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These spinach muffins are an easy and delicious way to incorporate greens into your family’s diet. They’re fluffy, moist, and suitable for babies and kids of all ages!
Hello Green Monster Muffins!
My kids love it when I call them hulk muffins, monster muffins, or dinosaur muffins (it’s the little things). They are soft and easy for little ones to eat, just like these spinach cakes!
Made with simple ingredients, these bright green spinach muffins are naturally sweetened with banana and contain healthy doses of protein, fiber, and fat.
Enjoy for a quick and easy breakfast, snack, or pack for school lunch box.
Healthy Baby and Toddler Muffins ALL in one place!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
I am highlighting just the ones that need further explanation. The complete list is in the recipe card below.
- Fresh baby spinach – Mild in flavor, it’s perfect for muffins and green smoothies. I don’t recommend using frozen spinach. Not only will the muffins not be this vibrant in color, but they will also turn out too soft.
- Banana – be sure to use very ripe banana with many brown spots
- Greek yogurt – use plain and preferably whole fat for best results. If dairy-free, you can use any Greek-style plant-based alternative.
- Eggs – use room temperature for best results
- White whole wheat flour – It’s the same nutritionally as whole wheat flour but is lighter in texture and a little sweeter in flavor. It’s a great way to incorporate whole grains into your child’s diet.
Substitutions
- No white whole wheat flour? You can use All purpose flour or a combination of 1 cup all purpose flour and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour. I don’t recommend substituting entirely with whole wheat flour as the muffins will turn out more dense
- Gluten-free? Use a 1:1 gluten free flour or oat flour. Almond flour will not work.
- Don’t like bananas? Try using unsweetened applesauce. The general rule is 1/2 cup applesauce to replace 1 medium banana. let me know if you try it!
How to Make Spinach Muffins
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
Step 2: Add all the wet ingredients into a food processor or blender and process until smooth.
Step 3: Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
Step 4: Stir until just combined. At this point you can stir in the optional sweet potatoes or carrots.
Step 5: Divide batter evenly into the muffin cups.
Step 6: Bake until the inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooking rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips
- Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup rather than scooping the flour out of the container or bag with your measuring cup. Using the latter method, you could end up with a lot more than what you need.
- Take eggs and yogurt out of the refrigerator at least 15 minutes prior to baking. This will help the muffins rise more.
- Use over ripe bananas – Your muffins will turn out sweeter and moister.
- After combining the dry and wet ingredients, do NOT over-mix the muffin batter. Mix lightly with a spatula until just combined. Otherwise, you will end up with dense muffins.
Vegan Spinach Muffins
You can use flax eggs. In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal (ground flaxseed) and 6 tablespoons of warm water. Allow the mixture to sit for 8-10 minutes until thickened like gel-like consistency.
As for the yogurt and milk, any plant-based Greek style yogurt and milk (e.g. unsweetened almond milk) will work.
Equipment
I highly recommend using a silicone muffin pan! It makes it SO much easier to remove the muffins from the pan and makes cleanup EASY.
Note that if using a tin muffin pan, the outside of the muffins will turn brown like you see in the cooking video above. Doesn’t make any difference texturally or flavor wise but something to be aware of.
You can also turn into mini muffins by using a mini muffin pan.
Spinach Muffins for Babies and Toddlers
These tender spinach muffins are not very sweet. So if you desire a pretty sweet muffin, add the optional honey, maple syrup, or date syrup (a great no added sugar option). Chocolate chips are a tasty addition, too, for older kids.
But do try serving them plain at first. My kids love these without any added sugar. You can always drizzle the suggested sweeteners or spread some fruit purées on top.
Enjoy as is or with nut butter, mashed fruits, more yogurt, etc.
Storage Suggestions
Store the muffins in an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Enjoy cold, at room temperature, or microwave briefly.
Or freeze for up to 3 months.
Here’s the best way to store and freeze muffins!
More Healthy Muffin Recipes
Did you make this recipe? Leave a rating below and let me know how you liked the recipe! Your feedback means so much to me!
Moist Spinach Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour (245g) or rolled oats (200g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- a pinch of salt
Wet ingredients
- 3/4 cup whole milk plain Greek yogurt (170g)
- 1/3 cup milk of choice
- 2 medium very ripe bananas (240g weighed weighed without peel)
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups loosely packed baby spinach
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Optional (for added nutrition and texture): 1/2 cup raw grated sweet potatoes or carrots, see note and/or 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
- Optional for additional sweetness: (3-4 tablespoons maple syrup, honey, or date syrup)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add all the wet ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Be careful not to over mix. Use a spatula (instead of a whisk) to gently stir together until all the flour is wet. The less you stir the mixture, the lighter and fluffier your muffins will be. At this point you can stir in the optional sweet potatoes/carrots and/or nuts.
- Divide batter evenly into a greased, lined or silicone 12-cup muffin pan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
- Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup rather than scooping the flour out of the container or bag with your measuring cup. Using the latter method, you could end up with a lot more than what you need.
- Take eggs, milk, and yogurt out of the refrigerator at least 15 minutes prior to baking. This will help the muffins rise more.
- Be sure to squeeze out as much liquid from the sweet potato/carrots as possible, if using.
- These muffins are not very sweet. So if you desire a pretty sweet muffin, add the optional honey, maple syrup, or date syrup. Chocolate chips are a tasty addition, too, for older kids.
- Store in an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Enjoy cold, at room temperature, or microwave briefly. Can also freeze for up to 3 months.
Been making em for years!
These are wonderful! So easy, healthy and convenient. I love that I can freeze a batch so I’ve always got something nutritious on hand for a quick snack for my baby!
So many of your recipes are my go-tos. Thankyou 🙂
Hi, thank you for this, love all your recipes! I just made these today in preparation for a day out tomorrow. I’ll take them out from fridge and hopefully by the time he eats them it’ll be room temperature. As for the frozen ones, may I ask how long to microwave for straight out from freezer if I want to eat it straightaway? Also, I’ve froze half the batter – do I just bake them from frozen in the oven at the same temperature and for the same amount of time in the future? Thanks!
Hi! when reheating frozen muffins, I suggest doing so at 30 second increments until moist. You will want to thaw the frozen batter prior to baking. Hope this helps!
I accidentally blended the walnuts together with the other wet ingredients. Yet, the muffins turned out super moist and tasty. The taste reminded me of Korean rice cakes like 쑥떡 and 술떡.
My toddlers love this recipe! I always try to have some in the freezer. Their favourite topping for these is vegemite with sprinkles, which I find hilarious. I like to make them as mini muffins and they travel so well!
Oh I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you for sharing!
Could I use regular whole wheat flour?
You can but the texture will be denser. What I recommend is using half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.
These were delicious! I went with the option of grinding up oats instead of using flour and enjoyed how the texture came out. I ground the spinach in the food processor along with the oats and there weren’t any leafy bits in the finished muffins which is what my family was afraid of😂 I added in a cup of chocolate chips which makes the muffins VERY decadent (especially directly out of the oven!) and plenty sweet without added sugar. Next time I might make them with flour and see how that changes the consistency.
Oh I’m so glad you guys enjoyed these muffins!!
We’ve made twice and will usually try to keep stocked in the freezer for just in case we’re too busy breakfasts or snack. Thank you!
Us too!! Glad it’s become a freezer staple for y’all too!
These muffins are so moist and flavorful without being sweet! It’s barely sweet but enough that my toddler gulfs them down. This recipe is going to be a staple for sure!
Yay! Happy to hear that!!
Hello,
I am a fan of your recipes and I’ve made these muffins today. Although I’ve measured the flour with a spoon as 245 g and the bananas as 240 g without the peel/skin, the amount of batter ended up being a lot more than 12 muffins (about 15-16). Any idea what might have caused this? They were raised really well and were super moist so I’d like to make them again, so your tips would be very helpful. Thanks 🙂
Hi! Oh wow I make these all the time and have never had that many…so I’m not sure…
For what it’s worth, this happened to me, too. The first time I made them I didn’t use a scale and ended up with a lot of extra batter. This time I measured everything meticulously and still ended up with a lot of extra batter, which was also quite thin/lumpy (was scared to overmix the batter, too). The only thing I can think of is that I added too much spinach? Everything that had a weight I used the scale for.
Hello 🙂 firstly I would like to say, my family loves your beetroot blander muffins !! And with this recipe I can’t believe I didn’t read till the end to see I need to squeeze the sweet potatoes 🙁 will see how they come out, I am keeping them in the oven for longer and I used the oats version instead of wheat flour.
Hi! Thank you for taking the time to say hello!! It’s so wonderful to hear from you. I hope they turned out well!