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 chocked full of fresh shredded zucchini. I think you’re going to love them.
Healthy Zucchini Muffins Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Healthy Zucchini Muffins
- Prep Time: 14 minutes
- Cook Time: 16 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Description
This healthy zucchini muffins recipe is made with whole wheat flour, it’s naturally sweetened with maple syrup, and it’s a delicious way to use up extra zucchini!
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!
Any idea if these can be made sub gluten-free flour? I’ve made a zucchini bread GF before.. which can surely be used for muffins.. but would like to try your recipe if think it might work..
Hey Karlie, we haven’t tried these with gluten-free flour, but we think it’s worth a shot, if you have a GF blend you like! You could always just try to make half the recipe. Either way, we hope you enjoy!
these look delicious — though i’m not a huge fan of maple syrup…any suggestions for substitutions?
These look positively lovely! I am always in need of a healthy, on the go breakfast treat!
Just made these today! They are a yummy, healthy muffin. I added extra zucchini into the recipe, but everything else I followed exactly as written. Thanks for a great recipe!
We’re so glad you enjoyed these, Sharice — thanks for giving them a try! :)
Speaking of time flying, I turned my back to my garden for one minute and all of a sudden I have too-big-to-saute zucchinis! (Probably because we had the rainiest June in history.) So I have chocolate chocolate chip zucchini muffins in the oven right now. :) Our recipes are pretty similar… although after reading yours I wish I would have used some maple syrup to sub some of the raw cane sugar. Next time!
Oh my goodness, that’s crazy! And omg, we are drooling at the thought of these having chocolate chips in them — how yummy!
Really, feeling the same! Time just flying away! It feels like year started yesterday and half of it is gone already! It’s been long since I baked Zucchini muffins, you pictures and recipe has inspired me today! Ali, thanks for sharing! pinning!
Mmmmm… Hearty, healthy and the perfect lil breakfast treat!
We hope you love them! :)
Ahhh I love that I got a sneak peek of these on SnapChat!! Zucchini is so good right now and so cheap – we’ve been loading up!
Instead of the maple syrup can I sub in some smashed ripe bananas? If so how much would you suggest?
Hey Shannon, we really aren’t sure, because we haven’t tried that. Our concern though is that the banana will alter the consistency of the muffin batter and the muffins may be off. If you’re concerned about the sugar, we’d actually recommend just cutting back on the maple syrup. Maybe you could try 1/4 cup instead? We hope that helps! :)
Think I would be able to use a flax seed ‘egg’ instead?
Yes, we think you could definitely do that! We hope you like the muffins!