This Healthy Zucchini Muffins recipe is the best!! It’s quick and easy to make, totally comforting and delicious, and it’s made healthier with a few simple ingredients.
These last few weeks have felt like a whirlwind.
Between two trips back home to Wichita to be with family, deadlines and projects galore due for work, and a host of morning coffee dates, impromptu lunches, margarita happy hours, evening grill-outs and late-night front porch talks filling just about every little hour in between…I feel like I have barely blinked…and the summer is already half over.
Poof.
How does that even happen?
Well, I guess the old saying explains it all. Time seems to be flying while having lots of fun, with lots of dear people in my life, and lots of fun memories already being made. All the better, of course, with that heavenly warm summer sunshine covering it all. Definitely a full but good start to my favorite season of the year. So as Tim Riggins would say, “no regrets.”
That said, though, as much as I love the time spent with my people, my little introverted heart has been waving the red flag this weekend, ready for some r&r. So in small and long stretches this week, I’m scheduling some much-needed downtime into the agenda, starting this afternoon on a lazy Sunday. Feet are up, glass of iced tea is in hand, pup is curled up by my side, sunlight is streaming in through the windows, and a nice weekend nap is just 10 minutes away. And my goodness, I can already feel my little heart re-charging. It’s almost as though we were designed to need rest or something. :) So good.
Anyway, on this note of time zooming by, somehow it’s already zucchini season. And anyone with a garden knows what that means: so much zucchini. Like, SO MUCH. It happens to be one of my favorite seasonal vegetables, so I’m always happy to saute and add it to just about any dish that I’m having for dinner. But for anyone looking to mix things up and maybe even incorporate it into breakfast, I thought I’d share my recipe today for these healthy zucchini muffins.
I’ve made three batches of them in the past two weeks, and still don’t seem to get tired of them. They’re made with white whole wheat flour, naturally-sweetened, deliciously spiced with cinnamon, easy to freeze, and — even though you won’t taste it — they are chock full of fresh shredded zucchini. I think you’re going to love them.
Healthy Zucchini Muffins Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Healthy Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup plain milk (dairy or non-dairy)
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated zucchini (no need to squeeze out excess liquid)
- 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats
- turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Prep oven and muffin pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by either greasing it with cooking spray or lining the cups with paper liners.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger and salt until combined.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together egg, maple syrup, milk, coconut oil and vanilla extract until combined. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredient mixture and stir with a spoon until just combined. (Do not overmix.) Stir in the zucchini and oats until just combined.
- Bake. Portion the batter evenly between the 12 baking cups. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with a pinch of turbinado sugar, if desired. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Transfer pan to a wire cooling rack for at least 5 minutes to cool.
- Serve. Serve warm and enjoy!
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Mine didn’t totally rise for some reason, but they were still a yummy mixture. :)
We’re sorry to hear they didn’t rise, Sara! Could your baking soda or baking powder be old maybe? We’re happy you still enjoyed them!
When I use melted coconut oil it always solidifies when it hits the cooler liquids. I know this is what happens when a oil hits cold, but is it supposed to for the recipes sake?
Hi Kristen! As long as the melted coconut oil has had a chance to cool some, so it’s not really hot when you add it, it should be fine.
Just reading through the comments before I make these. Oh man. Can you make zucchini muffins with bananas instead of zucchini??? Uh – what kind of a question is that – then they would be -err- banana muffins. As for sweetener, many of us know the depth of our addiction to sugars. 1/2 cup should be plenty for a quick bread or a dozen muffins – it’s standard – if you have a sweet tooth add more. If you’re trying to tame your sugar demons, as we all should, increase spice and decrease sweetener. Breads and muffins usually taste sweeter after a day. If they’re not sweet enough today, try them tomorrow. If they’re not sweet enough tomorrow, put on some fresh jam –
I just made these, and I followed the recipe exactly! They came out pretty delicious, but they’re under sweet. I admit to not using good quality maple syrup which is most likely the culprit, but they also have a soapy taste to them. I looked it up and found out it can be if baking soda is old, but this box was brand new from the store. I measured carefully and stirred really well – thoughts?? Still eating them though, with maybe a drizzle of syrup on top. ;)
Hi Sara! We’re glad you enjoyed these though we’re sorry you found them under-sweetened. That’s strange about the baking soda! These definitely shouldn’t have a soapy taste unless the baking soda is old or you used too much (and it sounds like neither one of those things are the issue here)!
Can these be made with almond and/or coconut flour?
Hi Mari! We haven’t experimented with either of those flours in this, but we think it’s worth a shot! We would use more almond flour than coconut flour though, as it’s so dense and can be drying.
These are amazing muffins ! My family loved them and so did I. Definitely a repeat. They were also very easy quick to make. I used half agave/half maple syrup as I ran out of maple. I also used 1% milk.
Thank you Mary — we’re so happy you and your family enjoyed them! :)
These were delicious! We didn’t have enough maple syrup, so we had to use some honey. Can’t wait to try them with only maple syrup.
Do you have any nutritional info available?
Hi Lynette! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
Made these today…. Delicious! I didn’t have enough wholewheat flour so I did half oat flour / half wholewheat plus added some shredded coconut to the batter. Yummy!
We’re happy you enjoyed them Toby, and we bet that shredded coconut was a yummy addition! :)
If I want to make this recipe into a loaf how long should I bake it for?
Hi Kristine! Hmmm, as a loaf, this would probably take about 40-50 minutes. We hope you enjoy! :)