These Health Coconut Kale Green Muffins are full of kale and coconut and a great way to sneak some veggies into a child’s day. They’re delicious, nutritious, and taste like a real treat without adding refined sugar.
I hope you guys are as excited about these green muffins as I am! I feel like I need to start by saying that these are not gluten-free. I’m sure they can easily be made gluten-free, but I used whole wheat flour in mine. I’ve been gluten-free for health reasons for quite a few years (since I started this blog), but those health issues have become almost non-existent since I gave birth, even with the reintroduction of gluten.
I still feel a little strange eating gluten since I avoided it for so many years, but so far, I haven’t had any issues with it. If you’re a gluten-free reader, don’t worry—I still eat a lot of gluten-free food and will continue to post many gluten-free recipes!
When I was pregnant, people would ask me if I was going to start posting kid recipes on the blog, and I always said no. These days, Eli eats most of what we eat. He especially loves these breakfast cookies 🙂 But the one area he may be lacking in is veggies. I eat a lot of salads, and I’m not sure if he’s quite ready, or would even touch, a big salad, so I’ve been getting creatively sneaky with veggies!
Healthy Green Muffin Recipe Ingredients
- Flour – I used whole wheat flour, but you can use gluten-free flour if desired.
- Baking powder
- Spices – This recipe calls for ground cinnamon and salt.
- Baking soda
- Banana
- Coconut milk
- Coconut oil – The coconut oil goes in melted. If you don’t want too much of a coconut taste, be sure to use unrefined coconut oil.
- Maple syrup – Avoid the artificially flavored pancake syrup, and stick to pure maple.
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Egg – You can use one regular egg or a flax egg, which is made with one Tablespoon of ground flax mixed with 2 1/2 Tablespoons of water. Then let it sit for five minutes.
- Kale leaves
- Shredded coconut
How To Make These Healthy Kale and Coconut Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with liners. If using paper liners, spray them with cooking spray so the muffins don’t stick to the paper.
- In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.
- Add all the remaining ingredients, except the shredded coconut, to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in the shredded coconut.
- Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin tin. I like to use a 1/4 cup scoop to make them all equal-sized. Top each muffin with a little sprinkle of shredded coconut.
- Bake muffins until cooked through, 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack for 15 minutes.
Recipe Tips and Thoughts
- This recipe is vegan if made with a flax egg. I’ve made this recipe both with a real egg and a flax egg; the flax egg does make it a little gummier than the real egg, but they’re still good!
- This recipe can be made gluten-free with gluten-free flour (I recommend the kind with Xantham gum).
- Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Muffins can also be frozen: freeze in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months. Place in the refrigerator or on the counter for a few hours to thaw.
- I would call these “hidden veggie” muffins, but the color might give them away. 🙂 Fortunately, Eli isn’t old enough to know what kale is or to decide whether he has an opinion about it. I’ve packed three cups of kale and lots of coconut into these muffins.
- There’s coconut milk, coconut oil, and shredded coconut. They have a great flavor, and it’s not bitter at all. Eli has been gobbling them up, and my husband and I love them, too. They do have 1/2 cup of maple syrup in them, so there is some sweetener, but it’s all unrefined sugar, so I like to say it’s on the healthier side.
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The recipe was adapted from Super Healthy Kids’ Sweet Spinach Muffins. I hope you and your kids enjoy these Healthy Coconut Kale Green Muffins as much as we do 🙂
Have a question about this recipe? Ask me in the comments, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.
Looking For More Healthy Breakfast Treats?
Strawberry Banana Breakfast Muffins {Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free}
Peanut Butter and Honey Oatmeal Muffins
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Bars
Pina Colada Baked Oatmeal Cups
Healthy Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal Cups
See Exactly How I Make Them Here:
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Healthy Coconut Kale Green Muffins {vegan}
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 Muffins 1x
Description
A healthy muffin that’s packed with nutritious kale!
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large banana
- 3/4 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 flax egg, or one regular egg (1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 2 1/2 tbsp water, let sit 5 mins)*
- 3 cups packed kale leaves
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, plus about 2 tablespoons for topping
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with liners. If using paper lines it helps to spray them with a little cooking spray so the muffin doesn’t stick to the paper.
- In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.
- Add all the remaining ingredients, except for the shredded coconut to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in the the shredded coconut.
- Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin tin. I like to use a 1/4 cup scoop to make them all equal sized. Top each muffin with a little sprinkle of shredded coconut.
- Bake muffins until cooked through, 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling wrack for 15 minutes.
Notes
*I’ve made this recipe both with a real egg and a flax egg, the flax egg does make it a little gummier than the real egg, but they’re still good!
To store: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Muffins can also be frozen: freeze in an airtight freezer friendly container for up to 3 months. Place in the refrigerate or on the counter for a few hours to thaw.
Recipe adapted from Super Healthy Kids Sweet Spinach Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Breakfast, Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Muffin
- Calories: 248
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 126 mg
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated Fat: 11 g
- Carbohydrates: 30 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I used almond milk and whole milk instead of the coconut milk, Greek yogurt instead of coconut oil, monkfruit (with some water) instead of the maple syrup, and broccoli leaves instead of kale.
The result? My husband and I don’t really like them. Not sweet enough haha. But my 12 month old and, surprisingly, my 3.5 year old really love them!
(And I feel like I can’t rate the recipe because of all my substitutions and because of the differing opinions in my household about them!)
Glad the kids enjoyed them!
Is it possible to bake this as a bundt if I don’t have muffin pans? And how would that affect the baking time? Thanks
Hi Angie, I think it would be possible but I haven’t done it myself. I would probably at least double the time but make sure to keep a close eye on it.
I substituted Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour for the Wheat Flour and they came out great! I poured a little maple syrup on top to mask the kale taste a little and they were yummy!
Yah! So glad you enjoyed them!
I made these gluten free using various flours (have made 2 times)-no almond or coconut flours though. This recipe is quite flexible. I use 1/3c maple and don’t use an overly ripe banana. I add a bit of hemp flour and some coconut yogurt (bit less oil). I added 1/4 tsp extra bp and 1/4 tsp bs. Will see how that goes this time. Thank you!
So glad you enjoy them!!
Hello,
I’m looking for varied & delicious ways to add more calcium into my diet (for helping w/ bone density) and these look promising with all that kale! To add even more to the calcium content, I’m thinking about substituting molasses for at least part of the sugar. What measurements of sugar / molasses would you recommend in that case, and would that affect any of the given amounts for the other ingredients?
Thanks so much!
Hmm, I think if you just added a few tablespoons of molasses it wouldn’t change the consistency too much. Maybe try swapping the maple syrup for molasses since they are pretty similar in consistency 🙂