Vegan Banana Walnut Muffins (Whole Wheat)

These Vegan Banana Walnut Muffins remind me of some of my earliest memories in the kitchen with my grandma. Oooh I’m getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it 🙂

She didn’t bake a lot. But when she did, it was always banana bread. She had a recipe neatly written on a white lined recipe card. And she pulled it out every time, even though I’m sure she knew the words on it by heart. My job, was always to mash the bananas. She would give me a fork and a bowl and I would mash for as long as it took her to assemble the rest of the ingredients.

When I was living on my own, I tried making Grandma’s recipe by myself once. I was so excited! I hadn’t had her banana bread in years and I just couldn’t wait for my tiny apartment to fill up with the delicious smell of fresh baked banana bread. All the wonderful memories were sure to come flooding back and I’d be transported back to her retro kitchen, standing right next to her, with my very first bite.

Then.. my bubble burst. The loaf came out dry and crumbly. It was dense and didn’t have enough banana. And it had none of the magic I remembered so well from years ago. I’ll never know exactly how she made that amazing banana bread I would slather in butter as a kid. But I know for sure that her frayed old recipe card was just for show 🙂

Banana Bread vs Banana Muffins

Everyone gets pretty excited when overripe bananas are crowding our fruit bowl. Spotted bananas = banana bread. I mean, what else would you even use them for!

Lately, I’ve been making muffins instead of loaves. Whether it’s banana bread, pumpkin bread, or lemon loaf, I’m opting for the muffin tray over the loaf pan. Muffins are just so much easier to eat on the run. And they pack perfectly in lunches.

Vegan Banana Walnut Muffins also make carb counting easier. I use a cookie scoop to portion the batter evenly between all of the muffin cups. That way, when I figure out how many carbs are in one muffin, I know that number will be the same for all of the muffins. It sounds like a small thing, but this way my little Type 1 guy can grab a muffin and eat it without the scale. That small thing can be a really big deal to a 7-year-old.

Whole Wheat Flour

Banana muffins are a great opportunity to make a healthy swap. We hear a lot about whole grains in general helping to reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and stroke. What we don’t hear as much about, are studies like this one from Nutritionfacts.org. I’ll spare you the less appetizing details here. You can read it sometime when you’re not about to bake muffins. The short version is this: whole grains = high fiber = fewer calories absorbed by your body.

A Note About Sugar

In this recipe, I’ve used organic cane sugar. Yes, you can substitute coconut sugar. But your muffins won’t be as sweet. Depending on your palette, that might even be a good thing. Many other types of sugar will work, too. This recipe is forgiving with sugars. So use whatever is in your pantry and enjoy!

Sometimes it’s popular to swap out regular sugar in “healthy” baking. Coconut sugar can be reported to have a lower GI (Glycemic Index) rating. But the numbers can vary a little depending on the source. Here’s something to remember when you’re thinking about sugar: All Carbs Are Sugar! So if you’re not eating buckets of muffins, make sure whatever sugar you’re working with gives you an end result you’ll actually enjoy.

Love Muffins as much as we do? Try these!

• Vegan Apple Cinnamon Muffins (Whole Wheat, Oil Free)
• Vegan Lemon Blueberry Muffins (Looooove these!!!)
• The BEST Vegan Bagels (ok they’re not muffins… but they’re seriously AMAZING bagels. We dare you not to LOVE them!)

All about balance

It’s important to know how your body deals with carbs so you can determine which swaps and sweeteners are right for you. We’re all about balance here. There are so many options when it comes to sweeteners. And the cost and taste of each sweetener need to be taken into account when making your sweet decision.

For example, I originally wanted to try making these Vegan Banana Walnut Muffins with Date Syrup. But at $30/bottle, I went with organic cane sugar instead! Your food naturally gets healthier just by making it at home. So our main goal is to avoid processed foods whenever we can, without breaking the bank or obsessing over sweeteners.

So don’t worry about always having the “perfect” ingredients. Striving for perfection can leave us feeling like we’ve failed. Let’s just all do our best and enjoy the process 🙂 We hope you love these Vegan Whole Wheat Banana Muffins as much as we do and leave me a comment below with your thoughts! Enjoy!

📖 Recipe