There are some recipes where the flavour payoff relative to the ease seems illogical. Some things are so easy and just so delicious that it seems kind of comical, really. I count my low FODMAP chilli oil noodles as one of those recipes. Today, I present these gluten free vegan banana muffins as another.

Gluten free vegan banana muffins

Name: Gluten free vegan banana muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 160 g white rice flour; 5 g (1 teaspoon) baking powder; 2 g (¼ teaspoon) baking soda; Pinch of fine salt; 100 g light brown sugar; 200 g ripe banana; 80 ml (1/3 cup)* milk; 40 ml (2 tablespoons)* oil of choice (I used olive); 5 ml (1 teaspoon) lemon juice; 5 ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (optional)

These muffins take their inspiration from my gluten free vegan blueberry muffins. Those are so simple to make and so delicious, I would never know they are gluten free or vegan.

Dare I say, these vegan banana muffins are even easier. The only real skill involved is being patient enough to wait for bananas to ripen. In the Autumnal heatwave that Melbourne is currently experiencing, though, this is an easy feat.

These muffins use white rice flour as the flour base. That’s it! No starches, blends or xanthan gum required. They are sweetened with light brown sugar and use oil as the fat. I actually quite like using olive oil, but any oil you prefer works here.

What’s left to add? A generous amount of ripe mashed banana and some plant based milk along with baking powder and soda. Salt adds a lovely layer of complexity, as does an optional dash of vanilla extract.

That’s it! The only ingredients required for these egg free, dairy free and vegan gluten free banana muffins.

Bonus: they are nut free and thus great for lunchbox snacks.

A sunlit aerial image of gluten free vegan banana muffins on a white speckled ceramic plate

Substitution notes for your gluten free vegan banana muffins

There aren’t many substitutions for this recipe at the moment, but we’ll discuss a few options.

Firstly, you can use whatever neutral oil you prefer here. I actually use olive oil (I don’t think you can taste it) because it’s what I have on hand.

You can use whichever plant based milk you prefer. In Australia, oat milk is not considered gluten free (neither are oats). This is just something to keep in mind if you are baking for a coeliac.

You can also use regular milk if you don’t need the muffins to be dairy free. This will leave you with a gluten free egg free banana muffin.

I haven’t tested any sugar substitutes such as allulose or monk fruit. I also have not tested a liquid sweetener such as maple syrup. I wouldn’t recommend liquid sweetener as it will throw off the balance of liquid to solid. I daresay that other solid sugars, like panela sugar, should work here. Personally, I don’t use and thus have not tried coconut sugar as it is high fructose which doesn’t work for my digestive system.

I haven’t tested a substitute for white rice flour, sorry. This includes brown rice flour – it is higher FODMAP and has more of a flavour so I don’t work with it much. White rice flour is neutral, easy enough to find relative to other gluten free flours and inexpensive (in Australia, anyway). You can try other flours, but you will be experimenting. Stay tuned for banana buckwheat muffins soon, though.

An aerial image of a fluffy gluten free vegan muffin on a white speckled ceramic plate atop a dark grey backdrop

FODMAP notes

A quick little note on bananas and FODMAPs, for those who need it.

Common ripe banana is low FODMAP in 37g serves (as of March 2025). In 47g serves, it contains moderate amounts of fructans. This recipe uses 200g of banana divided by 6 muffins, which means each muffin contains approximately 33g of banana. So, one muffin is a low FODMAP serve.

However, you can lift the low FODMAP threshold by using ripe sugar bananas (ladyfinger bananas). These are low FODMAP in 112g serves. They contain moderate amounts of fructose in serves of 191g or more.

This means that you could eat 5 muffins and remain under the low fructose threshold if you use ripe sugar bananas.

Using ripe bananas, whichever variety you choose, is important here. This is what gives the muffins flavour.

The only other ingredient to consider FODMAP wise is the milk. Soy milk made with soy protein, rice milk and macadamia milk are two gluten free vegan and low FODMAP milk options. I have a post on the FODMAP thresholds for milks here, if you’d like to choose a different option.

An aerial image of gluten free vegan banana muffins atop a white speckled ceramic plate

Notes on the white rice flour

Because the white rice flour is the only flour in these banana muffins, we need to use the right stuff. A warning, as always to my fellow Australians: the rice flour in a box at the supermarket is not suitable for baking. It is gritty and course and will ruin the consistency of your baked goods.

What we need is a finely and freshly milled white rice flour. You can buy fresher white rice flour at bulk food stores, but this might not be a solid solution if you are coeliac.

Health food stores sell rice white rice so this is another option if you need it to be certified gluten free.

A rancid white rice flour has a musty, floral smell and taste which will carry through in your banana muffins. There’s no great solution for getting good quality rice flour easily in Australia at the moment, unfortunately.

An aerial sunlit image of a gluten free banana muffin that has been cut in half, revealing the soft inner crumb. The muffin sits atop a white speckled ceramic plate in contrasting sunlight.

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