Developed with babies and toddlers in mind, but sure to be loved by the whole family, these healthy blueberry muffins are naturally sweetened with fruit and mini in size. Perfect for little hands, they are a tasty snack and also make a great addition to lunch boxes.
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Why These Muffins are Great for Babies / Toddlers
- Fruit-sweetened: It is recommended that children under two should not consume any added sugar. Many muffin recipes, even those targeted to babies, are packed with sugar, maple syrup or honey. These are sweetened with only banana and blueberries.
- Texture: Soft and moist with burst of fresh blueberries allowing your little one to explore different textures.
- Size: Mini in size for mini hands and tummies.
- Freezable: Make a batch and freeze for a quick and easy snack option.
- Iron Source: Oats are a non-heam (vegetarian) iron source and blueberries provide Vitamin C to aid absorption
Ingredient Information (With Alternative Suggestions)
The full list of ingredients and amounts can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post. This section gives information on each ingredient and suggests alternatives if required.
- Rolled Oats: Quick oats can be used as a replacement since they are blended to a flour-like consistency. Note that steel-cut oats are not suitable for this recipe. Opt for gluten-free oats to create gluten-free muffins.
- Yogurt: This recipe has been tested successfully with both natural Greek yogurt and coconut yogurt (a dairy-free yogurt option).
- Eggs: While I haven't tested any egg replacements for this recipe, a flax egg could be a potential substitution, although results cannot be guaranteed.
- Mashed Bananas: Provides most of the sweetness, use ripe bananas for best results.
- Cardamom: While not essential, adding different spices to baby food allows your little one to experience different flavour profiles. Feel free to skip or replace with cinnamon
- Lemon zest: Added for flavour enhancement and complements the blueberries wonderfully.
- Vanilla Extract: For flavour and sweetness.
- Blueberries: Fresh or frozen blueberries can be used. If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw them beforehand.
- Baking Powder: Ensure the baking powder is fresh. If it has been sitting in your pantry for an extended period, its efficacy might be compromised.
Step by Step Instructions and Cooking Tips
This section features step-by-step photos for visual reference. The complete recipe can be found by scrolling to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Blend Oats & Combine Dry Ingredients:
- Blend the oats to a flour-like consistency using a high-speed blender or food processor.
- Add the cardamom and baking powder to the blended oats, then stir to combine.
- Mash Banana:
- Mash the banana to your desired consistency. Leaving small chunks adds texture to the muffins, but you can also puree it smooth if preferred.
- Combine Wet Ingredients:
- In a large mixing bowl, add the mashed banana, egg, yogurt, vanilla, and lemon zest. Stir well to combine.
- Stir Through Dry Ingredients:
- Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. It's okay to have a few lumps; avoid overmixing.
- Stir Through Blueberries:
- Carefully fold the blueberries into the muffin batter. If using frozen blueberries, add them directly to the batter without thawing.
- Fill Mini Muffin Tin:
- Prepare a mini muffin pan by greasing the muffin cups with cooking spray or lightly coating in oil. Fill each muffin cup to the top with the batter. Place an additional blueberry on top of the muffins for aesthetic appeal.
- Bake:
- Preheat the oven and bake the muffins for approximately 13 minutes or until they are cooked through.
Storage Instructions
- Cool on a wire rack. Allow the mini blueberry muffins to cool, at room temperature, for around 5 minutes in the muffin tray and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Ensure they are completely cooled before packing them away to store. If they are still warm then it can cause condensation and result in soggy muffins.
- Refrigerate - These muffins can be refrigerated but it does affect the texture. Refrigerate in an air-tight container for 2 days.
- Freezing - Once cooled, wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Then, place them in a large freezer bag or airtight container. To thaw, leave at room temperature for a few hours or defrost in the microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
This will really depend on you and your baby. Once your baby has progressed onto finger foods then they should be able to manage these muffins.
Try to focus on offering your baby lots of cooked vegetables before moving on to muffins.
Yes, whole blueberries are considered a potential choking hazard for babies. However, in this recipe the blueberries go very soft and squishy when baked, reducing the choking risk.
I was happy serving these muffins to my kids when they were babies but you can always chop the blueberries into smaller pieces if you prefer, taking into consideration your baby's developmental stage and eating abilities.
Yes. I'd recommend using very ripe bananas but if you would still like them sweeter you could add a little sugar, maple syrup or honey. I'd start with a tablespoon but you can always adjust to find the perfect amount of sweetness for your kids.
You can bake them in regular muffin trays, you will need to increase the baking time but can keep the oven temperature the same.
More Baby-Led Weaning and Toddler Friendly Muffins
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Baby Blueberry Muffins
Equipment
- Mini Muffin Tray
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups (175g) Rolled Oats
- 1 Cup (250 g) Banana (ripe), mashed (Approx 2-3 bananas)
- ¾ cups(210g) Natural Greek Yogurt Sub with coconut yogurt for dairy free muffins (tested)
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Lemon Zest
- 1½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
- 1 cup (140g) Blueberries Fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175C / 350F and grease a mini muffin tray
- Add the oats to a blender and blend until flour consistency. Add the cardamom and baking powder and stir to mix.
- Add the mashed banana, yogurt, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl. Stir until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients (oat flour, baking powder and cardamom) and gently stir until just combined.
- Add the majority of blueberries, reserving some for the top, and gently stir again.
- Fill each muffin cup and top with a blueberry.
- Bake for 13 mins, remove and allow to sit for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool fully.
Carly
I can’t seem to get them to bake all the way through no matter how long I’m baking them! Any suggestions?
Amy
Hi Carly. Thank you for your feedback ans sorry for the late reply, your comment got filtered to my junk. There are a few things that may have caused this.
1)Did you use a mini muffin tray? A regular muffin tray will involve a longer cook time
2)Did you weigh the banana? Too much can cause the batter to be overly moist and won't cook through properly. I also find that it is best not to overly mash/puree and to leave some lumps.
3) Could you have overmixed? You want to gently mix until just combined. It is always tempting to mix and mix until you have a lovely smooth consistency but in doing this you develop more gluten which can result in a dense, gummy muffin.
4) Was your baking powder in date?
Wendi Huff
If I use oat flour, do I still use 1.5 cups?
Amy
Hi Wendi, if you have scales and use the gram measurement it would be ok to replace the rolled oats with oat flour 1:1. However if you are using cups the amount will be different due to how it fills the cup. I'm unsure how many cups it would be for the same weight, sorry.
Michelle
It’s a tasty muffin and a good healthy option for my 1 year old who enjoyed them.
Amy
Thanks Michelle 🙂
Carris Freeman
My muffins turned out rather dense. Any suggestions on why that may have been?
Amy
Hi Carris, Did you mix everything in the blender or just the dry ingredients? If you over-mix the mixture it can also result in dense muffins. Was the banana pureed or mashed? I find if the banana is pureed then the muffins can be dense.
heather bri
How do I add more flavor? They are so bland...
Amy
Hi Heather, did you make these for a baby? If you want them sweeter, without adding a sweetener/sugar, then make sure to use super ripe bananas. You can also up the cardamom and add some cinnamon. However, these will never taste like super sweet cafe-style muffins because they contain no added sugar.
Karolina
Love this recipe! This time I swapped half the oats for chickpea flour, blueberries for plums (cause they're in season), lemon zest for clementine zest, put in some extra cinnamon besides cardamom and topped the minimuffins with raspberries. After adjusting the baking time they're out of this world delicious! Have made them with original recipe couple of times already, could not recommend more. Baby and my leftover sweeping dogs enjoy them a lot 🙂
Amy
Thanks Karolina and I love the sound of the plum and citrus zest. Delicious 🙂
Mallory
I didn’t have cardamom or lemons on hand and had to use yobaby stoneyfarm blueberry yogurt because that’s all I had but these muffins were fantastic I added two minutes to my cook time because they seemed a bit squishy at 13 minutes . Very happy with this recipe so easy . Thanks!
Amy
Thaks Mallory
jaz
These smelled so delicious coming out but I also had the issue that they remained raw in the middle no matter the time left in this temp. I’m guessing it’s the use of regular yogurt instead of Greek? Everything else was followed to a T. Bummer I had to toss them all out
Amy
Thanks for the feedback Jaz and I’m sorry the recipe didn’t work for you, I’ll have another look at the recipe to see why this could be happening.
Chiara
I love your website and recipes! Thanks for sharing! Can I replace the banana by something else in this recipe? Would dates work to sweeten?
Amy
Hi Chiara, without testing I can't say for sure. I'd suggest apple sauce and you could also add a date or two to sweeten. Sorry I can't be of more help but I don't like to recommend substitutes without trying them.
Sarah H
These are great for my kids (7mth and 3yrs) - I love that there is no sugar or butter. I did cinnamon and no lemon. I also read in the comments that if you blend the banana it might not hold - and I did that - so I just added 3 TBS of self raising flour as we have no allergies and they are perfect. Thanks for the recipe Amy!
Amy
Thanks Sarah 🙂
Rose
Is it okay to make this with vanilla extract for a 1 year old since it contains alcohol? Or can I substitute it with something else?
Amy
Hi Rose, you can just miss it out if you want 🙂
Aruna
Have made these so many times!!! Kiddo loves them!
Amy
Excellent! Thanks Aruna
Ioana
Hi Amy! Why blend the rolled oats, and not use oat flour? Thanks
Amy
Hi Ioana, You can totally use oat flour, I just find more people have rolled oats in their pantries rather than oat flour. Just use the same weight (g) (cup size probably will differ).
Caroline
I’m not sure what went wrong here but no matter how long I cooked these, they remained soft and gluggy in the Centre and hard on the outside? Such a shame as the flavour was lovely.
Amy
Hi Caroline, thanks for the feedback. I'm trying to think where it could have gone wrong. Did you blend the oats to flour consistency? Did you use the blender to mix the rest of the ingredients? I find that blender muffins have a different consistency and mixing the wet and dry ingredients together gently is key. How did your process shots compare to mine? Did you make them in a mini muffin tray or regular muffin tray? The only other thing I can think of is that your oven works at a different temp.
Katarina F
They were delicious!
Amy
Thanks Katarina 🙂
Jennifer
Hi Amy this recipe looks good before I try can I just check it's 175 for fan oven?
Amy
Hi Jennifer, yes it is a fan oven. Hope you like them 🙂
Claudia
These muffins are delicious! I have made several batches of this recipe using flax eggs and they have all worked out great, I've added probably slightly more banana each time to help.
Amy
Thanks, Claudia.
It's great to know that it works well with flax seeds. Thanks for letting me, and other readers, know. 🙂
Ullez
Can I use strawberries instead of blueberries?
Amy
Hi Ullez, yes you can replace with chopped strawberries 🙂
Kiki K
You don't have to be a baby to love these! They are so delicious!
Abbyp
It smells so good except its gooey and globby and i did everything exactly to the requirements of the recipe.... Blender and all
Please help
Amy
Thanks Abby, I'd love to figure out what went wrong. Did your mixture look like mine before cooking? (see video / process shots). Did the cooked version look the same as mine or was it wet inside? Did you do the whole mixture in the blender or just the oats? Did you use a mini muffin tray? (Regular muffins would take longer to bake.) Did you use the correct oven temp? (I have had instances when people used a C temp instead of the F temp etc) Did you measure out the banana?