These spinach banana muffins are healthy green muffins for kids, but adults love them, too! Sweetened with bananas and honey, these muffins have no refined sugar.
You may have heard these spinach banana muffins called "Hulk muffins," "Ninja Turtle muffins," "Green muffins," "Monster muffins". When you give it a fun title for the kids, they won't even realize healthy veggies are hidden inside! You might also call these "blender muffins" because the batter is quickly pureed in a blender.
Best Way to Use Up Fresh Spinach
We often buy fresh baby spinach from our local big club store because it's the same price there for a MUCH bigger package. But, this often means we have a bunch we need to use it up quickly before it goes bad. We also typically have ripe bananas we don't want to waste. These spinach muffins are perfect for that!
Ingredients and Instructions
(full printable recipe at the end of this post)
This recipe for these green muffins calls for typical baking ingredients, although you might need to visit the store and pick up white whole wheat flour (whole wheat flour is also fine, but I like the white whole wheat better).
What You Need:
- Fresh baby spinach (6 oz.)
- Bananas (2 medium ripe)
- White whole wheat flour (2 cups)
- Unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
- Egg (1 large)
- Low-fat milk (¾ cup)
- Honey (⅓ cup)
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Ground cinnamon
- Vanilla
Plan ahead to make sure you have ripe bananas on hand. In a pinch, this post tells you how you can quickly ripen your bananas.
How to Make It:
Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the step-by-step on how to make these green muffins. The general steps are as follows:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line muffin pan with paper liners.
- Blend spinach, banana, honey, milk, egg, vanilla and butter.
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and add to blender.
- Blend just a few short pulses or fold in with spatula.
- Divide batter evenly into muffin cups.
- Bake 20 minutes.
Top Tips and Tricks
Do not over mix. Once you add the dry ingredients to the blender, only pulse the mixture a few short times until it is JUST blended. I like to just pulse it 2 or 3 short times then gently fold the rest with my rubber spatula.
Do not over bake these muffins. If you bake them for the perfect amount of time, you'll keep a nice bright green color. Otherwise, the muffins reach a point in the oven where they start turning brown. So watch them carefully to achieve that perfect green!
Keep the spinach hidden, at first. The first time you make these, quickly whip them up before your kids can see the spinach. Then, after they try the muffins and declare they love them you can reveal the secret ingredient! The next time they can be involved and have fun helping you make them.
My kids love these muffins even though they know there is spinach in them. As you can see, my youngest couldn't even wait until I was done with our photo shoot to grab another one!
Variations
Milk: I have tried making these muffins with oat milk, but they turned out way too dense
Oil: I've also tried melted coconut oil instead of the butter, which worked out just fine. Vegetable or canola oil is also a fine substitute for butter.
Mix-ins: You can try other variations such as stirring in a few nuts, chocolate chips, or even cinnamon chips!
Storage and Leftovers
Store: These muffins store well at room temperature in an airtight container. For best storage, line the bottom of container with a paper towel and another layer over top the muffins before placing the top on. This helps keep moisture away from the muffins.
Freeze: You can freeze spinach muffins in a freezer bag for up to 1 month. It may store longer, but my preference for best taste is 1 month.
More Banana Muffin Recipes
- Easy Banana Muffins
- Almond Flour Banana Muffins
- Strawberry Blueberry Banana Oat Muffins
- Strawberry Banana Muffins
Made this recipe?
Leave a star rating and tag me on social media @seededtable so I can see. I love hearing from you!
This article was originally published August 2020 and updated January 2024 with no changes to the recipe.
Recipe Card
Spinach Banana Muffins (Green Muffins)
Ingredients
- 6 oz. fresh baby spinach
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
- ¾ cup low-fat milk
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 small ripe bananas
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups whole wheat white flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pans with paper liners; set aside.
- In blender, puree the spinach, melted butter, milk, honey, bananas, egg, and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients in the blender and pulse just 2 to 3 times until JUST blended (some dry ingredients may still be visible). Do NOT overmix.
- Evenly divide batter into pans, filling 18 muffin cups. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until muffins are firm on top. Watch closely and remove from oven before they start to brown!
- Remove muffins immediately from pan to wire rack to cool completely before eating.
Notes
- Do not over mix. Once you add the dry ingredients to the blender, only pulse the mixture a few short times until it is JUST blended. I like to just pulse it 2 or 3 short times then gently fold the rest with my rubber spatula.
- Do not over bake these muffins. If you bake them for the perfect amount of time, you'll keep a nice bright green color. Otherwise, the muffins reach a point in the oven where they start turning brown. So watch them carefully to achieve that perfect green!
- Keep the spinach hidden, at first. The first time you make these, quickly whip them up before your kids can see the spinach. Then, after they try the muffins and declare they love them you can reveal the secret ingredient! The next time they can be involved and have fun helping you make them.
- Nutrition information is an estimation only and varies by ingredients.
