These Black Bean Muffins are fudgy, healthy small brownie muffins perfect for kids. They taste like chocolate brownies, but they only contain 5 grams of sugar per serving, no refined sugar, and are egg-free and dairy-free.
These muffins made with no flour and with plant-based ingredients for an allergy-friendly, kid-friendly recipe. They are loaded with nutrients from the black beans and rolled oats, and healthy fats from peanut butter and coconut oil.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make these delicious fudgy chocolate muffins are:
- Canned Black Beans – Rinse and drain the black beans before using. Black beans are healthy plant-based protein to make fudgy egg-free chocolate muffins or brownies for kids.
- Rolled Oats – You can use old-fashioned oats or instant oats – they blend faster. For gluten-free kids, you can find gluten-free certified oats or replace them with millet flakes, but you may have to use more of it to achieve the same texture.
- Cocoa Powder – Prefer unsweetened to make it easier to balance the sweetness.
- Natural Peanut Butter – It’s essential to use peanut butter with no sugar added. If your toddler is allergic to nuts, you can use sunflower seed butter. It’s a great alternative full of protein and nutrients.
- Melted Coconut Oil – Use unrefined coconut oil or any oil you like including canola oil or avocado oil.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
- Soy Milk – I recommend using soy milk calcium-fortified, but any milk works in this recipe.
- Maple Syrup – Use maple syrup or any unrefined liquid sweetener you love such as coconut nectar or rice malt syrup.
- Baking Powder or half the amount if you want to use baking soda.
How To Make Black Bean Muffins
These black bean brownie muffins are super easy to make in 10 minutes in a blender.
- Place all the ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend at high speed for about 1 minute. You may have to stop the blender every 20-30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat until all ingredients come together. If your blender has a tamper tool, you can use it to push the food from the jug’s sides to the center. It ensures perfect blending without stopping the blender. The muffin batter is ready when all ingredients are combined, and the texture is slightly thick, smooth, not grainy.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two 12-hole muffin tins with muffin liners.
- Then, pour the batter up to 3/4 of each muffin cup.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes on the center rack of the oven at 350°F (180°C) until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
- Let these black bean muffins cool down on a cooling rack for 1 hour before adding any frosting. However, if you don’t want to frost the muffins, add a few chocolate chips to the hot muffins. The chips melt and harden after completely cooling down.
Making Peanut Butter Frosting
This recipe is a healthy chocolate muffin recipe for kids. To decorate the muffins with peanut butter frosting, beat together the ingredients below:
- Natural peanut butter or sunflower seed butter for nuts allergy
- Dairy-free butter
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Milk of choice
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
Storage Instructions
These black bean muffins can be stored for up to 4 days in the fridge in a sealed box. You can also freeze black bean muffins in an airtight container and thaw them the day before at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
These black bean muffins taste like little brownies. They are dense and fudgy with a strong chocolate flavor. They are lightly sweet but only contain 4.9 grams of unrefined sugar per small muffin.
Yes, you can add up to 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips to the batter. Don’t blend the chocolate chips in the blender jug, or they will break apart. Stir them into the batter with a spoon or spatula. This adds a good amount of sugar to the recipe, so my favorite option is to only add 3-4 chocolate chips on top of each muffin, just after baking, so they melt.
Yes, you can use this black bean muffin recipe for baking large muffins. The recipe makes 12 regular black bean muffins or 24 small muffins baked in two trays of 12 mini muffin holes. I like small muffins for toddlers, they are very convenient for their little hands, and it’s the perfect size for picky eaters – no leftovers guaranteed!
If you don’t have a blender at home, you can use a food processor, but I would recommend pulsing the rolled oats into flour before using it in this recipe. The texture can be grainy and gritty in a food processor, so I highly recommend using a high-speed blender for these black bean chocolate muffins.
More Healthy Muffin Recipes
I love to create healthy kid-friendly muffin recipes for my kids’ lunchbox, breakfast, or snack. Below I listed more kids’ muffin recipes for you to try. All are egg-free and dairy-free.
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Black Bean Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 can Black Beans - 14oz rinsed, drained equivalent 1 1/4 cup
- ½ cup Maple Syrup
- ¼ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - or sunflower seed butter or almond butter
- ¾ cup Plant-Based Milk - I used soy milk calcium fortified
- ½ cup Rolled Oats - or instant oats
- 2 tablespoons Melted Coconut Oil
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - scooped, level up
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
Peanut butter chocolate frosting – optional
- ¼ cup Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted)
- ¼ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted)
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons Plant-Based Milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two 12-hole mini muffin baking trays with muffin paper liners. Set aside.
- In a high-speed blender, add all the ingredients: black beans, maple syrup, peanut butter, plant-based milk of choice, vanilla extract, rolled oats, melted coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa powder, and baking powder.
- Blend on high speed until smooth and consistent. If your blender has a tamper attachment, use it to help the food blend evenly together. Otherwise, stop the blender every 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat until the batter is smooth.
- Fill the prepared muffin trays up to the top.
- Bake in the center rack of the oven for 15-18 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center of the black bean muffins comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- To decorate, add a few chocolate chips to the lukewarm muffins. They will melt and set at room temperature. You can also make a quick chocolate peanut butter frosting and pipe it on top of each muffin.
Peanut butter chocolate frosting – optional
- In a large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and stir in confectioner sugar, cocoa, and milk until it achieves an easily spreadable texture.
- Pipe on top of the cooled small muffins and decorate them with sprinkles.
I made this recipe into 12 regular sized ‘muffins’ and cooked them for 35 minutes. The stick kept coming out wet, but I decided to stop cooking them as they were drying out on the outside. Next time I’m going to try them at a lower heat for 35 mins so they stay more moist, and serve them advertised as ‘individual brownies’. They had the texture of a gooey brownie, which was sooooo delicious and really hit the spot!
can i use sugar free liquid sweetener in the place of maple syrup?
It should work but often it come up a bit dryer as sugar-free syrup are high in fibers
Great recipe. I used mayonnaise instead of coconut oil. Added 100 grams of very ripe banana (medium size) snd 50 grams of sweet potato . Added 1tsp cinnamon. Reduced the milk to 1/3 cup because I added banana . Worked well.
Is it possible to make this oil free?
I didn’t try but often replacing oil by same amount of applesauce works pretty well in vegan baking recipes.
They look so yummy! Excited to try. I’ve baked desserts with chickpeas but never with black beans. If I make 12 regular size muffins would that work the same? Thanks!
Yes, sure you can make 12 larger muffins instead of 24 mini muffins. They will probably request a longer baking time, check with a pick inserted in the middle of the muffin to see when it’s ready.