Vegan Pumpkin Banana Muffins

There's no better way to embrace fall baking than with a batch of these delicious vegan pumpkin banana muffins. Made with simple ingredients, these healthy muffins are perfect for cosy mornings or an afternoon treat.

This simple and easy recipe for these moist, flavourful muffins combines the warmth of pumpkin with the natural sweetness of bananas. It makes them an ideal choice for a wholesome, seasonal snack.

You can even make these fluffy vegan muffins with a gluten-free flour blend if needed! The texture is simply amazing, even though we don't replace eggs with flax eggs. We've got bananas for that!

Ingredients

• ripe bananas
• pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)
• vegetable oil (such as olive oil or coconut oil)
• maple syrup, coconut sugar or brown sugar
• all-purpose flour (gluten-free if needed)
• baking powder
• pumpkin spice (cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, salt)
• walnuts (optional)
• pumpkin seeds (as topping, optional)

(see quantities in recipe card)

Bananas: Ripe to overripe bananas are always best as they are softer and easier to mash and their sugar content is higher. This not only adds more flavour but a natural sweetness too.

Bananas act as a natural binder so there’s no need to replace eggs with flax eggs or chia seeds. In general, I barely use egg replacer! Totally unnecessary—most of the time!

Pumpkin Purée: If you live in the US, you should be able to get your hands on canned pumpkin purée. Just ensure, there aren't any additives in it. Especially sugar or ‘natural’ flavours.

Alternatively, pumpkin puree is easy to make at home! I prefer this anyway because I love roasting the pumpkin chunks to add that yummy oven-baked flavour.

When made fresh, pumpkin puree also adds more nutritional value. I will explain how to make it, with two different methods to choose from, in a bit (see ‘instructions’).

Vegetable Oil: I always make sure to use organic, cold-pressed virgin oils. You don’t have to do that but I highly recommend to use high-quality oils.

The only exception is sunflower seed oil where the cold-pressed version has a quite distinct flavour. Here, I’d say you use a high-oleic, organic oil as this is deodorised and very heat stable.

My oil of choice is always virgin olive oil. The flavour usually dissipates when you bake the muffins. Coconut oil is okay to use too, however, it may weigh down the muffins a little.

Sugar: The bananas and pumpkin puree already sweeten these vegan pumpkin banana muffins. However, as we like muffins to be on the sweeter side, we add some maple syrup, coconut sugar or even brown sugar (if you prefer).

I don’t think we’ll need a lot of it, because of the bananas and the pumpkin. And of course, you can leave out the sweetener altogether too.

Flour: For baking, I love using plain spelt flour for most of my recipes. But any glutenous flour will work for this vegan pumpkin banana muffin recipe. For gluten-free, see 'substitutions' below.

Baking Powder: For best results, and for the fluffiest muffins ever, make sure the baking powder you use is fresh and not too old. See ‘substitutions’ for baking soda variation.

Spices: The spices are what add the right autumn feeling to your muffins! I like to add the different spices separately instead of using a pumpkin pie spice blend. If using a spice blend, make sure there are no additives like sugar or rice flour in it!

Equipment

For these vegan pumpkin banana muffins, you'll need a muffin tray with twelve moulds. So any regular muffin tin is fine. Alternatively, you can turn them into six to eight jumbo muffins as well (you need a big ‘jumbo’ muffin tray for that)!

Instructions

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F fan-forced and grease the muffin tray with some oil or vegan butter, or line it with 12 silicone or paper cups/muffin liners.

Step 2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg) and salt) and combine well.

Step 3. Add the wet ingredients (oil, mashed banana, pumpkin puree and maple syrup/sugar), and slowly combine the wet ingredients first before mixing them in with the rest.

Careful not to over-mix! Muffin batter needs to be fluffy and only just combined. There shouldn’t be any flour left either but you also shouldn’t mix it like crazy! Otherwise, your muffins end up firm and not soft and fluffy.

If you like, you can gently stir in some walnut pieces or pumpkin seeds into the batter.

Step 4. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the moulds of the prepared muffin pan, about three-quarters high. Leave some room on the top for them to rise (because they will!).

Sprinkle with some pumpkin seeds if you like. Bake the vegan pumpkin banana muffins in the centre of your oven for about 20 minutes. When cooked, the muffins should spring back when touched.

Step 5. Let the vegan pumpkin banana muffins cool down on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy them immediately while still warm or let them cool down completely. Muffins taste best on the day they’re baked.

How to make pumpkin puree?

During pumpkin season, I like to make big batches of pumpkin puree and freeze it in portions. To make it, you don’t need any special equipment. A saucepan or oven and a fork or a potato masher will do the trick!

You start by simply cutting the pumpkin into smaller pieces and removing the skin even if it’s edible. The skin is still too tough after cooking that it leaves you with little pieces in the puree.

I like to slice the pumpkin into 1-1.5-inch-thick wedges and cut them into thirds or halves, depending on the size of the pumpkin.

Quick & Easy – Stove Top

Just like boiling potatoes! Place the pumpkin pieces into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10-20 minutes, depending on the size. Keep the heat to a simmer to avoid overcooking the pumpkin.

Once cooked, drain and mash the pumpkin with a fork or using a potato masher. The puree is now ready to be used in all of your favourite recipes!

More Flavour – Oven-baked

Coat the pumpkin pieces with some oil and add a good pinch of salt. Spread over a lined baking tray and bake at 180°C/350°F fan-forced for 20-30 minutes depending on the size.

When roasted, mash with a potato masher or even a fork. For a more even and finer result, you can use a stick blender.

Substitutions

Gluten-free: These vegan pumpkin banana muffins can be made with gluten-free flour as well. I like using buckwheat flour because it gives me the best results. Any gluten-free flour blend should work too.

Pumpkin Puree: Why not give sweet potatoes a try? Pumpkin puree can always be substituted with sweet potato puree (you make it the same way as pumpkin puree, see ‘instructions’ above).

Oil-free: When it comes to moisture, the bananas and especially the pumpkin in this vegan muffin recipe already add a lot.

However, I don’t recommend skipping the oil altogether because I believe it prevents the muffins from turning out too dry. Your choice! You may substitute oil with melted vegan butter if you prefer.

Baking Powder: You can substitute baking powder with ½ teaspoon of bicarb/baking soda in combination with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.

Variations

These delicious muffins can also be turned into banana bread (see recipe here)! We’re using the same ingredients, just in slightly different amounts.

You can turn these muffins into plain pumpkin or plain banana muffins as well. Simply replace the amount of pumpkin with bananas (or vice versa).

If you’re a muffin, I highly recommend trying out my vegan Blueberry Lemon Muffins or Raspberry Muffins!

Storage

These vegan pumpkin banana muffins taste best when freshly baked but can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week (or until they go off, as I like to say). You can also freeze them for 3 to 6 months.

📖 Recipe