These Spinach Chocolate Chip Muffins are moist banana spinach oat muffins filled with sweet chocolate chips.
They are the best addition to a kid’s lunchboxes or healthy breakfast to grab and go with a portion of veggies.
What Are Spinach Muffins?
Spinach muffins are sweet green muffins made of wholesome ingredients, including oats, bananas, and yogurt.
It’s a healthy muffin recipe for a kid’s snack, lunchbox, or breakfast.
How To Make Spinach Chocolate Chip Muffins
All you need to make these spinach muffins for toddlers are a few basic ingredients.
Ingredients
- Old-Fashioned Oats – don’t use quick oats or steel-cut.
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Maple Syrup – or any liquid sweetener you like including honey, brown rice syrup, or agave syrup.
- Milk of Choice – non-dairy milk like almond milk and soy milk is my favorite.
- Yogurt or an egg – I used cashew yogurt, but any yogurt works in the recipe. If you prefer using an egg, swap for a large room temperature egg.
- Mashed Bananas – or apple sauce. Use ripe bananas for a sweeter taste.
- Spinach Leaves – fresh or frozen spinach. If frozen, thaw, squeeze out extra water and weight before adding to the blender.
- Coconut Oil – or olive oil.
- Vanilla Extract
- Dark Chocolate Chips – or milk chocolate chips. Use any chocolate chips you like.
You don’t need to add salt to the batter.
Making The Batter
Before you start, peel and mash the banana and measure the amount called by the recipe.
If you add too much banana, the muffins won’t set in the center, and the crumbs stay wet.
Also, measure the spinach by weighing it. Using cups to measure it would be extremely inaccurate and adding too much spinach makes the muffin chewy and gummy.
Then, in a blender jug add the spinach, almond milk, olive oil, yogurt, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Then, top up with baking powder, baking soda, and rolled oats.
Blend the mixture on the high-speed setting until all the ingredients are blended together and a smooth green batter forms.
Stop the blender, open the lid, and pour the spinach muffin batter into a mixing bowl.
Fold in dark chocolate chips and use a silicone spatula to stir them in.
Rest the batter for 10 minutes to thicken. The fiber from the oat will absorb the moisture, and the batter will turn from runny to thick, as a pancake batter should.
Baking The Muffins
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases and slightly oil the cases with cooking spray.
Fill each muffin case of the muffin tin with 1/4 cup of batter, not more or it will take too long to bake in the center.
Bake in the center rack of the oven for 30 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean or with a few crumbs on it.
Transfer them to a cooling rack and wait for 1 hour before serving. The texture is perfect when they are fully cooled down.
Taste and texture
These spinach muffins have no spinach flavor at all and kids love them!
The crumb is soft and moist if you choose to use yogurt. For a firmer texture use an egg.
The sweetness of the muffins depends hugely on the ripeness of the banana. The riper, the sweeter.
This is a blender muffin recipe which means:
- You need a high-speed blender – a NutriBullet won’t be large enough for the recipe, and a food processor won’t be strong enough to create a smooth muffin batter.
- The batter needs to rest 10 minutes before baking, or the muffins can form a hole in the center.
Storage
These spinach chocolate chip muffins store very well in a cake box in the fridge for up to 4 days.
You can freeze spinach banana muffins for up to three months in an airtight container. Take them out of the freezer and thaw them the day before at room temperature.
Allergy Swaps
These toddler green muffins have been created to be dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan friendly.
However, if you want to swap some of the ingredients, I listed some options below.
- Mashed banana – sweet potato puree, apple sauce works as a replacement in the same amount.
- Yogurt –Â using an egg can work instead of yogurt, and it actually makes the texture of the muffins firmer if it’s what you are after. Yogurt makes the crumb moist and softer.
You can make them gluten-free by picking certified gluten-free oats.
More Muffin Recipes For Kids
Below I listed some more healthy muffin recipes that you may want to bake for your kids.
Spinach Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups Rolled Oats
- 1 cup Mashed Bananas
- ½ cup Milk of Choice
- 3 tablespoons Melted Butter or olive oil
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup
- 2.5 oz Baby Spinach Leaves
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ cup Dark Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-hole muffin tray with muffin cases and slightly spray cooking oil in the cases. Set it aside.
- In a blender, add all the ingredients except the chocolate chips and blend on high speed until the batter is smooth.
- You may have to stop the blender, scrape down the sides, and repeat until the batter is consistent and smooth.
- Stop the blender and stir in the chocolate chips.
- Fill each muffin case with 1/4 cup of batter and bake in the center rack of the oven for 20 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
- Cool down on a wire rack for 1 hour.
Storage
- Store in an airtight box at room temperature for up to 2 days or 4 days in the fridge.
- Freeze for up to 3 months in zip lock bags, thaw at room temperature the day before.
