Spinach Banana Muffins

Spinach Banana Muffins are delicious and the color is fun for kids, too. Super moist, best eaten the day they’re baked but can be refrigerated up to 2 days. Plus the color is beyond vibrant, making them super fun! And, just for you, I tested multiple recipes to ensure your success, so let’s get these in your oven…

I’ve been making these Spinach Banana Muffins for years, with rave reviews. This year I decided to test it against some other internet recipes that claim to be “the best” spinach banana muffins, so I could share with you “the best I’ve tried”. One recipe I tested was fully gluten-free, using rolled oats, included eggs in the recipe and almost 2/3 less spinach than my recipe. My Spinach Banana Muffins are egg-free, my recipe uses almond and whole-wheat flours. A third recipe I tried was a lot closer to my recipe but included an egg and the sweetener was honey rather than sugar. Here are my take aways, if you care. If you just want to make my recipe (let me say thank you!), you can hit the Jump to Recipe button and skip all the dissecting details to get started.

What eggs do in baking recipes

Eggs in baking are usually such an important ingredient to ensure a cohesive texture throughout. They add structure and stability in a batter, and the yolk adds some fat to help bind the ingredients together. When eggs are combined with sugar they create a good deal of moisture and flavor.

Why eggs don’t work in every baking recipe

While all of the above information would make you think that eggs are a necessary part of every baking recipe, this is not always the case. Vegan-friendly recipes use substitutions like flax or chia seeds soaked in water with excellent results for creating a good, binding structure. But eggs and egg substitutes are not always needed to create a fabulous cake, muffin or cookie. At the end of this experiment I found that my egg-free recipe creates a super airy, almost melt-in-your-mouth finish.

Almond flour and whole-wheat flour in baking

Of the three recipes I tried (mine being one of them), mine’s the only one that uses almond flour in the recipe. Almond flour paired with whole-wheat flour creates an amazing amount of nutty flour and a fabulous texture that’s not too dense. The catalyst for using half almond flour and half whole-wheat flour was inspired by my Carrot and Quinoa Muffin recipe that is always a hit and many have claimed they’re the best muffins they’ve ever tasted.

Spinach in a muffin recipe

My recipe uses what seems to be almost too much spinach, but when blended with other wet ingredients, the spinach imparts a whole lot of moisture, magnificent emerald green natural coloring, not to mention all the fabulous health benefits of this super-food that your kids crave, said no parent ever.

Honey vs. Sugar in baking

In most muffin, yeast bread, pancake, or waffle recipes, you can use a one-to-one substitution of honey for sugar. However, you need to reduce the other liquid ingredients by about 1/4 cup for every 1 cup of honey that is substituted per 1 cup of sugar. Since, as I mentioned above, the spinach (and the banana) impart a good amount of moisture in the recipe, I only used about 1/4 cup of honey rather than the 2/3 cup of sugar in my recipe. Even though the honey was scant, it affected the overall bright flavor of the muffins that my taste-testers didn’t care for. If you’re wanting less sugar in the recipe, I actually have had a lot of success using less sugar but just know that you’ll experience a bolder spinach flavor that the younger tasters didn’t like as much.

Make your muffins special with this easy little trick

Here’s a fabulous easy trick to boost your muffins, of any kind, to the next level. Just before I put the muffins in the oven for baking, I sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the top of the batter. As the muffins bake, the tops get a very light, crisp top. Just enough added sweetness to the muffins, and the sugar makes for a glossy top, as well.

I could go on with other comparisons, but I don’t want to beat you over the head with my boasting. I am trying to inspire you to make Spinach Banana Muffins, though. Go ahead and compare them to other recipes. Or just stop here when you taste mine and your family devours them. Let me also tell you that my neighbor’s kids, all under 10, had the opportunity to compare my muffins with one of the other recipes and they didn’t want to finish the other recipe but came outside calling my name over the fence to ask for more. I think I don’t need to say more after that visual. 🙂

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5 from 9 votes

Spinach Banana Muffins

These delicious muffins are a beautiful jewel of bright green thanks to a healthy amount of spinach. But any spinach flavor almost disappears thanks to the banana, vanilla, and almond flour. Great to make for kids who sometimes call them Green Monster Muffins. Best eaten the day of baking, refrigerate any leftovers for up to 2 days.

Course Bakery

Cuisine American

Keyword english muffins, healthy, spinach, vegetarian,

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Resting time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 18 muffins

Calories 130

Author Sally Humeniuk

Ingredients 

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Dry Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• ⅔ cup sugar, plus extra for topping
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅛ tsp cinnamon, More or less, if desired

Wet Ingredients, plus spinach and banana:

• ¼ cup canola oil
• ¾ cup milk, Can use nut milk
• 5 ounces baby spinach, One plastic clam shell is usually 5 ounces
• 1 medium banana, Very ripe, mashed (no need to measure but approx. ½ cup)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line two 12-cup muffin pans with 18 paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray. If you only have one muffin tin, that's fine, you can bake one batch then the remainder of the batter afterwards (it's fine for the batter to sit while one set is baking).
• Whisk together 1 cup almond flour, 1 cup wheat flour, ⅔ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons powder, ½ teaspoon soda, ½ teaspoon salt, and ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
• In a blender, place ¼ cup oil, ¾ cup milk and 5 ounces spinach. Blend on high for about 30 seconds or until completely pureed. Add 1 mashed banana and 2 teaspoons vanilla; blend on low just to mix.
• Pour the pureed mixture into the combined dry ingredients and fold together until completely combined.
• The batter will be thin, like pancake batter. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to thicken slightly.
• Pour batter into muffin cups, filling ⅔ to ¾ full. Using your fingers to pinch a bit of sugar, sprinkle over the tops of the muffins lightly with the sugar to thinly but completely cover the tops. This is optional but will provide a delicate crispness to the tops of the muffins. Don't use brown sugar or anything other than regular granulated sugar for this or the tops of the mufffins could get a bit burnt and won't look shiny and appetizing.
• Bake 20 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Once the tops of the muffins look bright and not too shiny, turn off the oven and open the oven door completely. Slide out the middle rack of the oven with the muffin pan still on the rack, so the pan is still inside the oven but barely. Let the muffins sit like this for 10-15 minutes; this prevents the muffins from sinking but also prevents them from being overcooked and dry.
• Remove the pan from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Serve immediately and place any extras in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Equipment

muffin pan

muffin liners

Notes

1. 5 ounce containers of spinach are easy to find, usually the smaller clear plastic containers are 5 ounces. Bags of spinach usually come in 6 ounce quantity. If you can only find the 6 ounce size, just pull out a loose handful to set aside for another use and you can consider the remainder close enough to 5 ounces.
2. I don't recommend substituting the flours in this recipe as the almond flour and whole-wheat flour both contribute to the flavor and texture of these muffins.
3. I've made the muffins using less sugar (1/2 cup) with pretty good success but it's worth noting that the spinach flavor is more pronounced with less sugar and that may or may not matter to you. The lower sugar makes it a little harder to keep the muffins from sinking in the middle a bit after baking. The texture is still perfect, however.

Nutrition Facts

Spinach Banana Muffins

Amount Per Serving (1 muffin)

Calories 130 Calories from Fat 63

% Daily Value*

Fat 7g11%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Cholesterol 1mg0%

Sodium 111mg5%

Potassium 161mg5%

Carbohydrates 16g5%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 9g10%

Protein 3g6%

Vitamin A 759IU15%

Vitamin C 3mg4%

Calcium 59mg6%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.