Iron-Rich Mini Banana Muffins for Baby Led Weaning
These nutrient-packed delicious mini banana muffins are the perfect snack for your baby who is learning how to self-feed!
When I remember back to when I had babies learning how to start solids, I always had a steady supply of homemade muffins and teething biscuits to pull from when I needed a quick and easy snack to feed. As a registered dietitian, it was (and is) important to me that these snacks were nutritious and offered certain important nutrients for growth and development. Did I feed my baby processed baby foods? Yes. Of course – I’m also a realist! But most of the time, I did try to make my own so that I could control what was in them!
The importance of iron for babies
One of the important nutrients that I’m talking about is iron. Iron is essential for general health, growth, and development, and it carries oxygen to the body’s tissues, keeping cells healthy and functioning optimally. It also helps the brain and nerves develop properly—obviously critical for our little ones! If iron levels dip low enough, it can lead to iron-deficient anemia, a condition in which the blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells (these are the cells that carry oxygen throughout the body).
Iron is really important for babies, especially at around 6 months of age, because the their iron stores that they built up in the womb have depleted and they need to get iron from foods. This is part of the reason why we suggest introducing solids around 6 months of age. Whether or not your baby’s first food is an iron-rich choice is less of a concern (you can start with pretty much any nutritious food you’d like!), but once you’ve started, you should be offering iron-rich foods 2-3 times a day. Iron-rich foods include meats, poultry, fish, beans, lentils, and iron-fortified infant cereals.
These banana muffins are perfect for baby led weaning
It’s recommended now that right from 6 months of age, babies are offered a variety of tastes and textures of food. Some parents choose to let baby self-feed finger foods exclusively (a method called Baby-Led Weaning), and others choose to feed both purees (via spoon) as well as soft, safe finger foods recipes (this is what I did, and recommend!). The important factor in either case, is that baby is exposed to a variety of textures from 6-9 months, and that all feeding is baby-led, meaning that you are following baby’s cues 100% (no airplane trick here!).
Mini muffins are the perfect finger food for babies because they’re the right size (big enough to grab with their palm) and the right textures (they’re soft and a bit crumbly!). You can also make these regular sized muffins, but I think minis make the most sense! To boost the iron content of these muffins (because muffins aren’t really an iron-rich choice), I added 1 cup of iron-fortified infant cereal to replace some of the flour! These muffins don’t have added sugar because added sugar isn’t recommended or needed before the age of 2. Plus, they’re naturally sweet enough with the mashed banana!
Iron-Rich Mini Banana Muffins for Baby Led Weaning
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole grain flour
- 1 cup Iron-fortified oat or barley cereal
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 ripe mashed bananas
- 3 eggs whisked
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp of melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients (flour, cereal, baking soda, cinnamon).
- In another medium sized bowl, blend all of the wet ingredients together (bananas, eggs, vanilla, coconut oil, water).
- Fold the wet and the dry ingredients together until just blended.
- Spoon dough into mini muffin tins and bake at 350 F for 16 minutes.
Sarah Remmer, RD, is a registered dietitian and mom of three, specializing in family and pediatric nutrition. She’s the founder of Centred Nutrition Collective and has nearly 20 years of experience helping families feel confident about feeding their kids.
This post may contain affiliate links. View our policy.
Is baking soda ok for babies to consume? Would this recipe still turn out without baking soda?
Hi Maria, yes baking soda is okay for babies! Would still turn out without it, but would come out very flat and maybe a little hard.
How much iron per muffin?
Can I use the Gerber baby cereal?!
You definitely can, Dragana!
Can I freeze these?
You sure can!
Delicious! This is going to be a staple in our home. Thank you so much!
Aww I’m so glad to hear that, Amy!
Looks delicious. What is the nutritional content, i.e. iron, calcium etc. My grandson has low iron.
Thank you! Each muffin has approx. 0.5 mg of iron.
I love to make and pack these for morning snack for my 11 month old son at daycare! What are the storage recommendations for them once made (fridge/freezer, how long do they last)?
I LOVE to hear this! They will last 2-3 months in the freezer, and about 1 week in the fridge in an airtight container.
2tsp of baking soda was way too much for such a small recipe. I made 12 regular/smallish muffins and all i can taste is the bitterness of the baking soda 🙁
Hi Enzo, you’re so right! That was a typo on my end. Thanks for catching that! I have changed the recipe.
Hi there, if I don’t want to use iron enriched baby cereal, can I modify and use regular rolled oat flour or would it change the consistency too much?
I haven’t tried that, but sounds like it could work! Let me know how it goes.
I replaced the cereal with ground oats and they turned out great!
Thanks so much for sharing, Hannah! The only thing to keep in mind is that when you replace the iron-fortified cereal, these are no longer iron-rich muffins.
Can I use frozen bananas?
You absolutely can! Enjoy, Kris.
Any idea how this would turn out with white flour? I’m not going to the store anytime soon but I have everything else!
These would be totally fine with white flour! Enjoy, Sarah.
I made these today for my 7 month old and she loved them! I made a few changes based on what I had. I used regular flour, extra water instead of coconut oil and the gerber grain and grow oatmeal. I also didn’t have a mini muffin tin so I used a regular one filled it about 1/4 of the way and broke them in half for her to eat. They were a huge hit, thank you!
Ahh that’s amazing to hear! Thank you, Laura! I appreciate you sharing the tweaks you made.
I have made these SO many times! These have been a staple for my 9 month old. I started making them when he was 7 months. I change up the cereal all the time so he gets different flavours. He absolutely loves them!!!! Thank you for the recipes.
Anita, thank you so much!! I’m so glad you and your little one love this recipe!
This looks yummy! Can prepared formula replace the water in this and be safe to store/freeze leftovers? I have a can I’m trying to use up.
That’s a great idea, I don’t see why not! Let me know how it goes.
Would this work with flax eggs?
I haven’t tried it yet, but it should work!
I make this recipe weekly with flax eggs. Turns out great
Colleen, thank you so much! This makes my heart happy.
What can I use instead of coconut oil?
Hi Alayna! Any kind of oil you prefer–olive, canola, whatever you have on hand.
My 10 month old eats well but by no meals devours food. He crushed one of those muffins. I was in shock! Definitely making these on the regular.
Question, how long are they good for before needing to freeze?
That’s amazing!! Thanks for sharing your experience, Abby. These keep well in the fridge or in an airtight container at room temp for a few days. After that, I would freeze any leftovers.
Hello, just wondering if I could replace the flour with self raising flour and leave out the baking soda?
I haven’t tried that but it should work. Let me know how it goes!