Healthy Lunch Box Muffins (gluten free)

Name: Healthy Lunch Box Muffins
Prep time: 7 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup grated zucchini; 1/2 cup grated carrots; 2 cups uncooked rolled oats; 1/4 cup honey* or maple syrup; 2 very ripe bananas ((the riper, the sweeter they will be)); 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted ((or any neutral tasting oil)); 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract; 1 tsp baking soda; 1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar; 1/4 tsp sea salt; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 1/4 cup milk of choice ((dairy or non-dairy milk will both work)); 2 large eggs (see above for egg replacement suggestion)

By Taesha Butler August 20, 2019 (Updated June 8, 2022) 37 Comments

Servings muffins

Prep Time7 mins

Cook Time20 mins

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4.71 from 17 votes

These healthy lunch box muffins are super easy to make and add so much goodness to any meal or snack! Naturally gluten free, packed with vegetables and naturally sweetened, they can easily be made nut free, dairy-free and egg-free.

Thank you to Packit for sponsoring this post. My promise to you, my readers, is to only promote products that I truly believe in and buy myself. All opinions stated in this post are my own.

As I am typing this, the laundry is going with my daughter’s new school uniforms. My email is dinging with updates and reminders from her principal. And I am staring down the multiple bags of school supplies purchased and waiting to be brought in on the first day of school, just hanging out next to my desk.

Yes, friends. Summer is over and it is officially back-to-school season.

I don’t know about all of you, but I kinda love the routine and schedules that organically come with the school year. Don’t get me wrong, I will certainly miss the slow mornings, pool afternoons, and beach evenings that come with summer. But I will welcome the flow of alarms, set pick-up and drop off times and fun of after school activities that comes with the academic year. But that’s just me.

However, one thing I can say that I am less then jazzed about is the school lunch box packing. I seriously don’t love it. Even though I often share my (soon-to-be) second grader’s lunch boxes on my Instagram, I often feel like a deer in headlights when it is time to pack her lunch everyday.

Over the years, I have learned a few tips and tricks for helping make lunch box packing a bit easier on myself. And my favorite, go-to, healthy lunch box filler that is always sure to be eaten is a batch of healthy muffins for kids. Which is where the inspiration for these Healthy Lunch Box Muffins came from.

Why these muffins are great for lunch boxes

Let’s face it. When packing a lunch box, there are so many things to consider!

What will my child eat? Are there any allergies in his/her class we need to be aware of? Will this keep until lunch time? Is it healthy? Is this enough food?

It is enough to make one’s head spin, give up and order hot lunch from the school. However, these muffins are great for making ahead of time to toss into your kiddo’s lunches because they take care of all of those issues!

They are loaded with fiber and are naturally gluten free when made with gluten free oats and there are no nuts or nut products in them, something so many schools simply can’t have brought in due to allergies. They are packed with TWO different veggies, naturally sweetened with banana and a little honey or maple syrup, can easily be made dairy-free AND are totally kid approved! Plus, muffins are the perfect size for lunch boxes. So they are easy to grab and toss in your favorite lunch container.

What kind of lunch box is good for kids?

As a mom and former preschool teacher, I have seen (and tried) so many different kinds of lunch boxes. Personally, I feel the bento style lunch box is the ideal way to go! It encourages you to pack variety with their various compartments and it lays everything out in an easily, visually appealing way for your child. Plus, when you use a bento lunch box, it is ONE container for your child to open, versus multiple. And no one wants their kid wasting their precious lunch time trying to open containers!

There are so many bento-style lunch boxes on the market, but I am currently pretty in love with this Flex Bento Container from Packit. Not only does it have all the features I love about every other bento box, but I love that has 2 flexible dividers that you can move to fit whatever it is that you are packing. The dividers don’t prevent things like applesauce and yogurts from migrating, but it does come with a removable leak-proof cup for your wetter foods!

It is plastic, so it is nice and lightweight. However it is PVC-, BPA-, phthalate- and lead-free….all important things I look for when I opt to use plastic. Plus, it is shatter resistant. So when a kid inevitably drops it when running to the bus, it is likely to still make it home in one piece!

How do you keep a lunch box cold?

It can be hard to pack healthy food that can sit out at room temperature for several hours. So, I don’t even try! I just opt for ice packs to keep foods chilled and safe until my daughter can get to eating them.

My husband and I have been using Packit freezable lunch bags to keep our lunches cold for years. We love that the bags have the freezable gel built into the walls of the lunch bag, so we can just store the bags in the freezer and then pop our lunches into them. And they do so well at keeping our food cold for hours.

We like them so much that we scored a Packit Lunch Bag for our daughter this year for the same reason! No only will the lunchbox keep her lunch cold all morning, but she won’t lose the ice packs when taking her food in and out at lunch time (I can’t tell you how many ice packs I have lost over the years).

Tips for making healthy lunch box muffins

If you don’t have a high-speed blender, blend the oats first. Then add the remaining ingredients before blending again. This will help your muffins to have a better texture without overtaxing your blender.
Let them cool. If you are enjoying a muffin straight out of the oven, don’t worry if they seem a bit soft in the middle! They will firm up as they cool!
Don’t skip on squeezing out the zucchini! Zucchini naturally holds onto a lot of water, so it is important to squeeze out as much of it as possible before adding it to the muffins. Otherwise, you might end up with a mushy muffin.
Store them in the fridge or freezer! They will stay fresh and delicious all week long for easy lunch box packing!

Suggested adaptations for making healthy lunch box muffins?

Make them egg free! Simply replace the 2 eggs in the recipe with 2 tablespoons of flax meal + 6 tablespoons of water. Mix the flax and water and let it sit for about 5 minutes to “gel”. Then add to the recipe.
Use whatever kind of milk your family enjoys. These can easily be made dairy-free by using coconut milk (or unsweetened almond milk if nut-free isn’t a priority). But if you want to use cow or goat milk, that works fine in this recipe as well.
Add some sweetness! Stir in some raisins or chocolate chips for a little extra sweet fun!
Blend the veggies in. If you have a veggie-resistant eater on your hands, consider blending the veggies into the batter instead of folding them in at the end. Still veggie-loaded, but less obvious! Just be sure to still squeeze out the zucchini before adding!