Chocolate Spinach Muffins

Looking to get some extra veggies in? Sneak some spinach in with these tasty and simple Chocolate Spinach Muffins! 10 minutes to prep, and super kid friendly. Delicious and wholesome, and a green smoothie in every bite but no one will know!

I am all about simple ways to add more veggies into your day, and the sneakier the better.

These Chocolate Spinach Muffins are a green smoothie in a fluffy, moist chocolate muffin. Who will argue with that? (Aside from my 4 year old who hates chocolate...ugh)

Why You will Love These Chocolate Spinach Muffins:

• They take 10 minutes to prep. Blend together the smoothie part, stir all the wet ingredients together, stir in the dry ingredients and get them ready for the oven! So simple.
• These are super kid friendly. They won't even know there are veggies in them when they take one bite into these chocolatey muffins. If you don't have to sneak the spinach into these muffins behind their backs, these muffins are also great for the kids to take part in making!
• Great for meal prepping. These chocolate spinach muffins are great to prep early in the week and eat off of throughout the week. They freeze well and can be frozen for up to 3 months if kept in an air tight, freezer safe container.
• A simple way to get more veggies in! When adding more veggies to your day, these chocolate muffins are a great option. The spinach is not detectable in these muffins so even for the skeptics, they are a good way to get in the green!

Ingredients:

• banana: very ripe, soft bananas. You can use frozen, but thaw them before adding them into the recipe
• spinach: fresh baby spinach or other spinach leaves. I don't suggest using frozen for these chocolate spinach muffins
• milk: regular dairy milk or a dairy free milk will work. I have used unsweetened vanilla almond milk in this recipe numerous times with great luck.
• egg: large egg, room temperature
• Greek yogurt: plain or vanilla will both work great
• vanilla: a touch of vanilla extract for great flavor
• sugar: I tested with other sweeteners but I found the flavor to be best with regular granulated sugar. You can lessen the sugar by a bit if you don't want your muffins quite as sweet
• oil: a mild flavor cooking oil works best. I use canola oil but vegetable oil will work well too.
• flour: White whole wheat is our preference for these muffins for a bit more nutrition. All purpose flour works great.
• cocoa powder: you can use dark cocoa powder if you are worried about seeing any green in these muffins after baking. Regular cocoa powder still does pretty well too!
• baking soda: always make sure it is fresh so that your muffins rise. Flat muffins can be a result of expired baking soda.
• sea salt: regular table salt will work, I always have sea salt on hand and prefer it
• chocolate chips: dark or milk chocolate will work just fine--whatever you have on hand or prefer

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!

Recipe Notes:

• Use fresh versus frozen spinach. Frozen is not ideal in these chocolate spinach muffins. Frozen spinach has a stronger flavor and will have excess liquid that you won't want in your muffins.
• Storing your muffins: you can store these muffins in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, sealed in an air tight container. At room temperature, they will only last about 3 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months in a freezer safe container.
• Other add-ins to toss in: you don't have to stop at just the chocolate chips. Other ingredients you may enjoy in these muffins are coconut, chopped nuts, or raisins and dried fruit. Also, they are great served with a drizzle of peanut butter or almond butter on top.

Other Muffin Recipes:

• Flourless Peanut Butter Banana Mini Muffins
• Maple Bacon French Toast Muffins
• Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins
• Coconut Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips
• Strawberry Crumble Muffins
• Breakfast Egg Muffins with Spinach and Zucchini
• Pumpkin Carrot Muffins

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