Flourless Peanut Butter Muffins — These gluten-free peanut butter muffins are made in a blender and come together in mere minutes. You’d never guess that these mini muffins are gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free, and oil-free!
Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
I put peanut butter, banana, and honey in the blender, and my daughter asked what kind of smoothie I was making. None, I said. I’m making muffins. What???
This goes down as the easiest and fastest batter I’ve ever made. Ready in about 17 seconds with the flip of a switch.
I’m a big fan of whisk-together batters, and nearly every blondie, brownie, bar, quick bread, muffin, and cake on my site is made with a whisk. I reserve my stand mixer for cookie dough, bread dough, and frosting.
But this peanut butter muffin batter is even easier than using a whisk. Just combine one egg, banana, peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and baking soda in a blender and blend, before stirring in chocolate chips.
Did you notice what’s missing in the ingredients list? Flour. Gluten. The muffins are gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, dairy-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, and they clock in at under 100 calories each based on SparkPeople’s calculator.
If you’re willing to give up the chocolate chips, you can shave off 35% of the calories. But I like chocolate.
I have a few recipes for flourless peanut butter cookies, as well as other peanut butter cookies that are gluten-free or that don’t use white sugar, brown sugar, butter, salt, or oil. But I had never tried to pull of a flourless muffin until now, and I’m sold because these are some of the softest, moistest, and best peanut butter muffins I’ve ever had.
For all the health claims that can be made about the muffins, the best part is that they taste every bit as good as muffins made with flour, gluten, and lots of added sugar.
Because there’s no flour, I was a bit worried that these blender muffins would turn out like peanut butter fudge, since there was no flour to fluff them up and provide the normal amount of cakiness found in a muffin, but I was wrong.
The egg, pinch of baking soda, and banana did the trick to give them the springiness and bounciness you want in a muffin. When I was stacking them, the muffins on the bottom were like little trampolines, ready to absorb the weight and bounced back.
Warm and fresh from the oven, these little guys were incredibly good. Soft and a little squishy, supremely moist, and tons of bold peanut butter flavor, complemented by melty chocolate chips.
You may want to just double the recipe and make a double batch from the get go. Muffins freeze beautifully and you can keep a stash in the freezer to toss into lunches or for an easy snack when your peanut butter and chocolate cravings hit.
At under 100 calories, have a few.
Peanut Butter Muffins Ingredients
For these peanut butter chocolate chip muffins, you’ll need:
- Banana
- Egg
- Creamy peanut butter
- Honey
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Mini chocolate chips
Bananas are versatile workhorses in baking, and the banana here helps to add lightness, fluffiness, and natural sweetness since there’s only 3 tablespoons honey used to sweeten the entire recipe. And for those who don’t like bananas, you’re very safe here and you can hardly taste it.
My daughter did detect the banana, but I have a feeling that’s because she had a hawkeye on the ingredients as they went into the blender.
How to Make Peanut Butter Muffins in a Blender
To make this gluten-free mini muffin recipe, simply add everything but the chocolate chips into the blender and blend until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand, and then spoon the batter into greased mini muffin tins.
I baked the muffins in my mini muffin pans and they only took 8 1/2 minutes to bake. I made 17 mini muffins, and filled the cavities to a solid 3/4 full. Don’t be surprised if they’re nicely domed in the oven, but fall a bit as they cool.
Let these peanut butter muffins cool for about 10 minutes before trying to take them from the muffin tins. These mini muffins are best fresh, but will keep for up to 5 days at room temperature.
Can I Make These as Regular-Sized Muffins?
I haven’t tested the recipe as full size muffins. You’ll probably yield about 8 or 9 and I’d start watching the clock closely at about 13 minutes and go from there, but I haven’t tried, and am purely guessing. After all, part of the appeal of this recipe is the mini size. Mini food is just so pop-able.
Can I Use an Egg Substitute in This Recipe?
I haven’t tried that myself, so I can’t say for sure if you can replace the egg with anything. If you try an egg replacement and it works, please leave me a comment down below so I can try it out myself!
Is There a Banana Substitute I Can Use?
I’m not sure! I’ve only ever made these peanut butter muffins as listed in the recipe card below, so I don’t know if you can substitute the banana for anything. You really can’t taste it though!
Can I Use Another Type of Nut Butter?
Possibly, yes. I personally recommend using peanut butter from a brand like Jif or Skippy. But if you have a peanut allergy, you may be able to use sun butter or almond butter. Just note that both are much thinner and runnier than peanut butter, and I don’t know if either will work.
Can I Use Muffin Liners Instead of Greasing the Pan?
I personally skip muffin liners (I’m too lazy to line all those mini muffin tins!), but I don’t see why you couldn’t use them for this recipe.
Can I Freeze Muffins?
Yes, these gluten-free peanut butter muffins freeze like a dream. To freeze these, first let them come to room temperature, then seal them inside a freezer bag. When you’re ready to enjoy them, either reheat them in the oven (set to a very low temperature), or simply place on your counter to thaw.
Tips for the Best Peanut Butter Muffins
I used store-bought peanut butter and always recommend baking with something like Jif or Skippy because natural and homemade peanut butter tends to be thinner, runnier, and can separate. If you try natural PB, I don’t know what the results will be.
I used mini chocolate chips because the size is perfectly proportionate for the mini muffins. Make sure to stir in the chips by hand at the end, rather than add them with other ingredients. You don’t want pulverized chips.
One trick to make your muffins really shine is to sprinkle a few extra chips on the top of each muffin before baking for a nice visual pop.
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Flourless Mini Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 medium ripe banana, peeled
- 1 large egg
- heaping 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, I recommend using classic storebought peanut butter, and not natural or homemade
- 3 tablespoons honey, agave or maple syrup may be substituted
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- heaping 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare mini muffin pans by spraying very well with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pans; set aside. If keeping gluten-free for health reasons, simply use cooking spray or grease the pan.
- To the canister of a blender, add first 7 ingredients, through optional salt, and blend on high speed until smoothy and creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add chocolate chips and stir in by hand; don’t use the blender because it will pulverize them.
- Using a tablespoon or small cookie scoop that’s been sprayed with cooking spray (helps batter slide off spoon or scoop easily), form rounded 1 tablespoon mounds and place mounds into prepared pans. Each cavity should be filled to a solid 3/4 full.
- Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until the tops are set, domed, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Due to their small size and oven variance, make sure to watch your muffins closely, and bake until done. Allow muffins to cool in pans for about 10 minutes, or until they’ve firmed up and are cool enough to handle.
- Muffins are best fresh, but will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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LOVE THESE!! I was skeptical at first…thought no way will these make muffins. These are addictive and my new favorite treat. I got 17 out of these as well with a few a tad larger than the others. This recipe is spot on!!!
Everyone is skeptical at first but glad you’re a believer now :)
I used rehydrated PB2 instead of normal peanut butter and my batch made 20 mini muffins. they are so good!!
I haven’t used PB2 in AGES but that’s great to know it works in this recipe!
Made these tonight, they puffed up beautifully. Used Jif creamy peanut butter and a regular hand mixer until it was smooth since I don’t have a blender. I did flour the pan (gluten isn’t an issue). It made 21 mini muffins. They were really good. Even my teenager and picky eater like them.
Glad they were a hit with the whole family – even picky eaters :)
these are delicious and super easy, but not exactly dairy or refined sugar free. There is refined sugar and milk fat in the chocolate chips. perhaps no added sugar would be a better definition.
You can use healthier-alternative chips to eliminate both the dairy and sugar. You may have to order them online but they exist. I’m glad you found the muffins delicious and super easy.
I used the Wal-Mart brand “no stir natural” peanut butter that I had on hand and it didn’t make them too runny (SO glad; I was worried after I realized it was all I had). I love these! Like others said, I was skeptical, but I might never make any other muffins again! :P Thanks for the great recipe!
Glad your skepticism was proven wrong and that you may have a new favorite muffin recipe on your hands :)
Today is day one of a grain free diet in our house and I am completely overwhelmed! Thank you for this recipe it was perfect for breakfast and my kids loved it! I doubled the recipe, used bananas I had in the freezer and got 10 regular sized muffins. They turned out great!
Glad they turned out great, and at least breakfast is handled :) I’ve found when making MASSIVE and major dietary changes, like what you’re doing, it’s HARD, it takes time to find your flow, and be patient with yourself :) I know, it’s so hard. Been there!!!
This recipe is perfect!!! I was skeptical about how they would turn out and I was so pleasantly surprised! So quick, easy, moist, spongy, pb & chocolate perfection! This is my new favorite muffin recipe! I love that they are mini….my 4 yr old thinks they are such a special treat and I feel good knowing she’s not eating a pile of sugar. Thank you!!!
So glad that you love these, and your 4 yr old, too! And yes, I was so skeptical the first time I made them but yes, they are one of my favorite (and easy!!) muffin recipes, too! Thanks for the great comment!
Not sure if anyone has posted anything in regards to other butters, but I have made this recipe with JIF, natural peanut butter, and almond butter. It is delicious any way. I also have never added salt and think everyone should do the same because it’s a delicious recipe and doesn’t need the unnecessary sodium!
I agree with you about the salt! Unnecessary sodium and most PB has a pretty decent amount in it anyway. Glad you’ve tried the recipe many times!
I made these and I’m not sure what went wrong. The batter was extremely runny, and they didn’t puff up but fell flat and caved in. Probably had something to do with the fact that all I had on hand was reduced far peanut butter.
Reduced far peanut butter is NOT suitable for baking!! It is runny, thin, and behaves very differently from full-fat peanut butter and that is exactly why you didn’t have good luck. That’s why I always mention to use old-fashioned PB like Jif or Skippy, nothing ‘natural’ or light because it doesn’t tend to yield very good results. Try again with regular PB and you’ll love them!
I made these a few nights ago and we loved them! (I wrote a blog post about them and linked to this page – I hope you don’t mind. I just had to share it.) They were so delicious and disappeared in about 2 days. I want to try the chocolate variety this week. Thank you for a delicious recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and thanks for writing and just linking back to my site – so appreciated! Glad you’re happy with the recipe!
These do look delicious. I notice quite a few people have already pointed out they are not soy-free, they also are not dairy or refined sugar free (nestle choc chips!)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips do not have dairy or refined sugar in them.
https://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=465405&catid=184314&aid=338666&aparam=465405&kpid=465405&CAWELAID=120142990000061122&CAGPSPN=pla&kpid=465405
Cool, those ones don’t. I saw ‘nestle’ in your nutritional analysis, I see now that you didn’t specify a brand in your recipe – sorry for nitpicking! They do look great :)
Hello! I wanted to comment here… I found this recipe on Pintrest and just made a batch this morning and they are AWESOME!! So yummy! I didn’t have quite enough plain peanut butter so I had to sub in some dark chocolate peanut butter and they turned out great!
Thank you!!
Love your swap w/ the Dark Choc PB and I have a recipe that it would also be great in, the chocolate version of these muffins, actually!
https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/05/flourless-double-chocolate-peanut-butter-mini-blender-muffins.html
Thanks for trying these and glad you love them!
Well, this is the third one of your recipes that didn’t work at all. I thought the first time maybe it was something I forgot to add. Or maybe my baking powder was expired and that’s why something didn’t work out. But no. By the third time I’m convinced it’s not me all these times. The accuracy of your reporting when it comes to allergens is concerning to me, as well. Looks like I’ll have to find someone else to follow for gluten/soy free recipes.
I’m sorry that you didn’t have good luck with this recipe or two others. If you read the comments above you, there are tons of people saying how much they loved these and that they worked out great. Sorry that wasn’t the case for you and best of luck on your search.
I don’t label myself as a gluten or soy-free blog, that is not my niche, and always encourage everyone to READ LABELS and make educated decisions about what is going to be right for their dietary needs. My blog is not known to be an allergen-free type of blog although sometimes recipes ARE and fit into that neat box, but of course, each reader has to determine what will work for them.
From another reader yesterday who just commented:
“Tell Aimee (comment #116) that the recipe called for baking soda, not baking powder. That is likely why it didn’t turn out for her. I made them and they are delish!”
These are absolutely delicious!
So glad you’re pleased with them!
i made a double batch of these this morning. Thank you so much for this recipe. They are sooooo easy to make and delicious. Your instructions were perfect (especially the tip to place some chocolate chip morsels on top of batter before baking. I have a question, do u think this recipe would work if I added any quick oats or is there a recipe u could recommend that is similar to this (ingredients as well as simplicity of mixing in a blender) that would also give a flavor of oatmeal? Thanks again for a great recipe.
Oatmeal and blender recipes…try these! https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/09/cinnamon-oatmeal-date-bars-with-chocolate-chunks.html
Here’s another oatmeal muffin, although it’s not a blender recipe, you don’t need a mixer. https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/04/oatmeal-and-chocolate-chip-trail-mix-vegan-muffins.html
With these muffins, I really haven’t experimented with using oats in this recipe. Glad you loved them as is!
I made these on a whim last night and used the Nestle Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Morsels (since it’s what I had on hand) and they’re delicious (also, I did the math and they still come out to 99 cals each with these chips)! I don’t have a mini muffin pan so I used a regular size one, but still only filled each container with a tablespoon scoop of batter and came out with 17 little muffins. I think since they were in a wider container, they didn’t puff up as much, but they’re still delicious! Although mine are a bit on the greasy side. I have a feeling that’s from the Skippy peanut butter, but could be from the size. Time to invest in a mini muffin pan! You have so many great gluten free options I’m dying to try!
They’re pretty moist! I wouldn’t call them greasy per se but anytime you’re baking with nothing but nut butter and no flour to ‘soak it up’, you will see the natural nut oils – unavoidable, but I love that. Way better than dryness! Glad they worked out great for you!