Kidney-Friendly Muffins

Muffins are great because they can be enjoyed at any time of the day as a meal or as a kidney-friendly snack. But let’s chat about kidney-friendly muffins.

They are the perfect grab and go food that you can fill up with all sorts of nutrients and protein. Enjoy them as a quick breakfast on the way to school or work. Or try them as a kidney-friendly snack. 

Nutrition Considerations With Muffins

Something to be aware of is what muffins are made of. A lot of the time muffins are made using refined carbohydrates and processed sugars but they can easily be made nutritious using whole grain flour, natural sweeteners.

The addition of nuts, fruits or vegetables and an additional source of fibre and protein making them the perfect nutritious breakfast or snack.

Muffins can be naturally sweetened in several ways with dates, banana, or applesauce. In fact you can swap out. the sugar for fruit puree at the same amounts. For example, if the recipe calls for 1/3 cup sugar, use 1/3 cup applesauce.

Flavour wise you can really do whatever you want whether that be fruits like blueberries, cranberries, avocados, raisins or vegetables like carrots and zucchini to add some extra fibre too muffins.

For some protein, throw in your favourite type of nuts, some low potassium options like macadamia, pecans or walnuts. If you are looking for other kidney-friendly nuts and seeds check out this blog post.

Often with muffins and CKD we get concerned about phosphorus from baking powder as a leavening agent. One easy swap is using cream of tartar. Use. this swap in your baking: 1 tablespoon baking powder in a recipe = 2 teaspoons cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon baking soda.

But if you’re looking for some other add-in’s with a source of fibre try adding chia seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds or even pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Another delicious source of fibre for muffins is unsweetened coconut flakes and even lentils or chickpeas!

Tools For Making Muffins

The tools you need to make delicious muffins are probably things you already have in your kitchen cupboards. And kidney-friendly muffins are no different in the tools needed to make them.

To ensure your batter comes out perfect you require measuring cups and spoons to perfectly measure out your ingredients. Remember to use dry measuring cups for dry ingredients like flour and wet measuring cups for things like oil and water.

A rubber spatula, a whisk and a large mixing bowl.

Along with a muffin tin mold and muffin tins of your choice. Alternatively you can use a cooking spray in your muffin tins to prevent the muffins from sticking if you do not have any muffin tin molds.

Lentil Kidney-Friendly Muffins

You may be asking yourself lentils in muffins? Is this going to taste good? And the answer is YES! But why should you add lentils too muffins; keep on reading. I promise once you try these lentil blueberry muffins you will always add plant-based proteins. These are a great kidney-friendly muffin.

Lentils have a mild flavour and when used in baked goods making them a great way to add additional nutrients to your muffin recipe. For more information on this superfood, check out this article.

Adding lentils to the recipe is an easy way to increase protein, fibre, vitamin and mineral content of the muffins. The high protein content can also improve the texture of the muffins adding moisture and keep them fresh for longer.

So the next time you’re looking for a convenient, nutritious and delicious breakfast or snack item; try making these lentil and blueberry muffins below.

Print

Blueberry Lentil Muffin

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup Lentils, canned, no added salt
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 Egg, large
• 1/2 cup Olive oil
• 1/2 cup Applesauce, unsweetened
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cup Whole wheat flour
• 1/3 tsp Baking soda
• 3/4 tsp Cream of tartar
• 2 cups Blueberries

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.
• In a food processor or blender, puree the lentils and water until smooth. Scrape the puree into a large bowl.
• Combine the egg, olive oil, applesauce and vanilla extract with the lentil puree.
• Add flour, baking soda and cream of tartar to the egg mixture.
•  Mix in blueberries.
• Portion into prepared muffin tins, filling each cup about 2/3 full.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked. Muffins are cooked when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool and remove from muffin tins.

Notes

Makes 12 muffins. Per muffin: 172 mg potassium, 88 mg phosphorus, 41 mg sodium,  4 g protein, 15 g NET carbohydrates

This article was written by Deanna Najar, Nutrition Student Volunteer.
This article was reviewed by Emily Campbell, RD CDE MScFN.