Welcome to your new favorite way to eat veggies. When I made these blender chocolate spinach banana muffins a few years back you guys went crazy for them, so I knew I had to make classic banana spinach muffins that are great for kids and the perfect breakfast or snack.
These kid-friendly spinach banana muffins are gluten-free, freezer-friendly, and have the perfect amount of sweetness. Feel free to skip your salad for lunch and enjoy one of these babies instead (I won’t tell).
I’ve included tons of notes and customizations throughout the post so that you’ll have perfect muffins every time!
Banana spinach muffin ingredients
These easy, toddler-friendly banana spinach muffins are naturally sweetened and packed with protein & healthy fats. Plus, they’re gluten free and dairy free! Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Eggs: you’ll need two eggs in this muffin recipe. I haven’t tested them with an egg alternative, but let me know if you do!
- Bananas: be sure to use super ripe bananas (with lots of brown spots) for natural sweetness.
- Sweetener: you’ll also need just a bit of pure maple syrup for a little more sweetness, plus some cinnamon and vanilla extract for flavor.
- Milk: feel free to use any milk you’d like. I prefer almond milk.
- Spinach: we’re packing these muffins with three whole cups of spinach for a boost of veggies and vitamins!
- Flours: these muffins bake up nice and fluffy thanks to almond flour and oat flour.
- Flaxseed meal: for an added boost of healthy fats and nutrition.
- Baking staples: don’t forget the baking powder, baking soda and a little salt.
The magic of spinach in muffins
It may sound strange, but adding spinach to these banana muffins is the perfect way to eat your veggies and pack in extra vitamins — especially for kids! They won’t taste the spinach at all, and it’s just like adding veggies to delicious smoothies. However, these muffins can also be made without the spinach and they’re fabulous!
Can I use a different flour?
Unfortunately, no, I would not recommend substituting the almond and oat flour for a different flour. Keep these banana spinach muffins gluten free by using a gluten free oat flour.
If you want to use rolled oats instead of oat flour, feel free to blend 1 1/4 cups of oats right in with the liquid ingredients. This skips the step of having to make your own oat flour if you are out.
Our fav nutritional booster
I love adding a couple tablespoons of hemp hearts, too, for some bonus healthy fats!
How to make kid-friendly banana spinach muffins
- Prep your muffin tin. You’ll only be making 10 muffins, so line a muffin tin with 10 liners and spray the insides with cooking spray.
- Blend the wet ingredients. Add all of the wet ingredients to a high powered blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Whisk the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
- Mix the batter. You’ll then pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. This is where you’ll stir in those hemp hearts!
- Divide & bake. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin tin, bake and enjoy!
Can I blend everything in my blender?
After a lot of testing, I’ve found that the toddler-friendly spinach banana muffins have a better consistency when you mix the blended wet ingredients with the whisked dry ingredients in a bowl, rather than blending everything together. If you’re in a bind and want to blend them all together, they will still work out.
A note on sweeteners
I’ve made these without any sweetener and found them to be a little bland, however, if you want to reduce the sweetener you can do 2-3 tablespoons instead of 1/4 cup. The best way to keep these perfectly sweet is to use EXTRA RIPE bananas!
Tips for perfect spinach banana muffins
- Pack your almond flour. Make sure you pack it just like you would with brown sugar. Do not pack the oat flour.
- Use super ripe bananas. This is what will give the muffins the perfect amount of sweetness. Be sure there are tons of brown spots!
- Use baking soda & powder. Don’t forget to use both baking soda and baking powder so that the muffins rise properly.
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: place these gluten free banana spinach muffins on the counter in an airtight container for a day, then transfer to the fridge.
- To freeze: allow the muffins to cool completely then put in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Once ready to reheat, you can thaw at room temperature, or heat up in the microwave in 30 second intervals.
More muffin recipes you’ll love
- The Best Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins (gluten free!)
- ABC Muffins (apple, banana, carrot muffins!)
- Marbled Banana Muffins
- Healthy Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Muffins (dairy free + gluten free)
Get all of our delicious muffin recipes here!
I hope you love these blender banana spinach muffins! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Kid-Friendly Blender Banana Spinach Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 2 medium to large extra ripe bananas (with LOTS of brown spots)
- ¼ cup (78g) pure maple syrup or honey
- ⅓ cup (80g) dairy free milk of choice (I used almond milk)
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (112g) packed blanched almond flour
- 1 cup (92g) oat flour, gluten free if desired
- ¼ cup (30g) flaxseed meal
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Optional:
- 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 10 muffin liners (we’re only making 10 muffins). Spray the inside of the muffin liners with nonstick cooking spray so the muffins do not stick to the liners.
- Add the eggs, bananas, maple syrup/honey, dairy free milk, spinach and vanilla extract to a large, high powered blender and blend on high for 1 minute or until completely smooth. Set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together the almond flour, oat flour, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined. Pour the blended wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Feel free to stir in hemp hearts, if using. Divide the batter between the muffin liners. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on June 14th, 2021, and republished on March 11th, 2025.
Hello, I would like to make these, but I was wondering if they could be made with frozen spinach? And what do you think the ratio would be if using the frozen version thank you!:)
I haven’t personally tried it, but another commenter said she thawed 10 oz. frozen spinach before blending it in and it worked well. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Just made these and they are awesome. No kids in the house, so added pistachios to match the green and sprinkled monk fruit on top.
Love it! Glad you enjoyed!
We’ve been making these weekly at our house and my 3 year old loves to help! Delicious snacks that are quick and easy to make – thank you for this wonderful recipe!
So happy to hear that!
I thought I read you could sub chia for flax? If so, how and how much? Or what do I do if I want to leave out all together?
I have only tested the recipe as written with flax so I can’t be sure chia seeds would work the same way (or give it the same flavor!)
Love, love, love this recipe!!! So easy and so yummy! Thank you!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
10/10 best muffins ever. My kids love them so much they beg me to make them every week. They are quick easy snack or breakfast on the go for the busy mornings.
So happy to hear that!
Hi Monique,
I don’t have oat flour but I have rolled oats. Can I make oat flour using that and use it in the recipe?
Yes! Check out this post to learn how (you’ll just blend the rolled oats!)
Monique, as a g-free girly, I love so many of your recipes. This one was so easy and packed a lot of delicious flavor! I’m trying to trick myself into eating more nutritious things in my second trimester of pregnancy and these are so tasty!
I never have muffin liners, but spraying the muffin tin with cooking spray worked fine. And, in the name of not wasting, I ended up using all 3 of my ripe bananas and the full 5oz package of spinach I had. They turned out great still! I got 14 yummy muffins out of it 🙂
Such a great pregnancy snack! Glad you enjoyed!
These are great!! Made them into mini muffins for my 3 year old for st Patrick’s day. 24 mini muffins took 14 minutes in my oven. I did 2 tbsp of honey but next time I’ll try skipping it. I added the hemp seeds and blended whole oats with the liquid ingredients as suggested. So yummy! Really appreciate the weight measurements you’ve been adding to recipes. Would love to have the weight of the bananas for recipes too so I could be more exact 🤓
Perfect! So glad they turned out beautifully. Noted on the bananas, too!
These tasted so much better than I was expecting! So yummy! The only change I made to the recipe was adding mini chocolate chips (highly recommend). My kids loved them and all agreed you can’t taste the spinach at all. They loved the green for a fun St. Patrick’s Day breakfast!
Love that! Perfect breakfast for the holiday 🙂
Delish!
One of our favs, too 🙂
Hi! What flour can I substitute for almond to make them nutfree please ?
Hi! Unfortunately, I haven’t tested these with a swap for the almond flour. Feel free to check out my nut free recipes here!
Could I sub squeezed out frozen spinach? How much?
I haven’t personally tried it, but another commenter said she thawed 10 oz. frozen spinach before blending it in and it worked well. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Do you have a substitute for the eggs? These look so good but all of your recipes call for eggs and I don’t eat them. Thanks!
I haven’t tested it, but many of my baked goods can be made with flax eggs. I saw a commenter made these with flax eggs and it worked out well – let me know if you give it a try!
I probably made these muffins once a week for months when my kids were little (I used to have it memorized!). It’s a quick recipe, packed with nutrient dense ingredients in true AK style. They also freeze incredibly well so you can just pull them out in the morning and quickly warm in the microwave. A must make for little ones!
YES the perfect kiddo snack!
Love making this recipe every now and then for my toddler! Helps keep green things in rotation for every meal 🙂 they freeze so well and are ready to go in the microwave in like 25 seconds.
Absolutely!
This recipe is my go-to for quick, nutritious and tasty muffins for my whole family! We make them at least 2x per month! Everyone loves them, even my pickiest eaters. We love to add a few chocolate chip on top and reduce the maple syrup if using overripe bananas. I love that it’s GF and DF, too! Truly the best muffin recipe!
Amazing! So glad they’re a favorite!
These are so tasty! While not a child, I am pregnant and struggling to eat my veggies in first trimester so I made these as a hopeful way to trick myself and it worked haha! I also added some mini chocolate chips and they’re delicious. Easy and worth making!
YES this is the perfect way to get those veggies in! Glad you enjoyed!
We call these Green Machine muffins. The color excites the kids and I enjoy eating them! As with many AK muffin recipes, I feel like we are eating healthy and having a treat. Make these on repeat.
Love this! 🙂
The batter turned out to be very liquide and muffins did not grow at all. I was very surprised as it never happened to me before… I even weighted all the dry ingredientes. What could be the reason?
The batter will be liquidy as it is blended but if they didn’t rise it could have been because your baking soda and/or powder were bad. Did you use 1/3 cup (80g) of milk too?
I realized I have never reviewed this despite making it dozens of times! This is an awesome recipe! This is one of the only ways I can get my super picky 4 year old to eat veggies. My 7 year old often takes them for school snack as well. I usually triple the recipe and use a 12 oz bag of frozen spinach instead of fresh. I find they need to bake for about 45 mins for full size muffins, but 35 mins is perfect for mini muffins. I bake them in a silicone muffin pan sprayed with oil.
These are SO good. My 9 month old can’t get enough of these muffins! They are really moist and taste great. I make my own oat flour by blending up regular oats. Instead of maple syrup I have been soaking 6-8 mejool dates in a small amount of water and then blending them into a liquid to use instead. Somehow I end up with enough batter for 12 muffins, but maybe it’s because of the coarser oat flour. I also always add the hemp hearts. Make these and you will not be disappointed!
Perfect! So glad they’re a hit with your kiddo, too!
Hi! Is the nutritional info on this muffin include the 2 tbsp of hemp seeds? Thank you!!
Hi! It does not 🙂
Thanks for this recipe. Since I cook from my garden and there is no spinach in sight in September, I used Swiss chard and beet greens. Worked great and was very delicious !
Perfect! I’m glad those worked out well!