]

On the weekends I could give them cereal. But like I said, I hate cereal. Plus, cereal is a slippery slope. It is just too dang easy and convenient.

So, now, on to the recipe.

My Vegan Banana Muffin Recipe

You’ll have to forgive me, but I don’t typically do recipes on this blog, so I don’t even know how to make a “recipe card” thingy.

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But here we go anyway….

This recipe is based off “Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Healthy)” recipe from The Simple Veganista which you can read here. I’ve taken this base recipe and modified it to make it simpler [I do this every weekend, ya’ll] and how my kids like it [aka I’ve taken out the word “healthy”].

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas
• 2/3 – 1 cup sugar
• 2 – 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1 3/4 cup of AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Optional: chocolate chips (as many as you want)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Mash bananas in a mixing bowl.
3. Mix in sugars and coconut oil.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix until just combined.
5. Scoop into muffin tin [or muffin liners] until 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. [Mine are always done at exactly 22 minutes.]

And that’s it!

I love this recipe because it doesn’t require any funky vegan stuff like flax eggs or vegan butter or even non-dairy milk. Of course, I usually have all these things on hand anyway, but this is a totally accessible recipe for everyone and [dare I say it] it’s even better than any traditional banana muffin recipe I have ever made. Even Brett said so!

Give it a try and let me know if you agree!

Happy Baking!

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Karis