The Best Healthy Zucchini Bread Muffins
This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
A Healthy Zucchini Muffins Recipe that is easy to make and yummy! Gluten free, moist and fluffy – these are perfect zucchini bread muffins!
I love finding ways to sneak extra veggies into my food, and these healthy zucchini muffins are my new favorite way to enjoy summer zucchini! This recipe has a whole cup of zucchini for 12 muffins!
Our Healthy Zucchini Bread and Zucchini Banana Bread have been two of my go-to recipes to enjoy zucchini, and I’m so excited to enjoy it now in muffin form!
These muffins are easy to make and use fewer than 15 ingredients (mostly pantry staples) and take just over 30 minutes to make! They’re naturally sweetened with honey (plus optional chocolate chips), lower in fat thanks to olive oil, milk, and moisture from the zucchini, and each batch includes a full cup of shredded zucchini.
They may look unassuming, but I know these healthy zucchini muffins will be a snack you enjoy all summer. (Don’t worry, though, you can totally make these year-round!)
If you like this recipe, try one of these Healthy Zucchini Recipes or check out these Healthy Muffins!
liz’s tips for healthy zucchini muffins
- How to Pick the Best Zucchini: Choose firm zucchinis—If the zucchini is soft, it could be a sign that it is starting to rot. For baking or zoodles, thinner zucchinis are best since larger ones tend to have more seeds, which can be mushy.
- How to Shred Zucchini: My favorite way to shred zucchini is by using a cheese grater. You can also use a food processor if you prefer.
- Do You Need to Drain Zucchini? Yes! Always squeeze out excess liquid unless the recipe says otherwise. Use a paper towel or clean dish towel to wring it out, then let it sit briefly on the towel to soak up any remaining moisture.
Ingredients
Substitutions
Can the same recipe be used to make Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins? Yes, just use gluten-free oat flour.
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, coconut oil, canola oil, or melted butter.
Egg: I haven’t tried making this with an egg substitute so I’m not sure if it would work.
Vanilla Extract: Vanilla Extract is optional and can be omitted.
Honey: You can substitute honey with maple syrup (1:1 ratio).
Milk: If you don’t want to use dairy milk, almond milk, cashew milk, or oat milk would work.
Oat Flour: You can substitute oat flour with whole wheat flour (1:1 ratio) and it will work great. I have not tried substituting with all purpose flour, but I think it might work. To make gluten free, you can also use certified gluten-free oat flour. Here is our favorite Homemade Oat Flour Recipe. DO NOT substitute almond or coconut flour. It will not work.
Chocolate Chips or Nuts: Both are optional, but both are delicious in this recipe.
Turn it into bread: I haven’t tried using this batter in a bread pan, but we have a Healthy Zucchini Bread Recipe that is delicious!
How To Make healthy zucchini muffins
- In a large bowl mix together olive oil, egg, vanilla extract, honey, almond milk, and shredded zucchini. Stir flour, spices, baking powder/baking soda into the wet ingredients. Then, fold in mini chocolate chips.
- Fill lined muffin tins in ¼ cup increments. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes.
- Allow muffins to cool completely for at least 10 minutes, remove from the pan + enjoy!
Enjoy these healthy muffins with a cup of coffee for breakfast or with peanut butter for an afternoon snack.
Why do the ingredients qualify these muffins to be healthy?
- Whole grains – Whole wheat flour is a great source of whole grains and much better for you than regular white flour!
- No refined sugar – The only sweetener in these zucchini muffins is honey (and some optional chocolate chips) instead of the sugar that many muffins have.
- Gluten-free options – If you have celiac disease or are simply trying to reduce gluten in your diet, gluten-free oat flour tastes great in this recipe.
- Veggies – This recipe has a whole cup of zucchini for 12 muffins! If you are trying to get more veggies in your diet, these are a great way! For more hidden veggies, try these green spinach muffins.
Storing and Serving:
Storing easy zucchini muffins: They will last up to a week in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend storing them on the counter, because they can get moldy very quickly.
How to freeze healthy zucchini muffins: Yes, you can freeze these zucchini muffins. I recommend laying them flat in the freezer in a reusable Ziploc bag and freezing them so that they don’t stick together. To defrost, microwave, or put them in a toaster oven.
How to serve healthy zucchini muffins: These muffins are great topped with peanut butter, on their own as a snack, or alongside a breakfast dish like sausage egg casserole.
Other healthy muffin recipes:
We absolutely love healthy muffins! Here are some of our favorite muffin recipes:
Healthy Zucchini Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup milk almond or dairy
- 1 cup shredded zucchini *squeezed to remove water about 1 medium zucchini
- 2 cups oat flour or whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 + prepare a lined muffin tin.In a large bowl mix together olive oil, egg, vanilla extract, honey, almond milk and zucchini.
- Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients (oat flour, spices, baking powder/baking soda)
- Fold in mini chocolate chips if using.
- Pour batter into lined muffin tin, filling in ¼ cup increments.
- Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until top of muffins are golden and a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted in center.
- Allow muffins to cool completely for at least 10 minutes, remove from pan + enjoy!
This is a great recipe but I did have to change a few things because we are plant based.
In place of olive oil, I used 2 Tbsp applesauce.
In place of egg, I used one “flax seed” egg.
I gently squeezed the zucchini, as the first batch I made were dry.
In place of flours, I used 1 cup of whole wheat, 1/2 cup of spelt flour and 1/2 cup of Grape Nuts cereal.
I just made these, made my own oat flour and had to use 2 1/2 cups to get the 2 cups of flour and subbed in almond milk. They came out great! I’m not much for the kitchen but these were so quick and easy, definitely going to make again!
Made these and so delicious! Kids loved them. How do I store? Do they need to be refrigerated?
So glad you liked them! There is a storage section in all lof our blog posts. pasting the info here. Storing easy zucchini muffins: They will last up to a week in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend storing them on the counter, because they can get moldy very quickly.
How to freeze healthy zucchini muffins: Yes, you can freeze these zucchini muffins. I recommend laying them flat in a reusable Ziploc bag and freezing them so that they don’t stick together. To defrost, microwave, or put them in a toaster oven.
Could I replace the oat flour with all purpose flour?
You can substitute oat flour with whole wheat flour (1:1 ratio) and it will work great. I have not tried substituting with all purpose flour, but I think it might work. To make gluten free, you can also use certified gluten-free oat flour. Here is our favorite Homemade Oat Flour Recipe. DO NOT substitute almond or coconut flour. It will not work.
everything about this was very good, however, I feel there was a bit too much baking soda as it left a bit of that weird soapy taste that baking soda does (for me) and I might add 1/2 cup of applesauce next time as I did find they were a touch dry. My 8 year old LOVED them, but he did ask for butter on it and I am trying to avoid excess fat in my diet for myself. I will try again with changing up the things I mentioned.
Sorry you felt that way!
Looks yummy going to make these muffins, I was wondering why the eggs need to be room temperature sorry just curious. Thank u in advance
Eggs whip better at room temperature
Amazing crispy outside moist inside
I Love Zucchini muffins and recently went
Gluten free, Had to try this simple recipe!
They are yummy! And I plan on making them
Again!
Muffins were a little gummy/sticky in texture. However, I liked that there were few ingredients and they were easy to make. My 1 year old loves them.
Glad you liked them!
My son who has Autism made these with me, then he ate them all! We made the oat flour from plain instant oatmeal, just add to a blender. These were great, will make again!
I’m looking forward to trying these. Would you please share what you drizzled on them with the strawberry in the video?
Also, would you share which ingredients are included in your nutritional calculations? Thank you.
I’m not sure what video you’re referring to, sorry! All of the ingredients are included in the nutritional facts
Awesome recipe! I love the options for oat flour and nut milk. I substituted about half of the flour with organic protein powder. Using honey instead of processed sugar makes these guilt-free. I make mine into mini muffins and then have an easy on-the-go snack.
Could this be adapted to bake as a loaf?
check out our Healthy Zucchini Bread if that’s what you’re looking for!
Can you use frozen zucchini noodles?
I wouldn’t do that, I think it will be too soggy
Absolutely delicious muffins! Moist and perfect sweetness and flavor!
So happy you liked them!
These are DELICIOUS!! I doubled the chocolate chips because why not?! Excited to give them to my kids, and I’m not telling them there’s a vegetable in it 😉 they’ll never know!