Super Green Mini Blender Muffins
Green food is always FUN! Whether you are celebrating a holiday or just any day of the week, these Super Green Mini Blender Muffins are a great snack or healthy treat to have on hand. Make them with your little one by simply having her help add all the ingredients, including a few big handfuls of spinach, to the blender and wizzing it all up. Couldn’t be easier! Plus, the little muffins are packed with tons of fiber and nutrients from applesauce, pumpkin puree, and oats.
Tips on making Super Green Muffins with kids:
Remember, you don’t need to involve kids in every step of making a recipe. Having kids participate in even one of these suggestions, is a great learning experience!
- Gather the ingredients. Kids will love to help find the oats in the pantry or grab the maple syrup from the fridge.
- Pre-measure then dump. To make this cooking activity super simple for a young toddler, get all the ingredients out and ready then have your child simply add everything to the blender. The most important part of making these muffins together is your child knowing all the great ingredients in there!
- Scoop. Hold the scoop or spoon together to reduce the mess. Or take turns scooping the batter into the muffin cups. You can always wipe the spills away later!
- Top. If using the mini chocolate chips, kids will love adding a couple to the top of each muffin before baking.
Favorite kitchen tools for making muffins?
Here are some things that I use every time I make muffins:
- Unbleached paper muffin liners (Love these because they are non-stick!)
- Large and small portion/cookie scoops (Get a set of three! Can be used for so many things beyond muffins too.)
- A great mini muffin tin (You probably already have one, but here is one just in case.)
Substitute Suggestions for making Super Green Muffins:
- Gluten-free? Make sure to use certified gluten-free oats for this recipe. We love One Degree Organic brand oats and find them at Whole Foods or Costco.
- No oats? Unfortunately, I have not tried making this recipe with any other flours, so I can’t make a recommendation to sub for the oats.
- Egg-free? I have not tried making this recipe with an egg replacement so I cannot recommend a substitute. Flax “eggs” have worked in recipe before. Let me know if you try this recipe without eggs!
- Oil? I like to use avocado oil for baking but any flavorless oil such as a vegetable oil will work.
- Applesauce and Pumpkin: you can sub mashed banana for these or use a canned sweet potato or squash puree too. Just be sure that you use the same measurements included in the recipe.
Super Green Mini Blender Muffins
Equipment
- mini muffin tin
- Blender
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetend applesauce
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree or canned sweet potato or squash
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups baby spinach about 2 big handfuls
- 2 Tbsp oil avocado or vegetable
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup agave or honey
- 1/8 tsp fine salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/4 cups rolled oats gluten-free if desired
- 2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a mini muffin tin with 20 paper liners.
- Add applesauce, pumpkin, eggs, spinach, oil, and maple syrup to a blender. Blend until smooth.
- Add remaining ingredients besides the chocolate chips. Blend until all ingredients are well combined and oats are finely ground. Scrape down the sides with a spatula to make sure nothing is stuck.
- Scoop or spoon batter into the paper liners, filling each one to the top. Add mini chocolate chips to the top of each muffin, if using.
- Bake until cooked through and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 12 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, remove muffins to a cooling rack and cool completely. Store in a container at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. Wrap and freeze for up to a month.
Save to Pinterest to make later!!
Other healthy muffin recipe to try:
Banana-Pumpkin Blender Muffins
Sweet Potato Gingerbread Muffins
Hi, I’m wondering how you would adjust the recipe for a regular size muffin tin instead of a mini? Thanks!
Yes, just fill the larger cups about 3/4 of the way full. I think it should make about 8 muffins. If you want more than that, you can double the recipe. Bake about 20 minutes but I’m not exactly sure of the bake time to check starting around 15 min. Hope that helps. Let me know if you try it! 🙂 Heather
Would a food processor work for this recipe too? Thanks!
Yes, it might but the spinach won’t get as well blended and there could be some green flecks left. I blender works best for this recipe.
Would frozen spinach work instead of fresh?
And would banana work instead of pumpkin?
These look perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!
Hi Maeve! Thanks for your question. Banana should work well but I don’t think frozen spinach would be the best option. I find it has a much stronger flavor than the baby fresh spinach and the muffins won’t end up a nice light green color. 🙂 Heather
Unfortunately, followed the recipe exactly and after 21 minutes in the oven the center was still uncooked. Kiddos were really excited to try the muffins and bummed that they didn’t cook through. If trying this recipe again, I would reduce the pumpkin, applesauce and spinach or increase the oatmeal. Doesn’t seem to be a balance between dry and wet ingredients.
Hi, I’m so sorry you had that experience. Did you let them cool all the way before trying them? Since these don’t have flour they aren’t the same texture as regular muffins and can tend to be much more wet inside.