Dessert and Dinner Muffin Tin Recipes

Here are some great muffin tin recipes to make at dinner and dessert time. If you’ve never made dinner in muffin tins before it’s a great way to make meals fun and cook quickly! Kids love this fun new way to make recipes and it’s a great way to get them involved in cooking too.

I am a busy Mom, just like you probably, who is always looking for fast tasty meals to cook for my family. Sometimes we are in a hurry, or I am trying to find ways to make meals Fun for my kids. That is when I came up with these muffin tin recipes! (originally published 3/15, affiliate links present)

Mini Muffin Tin Recipes

We have some of the best muffin recipes too on our site for breakfast, but we are going beyond that here…

Why would I cook in muffin tins?? Well, there are a few reasons actually. First off the kids really love it! Second, everything cooks super fast, like in less than half of the time than “normal”. Ready for bite size comfort food for dinner and dessert??!!

Grab a jumbo muffin tin, regular size, or for extra fun get a mini muffin tin too.

Recipes in a muffin tin

1. Kids love them
2. Things cook faster
3. Finger foods make dinnertime fun
4. Creates a yummy crust all the way around

You can start with hash brown scrambled egg cups, move on to muffin tin mac and cheese for lunch, and then make our easy meatloaf recipe into mini meatloaf muffins with Instant Pot mashed potatoes for dinner!

These turn out really good! We like the crunchy edges a muffin pan gives every recipe. You get that all the way around instead of just the outside edges in a traditional pan.

Muffin Tin Recipes Dessert

For the holidays you have got to make mini pies. I mean not only are they just so cute but they bake faster and you can skip washing the plates too. Just pick them up to enjoy one at a time.

It goes without saying that for kids it is just way more fun to have a meatloaf cupcake than a slice slapped on their plate. Sometimes us Moms need help with the fun factor at dinner time, let’s be honest!

• They’re cooked this way in about 15-20 min. at 350, depending on how “well done” you like the insides. 
• You could use ground turkey instead too.
• Creates a bite size dinner that’s super fun!

Need a fun side dish?? Make these cream cheese wonton cups using a muffin pan.

I began cooking in muffin tins (this is my favorite one) a few years ago, and quite by accident decided to venture out and cook more and more things in them. Muffin tin brownies were first because we like them underdone and ooey inside. 

• I used a mini muffin tin for these cherry brownies.
• You can use paper muffin cups if you wish but I just spray with non stick spray beforehand.

 After that I moved on to cookies and then dinners.

Muffin tin recipes

Let’s start out with our first favorite muffin tin recipes, our meatloaf muffin recipe.

• You could call them muffin tin meatball bites!
• I share my easy meatloaf recipe but if you have your own you can use that and with a refrigerated biscuit you have a hearty bite for dinner.
• Serve with a side of air fryer corn and dinner is served!

Uses for Muffin Tins

Now this one was actually a hit even with my kids, my mini quiches!!  The entire recipe for spinach quiche is here, you can see how they turn out below!

• I’ve made them outside of a muffin tin of course as a pie and called it “cheese pie”.
• It took a year or so of having them try at least a bite before they started to really enjoy it and now they do.
• This makes quiche a bit more fun since they’re in small portions, give it a try!

I also made this easy mini quiche recipe with a crust here which served as a great appetizer as well as dinner idea if you don’t want them crustless.

I have several muffin tin recipes we make regularly, one is make it yourself muffin tin pizza.

• Mini deep dish pizzas are really fun and easy to make.
• It is great because everyone can customize their own mini pizzas and they cook really quickly too.
• The cheese melts perfectly and if you let them sit for a few minutes once you take them out.

They come out in one scoop with a spoon and stay in tact so you have a palm sized pizza that tastes WAY better than the old fashioned english muffin pizzas of the past.

You can make muffin tin recipes that are perfect for breakfast or dessert too.

• These apple pie monkey bread muffins are great for kids to help you make!
• With some refrigerated cinnamon rolls and a can of apple pie filling they’re sweet and tasty.

Serve them for brunch or dessert and they will be a new favorite.

What can I use if I don’t have muffin liners?

I typically don’t use them. I just spray the insides with non stick spray so the contents slide out easily once they’re cooked. For our monkey bread muffins I like silicone baking liners. Ham and cheese egg muffins just need a light non stick spray, nothing else.

One of our newest muffin tin meals are these chicken pot pie muffins they’re fun!

• It is a great way to incorporate vegetables into your dinner in a fun way.
• We’ve also made pressure cooker chicken pot pie soup using a muffin tin upside down!
• This was a fun way to make “edible bowls” to serve our meal in.

Everyone loves chicken pot pie and served like this where everyone gets their own pie it’s sure to be a hit.

Surrounded by buttery flaky biscuit and quick to make it’s a fun muffin tin recipe you should try sometime.

As for making desserts in muffin tins it is just for the same reason. It’s quicker and you get that nice crust on the outside.

It is just the right amount too since most things make about 12 servings and that is the # of holes in the regular muffin tin pans.

Have fun with these muffin tin recipes and your kids will LOVE it too. You could make it super fun with a Muffin Tin Day where everything is made in our favorite cookware.

Here are a few more muffin tin meals to enjoy:

• Recipe for mini apple pies
• Chicken pot pie puff pastry bites
• Ham and cheese breakfast bites

Here is a leftover ham muffin tin recipe to use during the holidays!

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