These delicious gluten-free sourdough banana muffins are soft, fluffy, moist, and full of flavor! A great way to use up old bananas and sourdough discard.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Easy to make. Combine all ingredients and bake!
- Less sugar. Because of the bananas, you only need ½ cup of sugar instead of the regular whole cup!
- Delicious! The creaminess of bananas, the crunch of the pecans, and the tender crumb all make for a perfect muffin.
- A great way to use sourdough discard.
What Is Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter?
Gluten-free sourdough starter is wild yeast that is used to make gluten-free fermented bread. The process of making a GF starter is very similar to making a regular starter, only you need to use other types of flour.
For this recipe, you can use a fed or an unfed starter (discard). You can also make banana bread with starter discard, cinnamon rolls with sourdough, gluten-free pancakes, and more delicious recipes. Check out my collection of recipes you can make with gluten-free sourdough!
If you don't have a starter yet, here is a recipe for a brown rice starter, and here is one for a millet starter.
New to gluten-free sourdough? Watch my 16-minute video tutorial for beginners!
Ingredients
Gluten-free flour – I use my own homemade gluten-free rice flour blend plus 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum. You can use another blend if you prefer!
Bananas – use ripe or even brown/black bananas as long as they are not rotten!
Gluten-free sourdough starter discard – fed or unfed, it can even be straight out of the refrigerator. If you don't have a starter yet, check out my buckwheat flour apple muffins, rice flour muffins, and buckwheat pumpkin muffins instead.
Oil – I used sunflower oil.
Substitutions
Flour – you can use any store-bought flour blend or make your own.
Yogurt – you can use sour cream, buttermilk, or homemade buttermilk (although it is not the same!).
For vegan muffins use chia eggs or flax eggs and plant-based yogurt or milk (you can make plant-based buttermilk at home).
Oil – you can use any vegetable, seed, or nut oil. Melted butter can also be used but the muffins will be denser (still delicious!).
Sourdough - if you don't have enough sourdough starter but need to use ripe bananas, check out my moist gluten-free banana bread instead.
Variations
Instead of pecans, you can use other nuts or chocolate chips. Or you can add chocolate chips and nuts at the same time!
I have not tried these muffins with other fruit and I would recommend sticking with bananas due to their specific texture and sweetness.
To make muffins without sourdough, check out my gluten-free raspberry muffins recipe!
If you don’t have 17 muffin tins, you can pour the batter into a bread pan and make gluten-free sourdough banana bread!
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1 – Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Mash bananas with a potato masher or a fork in a large mixing bowl.
Add all the liquid ingredients together with sugar and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl whisk the dry ingredients. It is important to incorporate xanthan gum and baking powder with the rest of the flour to prevent xanthan gum from forming into a gum ball and baking powder from activating and losing its raising properties.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk just enough to incorporate. You need to be careful not to overmix the batter as xanthan gum will become tougher and your muffins will taste like car tires!
Add the nuts (and/or other add-ins) and fold them into the batter with a rubber spatula (to prevent unnecessary mixing).
Step 2 – Scoop and bake
I like using an ice cream scoop for this step but feel free to use a spoon if you have to. Fill the muffin tins all the way up (you can leave a little head space but I find that the amount of batter is exactly enough to fill 17 muffin tins).
Place the muffins into the preheated oven and bake at 400F/200C for 5 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 350F/175C and bake for another 20 minutes. Once the muffins are baked, take them out of the oven and let them cool inside the tins before transferring them onto a cooling rack (or a plate). Enjoy!
How to Store
Store at room temperature for 2 days, in the refrigerator for a week, and in a freezer for a few months. To freeze the muffins, freeze individual muffins first, then place them into a freezer bag (so that they don’t stick to each other).
To reheat the muffins, pop them into a microwave for 30 seconds or in the oven for 10 minutes at 350F. Add some butter or cream cheese on top of the muffins to make them softer as they defrost.
Expert Tips:
- Let the muffins cool before taking them out of the tins so that they don’t break.
- Use a digital scale for GF flour.
- Use room-temperature eggs. Bring them to room temp by placing them in hot water for 5-10 minutes.
- Break up the nuts with your hands to get a nice crunch in every bite!
- If you don’t mash bananas all the way, you will get nice banana bites in the muffins.
- Avoid opening the oven during baking as it will intervene with the rising process and your muffins may fall flat.
FAQ
Yes, if it is made with gluten-free flour. Regular sourdough will break down gluten to a degree, yet, it doesn’t make it safe for people with Celiac to eat. So, to be on the safe side, make a gluten-free sourdough starter and use it in this and other sourdough recipes if you are concerned about gluten’s negative impact!
Avoid using all-white rice flour. Make sure to have some whole-grain flour in the mix as it will contribute to the fluffiness of the muffins! I use my own homemade gluten-free flour mix which works great in this recipe!
Sourdough discard tenderizes muffins which already decreases density. Then, using oil instead of melted butter also contributes to lightness and fluffiness in gluten-free muffins. Finally, avoid overmixing the batter as xanthan gum will harden muffins if stirred too much.
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📖 Recipe
Moist Gluten-Free Sourdough Banana Muffins
Equipment
- 1 muffins tin for 17 muffins (use 2 tins because there are no tins that fit all 18)
- 1 whisk
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 eggs room temperature
- ½ cup oil I used sunflower oil
- 5 tablespoon plain yogurt sour cream or buttermilk work, too
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup sourdough starter discard
- ½ cup sugar
- 180 grams gluten-free flour I like to use my own gluten-free flour blend with rice flour which for this recipe would be: 25% brown rice flour, 25% white rice flour, and 50% starch of choice (cornstarch/potato/tapioca/arrowroot)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- 2 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup pecans crashed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Mash bananas with a potato masher or a fork in a large mixing bowl.
- Add all the liquid ingredients together with sugar and mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl whisk the dry ingredients. It is important to incorporate xanthan gum and baking powder with the rest of the flour to prevent xanthan gum from forming into a gum ball and baking powder from activating and losing its raising properties.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk just enough to incorporate. You need to be careful not to overmix the batter as xanthan gum will become tougher and your muffins will taste like car tires!
- Add the nuts (and/or other add-ins) and fold them into the batter with a rubber spatula (to prevent unnecessary mixing).
- I like using an ice cream scoop for this step but feel free to use a spoon if you have to. Fill the muffin tins all the way up (you can leave a little head space but I find that the amount of batter is exactly enough to fill 17 muffin tins).
- Place the muffins into the preheated oven and bake at 400F/200C for 5 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 350F/175C and bake for another 20 minutes. Once the muffins are baked, take them out of the oven and let them cool inside the tins before transferring them onto a cooling rack (or a plate). Enjoy!
Randi says
These muffins were outstanding! Along with the pecans I added some chocolate chips. The muffins came out of the oven crispy on the outside, soft and yummy on the inside.
Natasha Levai says
Hi Randi! Thank you for your feedback! So happy you liked them 🙂
David Kouri says
I just made these amazingly delicious GF sourdough muffins. Everyone is impressed by how moist and tasty they turned out.
Natasha Levai says
Glad you liked it, David!