Spinach muffins with chocolate are a tasty, easy hidden vegetable recipe! The whole family will love them. You can't taste the spinach but it makes them naturally bright green! Perfect for breakfast, lunch or dessert.
These bright green muffins are naturally colored with... spinach!
The flavor of the spinach fades away, but it leaves green goodness and that awesome color behind.
The Spinach Muffins taste just like chocolate chip muffins, but they're healthier, so great for snacks, dessert, lunchboxes or breakfast.
They're also perfect as a healthier Halloween or St Patrick's Day recipe.
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Why you'll love this recipe
Fun naturally green color.
Lower in sugar.
Full of spinach and banana.
A healthier muffin for lunchboxes.
A great snack, lunch or breakfast.
Hidden Vegetable Muffins
There's a LOT of spinach in this hidden vegetable spinach banana muffin recipe. But it doesn't leave any taste! The flavor is more like vanilla chocolate chip muffins.
I’ll freely admit that the addition of chocolate chips in the spinach banana muffin recipe is pure bribery.
I know that kids (and grown ups!) can be a bit wary of eating green things, so I’ve added chocolate to persuade them.
A little (literal) sweetener if you will. According to my children, it works.
The muffins are still rammed full of green goodness, they’re low in sugar and also have nutritious banana, but the flecks of chocolate will likely encourage anyone to tuck in.
Then I’m sure they’ll be convinced that bright green muffins aren’t anything to be wary of!
Try these other spinach recipes.
Cooking Spinach Muffins with kids
Besides bribery (through the medium of chocolate chips in a spinach muffin recipe), I also like getting kids involved with cooking as a means to persuade them to be a bit more daring with the foods they want to eat.
These green muffins are really easy to make together as a fun activity.
My little ones love pressing the buttons on the blender and watching the machine spring into life, turning the ingredients into a lovely green liquid.
More Spinach Recipes
I hope that you'll love these Spinach Muffins as much as we do. Be sure to check out these other tasty spinach recipes!
Strawberry Spinach Salad
Spinach Burgers
Green Spinach Crust Pizza
Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip
More Hidden Vegetable Cakes and Desserts
I started this blog to write about all the crazy vegetable cakes that I love to make! I even wrote a cookbook all about the subject.
You can check out my cookbook, Veggie Desserts and Cakes on Amazon USA and Amazon UK.
Green Muffins
I made these many times to get the right balance of maximum spinach and minimum sugar and every time my kids loved them.
Once kids are used to green muffins, you can even try making them savory.
Just leave out the sugar, vanilla and chocolate chips, and add in a small handful of grated cheddar cheese or a little sweetcorn.
It’s baby steps to getting kids to try new foods.
Tips and Tricks for Spinach Muffins
- Turn them into Halloween Monster Muffins with a few candy eyes!
- Use a really ripe banana. It will be sweeter, so will add a lot of sweetness to this lower sugar muffin recipe.
- Try adding a little mint extract to make them into naturally green Mint Choc Chip Muffins.
- Make it vegan: substitute 2 flax 'eggs' (2 tablespoon of flaxmeal/ground flax mixedin 6 tablespoon of water and left to thicken for 5 minutes).
- Make it gluten free: use gluten free flour and baking powder.
Storage and Freezing
Store these muffins in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days.
These muffins freeze well. Simply wrap them in plastic wrap, place them into a reusable freezer containers or add them to a freezer bag and place in the freezer for up to three months.
Muffin Recipes
I hope you'll also love these other tasty muffin recipes!
Check out the Veggie Desserts + Cakes cookbook on Amazon
Check out the Veggie Desserts + Cakes cookbook on Amazon
📖 Recipe
Sweet Spinach Muffins
Equipment
- Blender
- mixing bowl
- 12-hole muffin pan
Ingredients
- 2½ cups raw spinach (125g)
- ¼ cup oil (60 ml)
- 1 ripe banana
- ½ cup sugar (100g)
- 2 free range eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all purpose (plain) flour (200g)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup chocolate chips (75g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F/170°C. Line or grease a muffin tray.
- Wilt the spinach by putting into a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes, then drain and rinse briefly under cold water.
- Gently squeeze out the excess moisture from the spinach, then chop it up a bit and add it to a blender along with the oil, banana, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Whiz until it’s smooth.
- Pour it into a bowl, then sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Gently stir to combine, then fold the chocolate chips. Take care not to overmix, but ensure no streaks of flour are showing.
- Fill the muffin cups ¾ full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tray for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
- Make it vegan: substitute 2 flax 'eggs' (2 tablespoon of flaxmeal/ground flax mixedin 6 tablespoon of water and left to thicken for 5 minutes).
- Make it gluten free: use gluten free flour and baking powder.
- Turn them into Halloween Monster Muffins with a few candy eyes!
- Use a really ripe banana. It will be sweeter, so will add a lot of sweetness to this lower sugar muffin recipe.
Storage and Freezing
- Store these muffins in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days.
- These muffins freeze well. Simply wrap them in plastic wrap, place them into a reusable freezer containers or add them to a freezer bag and place in the freezer for up to three months.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors, so is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietician for special diet advice.
Krista
Pretty good! I switched 1/4c of the flour for cocoa powder to hide the green and my kids had no idea. They liked them but I thought they were a bit flavorless and texture a little gummy from the spinach? Next time I’ll do two bananas to add more flavor and maybe a 1/3c cocoa. A good alternative to the more typical chocolate zucchini muffins since I don’t usually have zukes at home!
Scarlett B
Great recipe. My muffins weren't as green but maybe I didn't blend it enough. My kids loved them. I replaced the sugar with swerve and I replaced the chocolate chips with sugar-free chocolate chips. Delicious.
Laura
Great! Made this for my 3 year old with low iron and she really liked it! Added extra dark chocolate chips for more iron.
Shelly
Made them, loved them, will bake again! My three elementary boys also approved and want them again. ❤️
Amanda
It was so good my group made this for a school project and they came out fabulous definitely making this so I can have it for breakfast or for a really yummy snack to cut my hunger and it will be way better and healthier than processed sweet snacks thanks a bunch. 🙂
Caitlinn
Haven’t made them yet - but I’m so intrigued! He hates spinach but loves chocolate. My husband is allergic to bananas, can I substitute with applesauce?
Kate Hackworthy
Hi, applesauce will work instead of bananas. I hope you like them!
Maria
My son absolutely adores these and calls them “chameleon muffins.” He’s now known for having them in his school snack almost every day 🙂
Stephanie
Can I replace chocolate chip with walnut?
Kate Hackworthy
Absolutely!
Peri
I made these with my strawberry canalli bean muffins for Wicked themed muffins. Kids loved so much that I made minis and I pop them in the lunch box.
Jennifer
Our son is extremely picky and has severe food texture issues. He only eats about 10 different foods. He has eaten PB&j sandwiches every school day for the last 3 years and go to where he won't eat them now. I was determined to get some nutrition in him so I made these muffins. I swapped out the refined sugar for honey & called them "green monster muffins" since it's a week before Halloween. He said they are DELICIOUS! A muffin, Greek yogurt and fruit is his new school lunch. Thanks for the great recipe.
Kate Hackworthy
I'm so pleased he liked them!
Kerry
I decided to not blanch the spinach. I just put them in the blender completely raw. Blanching takes away too much of the nutrients. I even added more spinach than the recipe asked for. They turned out great. Can’t even tell that you’re eating spinach. I also added an extra banana. I think next time I will make them without the chocolate chips.
Mairéad
Fabulous recipe, very tasty and enjoyed by everyone that tried!
Christina
I made these today with my 5 year old! They were so yummy! I’m glad I made them. I blended everything into the Vitamix (except the chocolate chips). I used avocado instead of banana because I can’t eat them. They still had enough sweetness and were very moist. We will definitely be making these again!
Kate
Hi! My batter wasn’t smooth 🙁 How did you blended your spinach?
Kate Hackworthy
Hi, I use a handheld immersion blender. If it's not smooth, then just blend a little longer. I hope that helps!
Shadi Hasanzadenemati
I made your recipe for a gathering and everyone kept asking for the recipe. It was totally a hit!
Danie
what kinda of oil do you recommend using?
Kate Hackworthy
Hi, any vegetable or even melted coconut oil are all fine!
Seete Sharp
My whole family loves them! Thank you for sharing!
I used avacado oil. The idea of blanching the spinach is brilliant. It makes the spinach flavor mallow, even my extremely picky grandson loved them! 🤗🥰
Jessica Formicola
What a great way to add some nutrients to breakfast while tasting great too! Definitely making a batch of these this week!