These gluten-free orange gingerbread muffins combine the warm flavors of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg with fragrant orange zest and crunchy pecans. Made with teff and tigernut flour, green bananas, eggs, and extra virgin olive oil, they have a soft, moist texture and just enough sweetness for a comforting cold-weather treat. They are also lectin-free and made without added sugar.
What you’ll need
The recipe has four main components: a blended wet mixture, a homemade gingerbread spice blend, the gluten-free flour mixture, and chopped pecans.
The gluten-free flour mixture
For these muffins, I use a combination of teff flour and tigernut flour, with a small amount of tapioca flour to create a lighter texture.
Teff has an earthy, slightly nutty flavor that works especially well with warming spices. Tigernut flour adds natural sweetness, while tapioca helps soften and bind the crumb.
The flour combination was inspired by another favorite recipe, my Teff Flour Banana Muffins with Blueberries. If you are curious about baking with teff, you can also read my guide, Discover Teff: Easy Starter Guide and Recipe Ideas.
The wet ingredients
Green, unripe bananas provide structure and moisture without giving the muffins a strong banana flavor. They are blended with eggs, extra virgin olive oil, sweetener, vanilla, orange zest, and a small amount of licorice root powder until smooth and creamy.
This creates a silky mixture that is easy to incorporate into the dry ingredients and helps give the muffins their soft texture.
The gingerbread spices
My gingerbread spice mixture includes: cinnamon, allspice, ground cloves, ginger, and nutmeg.
The cloves are especially noticeable in this combination, while the orange zest keeps the muffins fragrant and bright. If you prefer a stronger ginger flavor, you can slightly adjust the balance of the spices in future batches or use a favorite gingerbread or my Holiday Warming Spice Blend.
Licorice root powder
Licorice root powder is the unexpected ingredient in these muffins. It doesn’t taste like licorice candy; in this small quantity, it adds subtle sweetness and another layer of warm flavor.
If you don’t have licorice root powder, you can leave it out. The muffins will still be flavorful, but it is worth trying if you already keep it in your spice collection.
How to make orange gingerbread muffins
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line 6 cups of a muffin pan with paper liners.
Add the green bananas, eggs, extra virgin olive oil, inulin powder, vanilla, licorice root powder, orange zest, salt, and spices to a blender. Blend until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy, with no visible pieces of banana remaining.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the teff flour, tigernut flour, tapioca flour, and baking powder. Stir well to distribute the baking powder evenly.
Pour the blended wet mixture over the dry ingredients and gently combine with a spatula until no dry flour remains, being careful not to overmix.
Add the chopped pecans and fold them evenly into the batter.
Divide the batter evenly among the 6 prepared muffin cups, filling each liner all the way to the top. Sprinkle with a few additional chopped pecans, or place one pecan on top and slightly push it in.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and feel firm when lightly touched. To make sure they are fully baked, insert a toothpick into the center of one muffin; it should come out clean.
Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing them. If desired, dust with powdered inulin or another powdered sweetener before serving.
More muffin recipes
- Healthy Sweet Potato Muffins (No Added Sugar, Gluten-Free)
- Protein-Packed Egg Muffins (Quick and Healthy Breakfast)
- Sweet Potato Breakfast Muffins
- Gluten-Free Orange Cranberry Muffins
- Ginger and Turmeric Sweet Potato Muffins
- Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Enjoy! And let me know if you make my orange gingerbread muffins. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment.
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Gluten-Free Orange Gingerbread Muffins
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 large muffins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten-Free
Description
These orange gingerbread muffins made with teff and tigernut flour are the perfect cold-weather treat. They smell and taste like holidays and are soft and light and super easy to make. If you need a warm, comforting and grounding treat that is also lectin-free, gluten-free and sugar-free, you have to try these orange gingerbread muffins. You won’t be disappointed.
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 2 medium green bananas
- 2 large pasture-raised eggs
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2–4 tablespoons allulose powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder
- 1/4 teaspoon licorice root powder
- Zest of 2 organic oranges
- Pinch of salt
Spice mixture
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dry ingredients
- 1/2 cup teff flour
- 1/4 cup tigernut flour
- 3 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Add-in
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line 6 cups of a muffin pan with paper liners.
- Add the green bananas, eggs, extra virgin olive oil, sweetener, vanilla, licorice root powder, orange zest, salt, and spices to a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the teff flour, tigernut flour, tapioca flour, and baking powder.
- Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and combine gently with a spatula. Do not overmix.
- Fold the chopped pecans into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly among the 6 muffin liners, filling each one to the top of the liner. Sprinkle additional chopped pecans on top.
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown, feel firm when lightly touched, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing them. If desired, dust with powdered inulin or another powdered sweetener before serving.
Notes
The licorice root powder contributes subtle sweetness and warmth but can be omitted.
These muffins are only lightly sweet with 2 tablespoons of allulose. Add more sweetener if you prefer.
The muffins can be frozen for longer storage.
8 Comments
Alene
June 23, 2026 at 9:49 pmDo you have a suggestion for a replacement for the bananas. My household has a banana allergy.
Claudia
June 24, 2026 at 3:56 amBaked sweet potato or pumpkin should work. Maybe you have to slightly tweak some things, but they usually lend a similar structure and texture to baked goods. Taste will be different, too. -Claudia
Carol Granger
October 13, 2024 at 10:59 amIs there a a substitute for the teff flour? I have tiger nut but no teff flour.
Claudia
October 14, 2024 at 7:11 amHi Carol! Teff flour is quite special: flavor wise and it is also very absorbant, compared to other flours. So while I’m sure you can create a lectin-free flour mix for these muffins, I can’t say for sure how much you would need to replace the teff flour, unless I try it. Why don’t you search ‘muffins’ using the search bar, I have a lot of great muffin recipes and none are made with teff flour. I hope this helps. -Claudia
Elaine
October 27, 2022 at 6:59 amCan I substitute coconut oil for the olive oil? Made these as directed and they’re delicious.
Claudia
October 27, 2022 at 10:00 amThank you so much, Elaine; so happy you loved them. I’m not sure about coconut oil. Since it’s an oil that gets solid when cold, I think it would make these muffins too dry when cold. And they are already on the drier side. I’m not 100%, though. Avocado oil would work too.
Subhi Alan
October 14, 2022 at 6:53 pmClaudia, another amazing LF and delicious recipe. Thank you so much! A question re green bananas: whats the conversion to green banana flour for when the fruit is not available?
Claudia
October 16, 2022 at 7:22 amHi Subhi, thank you so much; so happy you loved this recipe. Unfortunately, we can’t replace bananas with banana flour. That would require entirely different ingredients. Think of all the wet, creamy volume blended bananas give, nothing can simply replace that. I hope this helps. xx