Healthy Green Muffins with Spinach Banana and Pecans
I’m back from a fabulous vacation in Australia, and I am ready to take it on! All the swimming, scuba-diving and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, the heart-warming hikes in the rain-forests and the fabulous food in Sydney was a wonderful break, and now I am ready to ride the blogging trail again! The best part, we came home and see that our garden is blooming like never before – the vines are covered in roses, the pink jasmine is flowering like crazy, even the dead-looking Maple and Clematis are thriving, and all around I see colorful blooms dotting the scene, its like coming back to paradise! So I am refreshed enough to share a lovely spring recipe that fits the weather outside.
These gorgeous Green Muffins inspired by the Green Smoothie recipe, are a powerhouse of flavor and nutrition, and they are perfect for St.Patrick’s Day celebration! With their beautiful Green color, and a wonderful combination of ingredients like Spinach, Banana and Nuts, you couldn’t expect anything less! Plus, I love the fact that it uses very little sugar, and whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, and yet they rise beautifully, thanks to the addition of healthy ingredients like olive oil and yogurt. The batter itself looks so beautiful, its a treat to bake these muffins, and you just cannot guess that they are made with spinach!!
A perfectly healthy and nutritious treat for the whole family, these Green Muffins are a great snack option, perfect for kid’s lunches too. They are not as sweet as other fruit muffins, and that’s what makes them unique. And despite the uncommon ingredients, these muffins are super-moist and fluffy. In fact, my husband and 2-year old agreed that these were the best muffins I have ever baked! You can eat them anytime of the day, pair it with tea or coffee, dot it with some fresh butter, lightly melted on a warm muffin and its like a guilt-free indulgence.
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup white or brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 medium-sized banana
- 1 cup packed baby spinach leaves
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Grease or line muffin tin with paper liners and keep ready. Mash the banana and set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk the sugar and egg until creamy and fluffy. Stir in oil, yogurt, lemon zest and mashed banana.
- In a food processor, blend the spinach leaves until very finely chopped. It will almost look like a pesto, and that’s what we need. Coarse grind the pecans in another grinder, or just pound them with a mortar-pestle; you can even just chop them lightly if you like texture.
- Fold in the chopped spinach and half of the pecans into the batter, leaving some of the nuts aside to sprinkle on the top. Fill batter into prepared muffin tin, filling them upto the brim. Remember, this recipe uses whole-wheat flour, which does not have as much gluten as AP flour, so the muffins will not rise too high, so fill the tin upto the brim.
- Garnish each muffin with the remaining pecans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Reader’s Tip:
Several of our readers have already tried and loved this Green Muffin recipe, as you can read from the comments below. However, to make it perfect for St.Paddy’s day, follow Holly’s tip and top these muffins with a Green Frosting, made with lime, yogurt and a hint of coconut, or even mint!
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HHB,Yes, I always like bnnaaa cake and muffins. Especially during baking. That sweet smell simply makes me feel like making myself a cup of tea and waiting to eat the cake…I will do the same when bought some small and sour blueberries. Otherwise would boil them with maple syrup to go with pancakes for breakfast.
I love these and make them often. I will sometimes sub out the banana
Hi Timsy, I guess your friend tried out the recipe even before I could check and respond to your comment:) thanks for your kind words.
HI Jess, thanks for taking time to share your experience, and yes, AP flour should have worked just fine, just like Almond flour that another person has used.
Thanks everyone for sharing so many versions of this recipe; it helps all of us try something new and enjoy it even more!
I just made these and they are amazing! Seriously, the best muffins I’ve ever had. I tweaked the recipe a little bit because I didn’t have whole wheat flour, so I used unbleached white flour (all-purpose) instead. I didn’t fill the cups all the way full… and in answering Timsy’s question, I didn’t adjust the amounts of any other ingredients while using white flour, and they still turned out perfect! I also ground up walnuts, flaxseeds, and chia seeds for the top/inside the muffins, and used lemon greek yogurt. This is my new favorite recipe! I’m going to go have another one right now 🙂
Hi Mansi – I made these for St. Pat’s Day and they turned out yumm.. I made the yogurt frosting mixed with vanilla essence and honey as suggested. I added green food color and dusted it with green sugar. It looked quite professional, dare I say? 🙂 Thanks to you!
I passed the recipe to my cousin and she doesn’t have Whole Wheat Flour. I am sure its not the same as “atta” we use in Indian kitchens… If she were to use the All Purpose Flour – would she still use 1 cup of it? I understand the muffin tins will be filled 3/4th of the way so that the all purpose flour can rise but other than that, no other adjustments, right? Thanks for your help.
Thanks Holly! the frosting idea sounds delicious! I think they would be perfect for Easter, right?:)
These are delicious! I frosted some of mine with some vanilla yogurt mised with honey and lemon zest – recommend it if you’re looking for another flavor profile.
These were a with my kids, but I did not top them with the crushed walnuts~I used ground almonds IN the recipe, but topped 1/2 of the muffins with Nutella for a no fail kid loving recipe!
Subbed with almond flour-delicious!
Thank you!
Matt, I used ground almonds in mine, and they were the bomb!
Thanks, Masi; will do!
Hi Matt, I haven’t tried with either of these flours before, but judging by the gluten content, I would think Almond Flour would work better, Definitely worth a try. please do let me know how it goes of you try it, would be good to get a Gluten-free version for the recipe:)
Do you think this would work as well with coconut or almond flour as opposed to the wheat flour?
Made these yesterday….they are even better than I was hoping. Soooo good! Only sub was coconut instead of olive oil, and lemon Greek yogurt. Will be making a double batch to freeze today. Thanks again for the recipe.
Hi Donna,
I absolutely adore them they are scrumptious! but for some reason mine didn’t turn out as bright green as yours:(
Thank you so much for this lovely recipe!
Hi Donna! thanks so much for pointing this out! looks like I accidentally deleted the top 2 ingredients while editing the recipe:) But I’ve updated it correctly, so you should be good to go! please let me know how they turn out!!
Oops! Thanks for updating. I plan on making them this weekend and will let you know. Thanks again!
Hi- These look wonderful! But, for some reason the amount of flour is not listed? Can you please let me know how much and what type of flour you used? Thank you so much…
Hi Shauna! thank you so much for coming back to share your experience with other readers and me! I am very happy that your family enjoyed this recipe, because its one of my personal favorites too! 🙂
My God. These are absolutely perfect. My husband is picky about healthy things, but he was intrigued by these and boy they did not disappoint!!! I have had them bookmarked for some time and was glad I finally got to try them!! We think they taste like Fruit Loops…can’t go wrong there! They stay super moist even without reheating. My husband told me today that he thinks they are the “best thing ever”. So thank you thank you! These will be made many more times…
Glad you loved them Sherry, and yes, they are totally worth waiting for the to come out of the oven – they get transformed into the most beautiful delicious muffins ever!:)
I made these tonight, and I must admit I was rather skeptical while making them since the batter didn’t look or taste very appetizing. Other than one minor change ( I used raw/turbinado sugar instead of white or brown sugar), I followed the recipe as written. The muffins baked up nicely and tasted great. A friend also tried one and ended up taking a few home for tomorrow’s breakfast. They’re nice because they are not overly sweet. I will definitely be making these again!
Glad you had an awesome trip and were back again to beautiful spring. Love this muffin.
hi,
glad to know that u had an awsome trip:p
healthy and yummy muffins…would def.give try. Thanks for the interesting recipe,
Thanks Rachel! the trip was awesome, the Great barrier reef is amazing, and so are the rainforests! As for these muffins, you will love them, b’coz no one can guess it has spinach inside unless you tell them about it:)
Spinach in muffins? You have my attention. If I can drink a smoothie with kale, I think I can handle spinach in muffins – especially banana ones!
So envious of your trip. Sounds too wonderful. Hope you plan to post photos!