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Looking to get some extra veggies in? Sneak some spinach in with these tasty and easy 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. A little hidden spinach won’t hurt, right?
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).
Try these other muffin recipes as well: French Toast Muffins, Banana Blueberry Muffins, or Strawberry Muffins with Crumble Topping–lots of great options!
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 chocolate chip muffins are also great for the kids to take part in making! These are the perfect treat for after school snacking!
- 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! Like eating chocolate cake but with extra goodness!
Ingredients:
- banana: very ripe, soft bananas, with plenty of brown spots. 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 would like as the bananas add some natural sweetness.
- 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 this spinach muffin recipe 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: the addition of chocolate chips is optional but highly recommended! Dark or milk chocolate will work just fine–whatever you have on hand or prefer
How to make these Chocolate Spinach Muffins:
- In a high-speed blender, combine the 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.
- Transfer to a medium to large mixing bowl. Add in the egg and whisk to combine.
- 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.
- In a separate small bowl, combine flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir to fully incorporate.
- Fold in the chocolate chips. To be honest, 1/2 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 1/2 cup to the batter and top with extra chocolate chips. Whatever you prefer!
- Spoon batter into muffin tin (about 3/4 of the way full) with muffin liners 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 Tips
- 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 airtight container. At room temperature, they will 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
- Breakfast Egg Muffins with Spinach and Zucchini
- Pumpkin Carrot Muffins
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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!
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas
- 2 large handfuls baby spinach
- 3 T milk (almond milk or regular both work!)
- 1 egg
- ½ c sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ c Greek yogurt, full fat
- 3 T oil
- 1 c white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- â…” c cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ½ c dark chocolate chips
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 the mixture to a large 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 cocoa powder 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 if desired.
- 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.
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.
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you enjoy this recipe? Have a question?Leave a comment below!
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Very delicious and moist muffin. Would never guess there was spinach in these. I will be making these again! (I used all purpose flour, because it was what I had on hand)
Right? I love these so much! And regular flour works great for sure!
Can I replace the Greek Yogurt for sour cream?
Yes that should work just fine!
What can I use instead of Greek yogurt that is dairy free?
Hi! A dairy free yogurt should sub just fine!
Omg these were amazing! I tried the recipe as is and it was fantastic. Definitely going to try some of these changes some people suggested just to see what I like best, but this was fantastic. I also had to add time for silicone muffin tins.
Oh, thanks for the heads up on the silicone muffin tins–good to know. So happy you enjoyed them!!
These are so good! I use Splenda instead of sugar and applesauce instead of oil, and they come out great! No one can believe they have spinach in them! Thanks for the recipe.
Yay!!! So happy to hear this, Julie. Love being so sneaky, right?!
Solid recipe, but can you please reorder the ingredients into the order they are combined? Very confusing how it bounces around.
Done! They definitely were all over the place. Sorry for the extra confusion!
Added flaxseed meal, and they are super fluffy and delicious!!! Packed full of spinach, and the kids will never know.
Isn’t that the best?! How much flax did you eadd? Would love to know!
I figured it out–i used silicone baking cups. Apparently they take twice as long to cook!
Ohhh thanks for following up—this is so good to know and to add to recipe tips and notes. Thanks Sarah!!!
Would you be able to freeze these?
Yes!! I do all the time!
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!