Gluten Free Spinach Chia Muffins

Sweetened only with fruit and chock full of good-for-you ingredients these gluten free spinach chia muffins make the perfect breakfast or snack! 

Gluten free spinach chia muffins… AKA magical muffins. Seriously. These muffins are packed with produce, healthy fats, fiber, and basically all the good stuff.

I’ve been on the search for an easy, healthy muffin to make for my always hungry toddler. That same toddler ate everything you put in front of him pre first birthday. Once he turned one he suddenly decided he hates vegetables, which forced me to get creative.

There are tons of blender muffin recipes out there using a combo of fruits/vegetables, eggs, and oats. However, they are flat and wet in texture (which is great for babies when they first start solids) and just not appealing to me. I wanted more of a full-sized muffin with a traditional texture, but with all the good ingredients.

Enter these magical gluten free spinach chia muffins.

These are slightly more work than throwing everything into a blender, but the outcome is SO worth it. All you need is one bowl and blender to whip them up and it’s the perfect recipe to use up sad looking produce.

We start by throwing some rolled oats into a blender to grind it into a fine flour. Toss that into a bowl with flax, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Then the wet ingredients all go into the blender:

• Eggs
• Greek Yogurt
• Melted Coconut Oil
• Pears
• Banana
• Spinach
• Vanilla Extract

The banana and pears add the sweetness we need without adding any sugar! Just make sure to use really ripe fruit here.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and stir in chia seeds. I LOVE adding chia seeds to muffins. They provide a good dose of healthy fats and fiber, plus they absorb any extra moisture and add such a great texture in the muffins. I like to mix them in and then let the batter rest while the oven preheats. This ensures the oats and chia can properly hydrate.

Baked goods with a lot of fruit/vegetables added tend to sink when they come out of the oven because of the high moisture content. These don’t! The oats and chia really help to absorb that moisture while still making for a moist muffin with a good structure.

Now, this can vary depending on the moisture content of your produce, but I’ve made these at least five times now and haven’t had them sink. I love the texture of these muffins so much.

Probably the best thing about these muffins besides that my toddler loves them, is how well they freeze. I’m not lying when I say I have 3 bags of these in my freezer.

The ingredients for these muffins are things I always have on hand – and when my pears and bananas get really ripe and the spinach is starting to look a little sad, I make a batch! However, I realize with these trying times we are currently living in, that may not be the case for a lot of people. I do think some substitutions would work here:

• Apples instead of pears and even applesauce (I’d try 1 cup)
• Frozen spinach (thawed and extra liquid squeezed out, I’d say about 1/2 cup)
• Try other vegetables! I’ve successfully made these muffins with carrots (cut up 2 medium carrots and toss them in the blender, but if you don’t have a high speed blender you’ll want to grate them first)
• The flax could be omitted and even the chia seeds, just add more oat flour (I’d try around 1/4 cup)
• No yogurt? Just leave it out, but reduce the oats by a half cup (use 2 cups instead of 2 1/2!) Omitting the yogurt also makes these dairy free!

Another important thing to note is that these aren’t as sweet as traditional muffins. These are meant to be sugar free for young toddlers and I personally find them to be adequately sweet for my own taste. However, chocolate chips would be a fantastic addition to add extra sweetness. Also, if you make them and find them not sweet enough for your taste, slather them up in butter and drizzle of honey… that’s never a bad idea!

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Gluten Free Spinach Chia Muffins

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Resting Time

10 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

Sweetened only with fruit and chock full of good-for-you ingredients these gluten free spinach chia muffins make the perfect breakfast or snack!

Serves: 12 Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 ½ Cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats, quick cooking will work too
• 2 Tablespoons Flax
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 ½ Teaspoons Cinnamon
• ¾ Teaspoon Baking Soda
• ½ Teaspoon Salt
• Pinch of Fresh Nutmeg, optional
• 2 Large Eggs
• ¼ Cup Melted Coconut Oil
• ¼ Cup Greek Yogurt
• 2 Pears, unpeeled & very ripe, chopped into chunks*
• 1 Medium Banana, very ripe
• 2 Cups Packed Baby Spinach
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tablespoons Chia Seeds

Instructions

1. Process the oats into a fine flour using a high-speed blender. Place the oat flour into a large bowl and whisk in the flax, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. Add the eggs, coconut oil, yogurt, pears, banana, spinach, and vanilla extract to the blender. Blend on high speed until very smooth.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry and stir gently to combine. Stir in the chia seeds and set the bowl aside while you preheat the oven and prepare your pan.
4. Preheat the oven to 400º.
5. Grease a standard muffin pan with coconut oil or cooking spray. Scoop the muffins evenly among the pan, filling them almost to the top. You will get 12 muffins.
6. Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden and a cake tester comes out clean (or with a few crumbs attached). My muffins bake up perfectly at 18 minutes.
7. Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. Muffins will keep for 3 days in an airtight container and freeze beautifully for longer storage.

Recipe Notes

Possible substitutions:

• Apples instead of pears and even applesauce (I’d try 1 cup)
• Frozen spinach (thawed and extra liquid squeezed out, I’d say about 1/2 cup)
• Try other vegetables! I’ve successfully made these muffins with carrots (cut up 2 medium carrots and toss them in the blender, but if you don’t have a high speed blender you’ll want to grate them first)
• The flax could be omitted and even the chia seeds, just add more oat flour (I’d try around 1/4 cup)
• No yogurt? Just leave it out, but reduce the oats by a half cup (use 2 cups instead of 2 1/2!) Omitting the yogurt will also make these dairy free!

 

Freeze any leftover muffins by placing them on a baking sheet in the freezer until frozen solid. Then transfer to your preferred storage vessel.