These adorable and healthy mini blueberry banana muffins are perfect for little hands and make a nutritious snack option for the whole family! Made with almond flour, these blueberry muffins are packed full of healthy fats and fibre and are sweetened naturally so they contain no added sugar. The perfect little healthy bites for lunch boxes or on-the-go snacks! {Gluten-free, paleo, no added sugar & vegetarian}
Table of Contents
Mini Blueberry Muffins with Banana
You might be noticing a lot more “mini” foods on the blog these days. I’ve discovered this new passion for testing out miniature-sized finger food recipes on our toddler and baby. Probably the cutest taste testers EVER. But I may be a little biased ;)
Due to their small size and high nutrient content, these mini almond flour blueberry muffins are not only great for babies, they can also be a great option to add to the snack rotation for toddlers, older children and adults!
They’re naturally sweetened with fruit so they contain no added sugar and are also freezer-friendly, so perfect for storing in the freezer for quick and easy meals and snacks.
The perfect little sugar free mini muffins for the whole family!
If you’re looking for other low sugar muffin recipes, be sure to also check out these Blueberry Kodiak Cakes Muffins, Mini Carrot Zucchini Muffins, and Banana Protein Muffins!
Why we love this Mini Blueberry Muffin Recipe with Banana
- Easy to make – This recipe only calls for a few simple ingredients and takes less than 20 minutes to prepare!
- Packed with nutrients – These mini muffins are naturally sweetened with fruit and contain no added sugar. Especially amazing if you’re on the hunt for healthier low sugar muffin recipes for the family! Not to mention, they’re full of fibre, antioxidants and healthy fats.
- Great for little hands – I initially came up with this recipe when our oldest son started on solids and it’s been a go-to snack ever since. Due to their small size, they’re the perfect baby and toddler blueberry muffins! But spoiler alert: adults can totally eat them too!
- Portable – As a busy mom, I know the importance of finding snacks that can be easily transported and that are relatively mess-free. These blueberry and banana muffins are just that! They also make a great after school option when the snack attack hits.
Ingredients for Healthy Blueberry Banana Muffins
Bananas – Provide natural sweetness to the muffins so no added sugar is required. For best results, use overripe bananas.
Blueberries – I recommend using wild frozen blueberries since they’re smaller in size and won’t overwhelm the muffin. Plus, they’re nice and juicy and you don’t have to worry about them spoiling in the fridge since they’re stored in the freezer! If you don’t have frozen wild blueberries, you can sub in fresh blueberries if desired.
Almond flour – Use blanched finely ground almond flour for the purpose of this recipe. It provides a nice nutty flavour to the muffins and due to its finely ground texture, it’s a great way to incorporate the healthy fats from nuts to little ones!
How to Make a Banana Blueberry Muffin Baby or Mini Size
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray or use mini muffin liners. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together almond flour, cinnamon and baking soda (and salt, if using).
Step 2: In a separate bowl, add wet ingredients.
Step 3: Mix together the mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla extract until well combined (do not over mix).
Step 4: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until combined.
Step 5: Add the blueberries to the muffin batter.
Step 6: Gently fold in the the blueberries until evenly distributed.
Step 7: Divide mixture among 24 mini muffin cups (the muffin batter should be slightly heaping over the top of the muffin cup).
Step 8: Bake in oven for about 20-23 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Banana Blueberry Mini Muffin Recipe Tips:
- I suggest using overripe bananas for this recipe since they tend to be sweeter and will provide just the right amount of sweetness to flavour up these muffins. Since the muffins are naturally sweetened with fruit, the sweeter and riper the banana, the better!
- I used wild frozen blueberries to add some extra texture and juiciness to the muffins. I chose wild for these particular muffins since they’re smaller in size and didn’t want to overwhelm the muffin with too many blueberries. Because we all know muffins are easily overwhelmed :P The truth is, I didn’t want to overwhelm our baby with big honking blueberries! So the wild frozen ones were a perfect option.
- For easy removal, spray the muffin tin well with cooking spray or use a mini silicone muffin tin. By doing so, you can simply pop the muffins out without worrying about them sticking to the pan.
- Wait for at least 15 minutes before removing the muffins from the pan to allow them to cool. Use a knife to work your way around the edges and gently help nudge the muffins out of the pan.
- These muffins are only lightly sweetened. If you prefer a sweeter muffin, you may wish to add a couple tablespoons of maple syrup or sub in other desired sweetener.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use frozen bananas and blueberries?
Yes! It’s the perfect way to use up those overripe spotty bananas that you have to throw in the freezer.
As for the blueberries, I would go for the wild frozen blueberries since they’re smaller in size. Regular-sized blueberries might take over the whole muffin and potentially make them soggy.
Can I sub in another type of flour?
I initially tried the recipe with whole-wheat flour and oat flour and they tasted alright, although I didn’t love the aftertaste. My husband and baby didn’t seem to mind it though since they polished them all off! Gotta love them :)
The next time, I used almond flour and we all much preferred the taste and texture. They’re a bit more dense than your typical muffin but definitely still moist and fluffy with a nice nutty flavour. And you don’t even miss the sugar!
How do I keep my blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin?
One technique you can try to prevent blueberries from sinking to the bottom is to spoon a third of the batter without the blueberries into the muffin tray and then fold the blueberries into the rest of the muffin batter. Spoon this on top of the batter without the berries. This should help prevent the blueberries from sinking and making the bottom of the muffins soggy.
What temperature is best to bake muffins?
I generally like to bake mini muffins at 350 degrees F. Due to their smaller size, mini muffins require a shorter cooking time than regular sized muffins. I find the mini muffins always turn out well when baked at this temperature.
How do you know when a muffin is done?
The best way to determine if a muffin is done is to insert a wooden toothpick into the centre of one of the muffins in the middle of the pan. This is key since sometimes muffins located on the outer portion of the pan bake faster than the ones in the centre.
If it comes out clean, that generally means that the muffins are done. You can also touch the top of the muffins lightly and they should spring back when ready.
How do I get my muffins to rise higher?
Sometimes with gluten-free muffins, it can be tricky to achieve a nice domed muffin top due to the absence of gluten which helps provide structure in baking. One way to combat this and help gluten-free muffins rise a bit higher is to whip the egg whites until they’re fluffy before adding them to the batter.
To do so, start by separating the eggs called for in the recipe. Next, mix the yolks into the batter as usual, but set the whites aside. Whip the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or in a bowl with an electric hand mixer for about 2-3 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Stir one third of the beaten egg whites into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites into the mixture until just combined.
Why are my muffins gummy?
The muffins may be gummy if they’re undercooked. If muffins are taken out of the oven too soon, they may be sticky and uncooked in the centre, resulting in a gummy texture. You may need to bake them a bit longer. Just be sure to check them frequently so that they don’t overcook. Every oven is different so bake the muffins just until a toothpick comes out clean once inserted into the middle of the muffin.
How to Store Mini Blueberry Muffins
You can store these mini muffins in an air-tight container for a couple of days in the fridge or alternatively, you can freeze them.
The recipe makes about 24 mini muffins so unless you can down all those muffins within a few days, I recommend storing them in the freezer to prevent them from going bad.
Don’t want these tasty little muffins going to waste!
To freeze: Simply store them in Ziploc bags in a single layer or in an air-tight container separated by parchment paper if stacking the muffins.
To thaw: Place in the fridge or leave at room temperature for a few hours. That should do the trick!
Other healthy mini muffin recipes
- Spinach Banana Muffins
- Mini Sweet Potato Muffins
- Mini Almond Butter Muffin Bites
- Mini Turkey Apple Meatloaf Muffins
- Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Cups
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a rating and review!
Almond Flour Banana Blueberry Mini Muffins {No sugar added}
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt (optional)*
- 2 large over ripe bananas mashed (about 2/3 cup mashed banana)
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup wild frozen blueberries I prefer the wild blueberries because they're smaller, but you can also use regular blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray the mini muffin tin with cooking spray or use a mini silicon muffin pan.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together almond flour, cinnamon and baking soda (and salt, if using).
- In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, eggs, applesauce and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined (do not over mix). Gently fold in the the blueberries until evenly distributed.
- Divide mixture among 24 mini muffin cups (the muffin batter should be heaping slightly over the top of each cup).
- Bake in oven for about 20-23 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool fully before removing from muffin tin.
Notes
- *If preparing this recipe just for babies, I recommend leaving out the salt. For older children and adults, you may wish to add the salt to add a little extra flavour.
- I suggest using overripe bananas for this recipe since they tend to be sweeter and will provide just the right amount of sweetness to flavour up these muffins. Since the muffins are naturally sweetened with fruit, the sweeter and riper the banana, the better.
- I recommend using wild frozen blueberries to add some extra texture and juiciness to the muffins. I chose wild for these particular muffins since they’re smaller in size and didn’t want to overwhelm the muffin with too many blueberries.
- Be sure to distribute the blueberries evenly between each muffin cup. If there are more blueberries in some of the muffins and less in others, the ones with more blueberries will be more wet in texture.
- For easy removal, spray the muffin tin well with cooking spray or use a silicone muffin tin. By doing so, you can simply pop the muffins out without worrying about them sticking to the pan.
- Wait until the muffins fully cool before removing the muffins from the pan to allow them to cool. Use a knife to work your way around the edges to gently nudge the muffins out of the pan.
- These muffins are only lightly sweetened. If you prefer a sweeter muffin, you may wish to add a couple tablespoons of maple syrup or sub in other desired sweetener.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted in July 2018, but was updated in April 2021 to include better photos and more helpful tips.
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Can I use regular (non-frozen) blueberries for this recipe?
Yes, regular blueberries should work too! I know that some readers have made them with regular blueberries and they turned out well. Hope you enjoy the recipe if you try it out!
Are the muffins supposed to be a wet consistency? Very mushy? These aren’t like the normal muffins you buy. Interested to see if baby will eat it.
They are very moist muffins and definitely have a different consistency than store-bought, but my baby and preschooler both devour them. Hope your baby enjoys them too! :)
Hi! I love your recipe, but before you updated the recipe it had some coconut flour too isn’t it? Could you tell me how much coconut flour does it had before the update please?
Yes, you’re correct! I adapted the recipe slightly according to some readers’ feedback. I sent the previous recipe with the coconut flour to your email inbox. Hope that helps! :)
This Recipe was fantastic! I followed it to a T. Made 2 batches for my family and gave some to some sick family who have Covid along with soup. Everyone from my 3 year old to grandmother loved them. The texture (since most couldn’t taste) was spot on. This will definitely be a staple recipe for us from now on. Thank you
Thanks Bryanna — so glad the recipe was a hit with your family and that everyone enjoyed the texture! Wishing your family a quick and safe recovery!
Can these be marked then frozen ? X
Yes, I freeze these muffins all the time. They freeze really well!
So I did eveything expect I used coconut flour and these turned into crumble did not set what so ever which I thought is weird bc both flours are extremely similar
Unfortunately, coconut flour cannot be used as a direct replacement for almond flour since it’s highly absorbent and generally requires more liquid. That’s most likely why the muffins had a crumbly consistency. Next time, I recommend using the almond flour as the recipe states. Hope this helps!
These were great! My bread-hating 1 year old loved these. Literally the only muffins she’s ever eaten more than one bite of! I love how soft they are- the perfect texture for babies!
Yay!! So happy to hear that these were a winner! Definitely a great texture for little ones…our little guys gobble them up too :) Thanks for returning to leave a review!
So excited to try these! If I’m using frozen blueberries should I thaw them before baking?
Yay! They’re so tasty! Nope, no need to thaw the blueberries! I actually prefer putting them in frozen so that the juice doesn’t bleed as much into the rest of the muffin. Hope you enjoy!
Could the bananas be replaced with apples !? Thanks!!
I haven’t personally tried subbing in apples but it would be an interesting experiment! The banana adds quite a bit of natural sweetness so I’d be curious to see if the apple would have the same effect. Let me know how it goes if you try it out!
Wow.. these mini muffins are amazing!
My hubby and I loveee them and I had to share a recipe a few times already.
My toddler is not to excited but she almost ate a whole one last time I made it.
It is super easy and quick I just love it.
Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks so much Lidia! So glad your family is enjoying these muffins! And thanks for stopping by to comment :)
Mine look abit more rustic then your photos 😂 not very muffin like, not sure where I went wrong. Either way my 13 month old loves them 🙂
Glad your baby enjoyed them! Almond and coconut flour can be very finicky to work with. Perhaps the quantities of flour used or the amount of liquid was a bit off? I plan to test this recipe again and provide some more specific quantities and tips! I appreciate you taking the time to provide some feedback :)
Can I use other frozen fruit in this recipe? I have a lot of raspberries and strawberries, but very few blueberries.
I haven’t personally tried this recipe using any other types of fruit other than the blueberries. My only fear with using frozen raspberries or strawberries is that they might lend too much moisture to the muffins and potentially make them soggy. Keep me posted if you decide to try it out!
Hi! Any tips for making these in a regular muffin tin?
I haven’t tried these muffins in a regular-sized muffin tin yet, but for starters, I would make sure that you grease the pan first. You’ll also want to increase the cooking time slightly. I would start by adding on a few extra minutes of cooking time and then check them frequently. Bake the muffins until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Hope it works out for you! Please let me know how they turn out if you try them out in the larger muffin tin!
These were AMAZING!!! Moist and delicious, and I followed the recipe exactly. My infant didn’t care for them, but my husband was A-OK with that and ate most the batch already!!!!
Yay!!! So glad that your husband approved! It’s definitely not hard to down the whole batch ;) Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Hi- do you have any changes you would make for high altitude?
I don’t have much experience with baking at high altitude but you could try increasing the oven temperature by 15-25 degrees F and decreasing the baking time by 20-30%. Just make sure you keep an eye on the muffins so they don’t burn since you’ll be baking at a higher temperature. Hope it works out for you!
Hi what’s the amount of flour to put in if I want to use plain flour instead of almond flour? Will the result be same/similar?
Sorry for the delay Syl! Unfortunately, I have tried these muffins with whole-wheat flour and it didn’t turn out that fabulous. I enjoyed the taste a lot more with the almond flour. You could try it again with all-purpose flour to see if you get any better results. You could try 2 cups of regular flour if you do decide to go this route, although you may have to experiment with quantities since I haven’t tested it with the regular flour. Hope that helps!