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Looking to get some extra veggies in? Sneak some spinach in with these tasty and simple Chocolate Spinach Muffins! Delicious and wholesome, and a green smoothie in every bite but no one will know!
Chocolate Spinach Muffins
There is nothing like a big, moist fluffy muffin. And right now, I am feeling like there is nothing like a big, moist fluffy muffin that packs some extra umph into it like these Chocolate Spinach Muffins.
Toddlers are hard to please with food on all levels. You know who else can be tough? Significant others. Am I right?
But these spinach muffins aka green smoothie muffins, allow me to please all the humans in my household and that's why they are a must. And I can tell you that Popeye would be wowed as well!
Why are these Spinach Muffins so amazing?
- They are so simple to whip up. Blend together the smoothie part, stir all the wet ingredients together, stir in the dry ingredients and get them ready for the oven! Voila!
- These are kid friendly and may even go well as a fun project in the kitchen. It may sound crazy, but maybe if you turn these muffins into a fun experiment, the kids will have fun making and eating them. They will think they made the spinach vanished! (Ok, I know not every kid will buy it, but let's be hopeful!
- They involve chocolate. Not much else you need to know there! I am in at the mention of chocolate. A great sweet and filling snack for kids and adults alike!
How to make these Chocolate Spinach Muffins:
- Bring out the blender and combine the almond milk, spinach and banana and blend until smooth. While I normally use frozen bananas in my smoothies, I use room temperature bananas in this recipe. I have not tried using frozen bananas for these to date. (steps 1 and 2)
- Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add in the egg and whisk lightly to combine. (steps 3 and 4)
- Add the sugar, Greek Yogurt, and vanilla and whisk until smooth. The Greek yogurt sometimes will still have small noticeable lumps and that is ok. Sometimes it is hard to get such a thick yogurt fully smooth and blended in but it will be fine if it's not perfect. (steps 5 and 6)
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda. While you could just dump them in as is into the wet ingredients, and save an extra dish to wash, I advise doing this step. You really want to make sure the baking soda gets evenly distributed or the bake will be uneven across the chocolate spinach muffins. (steps 7 and 8)
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir to fully incorporate. From here, just fold in the chocolate chips. To be honest, ½ cup is not a ton of chocolate chips. The first few times I made these muffins, I only added the chips to the tops of the muffins. Feel free to add the ½ cup to the batter and top with extra chocolate chips. Whatever you prefer! (steps 9 - steps 12)
- Pour into a lined or well greased muffin tin and bake.
- Allow to cool before diving in--I know, I know, like that ever happens! I always ended up with the roof of my mouth burnt!
A few things to note:
- I only opted for chocolate chips on the top to make them a little less sweet at first, but the time I added them into the batter was pretty dreamy. Just know that either option is amazing. ½ cup chocolate chips isn't a lot, so you could even add some more if desired.
- As for flour, I played around a lot with this one on combinations, and settled on all purpose or whole wheat flour. If you are looking to stay gluten free, Instead opt for perhaps an all-purpose gluten free flour. Enjoy a nice green smoothie, but take it to a whole new level. And don't worry, no one has to know our secret!
Try these other muffin recipes:
- Flourless Peanut Butter Banana Mini Muffins
- Maple Bacon French Toast Muffins
- Coconut Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips
- Strawberry Crumble Muffins
- Breakfast Egg Muffins with Spinach and Zucchini
- Pumpkin Carrot Muffins
DID YOU MAKE ONE OF MY RECIPES? LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW! I ALSO LOVE TO SEE YOUR LEMONS + ZEST RECIPES ON SOCIAL MEDIA–TAG ME @LEMONSANDZEST ON INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK!
Chocolate Spinach Muffins
Looking to get some extra veggies in? Sneak some spinach in with these tasty and simple Chocolate Spinach Muffins! Delicious and wholesome, and a green smoothie in every bite but no one will know!
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Servings: 12
Calories: 192kcal
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas
- 2 large handfuls baby spinach
- 3 T milk (almond milk or regular both work!)
- ⅔ c cocoa powder
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ c Greek yogurt full fat
- 3 T oil
- ½ c dark chocolate chips
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ c sugar
- 1 c whole wheat or white flour
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Combine milk, bananas and spinach in a high powered blender and blend until mostly smooth. A few lumps is ok.
- Transfer "smoothie" to a medium mixing bowl.
- Add egg and stir to lightly whisk.
- Add sugar, vanilla, oil and Greek yogurt and stir to combine.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, sea salt and cacao and stir to combine.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to fold in. Stir in the chocolate chips, saving some or adding extra in for topping.
- Line a 12 muffin pan with muffin liners and spoon batter into each.
- Add chocolate chips to the tops of each muffin.
- Bake for about 18-22 minutes or until you can put a toothpick in the center and it comes up clean.
- Cool for several minutes before serving.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days.
Notes
- I only opted for chocolate chips on the top to make them a little less sweet at first, but the time I added them into the batter was pretty dreamy. Just know that either option is amazing. ½ cup chocolate chips isn't a lot, so you could even add some more if desired.
- As for flour, I played around a lot with this one on combinations, and settled on all purpose or whole wheat flour. If you are looking to stay gluten free, Instead opt for perhaps an all-purpose gluten free flour. Enjoy a nice green smoothie, but take it to a whole new level. And don't worry, no one has to know our secret!
- Either spray your muffin tin or grease it really well, OR spray the inside of the muffin cup liners lightly to make sure you can get the muffins out of the tin easily. Allowing these spinach muffins to cool completely (hard, I know), will help with making sure the muffin doesn't stick quite as much to the liner or the tin.
Nutrition
Calories: 192kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 159mg | Potassium: 259mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 60IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1mg
Did you try this recipe? I would love to see it! Mention @LemonsAndZest or tag #LemonsAndZest!
These were great! I used 1% milk, nonfat Greek yogurt, only 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips, 1/4 cup Splenda brown sugar (in place of white sugar), and added 1/4 cup walnuts. This comes out to between 160-170 calories per muffin. My son (12) loves them and no clue that they contained spinach.
Amazing! Always happy to hear when something is kid approved!
We eat these almost daily. I think they are great!! Does the spinach retain its nutrients after being blended and cooked?
So glad you love them Tricia! So from what I have read, variety is best when it comes to veggies--as in the body absorbs some nutrients more easily when it is cooked and others when it is raw. Some nutrients will be released from cooking (but not blending) however your body can more easily absorb some of the nutrients because it is cooked. Hope that helps!