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Preparation
Once you have all of your ingredients ready the batter will come together very quickly. The most time-consuming part will be cooking the lentils, so start with those.
Put the lentils and 1 cup of water into a small pot and cook on medium to medium-low heat.
Set the oven to 350°F to preheat while you are mixing the ingredients.
Add all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a standing mixer. If you don’t have a standing mixer, add them to a large mixing bowl and use a whisk to combine all the ingredients.
Brown sugar is one of those tricky ingredients that usually seems to fall in the wet ingredients category. With that said, I have added it to the dry ingredients instead, see video above, and it worked out just fine so use your own judgment.
In a separate medium bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. I usually start with the eggs to make sure they are beaten well before I add the remaining ingredients. I then follow with the banana. The more ripe your banana the better as it will add a bit more moisture. If you are using very fresh bananas consider adding a ¼ cup of apple sauce to add some moisture to the muffins. Mash the banana into the egg with a fork (see video above). Add remaining wet ingredients.
You have two options when adding the lentils. This is a strictly personal preference. I assure you that even if you don’t blend the lentils, you will not taste them in the end. Let the lentils and melted butter/oil cool before adding to the remaining ingredients.
1. Add the lentils and butter/oil into the wet ingredients bowl without blending.
2. Using a blender, blend the cooked lentils with whatever liquid is left in the pot with the melted butter or coconut oil. Then pour this mixture into the wet ingredients.
Stir the wet ingredients to combine evenly. Once combined, add to the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.
You will want to mix on low just until all the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix or your muffins will be too dense.
If you are adding chocolate chips, you also have some options.
1. You can add the chocolate chips into the batter. Pour ¼ cup of chocolate chips into the mixed batter, and using a spatula or wooden spoon fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
2. You can top your muffins with chocolate chips. Once you have divided the batter into muffin cups, sprinkle some chocolate chips on top of each muffin. Gently press the chocolate chips into the batter to make sure they
bake into the muffins and don’t fall off easily after baking.Finally, divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups. Spray each muffin cup (whether using a muffin tin or silicone muffin cups) with oil or brush with butter. Alternatively, you can line the muffin tin with parchment muffin cups. Using two large metal spoons, I use soup spoons, to distribute the batter with relatively limited mess.
Top with chocolate chips and place in the oven. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. I usually set the timer for 20 minutes and start checking with a toothpick every minute after that.
When using the toothpick to check doneness, make sure to insert the toothpick in the middle of the muffin all the way to the bottom. Once it comes out with no crumbs on it the muffins are ready. Use a clean toothpick every time you check.
Once the muffins are ready, take them out and let them cool before serving.
Serving
You definitely need to let these muffins cool before you touch them but that doesn’t mean you want to wait too long. Our favourite way to eat these muffins is slightly warm, cut in half with a little butter spread on each half. This makes for an extra tasty snack. The muffins are also delicious on their own, without any butter, or served with a side of yogurt and fruit for a fulsome breakfast.
Substitutions
- All purpose flour works just as well in these muffins as whole wheat flour, so use whatever you have on hand.
- Use white sugar if you don’t have brown sugar.
- You can substitute the green lentils with red lentils, though you may see these more in the muffins.
- You can substitute the chocolate chips with any other similar additions that you like (white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips – you get the idea).
Banana Muffin Recipe (with lentils)
Equipment
- Mixer
- Medium and large bowls
- Muffin tin or silicone muffin cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour can use all purpose flour
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp ground flax seeds optional
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup dried green lentils
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 banana
- ½ cup butter or coconut oil (melted)
- ¼ cup chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Cook lentils in a small pot in 1 cup of water on medium to medium-low heat until water is almost evaporated (approximately 15 minutes)1/3 cup dried green lentils
- Mix all dry ingredients (flour to flax seeds) in a bowl.2 cups whole wheat flour, ½ cup rolled oats, ½ tsp baking soda, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
- Mix all wet ingredients except lentils and butter (if you are choosing to blend the lentils).1 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs, 1 banana, ½ cup brown sugar
- Blending the lentils is optional. If you are choosing to blend, once lentils are cooked and there is just a little water left in the pot, blend with melted butter. Add blended lentils into wet ingredients mixing until evenly combined.1/3 cup dried green lentils, ½ cup butter
- If you are skipping blending the lentils, add the butter and lentils to your wet ingredients and mix to combine.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Do not overmix.
- If using chocolate chips, fold into the batter or top your muffins once the batter is in the muffin cups.¼ cup chocolate chips
- Line a muffin tin with muffin cups. If using silicone muffin cups, spray with cooking spray or brush with butter. Distribute the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. They are done once an inserted toothpick comes up clean.
- Cool before serving.
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