Halloween Monster Muffins (Dairy Free)

Name: Halloween Monster Muffins
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 33 min
Ingredients: 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour ((or all-purpose flour)); 1 ¾ tsp baking soda; ½ tsp salt; 1 overripe banana; 3 cups spinach, packed; 2 large eggs; 1 cup plain almond milk; ⅓ cup brown sugar; 3 tbsp avocado oil ((or vegetable oil, or melted dairy-free butter)); ¾ cup dairy-free chocolate chips ((i.e. Enjoy Life)); Edible googly eyes ((optional, double check to ensure dairy free))

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Want to make a festive breakfast for your kiddos this Halloween? Try these fun Halloween muffins! Made in a creepy green color and topped with edible eyeballs, your little ones will smile with delight when served these as a morning treat. Plus, you’ll feel good knowing they’re getting a little nutrition in their breakfast – these muffins include spinach, serving up the veggie in a unique way.

Ingredients

Here’s a photo of everything you’ll need to make these, along with selected ingredient notes:

Flour: You have the choice between whole wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour for this recipe. Whole wheat pastry flour offers more fiber and minerals compared to all-purpose flour, but I know not everyone has that on hand! Feel free to use all-purpose if that’s what you’ve got.

Overripe Banana: You’ll want to choose a banana that has lots of brown spots or is mostly brown all over. This is softer, tastes sweeter, and imparts more moisture compared to a yellow banana.

Spinach: Yes, the secret ingredient to these fun green muffins isn’t food coloring – it’s spinach! This also adds extra nutrition to the recipe which is great for your kiddos.

Chocolate chips – When following a dairy free diet, it’s important to look for dairy-free chocolate chips (as many conventional brands contain dairy). My two favorite options are Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels and Nestle Allergen Free Morsels.

Almond Milk: Plain almond milk works well but this recipe is flexible – you can use oat milk, vanilla almond milk, soy milk, whatever you prefer!

Instructions

You’ll find the full recipe amounts and instructions in the recipe card below, but here’s a helpful overview with photos and tips.

Start by mixing together the dry ingredients – the flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk these in a bowl.

Flour, baking soda, and salt mixed together in a bowl.

Next, add the banana, spinach, eggs, almond milk, brown sugar, and oil to a food processor bowl or blender. You want to blend this until it’s well combined, which usually takes a minute or two – avoid leaving any big chunks of spinach; try to make it a uniform texture.

Banana, spinach, eggs, almond milk, brown sugar, and oil mixed together in a food processor bowl.

Add the spinach mixture to the dry ingredients and stir. Fold in the chocolate chips, leaving a few set aside to top the muffins.

Chocolate chips being folded into muffin batter in a glass bowl.

Pour the batter into the muffin tin, then sprinkle those extra chocolate chips on top. Add the googly eyes if you’re planning to use them (so fun for Halloween!).

Muffin batter poured into the muffin tin and sprinkled with chocolate chips and googly eyes.

Bake ‘em in the oven, let cool, and dig in!

Baked Halloween muffins in a muffin tin.

Recipe FAQ

Here are some common questions that may come up as you’re preparing this recipe:

How should you store leftover Halloween muffins?

Store these at room temperature for up to 2-3 days. If you don’t plan to eat them in that time frame, freeze for later use.

Can you freeze spinach muffins?

Yes. Freeze in a zip top bag or airtight food storage container. When ready to eat, let thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or reheat in the microwave for 15-25 seconds. Use frozen muffins within 3 months for best quality.

Is there a substitute for banana in muffins?

If you don’t enjoy banana, you can substitute ½ cup pumpkin puree or 1 ripe avocado. For both of these substitutions, you should increase the brown sugar to ½ cup, as neither offers the same sweetness as the banana in the recipe.

Allergens in this Recipe

Disclaimer: Always double check ingredients and labels yourself prior to making a recipe. While I try to check all ingredients for allergens, there’s always the chance I may miss something, or manufacturer formulations can change.

As written, this recipe is dairy free.

This recipe does contain wheat/gluten (in the flour), eggs (in the eggs), and tree nuts (in the almond milk).

You can make this recipe wheat/gluten free by using a gluten free flour blend in place of the whole wheat pastry flour.

You can make this recipe tree nut free by using oat milk in place of the almond milk.

This recipe may also contain soy, depending on the brand of edible googly eyes, or if vegetable oil is used in place of avocado oil. Double check labels if you need to avoid this.

Spinach banana monster muffins on a brown platter next to a napkin.

More Halloween Recipes

Looking for more tasty treats to make for Halloween? Try one of these ideas:

I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as my family did! If you get a chance to try them, feel free to leave a recipe rating or comment below.