20 Minute Spinach Muffins for Kids & Toddlers
Nourishing, veggie-filled muffins coming right up! These homemade Spinach Muffins are easy and quick to make with the help of a high-powered blender. They’re made with fresh spinach, applesauce, and no refined sugar—they’re a great option for breakfast, a healthy snack, and perfect for school lunch boxes, too! Great for 9+ months and up!
Medically reviewed and cowritten by Jamie Johnson, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), and Lauren Braaten, Pediatric Occupational Therapist (OT).
Green Spinach Blender Muffins
Looking for an easy way to have your kid eat spinach? I’ve got you!
These muffins are a fun-filled way to serve spinach to your little one. Made with wholesome ingredients such as spinach, applesauce, maple syrup, and olive oil, these muffins are great for a healthy breakfast, snack or lunch!
If you are looking for more easy and healthy muffin recipes for kids and toddlers, then be sure to check out my Blueberry Avocado Mini Muffins, Mini Pumpkin Muffins, or these delicious Applesauce Muffins. You can also find more recipes and information in my best-selling cookbook, Little Foodies: Recipes for Babies and Toddlers with Taste.
Spinach Muffins Video
Watch this video to see step-by-step instructions on how to make these muffins!
Reasons to Love Mini Spinach Muffins
- toddler, kid and adult-friendly
- easy to make
- can customize with different add-ins
- great for school or packed lunches
- healthy
- freezer-friendly
- great for breakfasts on the go
- can be made gluten and dairy-free
- naturally nut-free
Ingredients
Make sure to read the recipe card below for full ingredients and instructions!
- Flour: you can use all-purpose, white whole wheat flour, a mixture of 50/50 white and whole wheat flour, or gluten-free one-for-one flour.
- Spinach: the star of the show! You can use 1-2 cups of baby spinach, not packed down. I have found if you use more than 2 cups the muffins become dense because of the extra water content.
- Applesauce: can use homemade or store-bought. If using store-bought then make sure to look for no-added-sugar applesauce.
- Oil/Butter: to make the muffins nice and moist. You can use coconut, avocado, vegetable, olive oil, or melted butter.
- Milk: you can use any milk you like in this recipe. Dairy milk works well, but make them dairy-free by using almond, oat or cashew.
- Maple Syrup: to naturally sweeten the muffins.
- Spices: a little cinnamon and vanilla deliver some big flavor!
- Baking soda and powder
- Salt
- Egg
Allergy Tips: to make these muffins gluten-free, you can use any one-for-one gluten-free flour blend. If you are looking for a dairy-free muffin option, you can use any plant-based milk you prefer such as almond, soy, hemp, oat, etc.
Benefits of Spinach
These muffins are loaded with fiber, manganese, folate, magnesium, copper, calcium, antioxidants and vitamins K, A, B2, B6, E, and C. WOW!
- high in fiber to help build a healthy heart and aid in digestion
- has a good amount of vitamin C, which is important for skin, eye, immune and brain health
- contains the mineral boron, which may be important for building strong bones and supporting brain function
- great source of iron that helps muscles store and use oxygen, and it is vital for brain development
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray or line a mini muffin tin.
- Whisk: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- Blend: in a blender, add the spinach, milk, applesauce, oil/butter, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla extract. Blend until completely smooth and there are no chunks of spinach – roughly 45-60 seconds.
- Combine: pour the spinach mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Fill Muffin Tin: Scoop the batter into the muffin tin. For mini muffins – use roughly 1 tablespoon per cup. For regular muffins – use roughly 1/4 cup per cup.
- Bake: Place the muffin tin into the oven, and bake for 12-14 minutes for mini muffins and 18-20 for regular size muffins or until just golden brown.
- Eat: Let cool for 5-10 minutes, and serve.
Tools Needed
Mix-Ins
These spinach blender muffins are delish as is – or you can add in a 1/3-1/2 cup of your favorite mix-ins. I always make half of the batch plain and then add in some mix-ins for the other half. This way we have plenty of options for a yummy snack and both of my kids are happy! Some of our favorites are:
- Mini Chocolate Chips
- Chopped Walnuts
- Blueberries
- Craisins or raisins
- White Chocolate Chips
How to Store and Freeze Spinach Muffins for Toddlers
Once the muffins have cooled completely, store them in an airtight container. They will keep on the counter for up to 4 days and in the fridge for up to a week.
To freeze the muffins, place the mini muffins into a freezer zip-lock baggie or stasher bag and place in the freezer. They will keep for up to 3 months frozen.
Thaw frozen mini spinach muffins overnight in the fridge or by gently warming them in the microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! For these muffins, you do need a blender in order to breakdown the spinach until smooth so that there are no spinach chunks in the muffins. You can also try a food processor for this step and let it run for 60-90 seconds or until all the spinach is smooth.
Yes! These muffins are totally freezer-friendly. Just place them in a zip-lock baggie or an air-tight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Baby-Led Weaning Spinach Muffins
These muffins are perfect for baby-led weaning or as a finger food because they are soft to eat and your baby can easily pick them up in their hands for a palmar grasp or with their pincer grasp if they are cut into smaller chunks. You can serve them to your baby sliced in half or cut into small chunks.
Spinach Muffins For Toddlers & Kids
These quick and easy muffins are also great for toddlers and kids. You can serve them as is, or with a smear of cream cheese, butter or peanut butter for breakfast, snack or packed into a school lunch.
Tips for Making the Best Spinach Muffins
- Do No Overmix: I can’t stress this point enough – do not over mix the muffin batter, if you do they won’t rise in the oven and will become dense and hard. The dry ingredients should be just combined with the wet ingredients.
- Preheat Oven: Ensure the oven is fully preheated so the muffins cook through evenly.
- Let Cool: let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes before enjoying them and let them cool completely before storing.
- Blend the Wet Ingredients: to make sure the spinach gets completely incorporated into the batter, and you don’t get huge chunks of spinach in these muffins, I would recommend that you blend all the wet ingredients in a blender until smooth (roughly 30-60 seconds).
- Applesauce: to avoid including added sugar in this recipe, make sure the applesauce you use doesn’t have any added sugar in the ingredient list.
- No Sticking: make sure you generously grease the mini muffin molds or use mini muffin liners so that the muffins don’t stick to the pan.
Cooking with Kids
Toddlers
- Toddlers can help measure and put the ingredients into the bowl.
- They can help mix the ingredients.
- Toddlers can help scoop the dough into the muffin pan.
Kids
- Preheat the oven.
- They can pick out and measure all of the ingredients.
- Kids can help mix the ingredients.
- They can help to fill the muffin cups with the batter.
- Once filled, kids can carefully put the muffin tin into the oven (with adult supervision) and remove once baked.
Or watch a shortened version here.
Get the recipe: 20 Minute Spinach Muffins for Kids & Toddlers
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour, all-purpose, white whole wheat pastry flour or one-for-one gluten free mix
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1-2 cups spinach, not packed
- 1/2 cup milk, regular whole milk or a plain plant-based milk
- 1/3 cup applesauce see notes
- 1/3 cup oil or melted butter see notes
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prep: preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray or line a mini muffin tin.
- Dry Ingredients: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Wet Ingredients: in a blender, add the spinach, milk, applesauce, oil/butter, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla extract. Blend until completely smooth and there are no chunks of spinach – roughly 45-60 seconds.
- Combine: pour the spinach mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Fill Muffin Tin: Scoop the batter into the muffin tin. For mini muffins – use roughly 1 tablespoon per cup. For regular muffins – use roughly 1/4 cup per cup.
- Bake: Place the muffin tin into the oven, and bake for 12-14 minutes for mini muffins and 18-20 for regular size muffins or until just golden brown.
- Eat: Let cool for 5-10 minutes, and serve.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @babyfoode on Instagram and hashtag it #babyfoode!
41 Comments on “20 Minute Spinach Muffins for Kids & Toddlers”
What temperature do you bake these at?
OMG! How did I forget this step?! Just fixed it in the recipe card for you. Thanks for letting me know.
Does it make a difference to use frozen spinach?
I haven’t tried this recipe with frozen spinach. I have found that frozen spinach usually gives a more ‘spinach’ taste to baked goods. But if you try it, please let us know how it turns out.
Can chopped frozen spinach be used in this recipe?
I haven’t tried using frozen spinach in this recipe. I would caution that usually, frozen spinach has a more ‘spinach’ taste than fresh, but if you try it please let us know how it turns out.
I did try it with frozen chopped spinach. I just don’t use it enough often to buy spinach fresh.
I used about 1/2 cup of frozen chopped spinach. They turned out fantastic! My 10/5 month loves them and honestly, I love them too. They kind of taste like plain crepes to me.
Next time I might try a little more spinach, I just worried about the extra water content from the frozen vegetable.
So easy and so good. The texture is perfect and my little one loves it!
I don’t have maple syrup. Can I use pearl milling company syrup (Aunt Jemima) instead. If not what can I use as a substitute?
If I leave out the maple syrup do I need to make up for the liquid elsewhere? These look great.
I have not tried omitting the maple syrup, but you could try replacing it with an extra 1/3 cup of applesauce or plain yogurt. Let us know how they turn out.
Delicious! Made these mini muffin size and froze for my 10mo. My baby and I love these. Not crazy sweet but enough flavor to hide the spinach. Also I used 3/4 cups frozen spinach. Thawed and squeezed out the extra water. To reheat I wrapped in a damp paper towel and microwaved 15-20seconds.
I’m so happy to hear that your little one loves these muffins! Also love that you used frozen spinach. Great idea!
It has a very neutral taste, maybe some sweetness from the maple syrup but definitely no spinach taste.
Love so many of your recipes but sadly this and the pizza muffins were not one of them.
Excellent muffins! My toddler (and I) loved them! I used Bob’s gluten free 1:1 flour and honey instead of maple syrup (just a preference). Will definitely be making again.
Happy to hear they turned out well for you guys! We make them all the time! xo, Michele
Only way my kid will eat spinach lol. I use Gerber avocado apple puree instead of applesauce cuz I got so much of it on WIC. I use half whole wheat half all purpose. One time I made the mistake of over stirring the batter and it is true it ruins them, I had to throw the batch out. I’ve made these both regular size and mini muffin size and both turn out really great. I freeze a bunch and then thaw in the microwave wrapped in a wet paper towel and I find it makes the texture stay really nice. This is a great recipe for sure.
Thanks for sharing your experience! xo, Michele
Turned out great ! Also will be placing these in the freezer for on the road snacks! Thank you so much !
Can you add protein powder ?
Hi! I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure how it will turn out. Perhaps try it by making a small batch. =)
I added mini chocolate chips but even like that my 2yo hated them
I am always trying to find ways to sneak veggies into different foods, and these are seriously great!! They’re perfect for freezing and using as needed, just warm them up in the microwave before serving them! My 2 year old loves his warm “green” muffins!
These muffins were a big win for our family! My previously veggie-loving baby is going through a not-so-veggie-loving toddler phase, but she gobbled up this spinach in no time! It was also a fun and easy way to let her “help” me in the kitchen with measuring a stirring.
Hi Katie! Glad you two had fun in the kitchen making these muffins! xo, Michele
I made these for my 9 month old for the January challenge today. So easy to whip up and they made our kitchen smell so good! Thank you! 💚
Hi Emily! I love when the house is filled with the smell of baked goods! 😋 Happy to hear they came out well! xo, Michele
These are fantastic! When we found out my daughter had a sensitivity to eggs, our pediatrician recommended that we start giving her baked goods made with eggs every day. I found this recipe and they came out perfect! Fast forward a year and my daughter still gets excited when I pull one out for snack time. I like to make these and bulk and freeze them. They reheat really well!
Hi Sarah! These muffins are super popular in my house, too! Thanks for sharing! xo, Michele
This recipe is a staple in our house, as an easy add to lunch box treat and I can feel good that they are also getting veggies with it. Very easy to make!
I made these today. I make a double batch and freeze half. My 5yr old and 16 month old gobble them up. I have made them with whatever flour I have on hand or whatever oil and they still come out perfect!
That’s great to hear! Thanks for sharing, Bridgette!
Such an easy recipe and delicious muffin! I also appreciate the toddler tips as this is my first and I was excited to get her baking with me. She had a blast!
Happy to hear that you two had fun in the kitchen together! I love when my girls join in while I’m baking! 💕
I like this recipe! I used oat flour as a sub. My son LOVES the green color and the texture is good too. I used butter and added a few scoops of protein powder which made them have to cook another 5 minutes:) Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing, Clair! xo
These muffins are delicious! My 22 month old loves to help me make these. The extras make for a relatively mess free breakfast or snack. Even when we make them so Dada can eat them (gluten-free and soy milk), these muffins still come out so tasty! One of our favorite recipes we do over and over again.
Hi Leslie! That’s so great that they are enjoyed by everyone! xo, Michele
We have made these muffins multiple times and they’re always a hit! Perfect for freezing and using later in daycare meals. My 2.5 yo loves making these with me 🙂 I like getting some hidden veggies in there too.
Hi Ayden! Thanks so much for sharing! xo, Michele