Healthy Zucchini Muffins
These healthy zucchini muffins are naturally sweetened and made with whole wheat flour! They're fluffy, moist and absolutely delicious, too.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
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I thought I had this zucchini muffin recipe in the bag. Make my favorite zucchini bread batter, divide into muffin cups, bake for less time—nope. The increased surface area produced slightly dense and dry muffins, which were fine for “healthy” muffins. However, I wanted fluffy, moist and thoroughly delightful muffins that just-so-happened to be healthier.
So, I cross-referenced the zucchini bread recipe with my all-time favorite blueberry muffins in my cookbook. I adjusted the leavener, upped the amount of milk and switched to buttermilk for a more tender crumb. Success! These zucchini babes will make everyone happy.
Cookbook launch week has been a thrill. I’m overwhelmed, honestly. I’m so excited that you’re excited about the book, flattered by my fellow food bloggers’ kind words, and thankful for friends who took the time to say cheers. All that, and I’m still a little apprehensive about sending my book baby into the world. Is this what it feels like to send a child off on a school bus for the first time?
Thank you for your comments, notes and reviews; they mean so much. I hate to ask for more, but if you’ve had a chance to make recipes from the book already, would you mind leaving a review on Amazon to share your experience soon? That might seal the deal for people who aren’t familiar with my blog already.
If you haven’t gotten the book, I have more details about Love Real Food over here. I’d be glad to answer any questions you might have in the comments. Lastly, I promise I won’t go on and on about the book forever. ♥
What makes these zucchini muffins healthy?
Granted, “healthy” is a subjective term, but here are a few reasons why I consider these muffins to be more nutritionally redeeming than most:
- Unlike standard zucchini muffins made with refined all-purpose flour, these are made with white whole wheat flour. That means they’re made entirely with whole grains, but you can’t taste them because white whole wheat flour has such a mild flavor.
- Coconut oil or olive oil replace butter (olive oil is composed of more monounsaturated fat, and is considered to be more heart-healthy)
- Real maple syrup replaces refined sugar, so these muffins are naturally sweetened.
- Combined, you end up with hearty and delicious zucchini-flecked muffins.
These muffins are easily adapted to vegan and gluten-free diets, too! See my recipe notes for details.
Watch How to Make Zucchini Muffins
More Muffin Recipes to Enjoy
- Healthy Banana Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- Healthy Carrot Muffins
- Lemon Raspberry Muffins
- Strawberry Oat Muffins
Please let me know how these muffins turn out for you in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Healthy Zucchini Muffins
These healthy zucchini muffins are naturally sweetened and made with whole wheat flour! They’re fluffy, moist and absolutely delicious, too. Recipe yields 1 dozen muffins.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup roughly chopped raw walnuts or pecans (optional)
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil*
- ½ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup buttermilk (or ⅔ cup milk of choice mixed with 2 teaspoons vinegar, allow to rest for 5 minutes before using)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ cups grated zucchini (you’ll need 1 small-to-medium zucchini, about 7 ounces—working in handfuls, gently squeeze out excess moisture from the grated zucchini over the sink)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. If necessary, grease all 12 cups on your muffin tin with butter or cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and doesn’t require any grease).
- Toast the nuts (if using): Once the oven has finished preheating, pour the chopped nuts onto a small, rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the nuts are fragrant and toasted, about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring halfway.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil and honey. Beat them with a whisk until they are combined. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the buttermilk and vanilla. Whisk to combine, and set the bowl aside. (If your coconut oil solidifies on contact with cold ingredients, simply let the bowl rest in a warm place for a few minutes, like on top of your stove, or warm it for about 30 seconds in the microwave.)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Using a big spoon, stir to combine.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry and stir just until combined (a few lumps are ok!). Add the zucchini (be sure to squeeze excess moisture out of the zucchini first) and toasted nuts, if using. Gently fold the zucchini and nuts into the batter, being careful not to over-stir.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Bake muffins for 16 to 19 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
- Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. If you have leftover muffins, store them, covered, at room temperature for two days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my zucchini bread and the blueberry maple muffins in my cookbook, Love Real Food.
*Oil options: I love coconut oil here. I used unrefined coconut oil and can hardly taste it in the final product. Olive oil might lend an herbal note to the muffins, if you’re into that (I tested with California Olive Ranch’s “Everyday” variety and couldn’t even taste it). Vegetable oil has a neutral flavor, but the average vegetable/canola oil is highly processed, so I recommend using cold-pressed sunflower oil or grapeseed oil if possible.
Change it up: Use chocolate chips or small/chopped dried fruit instead of the nuts.
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey, replace the eggs with flax eggs and choose non-dairy milk, such as almond milk.
Make it dairy free: Choose non-dairy milk (I used almond milk).
Make it egg free: Replace the eggs with flax eggs.
Make it gluten free: Bob’s Red Mill’s all-purpose gluten-free mix works well.
Make it nut free: Just omit the nuts, and don’t use nut milk.
Make it lower in fat: I would argue that this bread contains a healthy amount of fat, but you can replace the oil with applesauce if you’re following a low-fat diet.
Update 9/23/20: I’ve modified the method slightly, to use two bowls instead of one. The recipe comes together more intuitively this way and bakes up a bit nicer.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Made these this weekend and was very pleased. They are lightly sweet, which I liked as a change of pace from the more typical “breakfast cupcake” style of muffin I often make. (Fwiw, I did the milk/vinegar substitution, no nuts, maple syrup.)
Does this recipe work if you add a little cocoa powder and chocolate chips? I’m hoping to make a healthy treat for my preschooler’s birthday…
Hi Lauren, I’m sorry, I missed your question until now, and I’m afraid I don’t have a certain answer for you. That might be worth a shot—please let me know if you gave it a try. Adding chocolate chips would definitely work fine.
Whoohoo! Finally, a fluffy, delicious and moist ‘healthy’ muffin the family will love. Maybe it’s cheating but I sampled one while still warmmmm! I used a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar mixed in with almond milk to make up the buttermilk and I made up a tablespoon of cinnamon/coconut sugar mixture to sprinkle on top. I’ve got your healthy pumpkin loaf recipe in the oven now and the incredible aroma mixed with the outdoor scene of falling leaves is amazing. Thank you for sharing these scrumptious recipes.
Janice, the cook’s right is to sample! Glad to hear you liked it and that you are already trying the Healthy Pumpkin bread. Enjoy!
Thanks for an amazing recipe for a healthy snack. My husband is a fan of zucchini muffins and devoured these guilt free treats. I did however add more spice to the recipe since its fall and holiday season. This is the 3rd recipe I’ve tried from your blog with a pleased toddler and husband. Thanks again and keep sending us these great healthy recipes to keep our families strong!
Great to hear all the family is pleased, Pooja! Thank you for the review!
Hello,
I made the zucchini muffins tonight. They are fluffy, moist and pretty but I found them rather bland. I used honey instead of maple syrup since I don’t care for maple; perhaps that would have made a difference.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t love these, Kathryn. Did you like them better the next day? Baked goods often develop more flavor after a rest.
Thank you Cookie & Kate for this delicious moist & healthy muffin! I did make a few modifications to make it even healthier. I used 1tbsp each of ground chia, flax & wheat germ in place of some of the whole wheat flour needed & they still turned out great! I used Chocolate protein Silk for the milk to give a little chocolate flair & boost of protein too! Wish there was nutritional info though so I could chart my calorie count a little more accurately, but otherwise, 5 stars!!
Thank you, Diana for your review! For nutritional information, it is at the bottom of the recipe page under the notes section. Since you made some alterations, you may want to explore some resources to find out more with your adaptions.
A little bit oily but other then that great:)
Thank you for your review! What do you mean by oily? Did you add extra or did it separate? :)
These muffins are outstanding. This past summer I made them every week from a zucchini in our garden. All of your muffin/ quick bread recipes are excellent but this is my favorite
Thank you, Leigh! I am glad you found one you love. I appreciate the comment and review!
Hi Kate
This looks like a great recipe!
I’d like to make this into Mini-Muffins. What alterations to the recipe would you suggest to make them a success? :)
JCZ
This is the best like a hangover breakfast straight.
Ha!
I’ve been making these non-stop this holiday season — love them as a healthy sweet treat that I can feel good about. I use gluten free flour, coconut milk + white vinegar (instead of buttermilk), coconut oil and maple syrup. I also spray the pan with olive oil, which gives it an almost savory taste — next time I make them will try olive oil in the recipe. Thanks for another great recipe!
I’m happy to hear that, Tara! Thank you so much for your review.
Can I just say…I love each recipe more than the next. I actually made these for my toddler. He gobbles them up. They are so amazing, we are all eating them! I didn’t have nuts so I subbed raisins, but made the recipe verbatim otherwise. Thank you!
You are welcome! Thanks for your kind words, Karen. I appreciate your review!
I plan on also using this as a base recipe to try with different veggies (for this picky toddler of mine as well as breakfast/snacks full of goodness for the rest of us).
Looooove these!
I made with all purpose-flour (ran out of whole-wheat), soy milk/vinegar and honey.
They have the perfect amount of sweetness and are so fluffy! Adding this recipe to the cookbook!
Thank you!!
You’re welcome!
I made these. So delicious. I didn’t have enough zucchini so added some shredded carrot. Love by the whole family, 10 months, 3 years and 2 adults! Even my husband loved it and didn’t realize it was a healthy muffin version.
Thanks, Amanda for sharing! I appreciate the star review.
Fantastic recipe. Will definitely make these again. ❤❤❤
Thank you!
Just made these! Over the years I’ve never been able to find a ‘go-to, love every time’ muffin recipe until now! Thank-you!!
You’re very welcome, Leslie!
I made these this morning and they were DELICIOUS! I’m so thrilled to have found a recipe that doesn’t have sugar but is still sweet and delicious. I followed the recipe exactly EXCEPT that I ended up only cooking them for about 9 minutes. Had I gone to 16 they would have been burnt. Maybe just my oven (it’s not the best) but wanted to mention so nobody burns them! So yummy! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved them, Shannon! Thank you for the kind words and review!
Love it! Thank you for sharing! I used cashew and a gluten free grain flour and a blend of zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoe, and broccoli for my kiddos and hubby and they turned out great!
*cashew milk
Hi Kate!
I love your quick bread recipes and have made several. I had a question about the baking soda in the zucchini bread (I do see your adjustment in the muffins) – have you tried baking powder in the bread? Does it work? I am struggling to find where there is enough acid in the bread to allow a reaction with the soda, but it does work and I’m wondering why it does? There is a good amount of soda in the recipe compared with the amount of flour and there is not a whole lot of acidic liquid or other acid, so I am baffled as to why this recipe is so successful (and it is really very good – I do swear by it!) I am considering for the next time I make it that I’ll try souring the milk because the soda should still neutralize the tang and the crumb might be more tender or I might try powder at a ratio that would be appropriate for the flour amount. Since I saw that you had played with the levener and acid in your muffins, I wanted to ask you if you had done this with the bread (in the hope that if you did then I could avoid making a disaster of a recipe that is already really great!). Sorry to be so long winded, lately I am on a quest to understand baking chemistry.
Thanks,
Debbie
Hi Debbie, I’m sorry I missed your question earlier! I think the answer might be in the honey/maple syrup—they are slightly acidic, enough to counteract the baking soda. I have found recently that using a combination of baking powder and baking soda produces slightly more tender results. Hope this solves your mystery. :)
This recipe is so good!! Thank you for sharing.
Just made these and they turned out perfect! I omitted nuts and used 1 cup AP flour with 3/4 cup Brown rice flour just for fun. Also I only had full fat coconut milk so I mixed that with 2 tsp apple cider vinegar. I probably used a bit more coconut oil than in the recipe just for good measure. They are completely moist and unbelievably scrumptious
Thank you, Amber for sharing! I appreciate it.
I tried this yesterday and they were wonderful. Very fluffy which is great. I added about a quarter cup of golden raisins too. And used reg all purp flour as i didn’t have white whole wheat.
What I love to hear! I’m so glad they turned out so fluffy for you. Thanks for the review, Andrea.
These were yummy. I added melted chocolate to the recipe for chocolate zucchini deliciousness. My kids loved them too. I forgot to squeeze the excess water out of the zucchini so the result was extremely wet in the middle but by the next day, they were perfect.
That does sound delicious. If you would want to leave a star review since you liked it so much, I would appreciate it!
Hi, I would like to add some mashed banana to these muffins. Can you please guide me on how to do that in terms of quantities? Thanks!
Hi Kim! I would recommend following my banana muffin recipe for help. https://capital-fly.pro/2015/healthy-banana-muffins-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I haven’t even made this recipe yet, but I just know it’s going to be delicious! A question, however: In regards to the vegan buttermilk replacement, can any type of vinegar be used (coconut, apple cider, etc.), or do we have to use normal vinegar?
Just normal vinegar!:)
I actually just ended up making it with grass-fed, organic buttermilk, and it was fabulous! Thank you for the clarification, though.
Do you sift the flour before measuring?
I don’t use a sifter, I typically just spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level off.
Do you peel the zucchini first?
No need to peel!
Very yum. I didn’t have buttermilk but used Lemon juice instead of vinegar and added frozen grated lemon as well. Thank you.
Great! Thank you for your review.
These turned out perfect! I used whole wheat pastry flour and melted butter because that’s what I had. Not overly sweet, rose up beautifully, fit for company.
Thanks for sharing, Mary!
This was my very first time trying one of your recipes! So happy I found you. The zucchini muffins were delicious! I added a few natural chocolate chips for my picky 15-year old. If I wanted to frost them for a birthday treat, do you think that a cream cheese frosting would go well with them or not?
I think that should work well!
After a very bountiful zucchini season, I now have three batches of these muffins waiting in the freezer for busy days! I’ve made them with olive oil and with coconut oil, and like them either way. I do wring out the shredded zucchini especially well and have added as much as 2 1/2 cups with reasonably good results. Great recipe!
Thank you!
Kate … you are a “rock star”. Have to tell you I started using your blog about a year ago and both my husband and I fell in love with it. We found ourselves cooking every day from it. When Xmas came around, I ordered the cookbook – what a fabulous cookbook. You are the Julia Child of vegetarian cooking. Now between the cookbook and your blog, I think we are set for life. I’ve told everyone I know to cook from your blog. Today I made these muffins for about the 5th time and never disappointed. Perfect balance of not-to-sweet with flavour. Your recipes always bring a wonderful balance and I think that’s what we love. Now when friends are nervous about cooking for us vegetarians, I just tell them where the source is for great recipes. Thank you for devoting what must be an amazing amount of time and energy to make this world a better and tastier and healthy place.
You are kind, Michelle! I’m glad you like this recipe and blog. I appreciate the review!
Hi there!
“Amazon” is not exactly the market-place I would like to deal with as they treat their employees like sh..t – at least here in Europe! I have no idea about what they are doing in the U.S.A. – depending on local law it might be similar!
I love your Blog nevertheless – but please be cautious about who you make deals with!
Brgds,
Stefan
I’m sorry to hear you had a poor experience! But, thanks for your support and comment Stefan.
These are 5-star muffins for sure! Kate, I so appreciate the care you take in making sure that your recipes are perfect!
I’m so glad you think so, Nancy! You’re welcome. I do put in the work, but it’s fun when they are a hit for you!
Hi, I was wondering if there is supposed to be Greek yogurt in these? I saw in the intro you mentioned it but didn’t see it in the recipe (I’ve also tried a few other of your muffin recipies with it in it-they’re delicious). Thanks, Emily
Hey Emily! So sorry for the confusion. I recently edited this post and copied over some bullet points from one of my other muffin recipes, forgetting that this one doesn’t use yogurt. It uses buttermilk instead, and I think you’ll love it.
Says yogurt but then there’s no yogurt in the recipe !
Hey Chauncey, so sorry for the confusion! The recipe is correct as written, and there is no yogurt in the recipe. I recently copied over those bullet points from a similar muffin recipe of mine, and forgot that these don’t use yogurt like the other one. I’ve fixed it now. Thank you for bringing my error to my attention!
love your blog and cookbook – bought 3 copies to shares! how would you adjust cooking time and temperature to make zucchini muffins in mini size. Thanks
Hi Rena, thank you so much for your support! I really appreciate it, and I’m sorry I missed your comment earlier. I don’t have a mini muffin pan, but generally speaking when changing pan types, you’ll leave the temperature the same and adjust the baking time. I’ve just read online that “With an oven temperature at 350 F or 375 F, most mini muffins need from 10-13 minutes to bake.” So I think these muffins will be done sooner than 10-13 minutes, given that the baking temperature is 400 F. Hope that helps!
These muffins are amazing! SO Moist and plenty sweet with half honey and half maple syrup. I added a banana too and used pecans. Love them and will make over and over again. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Karen!
I’ve made these muffins in mini size twice now in 2 days. Safe to say this is now my go-to muffin for healthier and toddler friendly snacks!
Wonderful, Laura!
Any time I test out a new muffin, I bake a few mini muffins before I bake all the muffins. I would eat them “as is” but I didn’t think my kids would. Maybe because I used 1 and 3/4 cup zucchini, they tasted “like a healthy muffin” according to my husband. I added a little bit of mini chocolate chips and my kids enjoyed them.
These were really good. I used flax seed egg to replace the eggs due to allergy and used coconut milk due to allergies. came out great
Wonderful to hear, Mary!
Loved these muffins! My kiddos gobbled them up :)
Great, Jessica!
Hi – these were delicious, I ended up baking a little longer than the recipe called for – added about 5-6 minutes, because they were quite wet (I did wring out the zucchini too), but my children would not eat them due to the presence of a trace of green in the finished product. I think I will try this regardless, but wanted your opinion on if you think it would work out to grate and squeeze out the zucchini and then blender it with the wet ingredients to remove those pesky green flecks. Do you think that would make the batter to runny/wet to set up?
Hi Jenn! Sorry to hear that these weren’t a hit with your kids. I’m really not sure if that would work, but it might be worth a shot. If the muffin batter is extremely wet, you could gently fold in a couple more tablespoons of flour, and that should help.
Made them tonight and 16 mins was too long. Bottom burned and came out dry, but will try again! Still tasted pretty good.
Could I omit the maple syrup/honey or use a banana instead?
Mashed banana should work pretty well!
i wanted to try this recipe, gluten free with almond milk and apple sauce instead of oil. but was wondering if there were any sugar substitutes, could a banana, stevia, swerve or something similar be used?
would a banana and apple sauce subs make it too wet?
would a granular sugar sub like stevia or swerve make it too dry?
With changing all of those elements, I wouldn’t know without testing it. However, I know a lot of other readers have commented about their experience if you wanted to see what they may have tried in the comments.
I made these this morning and had just popped them in the oven when I saw my 2/3 cup of DIY buttermilk sitting on the counter!! I pulled the muffins out, and was just putting the batter back in the bowl when my nine year-old wandered in to the kitchen and looked horrified at the situation, not to mention thoroughly disappointed in the zucchini. WELL, she was eating her words (and TWO muffins) when those babies came out!! They were AMAZING. Incredibly moist!! Perfectly sweet (I used maple syrup). Must make again to determine if it was your wonderful recipe or my renegade cooking techniques that infused them with such magic!
I love it! Thanks for sharing, Amy.
Hi Kate,
I am a huge fan! You have no idea how many of your recipes have saved the day when impromptu guests drop by/when we’re in a pinch and we need something healthy but also delicious! :-)
I’m a student in nutrition, and I’m also French – freshly imported to the US… and I wanted to add an its bitsy comment about butter because I noticed that you said it wasn’t “heart healthy” (and I totally agree with you about vegetable oils such as canola being processed and toxic)… butter has been demonized in America following a huge lobbying play by the oil industry in the 50’s and 60’s, and while I’m also a big proponent of cooking and even baking with high quality olive and coconut oils, butter is actually a heathy fat – no less so that coconut oil (in fact if you are using saturated fats as a reference for ‘unhealthy’ – that in itself can be debated, but for now we’ll go with it – butter has a far lower saturated fat percentage than coconut oil: 51% vs 87% for coconut oil), and if you buy pasture raised, it is a great source of vitamin A, D, E, K2 and omega 3 fatty acids believe it or not (heart healthy – the irony!).I’m biased, of course, maybe because of my cultural heritage, but back home we see many 90+ year olds eating copious amounts of raw grass fed butter and doing just fine! I just wanted to add that as I’ve never heard so much butter hate as in America – the country of heart attacks and fried vegetable oils. :-) I say this with much love and respect, and I really do appreciate your beautiful website and work! Wishing you all the best! Olivia
I was directed to your site when looking for a hummus recipe for a Church potluck. I loved the technique you used to make it creamy. Then in January when I decided to change our families diet to vegetarian, my sister in law directed me to your site amongst a few others. Your recipes hands down were the best. Simple and consistently tasty. Made switching to vegetarian diet attainable. With that said..this morning my son saw me grating zucchini for breakfast, (mind you he applauded the very veggie fried rice and many other dishes I’ve made)he said there was no way he was eating the muffins. Well, he sheepishly just finished his 3rd muffin. I accepted his apology. Thanks for your amazing work. It has really been a blessing to our family.
I love you are enjoying so many recipes, Leslie! Thanks for trying them and letting me know what you think!
Wow! These muffins came up amazing! Thank you for this recipe! <3
You’re welcome, Narmina!
I used frozen blueberries and dark choc chips instead of walnuts, and half honey/half maple syrup – Perfect result. Thank you for the recipe, I will definitely be making these again
Thank you for sharing, Kelly!