Banana Spinach Muffins

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Healthy Banana Spinach Muffins are loaded with healthy ingredients and make a kid-friendly treat! Made with wholesome ingredients and perfect for making ahead and freezing. Pack these in lunches or bring them to your next St. Patrick’s Day party or any occasion!

PIN these Banana Spinach Muffins to try later!

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Banana Spinach Muffins

Banana Spinach Muffins are made with healthy, wholesome, and simple ingredients that you can feel good about. They are naturally refined sugar free and packed with nutrition and healthy fats.

These muffins are super soft, fluffy and taste just like a banana muffin so you can’t even taste the spinach. Enjoy them as a healthier breakfast option or a guilt-free snack any time of the day. Add a spread of peanut or almond butter for extra protein!

This is the perfect snack for babies (especially if they are learning baby-led weaning), toddlers, and kids of all ages because they are naturally sweetened, made with whole grains, and taste so delicious.

My almost year old always requests “more” every time I make a batch so I know this recipe is a winner!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Healthy muffins: These nutrient dense muffins have no added sugar and are naturally sweetened and made with wholesome ingredients. You can feel good about indulging in these!
• Kid-friendly: I give these to my toddler and she loves them. They taste very similar to banana bread and it’s a great way for them to get some green in. Picky eaters will even love these bright green muffins!
• Portable: These muffins are perfect for any occasion and can be transferred easily by placing them in an airtight container or ziplock bag. Pack them up for a on-the-go perfect breakfast, picnic, St. Patrick’s Day party, school lunches, or bring them to work for a healthy snack.
• Freezer-friendly: Muffins freeze very well so it’s easy to tuck them away in your freezer so you can have them handy at all times.
• Doubling the recipe: You can easily double the batch. You can store half the batch in the freezer (see notes below on how to freeze muffins).

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Key Ingredients

• Eggs: Helps bind the ingredients together. You can also sub the egg for a flax egg or chia egg.
• Ripe bananas: Adds moisture and flavor. It’s best to use bananas that are spotty and very ripe for the best flavor.
• Sweetener of choice: I recommend using either honey or pure maple syrup for natural sweetness. You can also substitute for coconut sugar.
• Milk: Unsweetened almond milk or any non-dairy or regular milk will work.
• Cinnamon: Adds a warm spice flavor.
• Whole wheat flour: Adds a wholesome and nutty flavor. You can also use all-purpose regular flour or oat flour instead or use a combination of both.
• Oat flour: Gives these muffins a crumby texture and adds a nutritional boost. Make your own oat flour at home, see notes below.
• Baking powder & baking soda: Used as a leavening to make these muffins rise and get fluffy.
• Butter: Makes these muffins extra moist and decadent. You can also use coconut oil or any other type of neutral oil like canola oil, vegetable oil, or olive oil.
• Spinach: The star ingredient! The spinach makes these extra nutritional and gives these muffins a vibrant green color (fun for St. Patrick’s Day)! Make sure to use fresh spinach, frozen spinach will not work as it has too much of a water content.

How To Make Banana Spinach Muffins

Prepare muffin pan: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with silicone or paper liners or grease muffin cups generously.

Blend together wet ingredients: Add eggs, bananas, honey or syrup, almond milk, butter, vanilla extract, and spinach to a blender and blend together to combine until smooth.

Combine dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oat flour, whole wheat flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda.

Fold together: Fold the spinach mixture into the dry ingredients just until combined. Be sure not to over-mix. It’s ok if the batter seems a little lumpy.

Bake: Divide the batter into 12 prepared muffin liners and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

How To Make Oat Flour

If you don’t want to buy a bag of oat flour from the store just for this recipe- I totally get it! Make your own at home and you can save a few bucks.

Measure out 1 1/4 cup of old-fashioned oats and add to a blender. Blend well until the oats have a flour-like consistency. That’s it!

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Recipe Tips & Variations

Protein Muffins: Add a scoop of plain or vanilla flavored protein powder. This will give the Banana Spinach Muffins an extra protein boost.

Mini Muffins: If you want bite-sized muffins, add them to mini muffin tins instead to make Mini Banana Spinach Muffins. Be sure to reduce the baking time a few minutes since they won’t need as much time to bake.

Blending spinach: If you don’t have a blender, a food processor will also work. You want the spinach to be pureed otherwise it won’t blend well in the recipe.

Sweet topping: Add a light glaze or frosting to the top of the muffins to add more sweetness.

Chocolate Chip Muffins: Add a handful of your favorite chocolate chips to the batter for a chocolatey twist. You can use milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, mini chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips.

Nut butter: Add a few tablespoons of your favorite nut butter such as peanut butter, almond butter, or sunflower seed butter to the muffin batter or swirl it on top for a nuttier flavor.

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Add-Ins & Toppings

You have lots of options here! These muffins are customizable so you can make them however you like. Some favorites to add are:

• Chocolate chips
• Chopped nuts
• Fresh fruit: Fresh raspberries, blueberries, chopped bananas, diced apples, and strawberries work great. Make sure to pat the fruit down as much as possible to remove any excess water.
• Dried fruit: Raisins, dried cranberries, or dried blueberries make great options.
• Chia seeds
• Ground flax seeds
• Freeze-dried fruit
• Shredded zucchini
• Pumpkin puree
• Cinnamon chips
• Sunflower seeds
• Sprinkles: Rainbow sprinkles are fun to add in for a birthday.

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Leftovers & Storage

To-store: Place leftovers in an airtight container or large zip-lock bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Heat in the microwave before eating to make the muffins soft and warm. You can also just let them come to room temperature for a few minutes. 

Make ahead: Muffins are perfect for making ahead because they freeze so well. Once muffins are baked, cool completely, then place the muffin pan in the freezer to flash freeze for at least an hour.

Once they are semi-frozen, remove the muffins and place them in a large ziplock bag. Flash freezing them will keep them from sticking together.

How To Freeze Muffins

Muffins are always a good thing to have laying around in your freezer. Place muffins in an airtight container or large zip-lock bag and freeze for up to 3 months. To defrost your muffins, place them in the refrigerator to defrost overnight or on the counter for a few hours.

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Other Healthy Snacks

• Almond Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
• Peanut Butter Cookies (Made with 5 Ingredients)
• Granola Cups
• Healthy Cookie Dough Bites
• Peanut Butter Energy Bites
• Date Bars
• Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies

Other Muffin Recipes

• Healthy Zucchini Muffins
• Strawberry Muffins
• Greek Yogurt Banana Muffins
• Chocolate Banana Muffins
• Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
• Mini Blueberry Muffins

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