While I have always enjoyed a nutritious diet it has been increasingly important for me now that I have a toddler to come up with easy recipes that pack in lots of nutrition, are tasty, and can be enjoyed by the whole family. I started out by making the ever-so-popular “ABC” muffins but never found them quite tasty enough for myself and always found the texture just not be that great. With some time and trial and error I came up with these “rainbow” muffins that my toddler and I both absolutely love. I call them rainbow muffins as they have red apples, carrots, banana, zucchini, blueberry and cranberries (+optional chocolate chips) — It’s a fun way to take the whole make your plate more colorful approach to nutrition. The muffins are sweetened by the ripe banana and applesauce, both of which also keep them really moist (along with the yogurt we add)!
You can customize these muffins a bit — if you don’t have every “color” to add in, no problem. You can omit the chocolate chips, blueberries and cranberries completely if you don’t have these things. If you don’t have the exact amount of applesauce, carrot or zucchini just make sure that overall you use about the same total amount to keep the muffin consistency the same. For example you can add a little more zucchini in place of
Store the muffins in an airtight container on the counter for up to four days or freeze to reheat later.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you in the comments! You can also tag @forksandvines on Instagram. I LOVE seeing your pictures!
With all that being said, I like to keep it short and sweet around here as I know you are here for one thing, and one thing only — let’s make some muffins!
“Rainbow” Muffins
Equipment
- 1 12 Muffin Tray (or 24 Mini)
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup yogurt of choice (plain or vanilla)
- 2/3 zucchini, grated
- 1 large carrot, peeled & grated
- 1/2 cup applesauce (or 1 grated apple)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 1/2 cup cranberries
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325' convection or 350 non convection. Prep any produce necessary if you haven't already.
- Add banana, egg, vanilla extract and yogurt to a large mixing bowl and mix until well combined.
- Add in applesauce, zucchini, carrot, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder and mix again until well combined.
- Add in flour & oats and mix again until thouroughly combined.
- Stir in blueberries, cranberries & chocolate chips.
- Prep your muffin tin with muffin liners. If you don't have muffin liners I highly advise you grease the pan well to avoid sticking.
- Divide the batter between 12 large muffins and bake 25 minutes.
- Allow to cool a little before removing from the pan. ENJOY!
Notes
- You can adjust the amount or ingredients added slightly, don’t worry about the produce portion being perfect measurements as long as you are close.
- I highly recommend using silicone or paper muffin tin inserts to keep the mess down and avoid sticking.
