I am too excited about this muffin recipe to wait until St. Patrick’s Day! I’ve had great luck in the past using pureed spinach to turn pancakes green, so I knew I could make a green muffin. Not only do I think these turned out fantastic, even Mr. Picky loved them, too. Although I did tell him a little lie and said I used green food coloring and he just lit up, eyes wide, “Really?! You did?! Really, Mom?! Like the unhealthy kind?!” Honestly, I’m a little disappointed that my son actually thinks I would use food coloring in a muffin. And just as disappointed that he would be excited to eat that same muffin. I had to lie again. Actually, buddy, it’s a natural green food coloring which gets its color from spinach. Bummed out face. I know for a minute there he thought I suddenly turned into an exciting mom, one who would take risks and dare to use carcinogens! “Oh. They’re still good, I guess.”
And they are good! These muffins are lightly sweet, moist, simple and BRIGHT GREEN because they are loaded with spinach! St. Patrick’s Day is a HUGE opportunity to get green foods into your kids because they are expecting them. You’re showing your spirit. On any other day, green muffins are you just trying to sneak leafy greens into your kids who are not fooled. But the closer we get to March 17th, green muffins are part of the fun!
This is a very basic muffin recipe. The spinach is undetectable and the banana is very subtle. But if you hate banana, you might be able to sub 1/2 cup of applesauce. I think adding walnuts or chocolate chips would be great, too. One of my daughters suggested cream cheese frosting, although then these become cupcakes which is fine, too. These tasted best the day they were made and the next day, too. They lasted just fine a few days on the countertop in a sealed container, but I would freeze what you don’t think you’ll eat within a couple days. Let me know if you make these and if you get lucky!
Green Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, white whole wheat flour or spelt flour (or use 2 cups of King Arthur Multi-purpose Gluten-free Flour + 1 teaspoon xanthan gum)
- 2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine ground sea salt
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup pure maple syrup, Grade A or Grade B
- ¾ cup dairy or non-dairy milk, such as almond milk
- ¼ cup unrefined coconut oil, melted
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 5- or 6-ounce bag of fresh baby spinach leaves
- 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with unbleached parchment liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a blender add egg, maple syrup, milk, oil, vanilla and spinach. Process until pureed.
- Add spinach mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in the mashed banana.
- Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin, filling cups about ¾ full. I like to do this with a large ice cream scooper. Bake about 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Store at room temperature up to 3 days. These freeze nicely!
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
if I don’t have coconut oil (which I don’t), what would be a ‘regular’ substitute? Also I just have regularly old white flour- an issue?
You can use a mild olive oil or even melted butter. Sure you can use white flour, it’s just not as nutritious ;).
How do you make the green mixture. I tried going to the green pancake recipe but it wasn’t found
Are you looking for the green muffin recipe? That’s just above the comment section on this page. The green colored is achieved by blending spinach into the wet mix. The pancake recipe is different and that can be found here: https://pamelasalzman.com/st-pattys-day-pancakes-recipe/
Do you think I can swap out the coconut oil with another kind of oil? We have a coconut allergy. Thanks!
I bet you can sub olive oil just fine and probably melted butter would work, too. Let me know who they turn out!
Thank you so much for replying!
Of course!
Can’t wait to try these! Any idea what the cooking time would be if I made these in a mini muffin tin?
There are two mini-mufin sizes: small and really small. Since I don’t know which one you have, I would start testing the muffins at the 10 minute mark. So cute!
I think I have the really small ones. I did 12 minutes and they were good. Next time I will do 10, they could have been a little more moist. Thanks!
Perfect!
These look great! Would you replace both bananas with only 1/2 cup of applesauce? I’d rather not use any banana but I didn’t know if that meant I needed 1/2 cup or a full cup.
Hi Lauren, it looks like from some of the comments below that 1/2 cup applesauce was successfully substituted for the 2 bananas. Personally, I think ripe bananas are sweeter than applesauce, so I might be inclined to up the sweetener a little.
Good point, thank you! I didn’t think about upping the sweetener. I plan on making these for my son’s daycare friends for St. Patty’s day – I’m so excited! Thanks again!
hulk cupcakes!! great idea 🙂
Hulk cupcakes — love it! 🙂
I’m thinking TMNT cupcakes too!
My kids are loving these! And they’re getting a kick out of the fact that they are actually made with spinach! I lightly sprinkled them with mini dark chic chips so they look like little spiked green balls. We’re calling them Halloween muffins… Thank you!
You are one clever mama! Love that! 🙂
Great idea!!! These are delicious!! Will be making them as monster muffins or something like that for Halloween!!
Love that idea!!
Just made these…didn’t need to wait until St. Patty’s Day! I had both fresh spinach and bananas I needed to use up, and these sounded delicious! We LOVE them! I used 1 c. sprouted whole wheat flour, 1/2 c. farro flour, & 1/2 c. oat flour (from oat groats) to total my 2 c. flour…. mainly because I had various flours that I had made which I needed to use up, but didn’t want to go with all of 1 kind in case all oat or faro flour would cause this to bomb, lol. I added chopped walnuts to them too…oh, and I even forgot to put in the vanilla extract, but they are delicious without it! I used my Vitamix to do all of my wet ingredients, mash my bananas & chop the walnuts… so fast and easy! The batter is delicious too…enjoyed “licking” the bowl :).
I love all of your adaptations! I especially like the addition of a little crunch. These are perfect all year for sure!
I made these tonight, taking advantage of my rare opportunity to serve “green” food. I thought they were beyond amazing! My kids were actually excited to try them after dinner as well. Well, my daughter loved them and can’t believe she will be allowed to have a ” cupcake ” for breakfast tomorrow. However, my son was repulsed by the bits of banana in it. I’m wondering what would happen if I puréed the banana as well so there are no detectable bits. What do you think?
No repulsive bits of banana allowed! You can absolutely puree them with the spinach if you want. Good luck with Round 2! 🙂