These bite-sized muffins are healthy, nutritious and the perfect way to use up leftover jars of baby food! No added sugar and your little ones will love them!
So when my daughter started eating solid foods, I decided to go the puréed route because baby led weaning just made me so nervous! I know, I know, most mamas go the BLW route and I REALLY wanted to, but I found myself just much more comfortable easing her into solids through softer foods and purées. Totally a personal preference! Well now my daughter is 10 months old (ah where has the time gone?!) and she wants absolutely nothing to do with those purées anymore. So now I have tons of baby food jars leftover in my pantry and wanted to get creative with ways that I could use them. Enter these tasty little muffins!
These bite-sized muffins are so simple to throw together and are packed with nutritious ingredients like oats, banana, carrots, and puréed fruits and veggies so you can feel good about sharing these with your little ones! I bet they’ll have a blast making them with you too!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- oat flour – You can use store-bought oat flour or easily make your own! You can also substitute with all-purpose flour, if needed.
- puréed baby food – Here’s where you can have fun with this recipe! Feel free to use any combination of flavors whether fruit or veggie-based. If you don’t have jars of baby food, the puréed pouches will also work or even your own homemade purées, you’ll just need about 1/3 cup.
- banana – Makes these muffins moist and delicious. Also acts as a natural sweetener so no added sugar needed!
- carrot – I like to add grated carrot to add in some veggies as well as for the color, but you could also use grated zucchini or really any veggie you’d like!
- egg – All you need is one egg and this will help bind everything together.
- cinnamon – Not a necessity, but definitely makes these muffins even tastier!
How to Make Your Own Oat Flour
To make your own oat flour you simply take rolled oats (or instant oats) and blend them in your food processor or blender for about 60 seconds until they resemble a fine, powdery flour – that’s it! You can of course just buy your own oat flour at the store, but this method saves you money and the flour will last up to three months in your pantry. The ratio for oat flour is one cup of oats = one cup of oat flour so it’s pretty easy to measure out.
Freezer-Friendly Muffins!
These baby food muffins freeze really well too! This recipe makes about 24 mini muffins (or 12 regular size muffins) and there is no way my 10 month old could go through all those in a week so freezing them makes it really convenient to have meals prepped for her. Simply place them in a sealed container or ziplock bag and they can be stored in your freezer for up to 3 months!
These muffins aren’t just for babies either, they’re perfect for toddlers and school age kids as well! Not only do these muffins fit perfectly inside a lunch box, but they also make great after school snacks!
Other Uses for Leftover Baby Food
If you have several jars or pouches of baby food leftover, you can easily get creative and use them in all sorts of ways. Here are a few ideas:
- Use them in pancakes, muffins or bread when baking
- Mix them in with oatmeal, yogurt or smoothies
- Freeze them into popsicles which is great for teething!
- Toss purées in with pasta as a sauce (my daughter loves the butternut squash with noodles!)
- Add them to soups or stews
Hope your little ones enjoy these Leftover Baby Food Muffins and if you love this recipe as much as we do, please leave me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #eatyourselfskinny! I love seeing all your delicious recreations!
Leftover Baby Food Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups oat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 jar, or 1/3 cup puréed baby food
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray (or use muffin liners) and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together oat flour, baking powder and cinnamon, making a well in the center.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together baby food, mashed banana and egg. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined, then fold in the grated carrot.
- Divide oat mixture evenly among the 24 mini muffin cups (or 12 standard size muffins) and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. If making 12 standard size muffins, bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi! Do you think you could use baby oatmeal instead of oat flour? My grandson is now eating regular oatmeal, so I have a canister of the powdery baby oatmeal left. Thanks!
I haven’t tested this recipe with that to be sure if it would turn out, but that sounds like a great idea!
How do you freeze this and thaw them for my 9 month old? How do they keep in the fridge? And freezer?
I like to place them in a sealed ziplock baggy and they will freeze for up to 3 months. When you want to thaw them out, let the thaw out in the fridge overnight and I like to soften them up in the microwave for a few seconds before serving 🙂
I made this with 4 oz butternut squash puree. I don’t have a mini muffin pan, so I made them regular size. It made one dozen very small muffins. I don’t think you even need a muffin pan, just a cookie sheet, because mine didn’t change from the shape I scooped them into. My oats didn’t turn into flour, more of a coarse meal, so The muffins aren’t smooth like a pastry. The muffins are pretty bland, but with no salt or sugar, you can share them with your baby. Next time I will try a fruit puree and use a cookie sheet.
Hiya! Can I make this without banana? Any other substitute you can recommend? Would cheese work?
Love this article and our baby loves the muffins! We’ve used all kinds of leftover foods. Peas and carrots were a hit in the muffins!
Wow. Thank you so much for this. These types of recipes are right up my alley. I am a second time “older” mom. First daughter is 21 and I just had twins! This go round I am a different type of mommy and love to be creative when I cook! I like easy recipes though, that don’t take long and that have ingredients I for sure have! The muffins turned out so good. Both my husband AND my mom couldn’t wait for them to come out of the oven! I had to slap their hands and tell them the muffins were supposed to be for the babies!
Can i use regular flour?
Absolutely! 🙂
These look great! Could I substitute baby cereal for the oat flour to add more iron?
I tried it with baby cereal and I wouldn’t use it again. I’m sure it would work if you changed something else, but I’m not a baker and depend on recipes. With the oatmeal cereal the batter was pretty dry and they didn’t bake to look like these. They are edible though and my baby is enjoying them so the recipe is still a win. I’ll try with flour or regular oat flour next time.