This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.
Moist & fragrant gingerbread chickpea flour muffins, made healthy, grain-free and vegan. Don’t wait until the holidays to make them!
Vegan Gingerbread Muffins
Oh, bananas. So convenient and delicious, but also so prone to morphing from lightly freckled perfection to mush in moments.
But that’s ok, because there is sweet splendor in such mushiness. And while you may be reading this and thinking you already have enough banana bread and banana muffin recipes to last a lifetime, I am confident you will still want to add these gingerbread banana muffins to your list.
Specifically, the top of your list!
Vegan Grain-Free Gingerbread Muffins
While these are indeed banana muffins, they don’t taste like it. One bite and you know that these are gingerbread muffins, merely aided by the (sweetness and moistness) bananas.
Dark with molasses and redolent with spices, they are pretty darn sublime with my morning cup of joe, as a late afternoon pick-me-up, or a lightly sweet dessert.
Recipe Benefits
These tender muffins also happen to be:
- Grain-free (made with chickpea flour)
- Gluten-free
- Oil-free
- Vegan (egg-free, dairy-free)
- Refined sugar free
- High in fiber
- Only 99 calories per filling muffin
Ingredients
The exact amounts of each ingredient are indicated in the recipe card at the end of the post. Toggle between US Customary (volume) and Metric (weights) for preferred measurement option.
- chickpea flour, (sifted if especially lumpy)
- baking powder, (certified GF, as needed)
- ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves
- fine sea salt
- mashed, very ripe bananas , (super-squishy, soft bananas; I have alternatives in the notes)
- nondairy milk , (e.g.,a almond milk, cashew milk, soy milk)
- molasses (see notes for options)
Step by Step Directions
Note that the complete directions are also in the recipe card below.
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C) .Line all 12 cups of a standard size muffin tin with paper muffin liners, silicone muffin liners, or foil liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk the chickpea flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt.
- Add the bananas, milk, and molasses to the bowl, stirring until completely blended.
- Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin cups (the batter will only fill the cups just over halfway full).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 13 to 16 minutes until risen, the centers are set, and a toothpick inserted near the center of each muffin comes out with only moist crumbs attached.
- Cool muffins in tin for 10 minute. Remove muffins from tin and serve warm or cool completely on a cooling rack.
Storage
Store the cooled muffins in an airtight container at (cool) room temperature for 3 days, the refrigerator for 1 week or the freezer for up to 6 months.
FAQ
- What can I swap for the molasses? You can substitute an equal amount of maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, or (if not following a vegan diet) honey.
- Can I use blackstrap molasses? I do not recommend it. Blackstrap molasses is bitter, and not very sweet.
- What can I use in place of mashed banana? You can add an equal amount of unsweetened applesauce, or 3/4 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree + 1/4 cup water (or more nondairy milk). You may want to add a few tablespoons of sweetener (such as coconut sugar or date sugar) since these options are much less sweet compared to ripe bananas.
Expert Tip: Muffin Liners
A wee warning: paper muffin liners can be difficult to remove while the muffins are warm. Once completely cooled, they come off with ease. If you plan on eating these warm, a spritz of nonstick cooking spray in each liner, before filling with batter, aids the liner removal.
Alternatively, use silicone muffin cup liners.
Happy baking everyone!
More Chickpea Flour Muffins to Try
- Chickpea Flour Pumpkin Muffins {Vegan, Grain-Free, Oil-Free}
- Chickpea Flour Zucchini Muffins {grain-free, oil-free, vegan}
- Basic Vegan Chickpea Flour Muffins {grain-free, oil-free}
- Chocolate Chickpea Flour Muffins {vegan, grain-free}
- Cranberry Orange Chickpea Flour Muffins {Grain-Free, Vegan}
Gingerbread Chickpea Flour Muffins (Vegan, GF)
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups chickpea flour, (sifted if especially lumpy)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, (certified GF, as needed)
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas , (super-squishy, soft bananas)
- 1/2 cup nondairy milk , (e.g.,a almond milk, cashew milk, soy milk)
- 3 tablespoons molasses , (not blackstrap; see notes for options)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C) .Line all 12 cups of a standard size muffin tin with paper liners, silicone liners, or foil liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk the chickpea flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt.
- Add the bananas, milk, and molasses to the bowl, stirring until completely blended.
- Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin cups (the batter will only fill the cups just over halfway full).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 13 to 16 minutes until risen, the centers are set, and a toothpick inserted near the center of each muffin comes out with only moist crumbs attached.
- Cool muffins in tin for 10 minute. Remove muffins from tin and serve warm or cool completely on a cooling rack.
Notes
- Molasses swap: You can substitute an equal amount of maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, or (if not following a vegan diet) honey. I do not recommend blackstrap molasses. It iss bitter, and not very sweet.
- Mashed banana alternatives: You can add an equal amount of unsweetened applesauce, or 3/4 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree + 1/4 cup water (or more nondairy milk). You may want to add a few tablespoons of sweetener (such as coconut sugar or date sugar) since these options are much less sweet compared to ripe bananas.
Nutrition
Hi Camilla,
I absolutely love your chocolate chickpea flour muffins, chocolate chickpea flour cake and chickpea flour chocolate chip cookies! I’ve been on Aip with some reintroductions for over a year and your recipes have been such a help to me!
I was wondering in this recipe if I could substitute applesauce or pumpkin purée for the banana?
Thanks so much!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie! So glad you like the chocolatee chickpea flour muffins.
Yes, you can use either applesauce or pumpkin puree here (or use pureed raw zucchini–I reader told me about this one, it works great in place of banana in recipes).For any of the three, you will want to add some more sweetener to taste since the banana adds a lot of sweetness in addition to moisture and volume. Cheers!
Hi Camilla,
I am so grateful for these chickpea flour recipes. My question here is if I can make these into gingerbread instead of muffins. What would the baking time be and what kind of pan would be best?
Thank you,
Marie
Wonderful to hear that you like these, Marie! I recommend baking in a 9-inch square or round pan (not smaller, the batter should not be too deep for this batter, or it can sink). I would aim for about 35 minutes, same temperature, but start checking at 30 minutes (toothpick test at the center).
Hi Camilla!
I know these are muffins and the others blondies, but aside from form, how would you describe the main differences in taste/outcome/etc between these and the (whole bean) chickpea gingerbread blondies?
Thank you!
Hi Eve,
The muffins are more bread-y (a result of the chickpea flour–made from uncooked ground dried chickpeas) whereas the blondies are dense and almost fudge in texture (made from cooked chickpeas). Using cooked chickpeas results in very different products than when using chickpea flour. The cooking changes the protein significantly and changes how it will work in a given recipe. Think of the chickpeas in the same way as eggs: adding raw eggs to a cake recipe will produce a very different batter, and cake, than one made with pureed cooked eggs (e.g., hard-boiling, scrambled, etc). I hope that helps!
Is there a non-fruit sub for the bananas, I hate fruit & can taste it no matter how hard you try to mask it.
Hi Lara! I have started using zucchini as a fruit-free option in some of my own baking. It creates a very similar kind of “mush” but is entirely neutral in flavor (I leave the skin on, but you could also peel the zucchini. If it is a large zucchini—late summer, doorstep variety, I recommend scraping out the pulp seeds at the center. Not necessary for store-bough zucchini). You might want/need to up the sugar a fraction since you are losing the sweetness from the banana.
Much to my husband’s chagrin, I have a large bag frozen, blended zucchini cubes taking up a big corner of our freezer (for this very purpose)! There was some marked down zucchini, how could I resist?
Hi! Is there a substitution for the oil in the recipe? Thanks!
Hi Susie,
Sure! You could replace the oil with 3 additional tablespoons of nondairy milk. The muffins will be slightly drier, but still delicious. If you want to add more moisture without oil, I suggest doing the milk replacement, but also consider replacing a few tablespoons of the chickpea flour with flaxseed meal. Cheers!
Thank you for this recipe. I’ve made it three times, the first two I didn’t have all spice. The last batch was utterly delicious.
So happy to hear you have made them three times, Sofia! Thanks for letting me know how much you like them, I appreciate it!
so, so good! I didnt have molasses or maple syrup or honey, so I used 4 teaspoons of sugar, to taste. It took me 5 minutes to put them together and 15 minutes to cook. They turned out spectacular and in no time! Thank you Camilla!!!
Carolina, I am so happy to hear that the muffins turned out so well–and that you love them! I am so ready for gingerbread season, I may need to make a batch asap, too 🙂
Is there another gluten-free flour I can substitute for the chickpea flour? I have coconut and almond flour; would either of those work instead? Thanks, these look yum!
Hi Bree! Alas, no direct sub for the chickpea flour here.
Thank you for your recipes; I really appreciate them.
You are so welcome, Frances!