These moist Spinach Banana Muffins, or vegan monster muffins as toddlers call them, are healthy banana muffins for kids’ snacks. They are packed with nutrients, fiber, protein, and also refined sugar-free. Bonus, these spinach blender muffins are also egg-free and dairy-free—the perfect healthy snack for kids.
I love baking muffins, pancakes, or bread with spinach and hiding this delicious veggie. Try my Spinach Tortillas, Spinach Cookies, or Spinach Banana Pancakes to see what I mean!
Green monster muffins or hulk muffins are healthy toddler muffins made of banana and spinach. They are nutritious kid snacks or on-the-go breakfasts packed with fruits, vegetables, and plant-based proteins. Their name comes from their flashy, vibrant green color, very attractive to kids’ little eyes.
Parents love to give a funny name to these muffins to encourage kids to eat them more. Some call them hulk muffins, monster muffins, or dinosaur muffins!
Ingredients and Substitutions
The ingredients you need to make this monster muffins recipe are:
- Instant Oats, Rolled Oats, or Oat Flour – I highly recommend using instant oat for this banana spinach muffins blender recipe. Instant oats are basically rolled oats that have been pulsed to a finer texture. Rolled oats are coarser and can be difficult to blend if you don’t have a powerful blender, which means you will have to blend the batter faster and longer to create a smooth muffin batter. As a result, over-blended muffin batter creates a tunnel effect in baked muffins – it means that the muffins will form holes in their center when baked. Using instant oats avoids this problem.
- Almond Milk – or any dairy-free milk you like, such as coconut milk, oat milk, or soy milk.
- Lemon Juice or apple cider vinegar. This bring the acidic ingredient that helps these muffins rise.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda
- Ripe Banana – Peel the bananas and weigh them for precision.
- Fresh Spinach – I am using fresh baby spinach, but frozen spinach works as well. Thaw the frozen spinach, squeeze out all their juice, and pat dry on absorbent paper before weighting and adding to the blender. Another option is to use trimmed fresh kale.
- Maple Syrup – or any liquid sweetener you love.
- Melted Coconut Oil – or vegetable oil of choice or light olive oil.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
How To Make Spinach Banana Muffins
It is effortless to make spinach banana muffins for toddlers in your blender. You must have a high-speed blender, strong enough to pulse all the ingredients together, or the texture of your muffins come out gritty.
The key to making light and fluffy blender muffins is to create a smooth batter in your blender.
- First, add all the wet ingredients to the bottom of the blender jug: almond milk, lemon juice, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Then, add soft ingredients: spinach and banana. Finally, add the dry ingredients: instant oats or rolled oats, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Blend on high speed until the batter is smooth and not grainy. Rest 5 minutes in the blender before filling muffins.
- Now, line paper muffin cups into your muffin tray. You can use one large muffin tray with 12 holes or 3 mini muffin pans with 12 holes.
- Then, fill each muffin case up to 3/4 and place the muffin tin in the center rack of your oven.
- Bake the muffins in an oven preheated to 350°C (180°C) for 15 minutes for mini muffins or 20-22 minutes for large muffins.
- Transfer the baked muffins onto a cooling rack and wait for about 1 hour before serving these spinach banana mini muffins to kids.
Storage
These easy spinach banana muffins store very well in the fridge in a sealed container or lunchboxes for up to 3 days. Another way to store them for longer is to freeze your mini spinach muffins in Ziploc bags or airtight boxes.
Thaw the muffins the day before in the fridge or 3 hours at room temperature before serving these green monster muffins as an easy toddler meal.
Allergy Swaps
You can replace instant oats with white whole wheat flour instead of an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend – make sure it contains gum like Bob’s Red Mill’s. The recipe steps will be slightly different as you can’t blend the gluten-free flour in the blender, or the batter will be very dense and the muffins thick as a rock.
First, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Blend all the remaining ingredients until they form a smooth green smoothie. Pour this green mixture onto the bowl with the flour. Stir until it forms a thick batter.
Frequently Asked Questions
This happens if your oats didn’t blend into a thin flour in the blender. It can be because you used rolled oats instead of instant oats. As mentioned above, rolled oats are coarse and difficult to pulse into a fine flour. Or your blender is not powerful enough to break the oats into flour and create a smooth muffin batter.
If so, use all-purpose flour or make your own oat flour first. Then, add the oat flour into a large mixing bowl, process the remaining ingredients into a green smoothie, and pour onto the homemade oat flour or regular flour. Stir to form the muffin batter and use it as regular.
Yes, for bigger kids, you can add up to 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips into the muffin batter or sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top of each muffin. I recommend sprinkling the chocolate chips on top of the baked muffins. The chocolate chips gently melt, and they won’t brown too fast in the oven.
Plus, removing the liquid sweetener will impact the texture of the muffins. They will end up drier and less sweet. These spinach muffins contain a very low amount of unrefined sugar from maple syrup.
I don’t recommend removing the sweetener if you have picky eaters because it hides perfectly the spinach flavor.
These monster muffins are perfect for toddler breakfast or vegan kids lunchbox snacks because they contain plant-based proteins from oats, natural sugar from bananas, and nutrients from spinach and all the previous ingredients. They make a complete breakfast that kids love.
More Vegan Kids Recipes
If you’re looking for kid-friendly recipes, you’ll love these:
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Vegan Spinach Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup Almond Milk - or milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
- ¼ cup Melted Coconut Oil - or any vegetable oil
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 2.5 oz Spinach
- 1 cup Mashed Banana - 8.3 oz, it's about 2 large peeled bananas
- 2 cups Instant Rolled Oats - (6.8 oz) or rolled oats
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C) or 325°F fan-forced mode (160°C). Line two 12-hole mini muffin tray with a paper liner. Set aside.
- Measure all your ingredients in small bowls for precision. Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature if using coconut oil, or the oil can firm up in contact with cold milk.
- Place all the ingredients in the jug of a high-speed blender, follow the order listed in the list above.
- Blend on high speed to form a thick green batter. You may have to stop the blender and scrape down the sides of the bowl or use the blender stick to help the batter mix well together. Stop when the batter is smooth and consistent, not grainy. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes in the jug to thicken.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared muffin tray.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes at 340°F (170°C) until a pick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. After 8 minutes, foil the top of the tray to prevent the top from browning and keep the muffins very green.
- Let the muffins cool down on a cooling rack.
These are really good, but terribly difficult batter. Mine comes out so thick and sticky even without letting it sit before pouring into muffin tins. Any advice or is that how it’s supposed to be? I have a Vitamix and it was super difficult to clean under the blades where the batter was stuck even tho I immediately washed the blender. Great taste tho!!!
It might be because of denser oats – so the same 2 cups would bring more weight of oats. I’d try again with 1 3/4 cup of oats instead of 2 cups.
I haven’t made this yet, but I want to know if you can make this without a high-speed blender?
I haven’t tried, but the alternative would be to buy oat flour and just use a food processor to combine the other ingredients.
Can I substitute maple with date syrup?
Absolutely!
I have been making these muffins monthly for over a year, my toddler loves them!! I made them yesterday and left them out on the counter overnight in a sealed container, do you think they are still good to eat and go in the fridge after being at room temp to almost 24 hours?
Yes, it should be fine!
Hi: I need a vegan recipe without instant Oats. They are not good with the way there processed. Can I use steel cut organic or another healthy form?
You can use quick oats, or rolled oats too for this recipe.
Can I replace the oil with applesauce?
I don’t think it will work
How long do I cook for a normal sized muffin tray? I don’t have a mini muffin tray
I would say around 30 minutes, inset a pick in the center of the muffin, if it’s wet keep baking
Hello, I’ve made these twice now. Both times they fall a little after coming out of the oven. How can I prevent this from happening?
Do you mean they sink in the middle or they don’t hold their shape? If they sink, it means you need to let the batter rest a little before baking – over blended muffin batter tend to sink in the oven. If they are fragile, you have either too much moisture, or a oat that didn’t blend as thin as needed. Adding 1 tablespoon flaxmeal will firm up the batter.
Could I substitute quinoa flakes for the oat flour/instant oats?
I haven’t tried, but I think it would work. Let me know!
I almost never leave a comment, but these were too good! Perfectly balanced flavor and so healthy..