These muffins came about after a friend asked me if I could make a meat muffin. Something savory, rather than sweet. I had already made corn muffins that weren’t sweet, so it wasn’t a stretch to make other muffins that were also savory.
As I was playing around with the recipe I had some of my students try them in a recent cooking class. Everyone liked them. One woman suggested serving them with marinara sauce for dipping. I love that idea. I always wanted some sort of sauce to dip them in.
A nice bonus about these muffins is that they contain a fair amount of veggies. I declined to call them veggie muffins, though. I think calling them meat muffins or pizza muffins will get a few more people to try them. You can easily change up the seasonings, too. Maybe curry powder or even adding some fresh herbs. You can also use breakfast sausage. I used Italian sausage.
I did some looking around online and found several recipes that interested me. The recipe I ended up with is a combination of a couple of those recipes with some extras of my own. I hope you will give them a try. They freeze well, too. So you can make a batch, freeze them, and just take out at needed.
So here is the recipe.
Mini Meat Muffins – Pizza Version
3 eggs
¼ c. oil
1 c. milk
1 c. minced fresh broccoli, I pulsed in a food processor
½ c. grated carrot
½ c. minced green onion or shredded zucchini – either works
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 c. cooked, minced sausage- I used Italian sausage
¼ c. chopped pepperoni
1-2 T. pizza seasoning
1 T. tomato paste – I used 2 t. of tomato powder, but tomato paste is easier to find
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1½ c. flour: all purpose, spelt or whole wheat
extra cheese and pepperoni, if desired
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 48 mini muffin tins. Set aside. In medium bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients. Stir in cheese, sausage, pepperoni, pizza seasoning and tomato paste. Stir in remaining ingredients and use a cookie scoop to put batter in the prepared pans. Fill them pretty full, as they don’t rise much. You can top with a little more cheese or pepperoni, if you like. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until muffins spring back when pressed lightly in the middle. Serve warm or cold. Makes about 48.
