Healthy Zucchini Muffins
61 Comments
Jul 28, 2021
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You’re going to love these healthy zucchini muffins. They’re soft, moist, and filled with deliciously cozy flavors. But most importantly – they’re loaded with sneaky veggies!
Perfectly soft n’ sweet zucchini muffins that are secretly healthy? Now that’s a baked good (and zucchini recipe) I can get by! All you really need are some baking essentials, plus a large handful of freshly grated zucchini to make this happen.
One thing to note is that these muffins aren’t overly sweet like ones you may have had at a bakery. Instead, I opted for a lightly sweetened, more netural flavor to make them versatile – like a slice of my paleo zucchini bread! That way you can enjoy these with a slab of butter or chia seed jam for something a bit more sweet. The choice is yours!
What’s In These Healthy Zucchini Muffins
Like all my other muffins recipes, you’ll need a set of dry ingredients and wet ingredients, plus one large zucchini.
Dry Ingredients:
- Almond Flour, Tapioca Flour & Coconut Flour: This triumvirate of flours is my signature blend for a light and fluffy texture (that’s secretly gluten-free!).
- Baking Soda: Just a pinch to help these muffins rise properly.
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg & Salt: Gives that subtle spiced flavor that’s irresistible in baked goods.
Wet Ingredients:
- Eggs: Just 3 large eggs are need here.
- Applesauce: This is a secret sweetener and it helps to keep the muffins extra-moist.
- Maple Syrup: I prefer maple syrup as an all-natural sweetener, but you could use honey as well. Just note that honey tends to make baked goods a little heavier and denser.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: This is needed for the chemical reaction with the baking soda to fluff the muffins up!
- Grated Zucchini: I normally use a box grater, but a food processor with a grating tool works great as well.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below.
How To Make Healthy Zucchini Muffins
Once you’ve nailed the measurements of the batter – the rest of this recipe is easy. But before we do anything, lets get your oven preheated to 350°F and line a muffin tin with 10 muffin cups (yes 10, not 12). Then follow along below.
Start with the dry ingredients. Add the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to a mixing bowl and stir until combined.
Whisk the dry ingredients
Onto the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar. Squeeze the grated zucchini in a nut milk bag or kitchen towel to remove excess water. Then stir the grated zucchini with the wet ingredients.
Whisk the wet ingredients
Mix together, fill the muffin cups, and bake! Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until the batter is completely mixed. Evenly divide the batter between the muffin cups. Then bake the zucchini muffins for about 28-32 minutes. Make sure to do the toothpick test to see if they’re done!
Tips For The Best Zucchini Muffin Recipe
- It’s crucial to get the moisture out of the zucchini! Otherwise your muffins will have a soggy texture (and that’s not good). So make sure to give your grated zucchini a good firm squeeze!
- Smooth out the top for a more clean surface. I left mine as is when I spooned them into each tin space, giving it a more crumble like topping. But you can smooth it out with the back of a spoon so that it bakes into a round top.
- It’s better to slightly over-bake rather than under-bake. There’s lots of moisture in these muffins, so it’s best to err on the side of extra golden. Trust me, they’ll still be moist inside!
A Few Storage Options
These zucchini muffins are best when they’re slightly cool, but still warm from the oven. That’s my favorite!
- To store: You can leave them at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. After that, store them in the fridge for about one week in an airtight container.
- To freeze: Place them in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy, thaw them in the fridge or at room temperature.
More Zucchini Recipes You’ll Love
Zucchini season is here, which means it’s time to get creative in the kitchen with my favorite veggie! Here’s a few ideas for you:
If you make these healthy zucchini muffins, let me know how they turned out! I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.
Healthy Zucchini Muffins
Description
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ cup grated zucchini
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 12-serving muffin tin with muffin cups. Then add all of the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir until combined.
- In a separate bowl add the eggs, applesauce, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar and whisk together. Squeeze the grated zucchini (really firmly) in a nut milk bag or kitchen towel to remove the excess water. Then add the grated zucchini to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until the batter is well mixed. Evenly divide the batter between the muffin cups.
- Bake the zucchini muffins for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Lisa’s Tips
- This is the nut milk bag I use to squeeze the zucchini and I love it. It’s great for homemade almond milk as well.
Nutrition
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These turned out delicious and most. The whole family loves them!!
Wonderful! I’m happy to hear that!
Big Downshiftology fan!!
We love this recipe as well as all the muffin recipes on your website. Freezer if always stocked with at least one variety. Only issue I have with these is the fact that more of the cupcake sticks to the paper we bake them in. Any ideas to overcome this problem? Might have to start baking with no paper cups instead.
Thanks.
They are delicious! Not too sweet, just the way I like it!
Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi Carole – Happy to hear you love these zucchini muffins!
Good flavor, I must not have gotten the zucchini as drained as I should have because they were a little too moist for what I would normally go for, but my kids enjoyed them and that was the whole point so considering it a WIN!
Hi Amy – Next time, make sure to give your grated zucchini a good firm squeeze to get all the moisture out!
We’ve been making these muffins since the day they showed up on the website – usually double batch so we can keep some in the freezer. For our most recent batch I added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries – great variation.
And I love the nut milk bag you recommend. Makes dealing with the zucchini so easy.
Thanks!
I love the variation you make of these zucchini muffins, Phyllis!
I don’t have tapioca flour or coconut…. it’s too expensive right now for my budget, when I can afford it I will to have. But I was wondering if bobs 1 to 1 would be OK to use? That’s what I have and I know each flour is different for recipes, I am still learning as I was diagnosed last fall with celiac disease. I love everything you do and share so thank you in advance ❤️
It’s hard to say if that would work as I haven’t tested it, but it’s worth a shot! If you try it, let us know how it turns out. :)
I didn’t have almond flour or coconut flour. I replaced the almond flour with oat, and the coconut flour with all purpose flour. I also realized I only had half the applesauce so I used Greek yogurt for the other half. It still turned out delicious. My kitchen smelled amazing while they were in the oven. Thanks Lisa!
Is there a substitute for apple cider vinegar? My dr prefers I stay away from vinegars and dairy for now.
Mine came out somewhat dry. Maybe I left them in too long. Batter was very thick. What do you think I did wrong?
Hi Pam – it’s hard to know, but your oven might cook a bit hot. Next time I’d try cooking them a few minutes less.
These are super moist and have really great texture! I substituted the 3 eggs with flax (3 T ground flax & 7.5 T water) and I couldn’t tell the difference!
Glad these muffins turned out great with flax instead!
My husband is diabetic, instead of honey I would like to use stevia. How much stevia do I use to repace the honey? Thanks!
Zucchini muffins are both nutritious and tasty for breakfast or as a snack. The ones I made are moist and fluffy. They can also substitute sweet cravings as they are both sweet and pastry types.
Delicious!! Don’t come at me but I didn’t have tapioca or coconut flour on hand so I used almond flour and AP flour. The texture was still amazing but I will definitely be being using tapioca flour for next time. Just sweet enough while keeping it healthy. Excited to have found a new healthy breakfast or snack option for my kiddos. Seriously, make these now. Amazing!!
Glad these still turned out okay with the flours you had on hand Molly!
Excellent! So moist and flavorful. These are really light, not greasy like most muffins, and the texture is perfect.
So happy you loved them!
These are the best! Our whole family loves them! I made a double batch yesterday and realized I was out of applesauce – I mashed up some ripe bananas instead and it worked out great. I have made these numerous times and they never disappoint. I love that they’re not overly sweet too.
Happy to hear the whole family loves these zucchini muffins :)
It’s wonderful to have a delicious GF muffin that is also low in sugar. Thank you! I made a double recipe today to use up some of our “baseball bat” zucchinis that were missed in the garden. Love your site!
Glad these muffins were a success!
Is there a good substitute for almond flour??? I want to try some of your recipes since I need a low carb diet now! But I’m allergic to tree nuts, almonds being my worst allergy…
Unfortunately I haven’t tried this recipe without almond flour. But will do so in the near future!
These muffins were delicious. I made the chia jam with my frozen blueberries. 😋
I cooked the muffins at 350 degrees for 40 mins and they were still quite moist.
Also stuck badly to paper liner leaving quite a bit of the muffin behind; I had taken muffins out of muffin tin and cooled on rack for 45 mins. before trying to remove paper
Oh no! Sometimes it can be due to the zucchini not being squeezed enough to let the moisture out. You can also reduce the maple syrup a bit.
Any chance the almond flour can be swapped for another flour? We have a nut allergy in the family.
Love your recipes and would love to be able to try this one.
I haven’t tried this without almond flour, but if you do try other gluten-free alternatives, please let me know how it turned out Patrice!
This is my new go-to recipe, Lisa! During the process, I replaced eggs with mashed bananas for binding. Moreover, I added extra sugar to satiate my sweet cravings. Rest assured, I followed your instructions to the letter, and the end product was fantastic, with the flavor and overall texture of the muffins coming out perfectly.
Good to know this turned out great with mashed bananas instead of eggs Lucy!
I am not gluten free but have recently discovered through my naturopath who did metabolic testing on me that I need to be wheat, potatoe and yeast and cane sugar free. This includes tapioca, xantham gum and guar gum. Do you know a flour blend I could use for this recipe? And for breads in general? Really love your recipes and have been helped so much by your channel/blog. Thanks
Instead of tapioca, you can use cassava flour or a gluten-free flour blend.
Could you just use a gluten free flour instead of this blend? It’s too hard to find all these and also expensive but I do have gluten free flour. Thank you!
I haven’t tried this with just a gluten-free flour blend, but I know you can replace tapioca flour with it. Otherwise, if you test it out, let me know how it goes!
Love this recipe! I used a hamburger patty press to squeeze out the zucchini… way easy on the hands with RA!
Glad you enjoyed these muffins Susan! Also, great idea on the hamburger patty press :)
I’ve made this recipe twice now and the muffins are absolutely delicious! I am trying to avoid almonds so used tigernut flour instead of almond flour and the recipe turned out great!
Glad these muffins turned out great with tigernut flour instead!
What can i sub for applesauce? Does it serve as a sweetener or is it texture too?
I was going to try honey but wondering about texture
The applesauce is used for moisture and sweetness. But you could try using honey instead.
I have a love/hate relationship with these muffins. I ate them all so it must have been more love than hate. :D I loved the flavor and overall texture of them, however, I can always point out the coconut flour in any baked good due to the texture. That is the only thing I did not like about them. Perhaps I could substitute it for some more almond flour? Also, I personally think it needs just a touch more sweetness. Maybe adding a small amount of dried fruit to it would have made it perfect for my tastes. Thanks for the recipe, Lisa!
I always find this trio of flours to create the perfect texture, but you can try subbing it with almond flour to see what happens. Do let me know if you try! And as for the sweetness level, you can add a smidge more maple syrup (or dried fruit works too!).
I’m currently sitting up in bed eating one of these muffins, which I baked earlier in the day. I am in utter shock at how perfect & delicious these are, considering there is no fat/oil added. They are so moist & have a beautiful fluffy texture! The cinnamon & nutmeg is just such a classy touch too! I added 1/3 cup of organic sultanas just for the little extra pop of goodness. Perfection!!!
Thrilled to hear you’re loving these zucchini muffins Marin!
OMG… easy directions and oh sooo good! Thank you for always providing directions with tips and explanations- love your site! These muffins are a definite rotation for breakfast and snacks!
Happy to hear these zucchini muffins turned out perfectly Wanda!
I made these and they turned out amazing! Delicious and filled with veggies. Me and my husband loved them. But could they be made with equal amounts of grated carrots or apples? My toddler wasn’t a fan of the “green bits”. Loved this recipe!
I haven’t tried with grated carrots or apples. But could potentially work! If you try it, let me know how it goes :)
I did try it with carrots instead of zucchini and it was quite dry…
Otherwise, my husband and I really enjoy these.
Thank you Lisa!
I made these with raisins and nuts. Everyone loved them!
Glad these muffins turned out perfectly with raisins!
Can I use all oat flour or regular flour?
I haven’t tested this with oat flour. But if you’re looking to use AP flour, I would just search for a regular zucchini muffin recipe :)
Can I use all-purpose-flour instead of gluten-free ones?
If you are using AP flour, it’s best to follow just a regular zucchini muffin recipe :)