These delicious Toddler Pumpkin Muffins with quinoa and ricotta are not only tasty but also healthy. Made with mostly nutritious ingredients, they are the ideal morning or afternoon breakfast for your whole family.
Cooking for toddlers is a big challenge. We all want our kids to eat healthy food but it seems so difficult! I always have the feeling that the healthier is the food, the lower is the chance a kid to like it…
My son in general eats well, so I consider myself very lucky in this aspect. Nevertheless he is quite picky and refuses to eat certain things, like pumpkin. For several weeks I have been trying to make him eat pumpkin puree but I didn't manage to convince him. He just refuses it!
But as we all know, there is one thing that almost 100% of the toddlers like: bread. Having this in mind, I thought of hiding the pumpkin in bread (or in muffins in this case). And to make them even healthier and tastier I decided to add some more nice ingredients. That's how I ended up baking these wonderful pumpkin, ricotta and quinoa muffins! Eventually my son ate them happily and his parents also enjoyed them very much.
These muffins are made with very little flour so they have an almost cheesecake-like texture. They are between savory and sweet: there is only a mild sweetness from the pumpkin and the added salt is very little in order to make them suitable for kids.
📝 Recipe
Pumpkin, Ricotta and Quinoa Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup/100 g cooked quinoa
- 1 cup/ 250 g ricotta
- 1 cup/ 250 g pumpkin puree
- 1 cup/ 120g all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp/ 30 g oat bran, or oatmeal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup / 50 ml olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉/ 180°C. Grease well a muffin tin or line it with paper cups/ square pieces of baking paper.
- In a bowl combine flour, oat bran, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl beat together olive oil and eggs until foamy. Add pumpkin puree and ricotta and whisk until homogeneous. Add quinoa and flour mixture and stir until incorporated.
- Spoon the dough into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup about two thirds full.
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops become golden brown. Remove the muffins from the pan and let them cool on a wire rack.
Mel says
My LO has multiple severe food allergies. I alter this recipe and do 1c coconut yogurt in place of the ricotta. I sub 1/2c apple sauce for the eggs. I also add in some of his protein powder and 1/2 tbsp maple syrup and he loves them. I freeze the muffins and then throw them in the microwave for a quick easy breakfast.
Daniela Lambova says
Thank you for sharing! I am glad this works for you with a few modifications.