Blueberry spinach muffins with bananas are made in a blender. These toddler-friendly muffins are packed with spinach while being sweetened with banana, applesauce, and honey. They are a great way to get more servings of fruit and veggies into young kids.
Spinach Muffins are delicious and nutritious. The banana, applesauce and honey bring delicious flavors while the spinach and blueberries boost the nutrition of this muffin recipe. As a mom and Registered Dietitian, I love this recipe for kids.
These spinach muffins are the perfect muffin to make all-year – but especially around Halloween, Christmas, or St. Patrick’s Day. Embracing the green color around these holidays means kids are more likely to give them a try! 🙂
Follow the steps in the order written to create this veggie muffin. The ingredients are even listed in the order that they will be used in the recipe. Make sure to grab an adult helper before heading to the kitchen, if needed.
Equipment
- muffin tin
- blender
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- spatula
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 3 medium overripe bananas
- 6 ounces unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup honey (omit the honey if serving to a baby under the age of 1)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
How To Make
1. Prepare oven and muffin tin.
Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare a muffin tin with muffin liners or non-stick cooking spray.
Check out How to Make Muffin Liners Out of Parchment Paper for a DIY muffin liner.
2. Prepare the spinach.
Remove the extra water in the thawed spinach. This is important because it will prevent your muffin batter from being too runny.
Over the sink with clean hands, take a handful of spinach and squeeze the water out. Repeat with the rest of the spinach until all the extra water is gone.
FUN FACT: Spinach is packed with water. Even after you remove all the extra water, spinach is the main reason that these muffins will turn out so incredibly moist!
3. Blend the wet ingredients.
To a blender add:
- eggs
- bananas
- applesauce
- oil
- honey
- vanilla
- spinach
Blend until well mixed.
4. Add the dry ingredients.
To the blender add:
- flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
Blend until just mixed. You’ll need to scrape the sides occasionally with a spatula to make sure all the dry ingredients blend into the wet.
How to use a blender:
While the blend is unplugged, assemble the blender by placing the blender jar onto the motor base (if needed). Plug in the blender. Add the ingredients. Make sure the lid is secure before turning on the blender – you will end up with a real mess if you forget this step!
5. Blend in blueberries.
Add blueberries to the blender and gently stir in with the spatula.
If you’d prefer to cut back on the green color, puree the blueberries into the mixture rather than stirring them in.
Mix It Up: Swap the blueberries for chocolate chips, raisins, nuts or your favorite fruit.
6. Bake.
Bake muffins for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
FAQs:
Fridge or freezer. After the muffins are cool, store in an air-tight container in the fridge or toss in a freezer bag then into the freezer. If storing in the freezer, thaw in the fridge the night before or zap in the microwave for a few seconds right before eating.
If you are lucky then these muffins can last up to 5 days in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer. If the muffins make it that long, you have to share your secrets with the rest of us!
Absolutely! Let your family know that they are eating muffins made with spinach. You can refer to these muffins as “Hulk Muffins”, “Blender Muffins” or “Froggy Muffins” but don’t hide the secret ingredient. Have a picky eater at home? Encourage him/her to help you make this recipe. Kids are more likely to eat what they make.
Other Muffin Recipes for Kids:
CKC Features both Gluten-Free Guidance and Kids Cooking Instructions: If you’re new to eating gluten-free we understand it’s overwhelming trying to figure out which foods may contain gluten and which ones don’t. All of our gluten-free recipes marked with this symbol ✅ represent foods that need to be checked for gluten or cross-contamination.
The ⭐️ symbol in the recipe below denotes the steps in which kid cooks may need a helper (depending on age). If there is no ⭐️ symbol, that step (or recipe) doesn’t require a helper.
Blueberry Spinach Muffins
Equipment
- non stick cooking spray ✅
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 3 medium overripe bananas
- 6 ounces unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ✅
- 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed
- 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder ✅
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda ✅
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Prepare oven and muffin tin. Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare a muffin tin with muffin liners or non-stick cooking spray.
- Prepare the spinach. Remove the extra water that is in the thawed spinach. Over the sink with clean hands, take a handful of spinach and squeeze the water out. Repeat with the rest of the spinach.
- ⭐️ Blend the wet ingredients. To a blender add eggs, bananas, applesauce, oil, honey, vanilla, and spinach. Blend until well mixed.
- ⭐️ Add the dry ingredients. To the blender add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend until just mixed. You'll need to scrape the sides occasionally with a spatula to make sure all the dry ingredients blend into the wet.
- ⭐️ Blend in blueberries. Add blueberries to the blender and gently blend in with the spatula.
- ⭐️ Bake. Bake muffins for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
Notes
Nutrition
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Kimmy says
My 2 year old gobbled them up!
Rachel says
Can I use fresh spinach? I want to make these tonight and have fresh spinach. Thank you!
Jodi Danen, RDN says
Hi Rachel! I’ve never tried with fresh spinach, but I think that should work. If try it with about 1.5 cups of fresh spinach. Let me know how it works out.
Faye says
Can I sun oats for the flour?
Jodi Danen, RDN says
Hi Faye! I’ve never tried that substitution so I am not sure. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear if it works! If you’re looking for a gluten-free option, you can swap out the regular flour for gluten-free (use a blend with xanthan gum) in a 1 to 1 ratio.
Lakin says
I made these with fresh spinach! They taste delicious but don’t look at green as yours. To store them, are they okay on the counter or should they be kept in the fridge?
Jodi Danen, RDN says
Hi Lakin! You can store these on the counter or freeze them to reheat later. It’s interesting that the fresh spinach isn’t as green. I’ve got to give that a try myself!
JulieAnn says
How long can they be kept in the freezer?
Jodi Danen, RDN says
You can keep them in the freezer for 2-3 months!
Natasha says
If you can stand the smell of them baking, they might be worth making.
This was a difficult recipe to follow where I live, since the measurements are vague and not easily converted. It would be nice to have weighted measurements, especially for the spinach after the water is removed.
I did use fresh spinach (150g) and they did come out green. They smelled absolutely awful while baking. My whole house smelled gross for a few hours afterward. Good to bake these on a day when you can open your windows! I was worried they would taste as badly as they smelled, but they tasted ok. My kids don’t mind them.
They didn’t rise very much and sunk after baking, despite ensuring they were fully cooked before taking them out (also – all of my ingredients are fresh, so that shouldn’t have contributed either).
While the recipe helped me use up some extra spinach and brown bananas I had, I don’t think I would make it again.
Amanda says
Can I make these with frozen blueberries?
Jodi Danen, RDN says
Hi Amanda! You can definitely use frozen blueberries. Just swap them for fresh but make sure they are frozen when you use them, don’t let the thaw.
Linda T. says
Could we use almond flour in place of the all purpose wheat flour?
Jodi Danen, RDN says
Hi Linda! You could try replacing half with almond flour and the rest with gluten-free all-purpose flour. I’m not sure how it would turn out with only almond flour as I have not tried that. I hope you enjoy!