Recipes with Quinoa: Gluten-Free Banana Muffins

Recipes with Quinoa: Gluten-Free Banana Quinoa Muffins

“Quinoa? What’s that? How the heck do you pronounce it?” These are questions I found myself asking when I first ventured into the gluten-free diet world. Quinoa is thought to be a grain, but it’s not. It’s actually an ancient crop that was an important staple in the Incan Diet. Admittedly, I don’t each much of it but I decided to try it out recently.

I had been hearing good things about baking recipes with quinoa but since I’ve been on a strict whole30 / paleo diet for the majority of the year so far I hadn’t gotten around to trying to bake with them. My friend Diane had turned me onto these gluten-free banana quinoa muffins. They are made with quinoa flour and quinoa flakes. And they are really good! So good that I decided to post the recipe since I don’t have many recipes with quinoa in my wheelhouse currently.

Here’s what you will need: 

• 1/2 Cup Quinoa Flakes
• 1/2 Cup Quinoa Flour
• 2 Ripe Bananas
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

For the Quinoa Flakes and Quinoa Flour, I used the brands below:

I bought them at my local Whole Foods but you can also purchase them on Amazon.

Quinoa Flakes– Good for cereals, pancakes, and muffins. All wheat-free and gluten-free. Yum yum.

Quinoa Flour – Organic, wheat-free, and gluten-free

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. First, mix together the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl, mash together the bananas, honey, and eggs. I used a nifty hand blender to mash the bananas and it worked pretty well. Then, mix together all the ingredients together.

Once the ingredients are mixed, grease a muffin tin (I used a little bit of coconut oil on a paper towel). Scoop the mixture into the muffin tin. I made them about halfway full. Put in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes. The quinoa cooks fast, so watch the muffins starting around the fifteen minute mark. If you want, you can also use the mixture to make banana bread – just let it cook a bit longer.

Frosting:

If you want to make these a bit more decadent, you can put frosting on them. I used Justin’s Maple Almond Butter and it was really good. I put the almond butter on right as the muffins were hot so they melted a little. You could also use cashew butter or peanut butter – whatever you want.

I hope you enjoy these little gluten-free muffin banana gems as much as I have. I am currently on the hunt for more recipes with quinoa, so if you see any please send them my way!

What about you? Have you cooked with quinoa before? Do you like it? Post in the comments and let me know.