Green Smoothie Muffins have all the nutrition of a spinach-packed green smoothie — in muffin form! Great for a healthy breakfast or snack.
Look, I know.
I know, these gluten free muffins look a little like mud muffins, but I promise that Green Smoothie Muffins are greener in real life and you won’t care anyway because not only are these tender, sweet, and cinnamon-y muffins to die for, but each one is packed with 1/3 cup spinach.
That means when you’re eating a Green Smoothie Muffin you’re technically eating a salad. Health Goddess alert!
Watch How to Make Them!
Great for Kids
One of the most common struggles parents face is getting their kids to eat their vegetables. Luckily my oldest usually eats whatever I put in front of him, but my middle changes his mind daily about what vegetables are acceptable, and my youngest, well, you can’t feed a one year old with four teeth and a distaste for anything pureed a baby carrot now, can you?
That said, I sneak vegetables into my family’s meals every single day. Maybe “sneak” is the wrong word because if anyone asks what a green speck is I’ll tell them, but you know what I mean. Anyway, here are some of my favorite ways to add nutrition in a non obvious way:
- Saute ground beef for taco or spaghetti night with minced mushrooms, cauliflower crumbles, or shredded bagged coleslaw.
- Add shredded zucchini to meatballs or burgers.
- Swap out or cut white rice with cauliflower rice.
- Spiralize vegetables to make them more fun to eat.
- Utilize cauliflower’s creamy properties to thicken up and healthify soups.
- Bury vegetables under mashed potatoes.
- Serve guacamole with EVERYTHING.
Green Smoothie Blender Muffins
Another favorite way to get greens into my kids’ diet is to blend them up into smoothies. That said, it gets to be a chore lugging the blender from the cupboard each day, getting everything out from the fridge and freezer, etc.
You know what’s easier? Adding the ingredients that normally go into a green smoothie – spinach, banana, milk – with a few other healthy items including almond flour and flaxseed meal, then baking them up into muffins that taste like banana bread.
Can you say UPGRADE?!
Green Smoothie Muffins are k-i-l-l-i-n-g it in the wholesome department and all three of my children are going crazy for them. To have these healthy, gluten free muffins ready to rock in the fridge anytime they need a snack, or to break out for an easy breakfast is beyond helpful.
True, the color leaves something to be desired, but the nutrition and taste more then make up for it. I keep eating them thinking to myself, “Surely I can’t post this recipe when the muffins looks like this…” Or, “This time I’m definitely going to taste the spinach…” But I did, and I can’t. They are so good!
How to Make Green Smoothie Muffins
Start by adding the wet ingredients into a high-powered blender in the order listed below. I use my trusty Blendtec blender. You’ll need something that’s powerful enough to liquify spinach.
- 4 lightly packed cups baby spinach
- 1 large ripe banana
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup milk, any kind (I use unsweetened almond milk)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Next, whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl:
- 1-1/4 cups super fine almond flour
- 3/4 cup gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour blend
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients then whisk to combine and let the batter sit and thicken for 5 minutes before scooping a heaping 1/4 cup batter (I use an ice cream scoop) into a 12 cup lined muffin tin.
Bake for 19-21 minutes at 375 degrees then turn the oven OFF, crack the oven door open, and let the muffins sit inside for 5 minutes. Then, set the tin in on the counter for 10 minutes before transferring the muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.
I know you’ll love these Green Smoothie Muffins as much as we do — enjoy, enjoy!
More Gluten Free Baked Goods
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
- Gluten Free Banana Bread
- Baked Oatmeal Cups
- Gluten Free Strawberry Muffins
- Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins
- Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
- Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
- Gluten Free Zucchini Bread
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cups super fine almond flour
- 3/4 cup gluten free baking flour blend WITH binder, see notes
- 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups lightly packed baby spinach
- 1 large ripe banana
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup, not pancake syrup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup milk, any kind, I use unsweetened almond milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees then add paper liners to a 12 cup muffin tin and set aside.
- To a large bowl add almond flour, gluten free baking flour blend, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt then whisk to combine and set aside.
- To a high-powered blender, add remaining ingredients in the order listed in the recipe: spinach, then banana, etc. Blend until completely smooth - ie there are no visible pieces of spinach remaining. I use the "Whole Juice" cycle on my Blendtec. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients then whisk to combine and let batter sit and thicken for 5 minutes.
- Scoop a heaping 1/4 cup batter into each lined muffin cup (I use an ice cream scoop) then bake for 19-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn the oven OFF then leave the door slightly ajar and let the muffins sit inside for 5 minutes. Remove to the counter then let muffins cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in the refrigerator or wrap individually in plastic wrap and freeze.
Notes
- I like Bob's Red Mill super fine almond flour and 1 to 1 gluten free baking flour (in the blue bag).
- I love my Blendtec blender and use the "whole juice" cycle when blending spinach.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
These are delicious muffins! The first time I made them was Halloween and I called them “monster snot” muffins so now the name has stuck, haha. My suspicious 12 year old even ate them and didn’t question me much about why they were green. I do add a modest amount of chocolate chips because my kids always want chocolate in their muffins, but everyone enjoys these. Thanks for a wonderful nutritious recipe!
Yessss – LOVE the name!!! Also love the addition of chocolate chips – my kids would flip! So glad these muffins are a hit at your house!
I have a cholesterol issue and was told to stay away from coconut oil. Do you think substituting a healthier oil (maybe avacado or olive oil) would make much of a difference in the recipe?
I think avocado oil could work!
fWIW: I made these yesterday and again today because they all got eaten! My 3 y/o will not eat veggies and had 4 of these. A couple things: I use a food processor and they turn out fine, I use about 2 cups-ish of frozen spinach (half a 10 oz bag) and they turned out fine, I subbed chia seeds for the flax yesterday and they turned out fine, I added a little applesauce today to make up for the banana having a few bites taken out of it and they turned out fine. If you use frozen spinach, it will harden the coconut oil so I had to microwave the liquid ingredients and mix again but they still turned out fine. Very forgiving recipe!! ?
I made these, had no GF flour so used oat flour. I used Costco power greens, had no “just spinach” on hand. Had no cupcake papers so sprayed the muffin pan. They baked up beautifully, rising so nice, then toward the end they fell big time! But I followed carefully, adding 4 more minutes to the bake time, they were still very wet. Oven off, cracked the door, waited the 10 on the cooling rack before removing from pan. They have a concave top, but they set up like a muffin or cake, they are dark and look and taste almost like chocolate! They have very good flavor. I am so glad they redeemed themselves, I will definitely try this again!
I just made these and they are freaking AMAZING!
Perhaps I am missing it but is there nutritional information for this recipe?
How many Carbs please? Or Nutrition breakdown… Thanks…?
Not sure if I have ever left a comment for you (or on any blog for that matter) but I have been following you for years. My family loves so many of your recipes. Had to come back and comment on this post though because my 13 month old won’t eat anything that even looks like a fresh fruit or veggie but she LOVED these. Thank you for helping me find something I feel good about her eating!
Fantastic muffins! My baby girl was diagnosed with celiac in 1999 at 23 months old, at a time when information on this disease was not easy to find and gf food was even more difficult to come by. Thankfully times have changed and there are so many options available. However now, as you know, its tricky because the GF label on food doesn’t necessarily promise to be healthy. These muffins are fabulous. She loves them, I love them. My healthy girl is now 22 but I’ll forever be her mom and am always on the lookout for new recipes! I’ve also made your Almond Flour Blueberry muffins and the Mini Pizza Quinoa Bites. Both are fantastic! I look forward to trying out more recipes from this site, its awesome! Thank you for sharing.
This are amazing I added fresh blueberries in them. My almost 4 year old calls them hulk muffins and gobbles them up. I love it since he is very picky about eating veggies! These are becoming a breakfast staple in my house!
So good! We’ve made these many times and they never disappoint. My toddler won’t eat veggies (except broccoli or eggplant…weird kid), so we’re always trying to sneak veggies in where we can and these are great! I love the versatility of the recipe too. I realized I’d run out of almond flour after I started today, so I subbed with a combo of oatmeal and hemp hearts. Still delicious!
These muffins looked scary when they came out. My five-year-old has committed to a life of only eating apples, cheese and rice – and when these muffins came out, I was thinking “There is no way he’s going to eat these.” But, I told him they were Incredible Hulk muffins and he took one bite…and now he’s hooked. He has eaten three tonight!!!
These are really tasty! I made in my mini muffin tin and then put all the cooled muffins in a pile in a container. I have to say that it looked exactly like a pile of horse manure, but it didn’t stop me from eating them! I think it would make for a great practical joke for anyone who works with horses to come into the barn snacking on these some day!
Just made these tonight. They don’t look pretty but are incredible! My 3 year old loves them too and I’m totally calling them muscle muffins like another comment suggested. Thanks for sharing!
Ah, so glad to hear it, Jessica!