High Protein Muffins with Berries and Hidden Veggies
These High Protein Muffins with Berries and Hidden Veggies have it all: Fruits, hidden veggies, protein, lots of fibre, crunch and so much flavour, you will be happy to have them any time of the day. These little beauties are fantastic for breakfast, but equally good to impress your guests with a beautiful platter of them.
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Why You Will Love This
The Inspiration
After having made the stunning Everything Bread from “Simply Beautiful Eating”, I knew I wanted to make it again, but add my own twist to it.
Added Protein
My first goal was to up the protein content, as I’m trying to get as much as possible with every meal, without having to resort to drinking shakes all the time. Of course, I added Protein powder (which I promptly forgot in the ingredients picture. Ahem) and eggs, which also replaced part of the coconut oil, to lower the calorie content a bit.
Why Do I Add Protein?
You mean apart from the well known physical benefits of protein for the body like helping you to build muscle, keeping your bones strong and increasing satiation, meaning you stay fuller for longer and with that can maintain your weight easier?
Lesser known is, that it also effects the brain by helping it to effectively transport information through neuropathways using the amino acods found in Protein.
This even has been shown to help protect from age related dementia.If you’d like to read more about how and why I use protein, I wrote a blog post about it.
Lower Calories with One Simple Swap? Achieved.
The sweetness of the protein powder meant, I could reduce part of the maple syrup, without any impact on flavour, as all the berries and carrots add enough natural sweetness, so this won’t have any sweetener taste to it. I don’t know about you, but I feel I can sniff out sweetener in things from a mile, as I hate the aftertaste it usually gives. So, after a few experiments, I found a mix of sweet sources performs best, when it comes to the balance of flavour and the intention to cut down calories. If there is at least half of the sweetness natural, you won’t notice any artificial taste.
It also down the calories from about 300 per piece to about 240 per muffin (both assuming 12 portions) and doubles the protein from 5g to about 10g per portion, which meant I reached my goal for adapting.
2 Hidden Veggies
We all love berries and maybe dried fruit in our sweets, right? But veggies, let alone greens, probably not so much.
This has both. Grated carrots, which add to the lovely moist texture and spinach. Yep, you read that right, spinach. You won’t even notice it though, it just blends in seamlessly. Apart from providing a few charming green flecks.
The Ingredients
- Different types of flour – spelt and fine wholewheat flour for nuttiness and nutrition. Use all wholewheat if you don’t have spelt.
Note:
Cups, due to the possibility of compacting the flour while dragging the container through it, can give you wildly different results. Use a tablespoon to gently fill the cup with flour, then drag the back of a knife over it to level. This should give you the closest to the standard 120g per cup of flour.
Alternatively, if you have kitchen scales, assume 120g flour per cup and weigh it out.
In some of my recipes I will give gram measurements for this reason, but I mostly try to accommodate the American cup system.
- Rolled oats – To increase the whole grain content and for binding- I used a mix of oats and malted wheat flakes here as I had them, but just oats works perfectly fine.
- Baking powder – For rise
- Spices – pure vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt. To give the muffins incredible flavor.
- Coconut oil – For the needed healthy fat content. Otherwise you’d have very dry muffins!
- Eggs – You could use chia-egg here to replace them. But I like that they provide protein in a very easy form.
- Maple syrup – To add a little more sweetness
- Protein powder – I used “MyProtein – Speculoos” as it tastes like cinnamon, going really well with these muffins. Vanilla is great too. It not just adds protein, but also replaces part of the flour and sugar.
- Non-dairy milk – I used unsweetened almond for moisture
- Mixed fresh berries – In my case raspberries, blueberries and blackberries
- Baby spinach and grated carrots – For the hidden veggie part
- Apple – Even more fruity flavor
- Dried fruit – such as raisins, dried cranberries, apricots. You can get wildly creative here
- Sunflower & pumpkin seeds mixed – Or any chopped nuts
The Process
I realise the ingredients shot looks like there is a lot of work involved, but these High Protein Muffins with Berries and Hidden Veggies couldn’t be any easier to make.
Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a muffin tin with paper liners or lightly grease the tin.
Get your Ingredients Ready
Getting out the ingredients and grating the carrots and apple is basically the biggest effort.
I usually shorten that step considerably by using my trusty food processor*. But a box grater* will do the job. (I just can’t be trusted with them. My fingers thank me for the food processor…)
Roughly chop the spinach.
Mix the Protein Powder with the Wet
After that you mix the protein powder with the wet ingredients until no lumps are left. To make it even easier, you can do this in a blender.
Mix the Dry. Add the wet to the dry.
In a large bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients. Then add the wet to the dry, just carefully folding everything in. Don’t overmix. Fold in all the add-ins and you are done.
Fill Muffin Form
Personally I’m really bad with the muffin tin filling, tending to spill everything everywhere and having really uneven level when just using spoons. So I love using a cookie scoop*, giving me an even amount and non-sticky fingers.
Tip:
As you see in the picture, I whipped the egg whites, to add some lightness, but found it doesn’t make much of a difference here. So, you can skip this step.
Bake
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean (Berry juices on it are fine). Once baked, remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the tin for a few minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meal Prep
I wanted my High Protein snack/breakfast in shape of muffins instead of a loaf, so I could freeze them easily in portions. Plus, I quite like the look of them.
These lovelies keep for about 3-4 days in the fridge (avoid the countertop due to all the juicy berries and veggies) or for up to 3 months in the freezer.
You can quickly heat them up by using your oven or air fryer* for about 10-12 minutes.
Want more Protein Breakfast Ideas?
Carrot Cake Protein Banana Bread is another take on the fruit-veggie-protein theme.
Try my Protein Banoffee Pie Yoghurt.
Or, if savoury Breakfast is more your thing, Turkish Eggs with Asparagus.
How about some healthier snacks?
Utterly addictive Date Peanut Chocolate Bark
Or decadent yet lower calorie Apricot Almond White Chocolate Bark
Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please share. It helps me a lot.
High Protein Muffins with Berries and Hidden Veggies
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor with grater attachment. Or
- 1 Cookie Scoop optional
Ingredients
- 1 cup spelt flour
- 1 cup fine wholewheat flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup coconut oil melted and cooled
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 scoops protein powder I used “MyProtein – Speculoos”
- ½ cup non-dairy milk I used unsweetened almond
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup mixed fresh berries in my case raspberries, blueberries and blackberries
- 1 cup baby spinach chopped
- 1 cup carrots grated
- 1 apple shredded
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup sunflower & pumpkin seeds Mixed. Or any chopped nuts
- ¼ cup dried apricots diced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a muffin tin with paper liners or lightly grease the tin.
Mix dry ingredients
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the spelt flour, whole wheat flour, rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and kosher salt. Mix well to ensure all the dry ingredients are evenly combined.
Mix wet ingredients
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, eggs, maple syrup, protein powder, non-dairy milk, and vanilla extract until well combined. Make sure no protein lumps remain.
Mix wet into dry
- Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Be careful not to overmix; a few lumps are okay.
- Fold in mix ins
- Gently fold in the mixed berries, baby spinach, grated carrots, shredded apple, raisins, dried cranberries, mixed seeds (or nuts), and diced dried apricots. Make sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Fill muffin tin and bake
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about three-quarters full. I found this easiest using a cookie scoop.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean (Berry juices on it are fine).
- Once baked, remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the tin for a few minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
These high-protein muffins are a total winner! I made them for breakfast, and they’re so moist, fluffy, and packed with goodness. Love that they have hidden veggies—my kids didn’t even notice! Perfect for a healthy snack or on-the-go meal. Definitely making these again!
Thank you! I love it when a veggie hiding plan works. 🙂
These muffins were so delicious even gm kids loved them. Love the hidden veggies!!
Thank you! With anything veggie, I always feel the best compliment is kids loving it. 🙂
High Protein muffins with berries and veggies is so good, I made it for my picky eater who hates veggies.
Thank you. 🙂 Surprising those picky eaters is always fun!
Another clever, delicious and healthy recipe from your site! Perfect combo.😍
These high-protein muffins are not only delicious but look so good, you’d never guess they have hidden carrots and spinach in them! Yum!
Awww, thank you so much! I love hiding veggies in sweet things. 🙂
The best! Made these muffins a handful of times now and they never fail me. Both adults and children in the family love them. Great flavour, and texture, and I honestly think the veggies make them taste better.
Thank you. So happy your family loves these. 🙂