These soft baby blueberry muffins are naturally sweetened with banana and are a freezer friendly healthy snack perfect for little hands! They are egg free and can easily be made dairy free too.
Along with these no added sugar banana pear muffins, I have continued to bake these muffins on a regular basis over the past couple of years and they are always popular!
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Why we love this recipe
- Soft and fluffy muffins.
- Can easily be made vegan – just use a plant based milk instead of cows milk.
- They are sugar free muffins – the banana adds enough sweetness, so no sugar is needed.
- They freeze well – I often take as many as I need out of the freezer in the morning and they defrost by mid morning.
Ingredients Notes and substitutions
- Flour – this recipe uses a combination of plain flour and wholemeal flour. I have made the muffins with all plain flour and they taste delicious 🙂 I would advise against all wholemeal flour as it can make the muffins heavy and dry.
- Oats – I use quick cook oats in this recipe, they are smaller and blend into the batter to give a soft texture suitable for babies.
- Milk – If you ware wanting to make vegan or dairy free muffins, I find soy or almond milk works best.
- Oil – I use olive oil, as it is what I have to hand, and I like the savoury note it gives. Use vegetable, canola or avocado oil if you prefer a flavourless oil.
- Blueberries – Using frozen blueberries in these muffins means they keep their shape, and is a help when blueberries aren’t in season! If you don’t have any frozen ones, placing them in the freezer to cool when you begin this recipe will help, but if you forget, it’s not the end of the world!
- Bananas – not only acts as a replacement for an egg in these eggless blueberry muffins, but as a natural sweetener too. The riper the banana, the more sweet the muffins will be – and they will be more moist with a very ripe banana. I have found bananas speckled with brown spots to be the best as the muffins are still soft but a little more firm than using very ripe bananas:
How to make these muffins
- Combine plain and wholemeal flour with oats, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.
- In another bowl mix the milk with olive oil and mashed bananas.
- Lightly stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with the blueberries, taking care not to overmix.
- Spoon into a mini muffin tin and bake until golden.
FAQ
Can I freeze baby blueberry muffins?
Yes! Cool completely, then store in a container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Take out as many as you need, and defrost at room temperature for an hour or so.
What’s the best way to store blueberry muffins?
If you are going to eat them in 3 days then store in an airtight container. If you don’t think you’ll eat them within 3 days then freeze them.
Can I make these mini muffins in a regular muffin tin?
Yes, you can. This recipe makes 8-10 regular size muffins. You will need to cook them for 5-10 minutes longer than mini muffins, depending on the ripeness of the banana you use.
My recipe tips:
- Preheat your oven and prepare your muffin tin before you start. Once the raising agents (baking powder and bicarbonate of soda) come into contact with the liquid (milk, oil, bananas) they begin to act and produce air bubbles. You want to be able to capture this by putting them in the oven as quickly as possible so the air bubbles get locked in place by the heat, resulting in light muffins.
- Do not overmix your batter. It will make the muffins tough. It is better to have a few small lumps of flour than to overmix!
- Check they are cooked by inserting a toothpick into the muffin. If it comes out clean, they are ready. If not, bake a little longer. NOTE: If you use very ripe bananas – by this I mean very brown skins and very soft bananas – they can look moist on a toothpick. In this case, I would suggest actually placing a blunt knife in a muffin – it will sacrifice one (still perfectly edible!) but this way you can see if you’ve hit a piece of ripe banana, or if the batter still needs to be cooked.
- If you use a very ripe banana the muffins can take a couple of minutes longer to cook than if your banana wasn’t as ripe.
- Cool the muffins in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out, as they are fragile when warm.
- If you use fresh blueberries, check the muffins after 17 minutes.
Storage
- Airtight container at room temperature: 3 days.
- Freeze: freeze for up to 2 months.
More baby led weaning recipes for you
This was originally posted in November 2018, it has since been updated with more information and clearer images to hep you make the best blueberry muffins. The recipe remains the same.
Baby Blueberry Muffins
Author: Robyn
These soft baby led weaning blueberry muffins are sugar free, naturally sweetened with banana. They are popular with toddlers too, and are freezer friendly!
Ingredients
- 1 c (135g) plain flour
- 1 tablespoon (30g) wholemeal flour
- ⅓ c (35g) oats quick cook oats are fine
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch cinnamon
- ½ c (125ml) milk or soy or almond milk for vegan/dairy free muffins
- ¼ c (60ml) olive oil
- 2 large bananas mashed
- ½ c (90g) frozen blueberries *
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200˚C/390˚F
- In a mixing bowl, combine the plain and wholemeal flours, oats, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and cinnamon.
- In another bowl mix the milk, olive oil and mashed bananas together.
- Lightly stir this mixture into the dry ingredients together with the frozen blueberries, taking care not to over mix (I’ve found it’s better to have a few lumps in the batter, otherwise the muffins can be tough).
- Take teaspoons of mixture and pop into a mini muffin tin.
- Bake for 17-20 minutes, until lightly golden and cooked through.
- Leave in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
- Keep in airtight container for 3 days.
- The muffins also freeze well and defrost quickly.
Video
Notes
Milk – soy or almond milk works best. If you aren’t vegan, then use cows milk.
Oil – I use olive oil, as I like the savoury note it gives to baking. Use vegetable, canola or avocado oil if you prefer a flavourless oil.
Blueberries – Using frozen blueberries in these muffins means they keep their shape, and is a help when blueberries aren’t in season! If you don’t have any frozen ones, placing them in the freezer to cool when you begin this recipe will help. If you forget, it’s not the end of the world, just use fresh blueberries! If you use fresh blueberries, check the muffins after 17 minutes.”
Bananas – The riper the banana, the more sweet the muffins will be – and they will be more moist with a very ripe banana. I have found bananas speckled with brown spots to be the best as the muffins are still soft but a little more firm than using very ripe bananas. If you have very brown bananas, this is still a great recipe for using them up, but the muffins won’t be quite as fluffy.
Preheat your oven and prepare your muffin tin before you start. Once the raising agents (baking powder and bicarbonate of soda) come into contact with the liquid (milk, oil, bananas) they begin to act and produce air bubbles. You want to be able to capture this by putting them in the oven as quickly as possible so the air bubbles get locked in place by the heat, resulting in light muffins.
Do not overmix your batter. It will make the muffins tough. It is better to have a few small lumps of flour than to overmix!
Check they are cooked by inserting a toothpick into the muffin. If it comes out clean, they are ready. If not, bake a little longer. NOTE: If you use very ripe bananas – by this I mean very brown skins and very soft bananas – they can look moist on a toothpick. In this case, I would suggest actually placing a blunt knife in a muffin – it will sacrifice one (still perfectly edible!) but this way you can see if you’ve hit a piece of ripe banana, or if the batter still needs to be cooked.
If you use a very ripe banana the muffins can take a couple of minutes longer to cook than if your banana wasn’t as ripe.
Cool the muffins in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out, as they are fragile when warm.
This recipe makes 24 mini muffins. For regular size muffins, cook for another 5-10 minutes, depending on ripeness of banana. This recipe makes 8-10 regular muffins.
Nutrition
Calories: 66kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 1gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 61mgPotassium: 61mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 27IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 29mgIron: 1mg
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raven says
Hello. Any thoughts on using coconut milk?
Robyn says
Hi Raven, I haven’t tried making these muffins with coconut milk, but it should work – use 1/2 c (125ml ) of unsweetened coconut milk. Hope this helps. Robyn
Jessy says
Maybe a silly question, but did you use a 24 serve mini muffin tin (as the recipe suggests) or something else?
Robyn says
Hi Jessy, Yes I use a 24 serve mini muffin tin for this recipe. The 12 serve tin you see in the image is purely for visual appeal as my 24 serve is bright red and very used! Hope this helps!
Ruchi says
These are amazing thank you!
Just a question, are there any other fruits that you would suggest to sub out the blueberries? My child loves the blueberries but wanted to try a different fruit – what would you suggest?
Robyn says
So happy to hear you like these muffins Ruchi! 🙂 Raspberries or chopped strawberries would be a delicious addition instead of the blueberries! Robyn
Jasmin says
Could you make this one large cake as a birthday cake for my nearly 1yr old for example??
Robyn says
Hi Jasmine, thanks for your question. I haven’t tried turning these muffins into a cake, but because of the banana and the fact they contain quite a bit of liquid I fear that the cake could come out quite dense in the middle. If you do want to try making them into a cake, I would suggest lowering the oven temperature by around 20 degrees to prevent the top of the cake from catching, covering with foil if it does start to catch, and cooking for 40-50 minutes, maybe even slightly longer. Robyn
M says
I used a scant cup of applesauce instead of mashed banana, and these turned out great. I made 12 regular-sized muffins.
Robyn says
I love the sound of using apple sauce instead of the banana!
Sarah Cantwell says
My son is allergic to eggs and we’ve been making these muffins for his breakfast for a long time. They are perfect and he LOVES them. They come together quickly, freeze well, and reheat well in the microwave. We make them as regular size muffins. This recipe is foolproof and I’m so glad I found it- thank you so much!!!
Robyn says
So happy to hear that your son loves these muffins 🙂 thankyou Sarah. Robyn
Joanie says
My son (14 months) is allergic to eggs, but I’m determined to share the joy of baked goods. He LOVES these muffins. Thank you for the recipe!
Robyn says
Hi Joanie, that’s great that your son loves these muffins, and I’m so happy that he can still enjoy baked goods. Robyn
Carla Elias says
Hello 🙂 my baby is allergic to oatmeal, eggs and soy. So this recipe is perfect besides the oats. Could I just leave them out? Should I use more flour to replace that? Thanks in advance!
Robyn says
Hi Carla, I would use an extra 30g (1 tablespoon) of flour instead of the oats. Thanks, Robyn
Pat says
So difficult to find a healthy vegan snack for my 18mo who’s intolerant to egg and dairy. These are super easy to make and the lil one helps out with the cooking too. Needless to say he absolutely loves them!
Robyn says
That’s great to hear Pat, my son loved helped making them too when he was that age 🙂 Robyn
Bree says
I made these as written but with cut up frozen strawberries in place of the blueberries! They were excellent, very easy recipe, great texture, and delicious for adults and kids.
Robyn says
So pleased to hear you enjoyed the muffins Bree! Strawberries sound like a delicious addition 🙂 Robyn
Sarah says
My son absolutely loves these! They are great for him because he has an egg allergy. As mentioned above they are freezer friendly, I can either defrost it overnight for breakfast in the morning or defrost in the microwave. So easy and just a great nutritious breakfast for my toddler! Thank you!