Chocolate Chip Banana Oatmeal Muffins

These warm, soft, chocolate chip banana oatmeal muffins are bursting with hearty oats and delicious mini chocolate chips. Easy and healthy!

Hello dear friends!

I feel like I’ve been trying to get this recipe to you for weeks, months, days, nights, I don’t even know anymore.  The season of life that I’m in is pure chaos all the time.  It’s filled with more joy than one could imagine, including joy, giggles, learning, and exploring.  While simultaneously filled with tantrums, sleepless nights, tears (mine and the kids), and massive cups of coffee. 

I know I don’t have to explain it to you because many of you just know. 

So that’s why I don’t have to explain to you why I took my beloved banana oatmeal bread, added chocolate chips, then put it in muffin form—chocolate chip banana oatmeal muffin in one hand, baby in the other, ready to go.  Ya, feel me?

Did I make two batches and freeze one, hell ya, I did so that the chocolate fun won’t end for a while for me.  Especially because, as much as I’d love to tell you that KJ eats these up and loves them so much, he doesn’t.  The kid hasn’t liked anything with bananas since he was ten months old.  I fed them to him so much that he spit them out one day, and that was that.

But, I’ll tell you what, I’m looking forward to when baby KK starts eating.  In my experience, babies are much more fun to feed than toddlers.  KJ used to eat salmon. SALMON.  Now I can’t even get him to eat a banana muffin, even if I put chocolate chips in it.  So, if you feel the pressure of feeding beautiful meals to your toddler who wants cocomelon and cereal all day, I’m there too.  I’m told it will pass, I say to my clients it will pass, but I give him chewable vitamins just in case in the meantime. 

 

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE CHIP BANANA OATMEAL MUFFINS

I love me a good quick bread recipe, and this one is no exception!

I always let my oats sit and soak in the wet ingredients before adding the dry ingredients, the chocolate chips, and then baking!

SWAPS & SUBSTITUTIONS 

Let’s talk swaps and substitutions!

Bananas – Make sure to select ripe (spotted and very yellow) bananas, or your banana bread will not be very sweet! The more yellow the bananas, the sweeter they are! Also, make sure to measure 2 cups of mashed banana.  Too much banana can result in a banana bread that seemingly didn’t bake all the way and is too wet/mushy. On the other hand, not enough bananas can make the bread seem not sweet enough or banana flavored enough!

Eggs – You can substitute flax eggs here if you’d like to make this recipe egg-free.

Maple Syrup – you can substitute any LIQUID sweetener for maple syrup, such as honey or agave.  I know someone will ask about using something like monk fruit, erythritol, or other low-calorie options. I don’t use those very often in my baking for various reasons, so I’m not very familiar with them. If you try them, please let us know how it turned out in the comments! 

Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk – you can substitute any dairy or non-dairy milk here.  In a pinch, you could even use water.    

Rolled Oats – Old fashion, quick-cooking, or rolled oats will work.  Steel-cut will probably not work!

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – I would not substitute this flour out. This recipe was created with whole wheat pastry flour specifically.  If you want to use another flour, I suggest trying my almond flour banana bread or my oat flour banana muffins. You can just add 1/2 cup chocolate chips!

Cinnamon and Nutmeg – adjust to your taste preferences!

Baking Powder & Baking Soda – do not omit.  

Mini chocolate chips – I used semi-sweet mini enjoy life chocolate chips. You could use dark chocolate or milk chocolate, whatever you want! Of course, you could use regular-sized chocolate chips, but I like using minis because they don’t sink to the bottom, and you get more chocolate in every bite!

HOW TO STORE & FREEZE

Storing:  You can keep these muffins on the counter for up to three days, but I prefer a closed container in the refrigerator, so they don’t dry out.  They are good in the fridge as long as they aren’t molded! 

Freezing:  Let your chocolate chip banana oatmeal muffins cool COMPLETELY, either overnight on the counter or in the fridge. Be careful, though. If you leave them out too long, they will dry out. You can then wrap your bread with plastic wrap and place it in a gallon-size freezer bag to freeze for up to 3 months. 

Thawing and reheating: Defrost under refrigeration or on the counter.  If they dry out in the freezer more than you wish, reheat in the microwave! 

Tag me if you make these! I love to see what you guys make! You can tag me on Insta @hungryhobbyRD and Facebook @hungryhobby!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

• Banana Cherry Muffins
• Coconut Oil Banana Muffins
• Healthy Banana Cupcakes

PS Today’s recipe is the first official HH recipe to go through TWO rounds of updates, original post 2014, update in 2017, and update again today!  My photography gets better and my preference for ingredients changes as I get older, so the blog comes along with that!