Made with a grain free flour and naturally sweetened, these tigernut flour muffins (2 ways!) are the ideal AIP breakfast treat!
I originally posted this recipe way back in 2016, but decided to give this tigernut flour recipe a refresh with some new pics, updated baking time, an additional way to make them, and push it back to the top of your feed because they are that good.
When I was first diagnosed with Celiacs, I started experimenting with GF flours. But as I transitioned to eating a paleo diet and was researching the AIP diet for autoimmune reasons, the almond flour that I had become accustomed to was not longer allowed.
And so my research led me to tigernut flour.
What is tigernut flour? And what is a tigernut?
Tigernut flour is a light, sweet, nutty flavored flour that is make from roasting and grinding tigernuts. It is naturally gluten and grain free; and it a great option for those with nut allergies as well!
Tigernuts are surprisingly not nuts; they are tubers or small root vegetables. They are native to Africa and the Mediterranean made up a significant portion of our ancestors’ paleo diets millions of years ago.
Tigernuts boast many wonderful qualities; they are high in protein, fiber, iron, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins like E and C. And because tigernuts yield a sweet flavor, it is easy to cut back on or remove sugar from baking!
Where can you buy tigernut flour?
Luckily for us, tigernut flour is becoming more mainstream. Most often you can find it in health foods stores and online! And it is also available in some Whole Foods. Just make sure to call ahead or use a store locator to make sure before you head to the store.
Some of my favorite brands can be shopped in store, or you can find them online:
- Anthony’s Goods Tigernut Flour (I shot these images with Anthony’s!)
- Organic Gemini Tigernut Flour
I based this tigernut flour muffin recipe on this recipe from My Radical Roots. With a bunch of ingredient substitutions, I fell head over heals in love with this flour.
Let’s take a look at what makes these tigernut flour muffins so fab:
- Tigernut flour makes these gluten free, grain free, paleo, and AIP.
- All natural sweeteners – banana or applesauce!
- Added zucchini or blueberries to sneak in some extra nutrients.
- Topped with the BEST grain free paleo granola
You are seriously going to love these! And if you are looking for other healthy muffins recipes, make sure to check out my Apple Cinnamon Protein Muffins (one of my most viewed recipes!), Dark Chocolate Zucchini Muffins, and one of the first ever recipes on HBN Banana and Oat Flour Muffins.
Tell me: Have you ever heard of tigernuts?
Make these Tigernut Flour Muffins, post a picture on social media and use the hashtag #imhungrybynature for a chance to be featured!
Print
Tigernut Flour Muffins – 2 Ways (AIP)
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 muffins 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
Description
Made with a grain free flour and naturally sweetened, these tigernut flour muffins (2 ways!) are the ideal AIP breakfast treat!
Ingredients
For zucchini muffins:
- 1 cup Tigernut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 small very ripe banana, mashed (about 1/3 cup)
- 1 egg*
- 1/4 cup grass-fed ghee, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- Topping: paleo grain free granola*
For blueberry muffins:
- 1 cup Tigernut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg*
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 oz blueberries
Instructions
For zucchini muffins:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together tigernut flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a small bowl whisk together mashed banana. egg, ghee, and vanilla extract.
- Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until combined.
- Using a paper towel, wring extra water of of the zucchini and fold it in to the mixture.
- Evenly distribute between 6 muffin tins and top with paleo grain free granola.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then place tin foil over the tops of the muffins to keep from browning any further and bake for another 8-10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For blueberry muffins:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together tigernut flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a small bowl whisk together applesauce. egg, coconut oil, honey and vanilla extract.
- Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until combined.
- Fold in blueberries.
- Evenly distribute between 6 muffin tins and top with a few extra blueberries.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then place tin foil over the tops of the muffins to keep from browning any further and bake for another 8-10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
This recipe was updated in June 2019 to reflect changes in bake time and ingredient substitutions.
*Substitute a gelatin egg if following AIP. – https://thecuriouscoconut.com/blog/how-to-use-gelatin-as-a-gut-friendly-egg-replacer
*Omit if following AIP.
Keywords: muffin, tigernut flour, zucchini, granola
Don’t forget to pin this for later!
Get your copy of One Bite Might Kill Me
Get my top 3 tried and true ways I deal with friends and family who question my food choices and recipes you can bring to the table that everyone will love!
Can you tell me where to buy tigernut flour in the Chicago area (preferably northern suburbs)?
Thank you.
Hi Ellen! You can find it as some Whole Foods locations… their website has it listed at the Rand Road location, Waukegan Road in Deerfield and a few others. But I just buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2sKfeR8 !!
Wow Tigernut sounds like a really cool flour. It’s so neat that God made so many different foods out of which we can make different baking flours, and so many of them actually work really well for baking. 🙂 These are beautiful muffins Ellie!
It sounds like you had a great 4th. Relaxing is always wonderful.
It totally is! And it is so awesome that we have found ways to eat baked goods even when the traditional way doesn’t work well with our bodies 🙂
Thanks for your response Ellie.
Ellen
of course!
To be honest I have never heard of Tigernuts before but I will check my local Whole Foods and see if they have some.
Hi Jenny! I am not sure if Whole Foods sells it but I bought mine through Swanson’s (https://www.swansonvitamins.com/) and you can also find it on Amazon (http://amzn.to/2txZhbY). Let me know if you try it!
Eggs, ghee, and tree nut topping are not Autoimmune Paleo (AIP)
Thanks Lyndzie! I have updated the recipe with AIP swaps – a gelatin ‘egg’ in place of the egg and the direction to omit the granola if following AIP. From all of the research I have done, grass-fed ghee appears to be approved for the AIP diet because all of the milk proteins have been removed, leaving behind only the healthy fat. Is that not correct?
https://www.thepaleomom.com/start-here/the-autoimmune-protocol/
Thanks! So to my understanding, grass-fed ghee is a gray area… I would suggest that if you are following the AIP and have begun reintroductions, test out ghee for yourself and see if it works for you! Are you following the AIP diet? If so, are their certain baked goods or other items that you would like to me to recreate using allowed ingredients?
Ellie, major props to you for being so humble about not knowing all of the ins and outs of AIP! You are correct that ghee is “allowed” on the AIP diet, it is a part of the reintroduction phase, not the elimination phase. This recipe looks great and I’m hoping to try it out tonight or tomorrow morning! I’ll try to remember to update with how it went! 🙂
Thank you Kara! And YES – please let me know how it went for you!! 🙂
Recipe tested and handwritten down for future reference! I’d call that a win! I did make a few adjustments to mine. Subbed baking powder for a baking soda/ cream of tartar mix. Used coconut oil in place of ghee. And instead of using the zucchini, I actually used 4 Tbsp of full fat coconut milk for the added moisture I thought I would be missing out on by omitting the zucchini. Thanks for the inspiration! This was my first time using the tiger nut flour and I’m not sure why I haven’t been using it sooner!?!
You. Are. AMAZING! Thanks so much Kara! I’m so happy I was able to introduce you to a new and AIP-approved flour!
Hi, I am allergic to banana, any suggestions as to what to use as a replacement would applesauce suffice? I will be using an egg replacer from Nameste Brand instead of egg! The muffins look delicious, can’t wait to make them!
Hi M.J! I think applesauce would work great in place of the banana here – I would suggest 1/3 to start and see how wet the mixture looks and if it needs more moisture, add up to 1/2 cup. I’ve never used Namaste – let me know how they turn out!!
Hi…I made these today…and they are delicious!!! However, I did have to make a couple substitutions because of my allergies…I cannot eat bananas either so I swapped the banana with 1/3 c. white mashed sweet potato…and that worked great! I also cannot have baking powder or cream of tarter so I increased the soda to 3/4 teaspoon and added 1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid powder (vitamin C), to activate the soda. Worked beautifully. Will post my photo on Pinterest.
★★★★★
Thank you so much Sheryl. I am so glad the substitutions worked out for you and I LOVE the idea of mashed sweet potato – I’m definitely trying that next time!
so I made the chocolate version half of them as the recipe except added an extra egg and 1 banana between the 2 batches the other batch I used monk fruit sugar about 2 tablespoons instead of syrup. and extra stevia chips. they came out great but they could of used more cocoa powder I forgot to put 2 tablespoons but could have used 3 each batch I did min muffins and with the added egg and banana needed more time in the oven like 25 minutes. THese alternative flours you cant put enough moisture and fat..i didn’t freeze the zucchini or banana but I would like to try that… so to put these babies over the top I made cream cheese butter 100 fruit strawberry preserve and about 6 strawberrys monkfruit 1 teaspoon vanilla and salt as a divine frosting put in fridge or freezer to harden the frosting a bit 5 to 10 minutes…soooo good!!!
Oh now I need to try a chocolate version! Thanks for sharing your swaps!
so happy to see something finally rise in the oven!!!
AGREED GIRL!
The flavor of these is AMAZING! Just like a banana nut muffin. However, while the top was nice and crusty, the inside was mushy. I left them in longer, but I had to eventually take them out so as not to burn. I’m generally really good at baking, but AIP baking is new territory for me. Also, I live at 9,000 ft. Any thoughts on why this happened?
★★★★★
Hi Dorothy! That is so strange… I have made these a dozen times with no issue. I did a little research on high altitude baking (https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html) – according to this, try increasing the baking temp by 25 degrees, increase the flour by 1/4 cup and decrease the baking time slightly. Let me know if you give them another try and how they turn out!
So I tried again with extra flour and a higher temperature. I still had to cook them longer, and again, I took them out so they wouldn’t burn. They were still just slightly mushy on the inside, but much better than last time. Progress! I did not modify any other ingredients, so they weren’t as sweet or cinnamony as before. I will definitely try these again and increase maple syrup and cinnamon along with the flour. I am determined to make this recipe work because my non-AIP friends think they’re delicious!
★★★★★
Wow Dorothy – I am so impressed! Keep me posted :)))
I tried the recipe today. While the flavor was fab, they just would not cook through. After 30 minutes, had to pull them as they were starting to burn. Thoughts?
That is odd! I’m made these dozens of times with no issue… it might have been the banana. I used a small banana in mine – which yielded about 1/4 cup mashed banana. You could also swap out the banana for 1/4 cup nut butter. Let me know if you try either of those substitutions!
Thank you for the recipe. How would you sub Baking Powder on AIP?
I would use this recipe! http://asquirrelinthekitchen.com/homemade-baking-powder-paleo-aip-aluminum-free-corn-free/
I loved the taste! It actually tasted like there was sugar and I did not add anything other than the apple sauce and the berries. I saw others with my issue as well. They were mushy inside. I used a gelatin egg since I cannot have eggs. I had to add a little more apple sauce and coconut oil because the mixture did not even have enough moisture to mix the flour. If anyone has any ideas on this I would love to hear. Maybe next time I will just add less flour. Either way I am going to make them again because they are delicious.
Let me know what you try next time and I’ll test them again too!
ok this time it was absolutely perfect! Perfect sweetness without adding any sweeteners. I used 1/4 coconut flour which really absorbs the moisture. I also added more coconut oil and applesauce, (not sure how much, I just added until it was more manageable and batter like) since the coconut four dried everything up to crumbles. I did add a real egg though which may have made a difference. Next time I will try with the 3:1 tigernut: coconut flour ratio and a geletin egg. Will also try to measure how much extra oil and applesauce I add. This will definitely become part of my regular cooking. I have not had any “legal” baked good in over a year.
YES! Thanks for keeping me updated on this Pauline. I am thrilled that it is working for you 🙂
Was really looking forward to this recipe. But they turned out mushy inside. I live in California, not high altitude, and had to cook for 30 min as well but had to take them out so they wouldn’t burn. But they were still mushy inside. Any suggestions?
Thank you for letting me know Marienne! I have two suggestions – the first would be to cover the muffins with tin foil as they get brown. This will keep them from browning/burning while you continue to cook. The second option would be to lower the temerature 25 degrees and increase cooking time to 23-28 minutes. Let me know if either of those do the trick!
I made these! While delicious, and I followed all instructions exactly (I’m a baker and cook), they took 30-40 minutes to bake and are still raw on the inside. Might want to update the bake time or temp, unless I did something wrong or misunderstood? Otherwise, wonderful mix of flavors. Love!! Will subscribe to this site and try other recipes. 🙂
Thanks for letting me know Heather – I’ve had a few others tell me they took longer to bake, but that was due to altitude. Where do you live? I will make these again soon and let you know what I find.
I am having the same problem. I live on an island at sea level, so it is not the altitude. Was wondering if I should have drained the water out of the zucchini first. I will try a smaller banana next time or try applesauce. Delicious anyway.
Hi Victoria. Thanks for letting me know. I do drain by zucchini, or ‘wring it out’ it paper towels to remove excess moisture. I also used one small banana that mashed down to about 1/3 cup. I’ll update the recipe to include both of those items! Let me know if you give them another go. But I am happy to hear you enjoyed the flavor!
Could you just omit the egg altogether and use a bit more ghee or oil?
Hi Jessie! I have not tried that, but I doubt it. The egg works as a binder and oil doesn’t necessarily act in the same way. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out!
Hi
Are you able to give a weight measurement on the tigernut flour?
Hi Theresa. I personally did not weigh the amount I used in this recipe, but I would stick with 1/4 cup = 30 grams, therefore 1 cup = 120 grams. Let me know if you make the recipe using this measurement and how it turns out!
I made these and added a bit of chopped macadamia (reintro) and replaced half of the courgettes with apples. They turned out super nice. I then frosted with a mix of palm shortening, some honey and cinnamon and agar agar. It was amazing.
The only thing is: your cupcakes seem like they rose, whereas mine just stayed flat. Do you know why that would be the case?
Yum Katharina – that sounds fantastic! I am not sure why that would be the case… is there anything else that you changed in the recipe? Any change to the baking powder/soda?
No, I did not change anything else. So strange… although, I did replace the baking powder with cream of tartar and baking soda. But I think that should be fine as it works in other recipes?
That is strange – I don’t know why that wouldn’t work as a replacement as normal. The only other thing I can think of is your location – elevation tends to cause baked goods to rise differently. Where do you live?
I made these muffins for breakfast today, and I must say they are THE BEST baked good I have made in my 3 years of following an AIP diet!! I have reintroduced several foods–ghee, eggs, nuts–so I have a bit more flexibility than others. I did make two substitutions: I used half tigernut flour and half green banana flour, only because I was running low on tigernut. Also, I did not put the granola on top, just some crushed walnuts. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly (measured 1/3 cup banana, measured the zucchini first before draining it, baked for 18 minutes) and they turned out great. I am so happy with this recipe, you just don’t understand! While I may attempt some flavor variations in the future (sub applesauce for banana, add some Enjoy Life chocolate chips, maybe try pumpkin), this recipe is a keeper AS IS. Thank you for sharing it with us.
That makes me SO HAPPY Lee! I am thrilled that you love the recipe and I need to try it with green banana flour because I have that in my pantry right now!! Keep me posted with the other swaps and how they turn out 🙂 xoxo
Just made them! Absolutely scrumptious! Could have had them all in one go … Had to restrain myself!
★★★★★
YAYAYAYYYAAYAYY. Best comment ever 🙂
These are the first AIP muffins I’ve made that actually taste and look like muffins! YAY! I doubled the recipe, used half tigernut flour, half green banana flour, coconut oil instead of ghee and gelatin eggs. I topped with chopped pecans since I’m okay with nuts. Delicious! Thank you for the great recipe!
★★★★★
I cannot even tell you how much this comment means to me – thank you Susan! And I love the swaps 🙂 thanks for sharing!!
I also had great success!!! I made this like banana bread in a loaf pan. I am so happy you posted your recipe it gave me a great base to make one perfect for me. Many Thanks.
I made the following adjustments: (I am AIP but can have eggs)
Replaced Ghee with Coconut Oil
Added total of two bananas
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
Replaced Zucchini with Shredded Coconut
Added two eggs instead of one
No Granola but I made an icing for the top out of Coconut manna mixed with Raw Honey that I added after it cooled.
Cooked longer not sure how long exactly as I turned over off by mistake. Cooked 350 for 40 mins or so.
Thanks for sharing your swaps with me Katie – this sounds great!!
I can’t get to the store to get cupcake liners (COVID-19 time…) so I’m wondering if I can bake these in my non-stick muffin tin. Do you think I should ‘grease’ the tin with coconut butter lightly?
Yes, totally! Use a non-stick pan and spray them with some sort of oil. Let me know how they turn out!
Made the zucchini ones tonight with a couple swaps and omissions. Tasty.
FYI – Baking powder is not AIP due to it containing cornstarch. Cream of tartar or arrowroot would be more appropriate.
★★★★
Thanks Monique – I’ll make sure to swap that out next time!
What is the frosting?
Delicious! I made them both ways… kind of.
Batch 1 was mostly the same as the recipe, but I topped it with a mix of chopped macadamias and unsweetened coconut flakes mixed with a tiny bit of agave. I didn’t put them on top until half way through the baking which turned out perfect so they didn’t burn.
Batch 2 I followed the recipe except used ghee, and instead of blueberries, I added carob chips and freeze dried strawberries. It was valentines day so I wanted chocolate covered strawberries 🙂 This version baked a little faster so I may take them out a few minutes sooner next time.
Both batches cooked through completely in the recipe time (I’m in Seattle at a little bit of altitude). I did wring the zucchini out really well and I think the omission of coconut oil helped.
Thanks for introducing me to tigernut flour. It’s very tasty!
★★★★★