These paleo banana chia bites are naturally sweet and perfectly moist mini-muffins. They’re the ultimate grain-free snack.
*Post updated 10/11/2017 to include a video on how to make these paleo banana chia bites – one of the most popular paleo recipes on this site since they were published in 2013. I love grabbing one of these on my way out the door to a workout or crumbling over some yogurt for an easy snack. Enjoy!
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Ok, so admittedly, these muffins aren’t going to win any awards for most original recipe.
A banana muffin…wow. Never seen it before.
But, these are probably one of my biggest grain free, gluten free, sugar free baking successes ever.
Something that seriously bothers me about paleo/grain free baked goods is the amount of eggs used in most recipes.
I go through an alarming amount of eggs as is, I don’t need to be sacrificing 5 of them at a time for bread unless someone would like to gift me a chicken (and someone to take care of it in my backyard).
So, I decided to try and beat the system with chia seeds and lots of mashed banana.
And it worked.
Like really worked.
These banana chia muffins are super moist (eeek gross word alert), not too dense like most grain free “breads” and naturally sweet. They’re very similar to these whole wheat sweet potato banana muffins and these avocado muffins in texture and their subtle sweet flavor.
More paleo snack ideas: chia cherry crunch bites | coconut apricot scones
I haven’t done the nutritional stats on them, but I’m betting they’re pretty stellar. Especially as pre-workout fuel.
I popped two with some almond butter before my first Fran since on-ramp back in July yesterday and was pretty happy with the results.
Now I can’t get the idea of trying them with chocolate out of my head.
That’s gotta shave at least 30 seconds off my time.
Paleo Banana Chia Bites
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 large ripe banana, mashed
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk, or other milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a mini-muffin pan.
- Combine almond meal, coconut flour, chia seeds, cinnamon, salt & baking soda in a large bowl.
- Whisk together remaining ingredients (besides nuts if using) in a small bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
- If using the nuts, fold into the batter until evenly distributed.
- Spoon batter into mini-muffin pan and bake for about 15 minutes until tops start to turn golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
This recipe sounds right up my alley! Definitely going to try it out. Thanks for sharing =)
Would these bake well if they were full muffin size?
I haven’t tried it, but I can’t see why not as long as you increase the baking time.
I baked it in full muffin tins. I added 5 minutes to the cooking time. It makes six fill muffins. Not sweet, but they taste good. I might add some Stevia next time.
Those look like something I could eat the whole batch of! LOL! :) YUM! Monkeys would love them too!
These look great, and I love all the healthy ingredients! Plus I know my kids will love them :)
Sweet! I added this to my Ziplist!
Lori and I are the same, one reason we bake a lot of vegan as we eat enough eggs as is :)
thank goodness for chia and bananas
I love that you made these sans eggs. I’m trying to decrease (or better, eliminate) eggs for a while from my diet while at the same time move toward a more paleo-ish way of eating. Every paleo recipe has like ten eggs added – argh! So again, thanks for these!!!!
Oh yes! These look perfect!
Just whipped up a batch and they are tasty. My husband has been gluten free for over 2 weeks and I’m trying my best to bake yummy treats for him! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
wow, that was quick! Glad you liked them :)
I just purchased almond meal and coconut flour for the first time last week and have been experimenting but these muffins look great! Thanks for sharing :)