Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins (Vegan Gluten-Free)

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These are the best muffins to make when you want something banana bread-like, chocolatey and chai-spiced. These Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins are fluffy, moist, cakey and naturally vegan, gluten-free and come together in one bowl.

For November’s banana bread this year, I wanted to go all out and went for muffins instead so that I could add all the buttercream and my delicious Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies – the ingredients and flavours are really similar in both and together they are magic. So, whip out the muffin pan and get ready to bake these muffins – perfect with a cup of chai or coffee.

Sprinkling cinnamon onto Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins — Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

What makes these Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins so amazing?

These muffins really are delicious as they combine banana bread, fluffy muffins, lots of buttercream and delicious little cookies all in one. They are:

Light and fluffy
Rich and moreish
Cake-y and moist
Naturally vegan and gluten-free
Packed with chocolate chips
Loaded with warming chai spices
Perked up with a dash of coffee
Topped with luscious vanilla buttercream
Made in one bowl

If you are ready to make these muffins, skip ahead to the recipe card below, or let’s see the ingredients we need.

Piping buttercream onto Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins — Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins on a grey plate with a fork — Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

What ingredients go into these Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins?

The base for the muffins is very similar to my banana breads, lots of banana and other simple ingredients:

Ripe banana: the riper the better as they are much sweeter and softer, lending a moister texture. I recommend to always weigh your bananas as they vary in size so much.
Sunflower oil: or you can use melted and slightly cooled coconut oil (it’s important that it is cool so it doesn’t solidify when mixed with the other ingredients) or a light olive oil.
Light brown sugar: I really love the flavour this adds to the muffins. It’s sweet and rich but you can also use coconut sugar or golden or white caster sugar.
Plant-based milk: just a splash for the consistency. Any milk will do here like oat, almond, soya or coconut.
Vanilla essence: for the sweet flavour.
Coffee: this is what turns chai into dirty chai and the flavours work so well together. To keep these muffins chai spiced, skip the coffee and to keep these caffeine-free, opt for decaf coffee. I use ground coffee from a jar.
Plain or GF plain flour: this adds the lightness to the banana bread while keeping it moist and delicious. Choose a GF flour blend with xantham gum if avoiding gluten.
Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: for the rise.
Spices: for the chai flavour, there are a few simple store cupboard ingredients I use. I like cinnamon, ginger, clove, cardamom and nutmeg. All recipes differ slightly but this works perfectly in these Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins.
Chocolate chips: essential or the chocolate chip part of the recipe. You can definitely leave out the chocolate and just have dirty chai flavours and they’ll be just as delicious. You can use any dairy-free chocolate for this recipe and you can use chopped chocolate or chocolate chips.

Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins broken in half — Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins half eaten with a fork — Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

Now onto the buttercream:

Vegan butter: always leave your butter out for 1-2 hours in order for it to soften to make the fluffiest buttercream.
Vanilla essence: for the flavour.
Aquafaba or plant-based milk: I much prefer to use aquafaba when I remember as the texture of the buttercream so much fluffier but regular dairy-free milk will also work.
Icing sugar: a pretty key ingredient for buttercream.

To decorate these Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins, I added on some of my delicious Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies and some extra cinnamon and they are ready to go.

Are these muffins gluten-free and nut-free?

These muffins are easily gluten-free if using a gluten-free flour – all flours will vary so use the one that you prefer and make sure it has xantham gum to help bind the mix. These muffins are naturally nut-free, too, just use seed butter in the cookies for decorating (more info on the Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies post).

What is “dirty” chai?

Adding coffee to the chai blend gives it the “dirty” name but you can leave out the coffee to make these Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins or use decaf coffee, too.

Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins in a wrapper — Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

How long will these last?

Like most banana bread bakes, these muffins were a huge hit with my friends, family and neighbours so they didn’t last very long. They will keep well for 2-3 days at room temperature for 3-5 days in the fridge. Unfrosted muffins will also keep well in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Are you looking for more bakes?

If you love the sound of these Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins and are looking for more baking, banana bread recipes and muffins, how about my: