These soft banana chocolate chip cookies taste like mini banana bread bites! Made without grains and loaded with chocolatey goodness, they’re perfect for satisfying your sweet cravings.
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Gluten free and grain free banana cookies!
Henry, my other half, has been nudging me for eons to whip up a banana dessert, and I’ve been playfully holding out—until a lone, ripe banana on our kitchen counter spurred me into action. As someone who grew up in a house where every grain of rice was sacred, tossing food out is a big no-no. So, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.
After a few fun-filled rounds of tweaking and tasting (Henry was all in for this part), I landed on a banana cookie recipe that’s simply irresistible. These cookies are a snap to make and taste like little banana muffin tops—bursting with cinnamon, crunchy nuts, and melty chocolate chips. They’re soft, slightly chewy, and yes, they’re paleo-friendly too.
Tips on making the best banana cookies
- Don’t substitute ingredients! Baking, especially grain-free baking, is like a science experiment—so ingredients can’t be substituted willy nilly. So before you ask: I haven’t the faintest idea how this recipe will work with different flours, nor have I tested any substitutes for the eggs or sweetener. If you try a substitution and it works out great, please leave a note in the comments so everyone can benefit from your baking prowess!
- Use a scale to measure the dry ingredients! The most precise way to measure dry ingredients for a baking recipe is to use an accurate kitchen scale—there’s just too much variability when you rely on measuring cups to portion out ingredients for baking. That’s why I always include gram measurements in my recipe cards for baked goods—just hit the metric button in my recipe card below to convert to grams!
Ingredients
- Ripe banana: Use a brown and speckled large ripe banana for this recipe so it will add lots of banana flavor and sweetness. After you mash it up, measure out half a cup of mashed banana for the recipe.
- Super fine blanched almond flour: To keep these cookies gluten-free, I substitute all-purpose flour with a combination of almond flour and tapioca flour. My favorite brand of almond flour is the Kirkland Signature brand blanched almond flour from Costco. (I haven’t tried a nut-free alternative. I have a feeling sunflower seed flour might work, but the cookies might turn green due to a reaction with baking soda! Oats might work but I haven’t tried it!)
- Tapioca flour: You can substitute arrowroot powder if you don’t have any tapioca flour.
- Refined coconut oil: In place of butter, I use melted room temperature refined coconut oil as the fat in this recipe. Make sure to choose unrefined coconut oil so it doesn’t taste too coconut-y. If you tolerate ghee, you can use it in this recipe.
- Egg: The egg helps with the structure of the cookie. I don’t know if you can replace it with something else!
- Coconut sugar: I like to use blonde coconut sugar in this recipe because it adds caramel notes, similar to brown sugar. Maple sugar also works! If you opt to use honey or maple syrup you’ll have to adjust the other liquid ingredients to make sure the cookies don’t spread too much.
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon: I like the simplicity of just adding ground cinnamon but feel free to add a little nutmeg or cardamom if you want to spice things up!
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt: A pinch of salt always helps balance out the flavors in desserts!
- Vanilla extract
- Toasted pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped: Optional, but the toasted nuts really make these cookies taste like banana bread!
- Dark chocolate chips: Also optional, but dark chocolate makes everything taste better. My favorite paleo-friendly chocolate chips are the coconut sugar sweetened ones from Guittard.
How to make banana cookies
In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
Combine the coconut oil and coconut sugar in a large bowl. Use a hand mixer to cream the fat and sugar until lightened in color on medium high speed, about 2 minutes.
Add the banana, egg, and vanilla and blend until combined.
Pour in the flour blend (dry ingredients)…
…and mix on low until combined.
Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips, if using.
Chill the cookie dough in the fridge in a covered bowl or container for at least 30 minutes and up to a day so the dough is stiffer and easier to work with.
When you’re ready to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle. Then, line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a medium cookie scoop, portion out 1½ tablespoons of the chilled batter and evenly space out 12 balls on each lined baking sheet.
Pop a tray in the oven and bake for 9 to 11 minutes…
…or the edges are golden brown. Repeat the baking process with the second baking sheet of cookies.
Use a small offset spatula to transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
Cool the cookies on the wire racks for at least 10 minutes so the cookies hold their shape and the chocolate is still gooey.
Then, dig in!
How to store banana cookies
You can store the baked and cooled cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You can also keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the cookies overnight and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds on high to heat them through or toss them in the air fryer for 2 to 3 minutes at 350°F or until heated through.
More healthy cookie recipes
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
Soft Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies: Paleo & Grain-Free Recipe
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups finely ground almond flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ cup refined coconut oil melted and cooled to room temperature
- ½ cup coconut sugar Blonde coconut sugar will make the cookies less dark. Maple sugar also works.
- ½ cup mashed ripe banana
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped. Walnuts also work.
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, tapioca starch/flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Combine the coconut oil and coconut sugar in a large bowl. Use a hand mixer to cream the fat and sugar until lightened in color on medium high speed, about 2 minutes.
- Add the banana, egg, and vanilla and blend until combined.
- Pour in the flour blend (dry ingredients) and mix on low until combined. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips, if using.
- Chill the cookie dough in the fridge in a covered bowl or container for at least 30 minutes and up to a day so the dough is stiffer and easier to work with.
- When you’re ready to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle. Then, line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, portion out 1½ tablespoons of the chilled batter and evenly space out 12 balls on each lined baking sheet. You should end up with 24 cookies.
- Pop a tray in the oven and bake for 9 to 11 minutes or the edges are golden brown. Repeat the process with the second baking sheet of cookies.
- Use a small offset spatula to transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Cool the cookies on the wire racks for at least 10 minutes so the cookies hold their shape and the chocolate is still gooey. Dig in!
Video
Notes
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS
You can store the baked and cooled cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You can also keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the cookies overnight and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds on high to heat them through or toss them in the air fryer for 2 to 3 minutes at 350°F or until heated through.TIPS ON MAKING THE BEST BANANA COOKIES
- Don’t substitute ingredients! Baking, especially grain-free baking, is like a science experiment—so ingredients can’t be substituted willy nilly. So before you ask: I haven’t the faintest idea how this recipe will work with different flours, nor have I tested any substitutes for the eggs or sweetener. If you try a substitution and it works out great, please leave a note in the comments so everyone can benefit from your baking prowess!
- Use a scale to measure the dry ingredients! The most precise way to measure dry ingredients for a baking recipe is to use an accurate kitchen scale—there’s just too much variability when you rely on measuring cups to portion out ingredients for baking. That’s why I always include gram measurements in my recipe cards for baked goods—just hit the metric button above to convert to grams!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This looks delicious. One thing in the recipe is confusing. It says, “Refined coconut oil: In place of butter, I use melted room temperature refined coconut oil as the fat in this recipe. Make sure to choose unrefined coconut oil so it doesn’t taste too coconut-y…” The first sentence says to use refined oil while the second sentence says to use unrefined oil. Which is it? Thanks for all your yummy recipes!
Yummy! I made these substituting butter for the coconut oil and they came out great!
What can be substituted for the almond flour? Tree nut and peanut allergies here! Thank you!
I haven’t tried a nut-free alternative. I have a feeling sunflower seed flour might work, but the cookies might turn green due to a reaction with baking soda! Oats might work but I haven’t tried it!
I made this recipe with a substitute of brown sugar in place of coconut sugar. Turned out great!
These are the bomb I love them and so does my husband
Learn from my mistake – do NOT substitute the almond flour with coconut flour! The dough was super crumbly and needed a lot more liquid. I tried to just bake it as-is in a 9×13″ pan as cookie bars instead of guessing on the liquid content to get them to hold their shape as cookies. It looks, smells, and tastes pretty good, but it’s soooooo dry, basically like eating powder, lol. So follow the recipe as written and I’m sure it would be a winner! I’m chalking this up to a failed attempt because of my dumb substitution (didn’t see the note about this at the end until *after* I made the dough, whoops!), but will get some almond flour and try again next time I have bananas getting brown on the countertop!
Served these at family dinner night! Loved by all ❤️
These cookies are so delicious and easy to make and satisfy a sweet craving😊😎👌