These chocolate chip & banana mochi brownies are simply amazing! Rich, Fudgy and loaded with Chocolate Chips, these make perfect snacks for anyone who loves the chewy, toothsome bite of a traditional mochi but looking for something different. It’s also gluten-free, dairy-free and made with good-for-you ingredients such as bananas and almond butter. Treat yourself and your family to something new and unbelievably tasty!
I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have sweet rice or glutinous rice flour at home. It’s a staple and a key ingredient for making traditional Korean desserts—I probably ate mochi as much as most of my friends ate cinnamon rolls growing up.
That’s why it seems perfectly natural that I’d try to find ways to make mochi using healthier ingredients. While almond butter, bananas and chocolate doesn’t traditionally belong to a mochi recipe, these ingredients actually DO work in making a delicious, healthy snack that has what makes mochi seem like “mochi,” its chewy texture!
It’s also
- Gluten-free / Grain free
- Dairy-Free
- Chocolatey
- Made in One Bowl
- Secretly Healthy
Can you tell why I’m so excited about sharing this recipe???
Ingredients used to make this
**I’ve linked some of these ingredients to amazon.com to give you an idea of what they are, but you should also be able to find them in your local grocery store (usually, the natural & organic food section). They are also affiliate links, which means that I earn a commission as an Amazon Associate if you decide to purchase the items. The price will be the same for you, link or no link 🙂
- Glutinous Rice Flour – this goes by many names. You’ll see Glutinous Rice Flour and Mochiko Flour (my favorite) in Asian grocery stores, and Sweet White Rice Flour in most other stores. ***Please note that regular white rice flour or brown rice flour is NOT the same thing as glutinous rice flour!!!
- Almond Butter – like this one. You can also use other natural nut butters like pecan butter, walnut butter, cashew butter, mixed nut butter, or even seed butter like sunflower. So many choices!
- Eggs – I used regular large eggs. I haven’t tried using egg replacements like flax or chia yet, so you might not get the same results if you decide to substitute.
- Salt – Pink Himalayan salt is what I have at home, so it’s what I use, but you can use any kind for this recipe.
- Coconut Sugar – You can use any granulated sugar of your choice, but coconut, date and maple sugars are less processed sugars I would recommend. Honey and maple syrup should also work, but I have not yet tried. For keto options, you could also use stevia (but be sure to convert according to package instructions).
- Bananas- Ripe and mashed with a fork
- Olive Oil – Instead of olive oil, you can use coconut oil, or avocado oil here if you’d like.
For the Add-Ins I used
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips – Like these chocolate chips
- Cocoa Powder – regular cocoa powder or dark
Recipe Variations and Optional Add Ins:
- The mashed banana can be substituted with applesauce, mashed sweet potatoes or pumpkin puree! See my recipe note for more ideas **
- Coffee Mochi Brownies: Add either a teaspoon of coffee extract or espresso powder into the batter.
- Add natural flavoring / extracts. Feel free to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract (I didn’t feel like it was essential so I left it out in this recipe), or other flavorings or extracts, such as such as caramel flavoring, hazelnut extract or almond extract.
- Pecan Brownies / Walnut Brownies / Sunflower Seed Brownies: Instead of almond butter you can also use pecan butter, walnut butter, cashew butter, mixed nut butter, or seed butter like sunflower or pumpkin seed butter.
- You can also bake this in a muffin pan instead of a cake pan.
Can You Make this Mochi Nut-Free and without Almond Butter?
You can! I used almond butter in this recipe because I wanted to boost the nutrition of mochi (because usually they’re high carb, no fiber). If you don’t have almond flour at home, you can use equal amounts of peanut butter, nutella, or omit completely. The results are slightly different but not that noticeable.
How to Make this Healthier
- Increase fiber: Add a Tablespoon of ground flaxseed or coconut flour.
- Add a handful of nuts, seeds and old-fashioned oats to add texture and nutrition to the cake.
- Reduce sugar: You can also reduce the sugar by half (to make this less sweet), or replace it altogether with a sugar-free substitute.
What are some ways you can eat these?
- Plain and warm
- With a scoop of vanilla icecream on top! Yum 🙂
- Frosted with my 2-Ingredient Almond Butter Frosting , or this Healthy Powdered Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting
- Drizzled with honey, maple syrup, caramel or chocolate syrup
- Dusted with powdered sugar or sugar-free powdered sugar. Just make sure you use a sieve to sift the sugar on top!
How to Store
- You can store this mochi covered at room temperature for up to 24 hours. For longer storage, I would freeze the slices in a plastic freezer storage bag or an airtight container, then defrost them at room temperature or microwave before eating.
- The reason I don’t recommend storing them in the fridge is that mochi (most rice flours) tend to develop a weird waxy, hard texture when stored in the fridge. A bit like how cold, refrigerated rice tastes like?
Final Tips
- Be sure to use a microwave-safe bowl (preferably glass, like this one) when melting the almond butter.
- Baking time (as well as serving size) will vary based on the size of your cake pan, and the material (silicone vs metal) of the pan. Bake the mochi until the color is golden-brown on the top, or until a toothpick comes out clean/dry when poked into the middle.
You Might Also Like these Mochi Recipes
Chocolate Chip & Banana Mochi Brownies (Easy, Simple and Delicious!)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mochiko or glutinous rice flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar of choice*
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 small banana (75g) or other purees (see note**)
- 1/4 cup almond butter (64g) or peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix mochiko flour, sugar, salt and cocoa powder together in a bowl
- Then add the wet ingredients (egg, almond butter and mashed banana) into the bowl
- Stir the ingredients together until well incorporated and the batter is smooth.
- Add the chocolate chips
- Pour batter into a well-greased loaf or small cake pan ***
- Bake 350F for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Notes
Nutrition
Made this and it was a family favorite! Didn’t taste as good the next day though
I know what you mean. It’s best on the day it’s made, and after that it’s best when heated / toasted / microwaved.
It was great and I love how healthy it is. It tasted great with walnuts 😸
Thanks Kat!
How many servings?
just updated the recipe card! The recipe makes 6 servings