Hi guys… it’s me, the muffin woman. I’m back sharing an updated muffin recipe and hope you’re excited!
To be honest, I had no idea if these paleo chocolate tahini banana muffins would turn out when I first tested them years ago. Like most recipes I make, they’re simply an experiment, and I keep testing and making changes until they turn out. This recipe basically involved me trying to combine my paleo banana muffin recipe and tahini brownies together to form a crazy good muffin.
When it worked, I felt like Wonder Woman. And after I took a bite and realized they tasted like a muffin and brownie had a baby, I felt like Mariah Carey hitting her iconic high note.
Fall in love with these paleo chocolate banana muffins
These easy chocolate tahini banana muffins might just become your new favorite snack or healthy dessert. They’re:
- Naturally sweetened. You’ll just need some pure maple syrup and ripe bananas! Okay and a few chocolate chips because I am a full blown chocoholic. You too? K good. Now we’re friends.
- Packed with protein & fiber. Each muffin contains 8g of protein and over 5g of fiber to keep you full and satisfied.
- Gluten, grain & dairy-free. That’s right, these muffins are filled with nourishing ingredients that keep them paleo as well.
Ingredients in these chocolate tahini banana muffins
These muffins are filled with nourishing ingredients that you can feel good about, and that taste incredible. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Banana: a few ripe bananas give the muffins natural sweetness.
- Eggs: you’ll need 2 eggs in this recipe to help them bake up properly. See below for a vegan option!
- Tahini: the star of the show! Tahini gives the muffins the perfect amount of moisture.
- Maple syrup: you’ll also need a little pure maple syrup to sweeten the muffins
- Flours: fine, blanched almond flour and coconut flour keep the muffins gluten-free and grain-free.
- Cocoa powder: be sure to use a high-quality unsweetened cocoa powder for that rich chocolate flavor.
- Baking staples: don’t forget the vanilla extract, baking soda, and salt! Learn how to make your own vanilla extract here.
- Chocolate chips: I love mixing in and topping the muffins with chocolate chips. Feel free to use dairy-free chocolate chips to keep the muffins dairy-free.
Optional ingredient substitutions
There are a few simple ingredient swaps that should work well in these chocolate tahini muffins:
- For the almond flour: feel free to use 3/4 cup oat flour if you’d like.
- For the tahini: I think a natural, creamy almond butter or cashew butter would also work well.
- For the cocoa powder: feel free to use cacao powder if you’d like.
- To make them vegan: Feel free to sub 2 flax eggs for the regular eggs, and then be sure to use vegan/dairy-free chocolate chips.
Can I swap the coconut flour?
Unfortunately, no, I cannot recommend a substitute for the coconut flour in these chocolate tahini banana muffins. If you’re looking for muffins with alternative flours, feel free to try one of these:
- Double Chocolate Banana Muffins using whole wheat pastry flour
- Oh So Fluffy Vegan Banana Oatmeal Muffins using all-purpose flour & rolled oats
- Fluffy Flourless Peanut Butter Chickpea Muffins using a can of chickpeas
- Flourless Black Bean Brownie Muffins using a can of black beans
Paleo chocolate tahini banana muffins in 4 steps
- Mix the wet ingredients. Start by mixing together the mashed banana, eggs, tahini, maple syrup & vanilla until smooth.
- Whisk the dry. In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond and coconut flours, cocoa powder, baking soda & salt.
- Combine the batter. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, reserving a few to sprinkle on top.
- Bake & devour. Divide the muffin batter into a muffin tin lined with muffin liners (you’ll only fill 10!), top with chocolate chips, and bake. Let the muffins cool before enjoying!
Want to make mini muffins?
I love making mini muffins for my littles to nosh on for their afternoon snacks. Here’s how to do it:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F, and make the batter as directed.
- Pour the batter into a mini muffin tin with mini liners. I also recommend spraying the liners with nonstick cooking spray!
- Bake the muffins for 9 to 14 minutes. Mine are usually done around 12 minutes!
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: feel free to keep these grain-free chocolate banana muffins at room temp for one day, then I recommend storing them in the refrigerator. Feel free to warm them up in the microwave.
- To freeze: allow the muffins to cool completely, then putthem in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Once ready to reheat, you can thaw at room temperature, or heat up in the microwave in 30 second intervals.
Our go-to muffin baking tools
Check out our fav kitchen essentials here.
More gluten-free muffins to try
- Vegan Paleo Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips
- Flourless Black Bean Brownie Muffins
- The Best Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins (gluten free!)
- Strawberry Kissed Almond Butter Muffins
- Morning Glory Zucchini Carrot Muffins
Get all of our muffin recipes here!
If you make these paleo chocolate tahini banana muffins, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Double Chocolate Tahini Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 extra ripe bananas, mashed (330g)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup (112g) tahini
- ⅓ cup (104g) pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (112g) blanched almond flour (or sub ¾ cup oat flour)*
- ½ cup (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup (28 grams) coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (90g) chocolate chips, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with 10 muffin liners and spray the inside of the liners with nonstick cooking spray. (We're only making 10 muffins.)
- In a large bowl, add mashed banana, eggs, tahini, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth and well combined.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder and coconut flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix ingredients together until well combined. Fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
- Divide batter evenly between prepared the 10 muffin liners. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons chocolate chips over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 22 to 27 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Makes 10 muffins.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on April 12th, 2018, republished on March 10th, 2022, updated with a new recipe on January 8th, 2026, and republished on February 8th, 2026.
Everyone in our home LOVED these. I made exactly as directly, and they were perfect. Thank you!
So happy to hear that!
The perfect morning snack for my kids who wake up STARVING! I followed another commenter’s idea and added hemp seeds and didn’t add chocolate chips for an extra nutrient punch! Another perfect recipe.
Such a great breakfast!
These turned out wonderfully! I love the combination of tahini and almond flour, it gives such a nice, balanced flavor and thickness. I used a mini bread loaf pan instead of a muffin pan for cute mini loaves. They kept well in the fridge and are delicious reheated or cold, it is so handy to grab one and go. These will definitely go on the regular rotation.
Love the idea of mini loaves! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I didn’t have tahini so used cashew butter. I usually am not crazy about bananas in baked goods but this was awesome. Just a hint of banana & it kept the muffins so moist! Sooo chocolatey, this recipe is in my recipe box to stay. Thank you for the Great muffins❣️
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
I made a couple changes. 1 did baking in loaf pan for 50 min cuz that’s how long it usually takes for banana bread recipes as a minimum instead of cupcakes. and then I accidentally did 1 cup sub of oat flour. But that’s because it says or 1 cup of oat flour then you scroll down and it says 3/4 cup but by the time I saw that note it was too late. My suggestion would be to put that in the ingredient list (or sub for 3/4 oat flour) cuz it appears that its equal. Mine did turn out very crumbly and a little dry prob because I didn’t make the adjustment! However it’s very delicious thank you so much. Will make adjustment next time I’m sure it will turn out even better
Thank you for the catch – I’ll update that now! Glad it still turned out as a loaf!
As a newly gluten free house – these were amazing. My 15 year old lover of flour has had a hard time adjusting and these have been great to add into the lunch rotation.
So glad you found these!
I loved these and so did my 5 yr old. I didn’t have almond flour so I used Trader Joe’s GF Flour for the swap. I also didn’t have cacao powder so I used Vital Proteins chocolate protein powder and it was incredible and I also used a little more than 3 bananas.
Super yummy! 1st time making them and I’ll be doing it again!
Perfect! I’m glad they were a hit with your kiddo 🙂
These muffins have been made on repeat in our house for the past year and are enjoyed by kids and adults, alike. No notes, just perfect chocolate fudgy goodness!
The best!!
We all loved these muffins!! I subbed 3/4 cups oat flour instead of almond to make them school friendly. My son said they were 100/10!!
Perfect!!
Tasty. Easy. Kid approved.
Love it!
These were so delicious and a big hit with my chocoholic toddler. Thank you 🙂
So happy to hear that!
The family loved these muffins with hubby saying they are the best I’ve made yet!
Just curious- should we use hulled or unhulked tahini. I used hulled but I’m thinking for extra nutrition unhulled would be better? 🙈
Thank you 🙏🏼
So happy to hear that! I use Soom tahini, which is made from hulled sesame seeds, so that it’s super creamy.
Wow these were delicious (and easy with the weight of all ingredients listed out for us). Thank you for the recipe. My whole family loved.
Absolutely! Glad they were a hit!
So delicious!
Glad you enjoyed!
Hi there! Love your recipes and your philosophy! Wondering if you would alter the recipe in any way for using dutch cocoa or cacao? (as opposed to cocoa), I used a mixtyre if the two. When the muffins first came out, the texture was amazing but they were less sweet than I’d like for personal preference; however, after a day of being in the fridge, the flavors had melded and they tasted better/sweeter to me.
You could add a tablespoon or two more of maple syrup here if you’d want it a bit sweeter as cacao/dutch cocoa are a bit more mild and more bitter than cocoa powder, especially if you want it more sweeter for your personal preference!
Ok, thanks!!
Loved them! Perfect texture and chocolatey flavor.