These apple carrot and banana muffins are the perfect baby led weaning muffins. They are soft and spongy, easy to make and contain no sugar or salt. Making them the perfect first muffin for babies.
As you read this baby muffin recipe you might think, hey hang on, I thought the rule of thumb was to never over mix a muffin. You are totally right, a traditional muffin should not be over mixed, these baby led weaning muffins, however, are a slightly different style of muffin, they are almost like little sponge drops. It is this soft muffin texture that makes them perfect first finger foods for babies.
How to make soft baby led weaning muffins
These baby weaning muffins are actually made using a beater. I use a small hand held electric beater, but you could use an old school egg beater or a whisk as well. You will just need to whisk vigorously.
Apple Banana and Carrot sweeten these easy baby muffins so there is no need for any added sugar or sweetener for palatability. You can either make these muffins in baby mini muffin tins or in a standard muffin tin. The mix makes 30 mini baby muffins or 12 standard sized muffins. I could imagine with a little bit of healthy frosting these guys would also make gorgeous cupcakes for a baby party.
When preparing the carrot for this recipe, I actually grate it before I cook it, this is so that it will have a more similar cooking time to the apple and therefore I can cook it all in one go in the same pot.
My baby led weaning muffins are not just baby muffins and they are not just for people doing baby led weaning. They are a really simple finger food for any baby 6 months or older. Toddlers love them and my kids who are now 2, 3.5 and 4.5 still love them!
They would hate if I referred to them as baby muffins, so we now call them ABC muffins after the ingredients Apple, Banana, and Carrot. I know, pretty original. ha ha.
Other muffins suitable for baby led weaning
If you like the idea of a no added sugar baby muffin that sneaks in veggies and fruit then you might also be interested in my kumara (sweet potato) banana muffins, or my carrot muffins they like these ABC muffins are a big hit with kiddos big and small, and me I might add!
Banana and blueberry is also a tried and true combo, my version like these apple banana and carrot muffins get all their sweetness from fruit, they are a soft style muffin perfect for babies too. Low sugar muffin has become so popular with my readers that I’ve now collected 7 of my best recipes and you can find them all in on place 7 Low sugar muffins for kids
Previously on My Kids Lick The Bowl
- One week ago: apple pie chia pudding
- One month ago: healthy apple pie oat bars
- Three months ago: baby pancakes- apple and oat
- Six months ago: my ultimate hidden vegetable lasagne
- One Year ago: healthy baby rusks, easy homemade teething biscuits
- Two Years ago: healthy mac n cheese with hidden vegetables
Watch the baby led weaning muffin recipe video

Baby Led Weaning Muffins Apple Banana and Carrot
These Baby Led Weaning Muffins have no added sugar perfect for babies, toddlers, and kids. A Soft spongy style Baby Muffin with Apple Banana and Carrot.
Ingredients
- 150 g Apple peeled, cored and diced, (medium eating apple)
- 100g carrot (1 small-medium)
- 100g Banana (equiv of small bobby banana)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 50g melted butter or oil (optional)
- 160g standard flour (1 ¼ cup)
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Watch the quick recipe video before you get started, scroll up a little to find it
- Check the notes at the bottom of the recipe for little bits of extra info and help
- Peel and grate carrot, place apple and carrot in a pot with a little water, pop a lid on and simmer until apple soft. Usually 5-6 mins
- While apple and carrot cooking, place banana in a large bowl, mash with a fork
- Add eggs, vanilla, and butter/oil
- Puree the cooked apple and carrot, I use a stick blender
- Add apple and carrot to the other wet ingredients
- Beat these wet ingredients together with a hand-held beater, should become smooth, yellow and a little frothy
- Add the flour and baking powder
- Beat for a further 30-60 seconds to make a well-mixed batter
- Portion into an oiled muffin tin (I use a non-stick silicon tray sprayed with oil) Mix makes 12 standard sized muffins or 30 mini muffins
- Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 mins (350 Fahrenheit) 15 min cook time is based on making mini muffins, the mix makes approx 30 mini muffins. If you are using a standard muffin tray and making approx 12 muffins the cook time will be longer, approx 25-30 mins
- Cool
- Serve
- These muffins can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days, or they can be frozen.
Notes
- This recipe is successful without the butter/oil, but you getter a softer muffin with it, and they remain softer for longer with the added butter or oil
- To make the recipe dairy free, substitute the melted butter for a mild tasting vegetable oil.
- 15 min cook time is based on making mini muffins, the mix makes approx 30 mini muffins. If you are using a standard muffin tray and making approx 12 muffins the cook time will be longer, approx 25-30 mins
Nutrition Information
Yield 30 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 48 Total Fat 2g Saturated Fat 1g Trans Fat 0g Unsaturated Fat 1g Cholesterol 16mg Sodium 42mg Carbohydrates 6g Fiber 0g Sugar 1g Protein 1g
Thank you for this lovely recipe, can i replace normal eggs with flax eggs for this recipe?
I haven’t tested this recipe as egg free, but it should work. Another alternative would be to increase the banana.
This recipe did not work for me. Being cooked at such a low temperature made them still raw by the time I took them out. Turning up the temperature now. Hopefully they will solidify.
Hey, the temperature is in celsuis.
Hi there 🙂
I don’t have any carrots – could another vege work well instead? Perhaps parsnip or kumara (I have these in the fridge!)
Thanks
Yes, definitely kumara or sweet potato, parsnip will work too, although it is quite strongly flavoured, pumpkin would work too
Hey there.. I followed
The recipe to a ‘t’but muffins still ended up being raw on the inside? I even cooked them longer when I did them the second time.. but they only just got more burnt on the top ? What am I doing wrong?
Oh goodness,I’m not sure why, are you working in celsius or fahrenheit?
I’ve made them as both mini muffins and standard size and they have been fine.
I work at 180 degrees celsius, which is approximately 360 Fahrenheit.
Hi mum! My baby boy is 7,5 mths. Are those muffins suitable for my little one? I’m confused about baking powder.
Regards, Milena
Yes they are
Hi mum! This recipe is amazing! But are those muffins suitable for my 7,5 mths little boy? I’m confused about baking powder. ..
Yes, they would be suitable if you are offering finger foods.
I don’t have vanilla can I leave it out or use pure maple syrup instead?
You can totally leave ie out
Just made these using food processor. Amazing result. Thank you for this recipe!
Thanks, this recipe worked for me and they came out great. The timing was spot on for me. The flavour was mild but I think that was because my banana wasn’t brown enough.
One technical issue: the video had a lot of problems on my phone. It wouldn’t let me pause it or go back and just restarted from the beginning each time. When in full screen mode the play/pause/track buttons were not displayed so unusable. YouTube may be a better way to host videos.
Thanks for the feedback