Sweet Kale Muffins
These Sweet Kale Muffins are tender, moist and so delicious. Made with blended kale, applesauce, whole wheat flour, a little maple syrup or honey and studded with optional chocolate chips, these muffins are a great way to get some extra veggies into your diet! Done baking in 20 minutes and perfect as a healthy breakfast or hearty snack option.
If you are a regular here on The Natural Nurturer, you probably know my veggie-loaded muffins are what I am known for. My Oatmeal Green Smoothie Muffins put me on the map in the recipe world and is how so many of you found your way to me and made you a believer in veggie-loading. But I have gone on to create many, many veggie packed muffins that are regulars in your kitchen (try my One-Bowl Oatmeal Carrot Muffins or Veggie-Loaded Chocolate Muffins) and keep coming up with more (surprisingly).
These Sweet Kale Muffins are my latest and greatest veggie-loaded baked good. Inspired by the Green Smoothie Muffins you all know and love, these muffins are a delicious way to enjoy some leafy greens. Boosting 2 cups of blended kale, these fluffy and moist muffins are naturally sweetened with applesauce and a little maple syrup or honey. The chocolate chips are optional, but highly recommended, as this mom and former preschool teacher can tell you….chocolate makes every muffin a little more appealing to any veggie-iffy eater. I made these muffins with whole wheat flour, but you can easily sub that with a 1:1 gluten free flour blend if you need a gluten free option. Oh, and they are dairy-free! So if you need that, I’ve got you covered!
How to make these muffins: step-by-step guide
Suggested adaptations
- Use raisins instead of chocolate chips. Both make these already tasty muffins even better!
- Omit chocolate chips all together. We find these muffins to be sweet enough on their own.
- Replace the applesauce with mashed banana if you prefer that flavor.
- Boost the nutrition: You could also stir in 2 to 4 tablespoons of nutritious add-ins like hemp seeds, chia seeds, or ground flax seeds.
- Make them gluten free: Use a cup-for-cup style gluten free flour mix instead of the whole wheat flour.
- Need egg-free? I haven’t tested it, but I think using a common egg-replacer such a flax “egg” would work in this recipe.
- Use spinach instead of kale.
- Use frozen kale instead of fresh. Thaw first before adding the kale to the blender. If kale has wilted significantly during freezing, reduce the amount of kale to 1 cup.
Got leftover kale? Try turning into these delicious, easy, and savory Oven Baked Parmesan Kale Chips and keep the veggie-loading going!
How to store these muffins
These muffins can hang out on your counter for a day, but if you plan to enjoy them over several days pop them in the fridge! Keeping them in an airtight container in your refrigerator will help to keep these moist muffins fresh longer and prevent molding.
You can also freeze these kale muffins for up to 2 months when stored in an air-tight freezer safe container. I like to thaw on the countertop overnight or by zapping one in the microwave for 15-30 seconds.
Other veggie-loaded muffin recipes you will adore
- One-Bowl Healthy Oatmeal Carrot Muffins
- Hearty One-Bowl Parsnip Muffins
- Moist Beetroot Chocolate Muffins
- Fluffy Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins
- Fluffy Whole Wheat Carrot Zucchini Muffins
- Healthy Chocolate Muffins (with veggies!)
- Healthy Zucchini Lemon Muffins
- Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Muffins
- Oatmeal Green Smoothie Muffins
Loving these veggie muffins and are hungry for more?
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Sweet Kale Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs, can sub flax eggs for egg-free
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cups loosely packed kale, fibrous ribs removed
- ¼ cup avocado oil, or olive oil
- ⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1⅓ cups whole wheat flour, can sub 1:1 gluten free flour mix, if needed
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup chocolate chips, or to taste plus extra for topping.
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 ℉. Grease a muffin tin with oil or line with liners. Set aside.
- In your blender, combine kale, eggs, maple syrup/ honey, applesauce, oil, and vanilla.
- Blend until mixture is smooth and there are no leafy pieces of kale left. About 30-60 seconds.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Pour in the contents of the blender and mix to combine. Do not over mix, as this can result in dense muffins.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Portion batter into prepared muffin tin, filling about ¾ of the way. Top with additional chocolate chips, if desired.
- Bake until the tops of the muffins are just starting to turn golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. If you have a kitchen thermometer, cook until the muffins have an internal temperature of 200℉. This will ensure they are cooked through, but not overcooked.
- Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. I find that every muffin liner is a bit different, so if you muffins are sticking to your liners, let them cool completely or chill them in the fridge for a bit and they should release a bit easier. Let cool completely and store leftovers in an air-tight container in fridge for up 5 days or in your freezer for about 2 months.
I think I’ve baked every green muffin recipe there is on the internet and these are my new favorite. Fluffy, easy, and delicious!! Bonus points for the suggestion to add a few extra chocolate chips to the top 😉
What a wonderful review! I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Hillary! And yes, a few chocolate chips go a long way with green muffins 🤣. Thanks for taking the time to share.
These are delicious! The hint of kale flavor is perfect. Such a fun way to introduce kale to my toddler who can’t chew kale leaves yet. We subbed GF flour and flax eggs and they turned out great! Thanks for the recipe.❤️
So delighted you enjoyed these so much!
Sounds good haven’t had that before, would be good for a healthy snack. Chocolate and veggies.
Chocolate always help veggie muffins be a bit more appealing!
This was truly perfectly delicious!! I am not much of a baker, and it was easy. My question is should I have sifted the flour after I measured it?
I didn’t here but sifting does help create for an extra light and fluffy muffin. So glad you enjoyed them, Pam!
Another delicious veggie-loaded muffin! Great way to add kale into your breakfast!
So glad you enjoyed these, Andrea! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
These may be my new fave TNN muffin! They are just the perfect amount of sweetness and super fluffy. I subbed Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF flour. My three year old approves too and says they’re her “favourite green muffin”! I love the healthy dose of kale that is undetected in the baked muffins. So yum! I will be adding these to my muffin rotation and will try adding hemp hearts next time for an extra boost of nutrition. Do you suggest just stirring the hemp hearts in or blending them with the kale + wet ingredients?
Hi Kayla! So glad these were such a success! I think blending the hemp hearts with wet ingredients would be the way to do it.
I am a kale super fan and the second I saw Taesha testing these I was SO EXCITED! It was finally cool enough this weekend to turn the oven on, and I knew these were exactly what I wanted to make! These were delicious! Very easy to make, used minimal ingredients, and minimal dishes – which is always a win! The muffins were delicious and such a fun way to add veggies to my snack time! These will definitely be on repeat in this house and now I have some leftover kale to add to other things! After making these, I was feeling inspired and told my bf our new goal is to add veggies to everything! Thanks Taesha for reminding me that it can be easy, quick, and fun to add veggies to everything – treats, snacks, breakfast, etc! Can’t wait to try the next recipe, have loved every single recipe so far! 😊
Katie, this comment made my day! I’m so honored to “be in your kitchen” with you via my recipes but that you are finding so many veggie-loaded recipes that you enjoy!
Great! Really wanted muffins but was too hot for the big oven so I opted for a loaf in the toaster oven instead. Reduced temp to 350 and baked in parchment-lined tin for 35 minutes. Followed recipe using the recommended flax eggs. Turned out nicely. At some point I may try to replace some sweetness or oil with a mashed banana. Also the green color is just fun.
Loved that you made this as a loaf, Kelsey! I bet the sweet green bread is super fun and tasty!
These are a new favorite for our family. We’ve made and loved lots of your recipes, but these are truly hard to beat.
I’m so happy that you loved them! Thanks for taking the time to share!
I didn’t have kale so I used spinach. Really yummy! And fantastic texture!
Love these.
So glad to hear that, Renee! We adore them too.
Hi there, I’m in Denver at 5280 feet elevation. How would you suggest I alter the recipe? Thanks so much in advance!
Hi Annie. Unfortunately adjusting baking recipes for high elevation is not something I am well versed in. I am going to make a few suggestions (that I haven’t tested since I don’t live at high elevation) based on what I do know. I’d probably increase the applesauce to 1.25 cups to help these muffins stay moist and maybe up the flour to 1.5 cups. I’d bake at the same temperature until they have an internal temp of 200F, which will ensure that they are baked through but not overbaked. I hope that helps and let us know how it comes out.