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.
Thank you for your amazing muffin recipes. We have been addicted to them! Lunch boxes, morning tea treats at work… we always have some frozen in the freezer.
The best!!
You’re welcome, Jilly!
I was totally going to use your zucchini bread recipe and just make muffins out of it with a shorter baking time, but fortunately I scrolled down far enough on the bread page to see your suggestion to not do that but to instead use your muffin recipe. The muffins are amazing. Came out perfect. Thanks.
Perfect recipe! These muffins are amazing. There came out beautiful and delicious. I was worried after reading the reviews, but have always loved everything I’ve made from Cookie and Kate so tried it.
Another amazing recipe , thanks!
Going to make these amazing sounding muffins. Can I add some crushed pineapple which I will drain well first.
Waiting your reply
I don’t like zucchini much but they grow well in Texas and I have fond memories of my grandmother’s bread. I was excited to see a recipe like this! They are so good and guilt free! Thank you! I have subbed the maple syrup for coconut sugar and they were great still!
You’re welcome, Maggie!
Tried it with chocolate chips and it is delicious. Thanks Kate!
You’re welcome, Remo!
Reciepe comment:
I have made your curries, soups and latley a lot of muffins. For this recipe I saw a bit of mixed reviews but so many of your recipes have been awesome so I trusted the recipe. The batter was very thin like pancake bater and I had shredded zucchini left over from your no noodle pad Thai reciepe. Once all in the oven I realized I forgot to squeeze the water out of the zucchini, because they were in the fridge for 3 days I hoped it would be ok. With the forgot squeezing, the loose batter and a comment about burning but still raw I decided to turn the temperature from 400 to 350 about halfway and cooked for 21 minutes.
I have tried your blueberry and strawberry muffins but these are by far my favorite. They made me do a dance in my chair at how good they were. They were the perfect balance of sweetness, moist, and I loved the crunch of the pecans.
A note about the sweetness: I don’t eat refined sugar so I am more sensitive to sweet flavors and found these a perfect breakfast. My husband who does have sugar wished they were sweeter as he is used to those horrible for you coffee shop muffins but even he said they taste good for healthy muffins.
Your blog overall:
You’ve become my go to site to find recipes for everything I cook. I have to follow an anti inflamatory diet which is hard to find reciepes as it’s not as mainstream as other diets. Other reciepes would have something I couldn’t eat (white flour, butter, refined sugars) and changing the reciepe would often ruin the reciepe.
You’ve never let me down and I’m buying your cook for me and a copy for my sister (I rarely ever buy cook books too!) Thank you for all your effort in making these reciepes!
I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free baking flour and vegan chocolate chips. The muffins came out delicious!
I’m glad you loved them, Barbara!
I’m a competent baker and bake regularly. Sadly, I’ve tried baking these twice and both times I’ve had to leave them in much longer than suggested and still they have been raw on the inside and way too overcooked on top. I’ve had to throw out the whole batch, twice.
Hi Anna, I’m sorry you didn’t have luck with this recipe. How full are you filling the muffin tins?
Hi Kate, I actually used cupcake cases instead of muffins, so I ended up with 24 cupcake-sized portions instead of 12 muffin-sized portions. This should have made them less prone to being undercooked. I’m in the UK and so had to convert 400F to Celcius, which is 205C. That’s a higher temperature than I’ve ever used to do any baking – cake or cupcakes. My suspicion is that if I’d gone for 180C / 360F (and maybe for longer,) then perhaps that would have solved my problem. I just don’t want to risk testing that out since I’ve wasted a lot already! PS. the batter tasted super yummy though!
Soooo, do you put the zucchini in whole? Under “Instructions”, I don’t see a step for grating the zucchini. Nor do I see any mention of approximately how long it takes the little squashes to drain out their bitter liquid. Do you need to hand squeeze the grated veggie? Please. Did you ever actually bake these? One person posted that her muffins were too moist to bake correctly. I imagine that may have been effected by how long her zucchini drained. This is a crucial step in the process. Failure to provide details is really poor.
Hi Isabelle, I’m sorry you are frustrated. Great question, that’s actually listed in the ingredients: 1 ½ cups grated zucchini (you’ll need 1 small-to-medium zucchini, about 7 ounces—if your grated zucchini is very wet, squeeze out the excess moisture over the sink before stirring it into the batter). I did bake these, several times actually. I do my best to test recipes so you have a great result every time. Sometimes there are differences, which I try to do best understand what may have happened.
Her directions are very clear. Fully reading the ingredients will take away ur frustrations! Her recipes are amazing and u can clearly tell she makes these herself even playing with substitutions!!!
These muffins were a total disaster. I followed the recipe to a T (except for he walnuts), and the batter came out incredibly wet, almost like pancake batter. Definitely not like any muffins I’ve made before. I squeezed the zucchini before adding it, and I added a 1/4 more flour to try to thicken it a little, but it made almost no difference. It seems like 2/3 cup milk plus a liquid sweetener is just way too much. Most muffin recipes don’t include milk at all?! The coconut oil also separated from the batter no matter how much I whisked or kept the other ingredients warm. I had to bake these for almost 40 minutes just to get them to set, but they were still wet and soggy in the middle. The coconut oil formed little puddles on top that burned, while the center was still raw. So disappointing, as they smelled great while baking! Unfortunately I had to throw the whole batch away.
Just made a double-batch of these muffins for the first time to take on a camping trip this weekend. I used a combination of grated zucchini & carrots and they are SO good! Not sure what happened with some of the other reviewers, but mine came out PERFECT – moist & delicious! Very excited to share them with the rest of our group! Thanks for another winning recipe!
You’re welcome, Karen! Thank you for your review.
I substituted about ½ cup of the ww flour with almond flour. They didn’t rise very high; I could have filled the cups entirely full, but they were light and delicious. I had enough batter left over to bake a small cake-muffin in a pyrex bowl. I wonder if the person writing from the UK was using a British (10-oz) or American (8-oz) cup.
Thank you for sharing, Jackie!
Great recipe! I used yellow squash since I have a garden full of them. Will try recipe with zucchini as stated but the yellow squash worked out well.
Thank you, Susan!
I made these and followed the directions exactly (didn’t use walnuts). For the honey/syrup option I used 100% maple syrup. For the oil option I used coconut oil. Not only did I end up licking the bowl, they turned out SO good! They smelled SO good too! Highly recommend! I also put creamed cinnamon honey on top too, definitely worth it if you can snag some.
Thank you for your recommendation, Samantha!
I made these today, and they taste great! Mine took about 24 min to bake fully, and they came out denser than I would like – similar to your whole wheat zucchini bread that I made a couple weeks ago. I would like them to be lighter and fluffier next time – do you have any suggestions?
FYI I used Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour, and soy milk with lemon juice for the buttermilk. I had extra squeezed, grated zucchini (maybe 1/4c) and more coconut oil (1/2c) than honey (1/3). I modified by adding 1/4 tsp of cardamom, cocoa powder, and chia seeds. Thanks!!!
Thank you for sharing, Lauren!
This recipe was a total miss for me- which pains me to write because I love your blog! Zucchini muffins are a classic summer treat in my house, but my family recipe is very unhealthy so I was excited to try your whole food version. I added half a cup extra flour but the batter was still very thin and it made these almost tasteless. Also the 400 degree baking temp seemed high so I lowered it to 375 and baked the full 19 minutes which yielded barely baked muffins with burned edges. I plan on sticking to your delicious Raspberry Lemon or Maple Banana muffin recipes.
Kate, these were moist and absolutely delicious! Thank you for the recipe. I made them with olive oil and almond milk and they turned out great. Our whole family loves them, even my picky toddler! I’ll definitely be making more to freeze and have on hand.
Hooray! Thank you for sharing, Holly. I appreciate your review.
I have just made these, I followed your directions, used coconut oil and honey. I did add chocolate chips…… they are delicious!! My husband has ate 2 already! This recipe is a keeper! Thank you!
Hooray! Thanks for your review, Cathy!
Made these today… tasty and very moist! Used olive oil, whole wheat flour and added some raisins and flax seed.
Had these warm topped with my strawberry freezer jam, sooo good
Thank you for this recipe!!
You’re welcome, Karen!
So good! I did the pecan option. I’d give it six stars if I could.
Wonderful! Thank you, Connie!
These muffins are absolutely delicious! Made them for the first time today and LOVE the taste! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
You’re welcome, Mandy!
When using grated zucchini in the past, my muffins were wet; however this recipe was accurate and precise and my muffins were delicious. I squeezed zucchini over the sick! Delicious!
I’m glad you loved it, Donna!
I just made these muffins this morning using whole wheat flour and they are wonderful! I made sure to squeeze the zucchini, baked the muffins for 17 minutes and they turned out perfect! I’m always so happy when a healthy muffin recipe is actually delicious! Thank you, Kate, for providing this great recipe!
Thank you for sharing, Dorothy!
I just made these and they are SO GOOD. Will definitely go in our regular rotation!! Thank you!
Can greek yogurt be a substitute for the buttermilk like how it’s used in your cranberry orange muffins? If so, how much would I use?
I love your recipes! I started baking your coconut oil muffin recipes because my husband needed to watch his heart. My son doesn’t do well with milk so I would use your substitutions. Today I am baking zucchini bread and will be using honey and coconut oil. The combination is wonderful. Thanks for all of the options that work so well together! I am able, with your help, to make my family more healthy and happy!
Loved this recepie. Used olive oil, pure maple syrup, l also added some raisins
1 cup of all purpose unbleached,3/4 whole wheat flour. I found the batter was a little more wet than usual for muffins,but they came out really fluffy.
I had to bake them for25 min. Thank you for sharing.
These were great!! I made muffins and 2 mini loaves. Thank you for sharing.
I made these muffins over the weekend to put in my son’s lunches and was a little worried about the recipe based on the reviews, but they turned out perfect using the recipe as given. I used whole wheat flour, the honey option, left out the nuts, and squeezed my grated zucchini in a paper towel to absorb extra moisture before I put it in the batter. Perfect at 16 minutes in the oven. Looking foward to trying more of your recipes – thanks!
You’re welcome, Emily! I’m happy you liked them.
Was looking for an adaptable recipe that I could make make 1) gluten free and 2) dairy free ( for my daughter) and add additional items to give it more boost: protein…I also use organic veggies in this
My substitutions:
-Almond milk w/ 2 tsp Apple cider vinegar
-Gluten free flour ( King Arthur measure for measure )
-About a TBSP of organic earth balance for a buttery flavor and then the rest of fat in coconut oil
Additional/ add ins:
Finely shredded and gently squeezed CARROT
Raw pecans/ walnuts ( finely chopped)
2 TBSP collagen powder
1 tsp mangosteen powder
2 tbsp finely chopped pineapple ( I used frozen)
Additional tbsp of gf flour
Pinch of clove powder
* I used half raw honey & half maple syrup
Used a silicone muffin pan
Took about 19 minutes
Nice flavor not too sweet
* made up an optional glaze for dipping or spreading on before eating ( my daughter loved that!)
Used organic powdered sugar, a tsp of organic earth balance spread and enough pineapple juice to moisten to the consistency you like – keep in fridge
Ps- I do a lot of baking for family and my clients
We love you cookie and Kate! We wish these were better! Followed the recipe to a T, and they came out the perfect consistency, but no taste. All we taste is flour. Can’t taste any of the other flavors, and no sweetness. Great in all other domains except the taste! :(
Yum–these are the perfect after-dinner sweet treat (gotta tame the beast) or for breakfast-on-the-go! I used oat flour since my toddler is gluten intolerant, soy milk & white wine vinegar for the buttermilk, agave instead of maple syrup, sugar-free chocolate chips to top, and a full tablespoon each of vanilla, cinnamon and greek yogurt.
Lightly sweetened, perfectly moist, and a perfect hunger-queller for busy days, these muffins are SURE to make it into my regular rotation ;)
I thought this was a really great recipe. I liked it even better as mini muffins. I had to do a little research to convert, so I thought I’d share here that I baked the minis at 375 for 10-12 minutes.
Thank you for sharing, Brittany!
I’m curious, what is the purpose of adding vinegar when using a different type of milk?
These turned out great! The whole family loved them. I just threw in some flaxseed meal, used almond milk and did half honey, half pure maple syrup. I’m so happy to have another use for this indestructible zucchini plant in my garden!
Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!
These turned out perfect for us! Making them again this week!!
Would these be good in mini muffin tin? How long would you bake it for?
Sure! Cut the baking time in half and keep an eye on them!
Today I will make these for the third time in as many weeks. I use the maple syrup version and substitute Almond milk with vinegar for the yogurt. This was a necessity as I did not have yogurt, and it turned out moist and truly delicious. I accidentally left the baking soda out of first batch, and they were small and dense as did not rise like the second batch and I was tempted with the third batch to leave out again. My son recently went on a clean food diet and this meets all the requirements- plus – they are simply delicious! Healthy C
Carrot Muffins
I made this with whole wheat flour and less sweetener than recommended – kind of wish I added recommended, but I think it will be fine, esp toasted w butter, yum.
They came out tasting SUPER healthy (see above) and good. I accidentally quadrupled the recipe (don’t ask) so now I have a stockpile of healthy snacks. Will be freezing most of these and bringing to work. My husband is bringing a dozen or so to his work meeting tomorrow.
Came out perfectly made. A great way to use all the zucchini!
Thank you for sharing your experience, Cherie!
OMG Kate this recipe I devine. I loved your vegan suggestions. I replaced the eggs with 2 flax eggs and the milk with canned coconut milk (I still put 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar in it). I used whole wheat ground fresh from my new mockmill milling machine. Because it’s the entire wheat berry it seems to be a bit dryer, hence I only used 1 and a 1/2 cups flour. I made large breakfast muffins in patty pans lined with brown baking paper. The mixture makes 5. We had one each for breakfast with stewed apples and coconut yoghurt. Fabulous recipe Kate.
It’s great you found it so helpful! Thanks for sharing how you made this recipe, Margaret.
I was a little nervous to try these because of some of the reviews, but I followed the recipe exactly, and they were absolutely wonderful! I had a Cookie and Kate day today, as I also made the granola and roasted cauliflower soup today, and all of it was wonderful. Will definitely try out more recipes from this blog. Thank you!
Sadly, these muffins didn’t work out for me – like some of the other reviewers said, they just came out way, way too wet (despite cooking longer). As making in the UK, I converted most of the measurements to grams/mls to ensure consistency but it’s possible I forgot with the milk! Shame as they are otherwise tasty!
I’m sorry to hear that! Thank you for sharing, Nikki.
Hi Kate!
I was glad to see you had the X3. I am doing them morning. I used 1/2 & 1/2 & 2c Honey only because the container had 2c. Perfect!!! Moist!!! Yummy!!! I Thank You I will be making them every Zucchini season.
:) Judy
Hi Kate!
I was glad to see you had the X3. I am doing them morning. I used 1/2 & 1/2 & 2c Honey only because the container had 2c. Perfect!!! Moist!!! Yummy!!! I Thank You I will be making them every Zucchini season.
:) Judy
Cookie is Beautiful!
Just made this recipe again, turned out perfectly. It’s a family favourite. Substituted with soy milk, maple syrup and sunflower seeds. Perfectly cooked after 18 mins in my cupcake pan. It made 16 instead of 12, bonus! Thanks for an awesome recipe, it gets veggies into my veggie hating 5 year old, she LOVES these.
I’m glad you loved it, Jen! Thanks for your review.
I’ve made this recipe a dozen times and the muffins were delicious! The last two times, however, I’ve had to throw the entire pan in the garbage. The muffins were perfectly cooked on the outside, and raw in the middle, despite the toothpick coming out clean. I followed the recipe exactly, squeezed out all the extra zucchini juice, even added a little more flour because the batter was so wet. I’m so bummed. I broke my three-year old’s muffin-living heart this morning.
Hi Steph, I’m so sorry to hear that! Have you started using a new flour recently, baking soda or baking powder? I’m wondering if one of those is old or off.
Can I use oat flour instead of your recommended flour?
I don’t believe you will get a the same result with oat flour, sorry! I do know a gluten free flour mix will work well.
Another winner!! I love your recipes and have been baking the Banana muffins for years. Thank you for your thorough instructions and delicious, healthy recipes
I’m happy you love these, Holly! Thank you for your review.
I made these with half zucchini half carrot, turned out pretty good!
I could not wait until they were completely cooled I am having one right now. Tasty!
My toddler boy will enjoy it very much when I pick him up from daycare later =)
Thank you Kate
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing, Claire.
What kind of vinegar am I suppose to use when substituting the buttermilk? Thanks!
Regular white vinegar will work!
I tried making these muffins last night and my batter was super runny and of course they didn’t bake properly. I squeezed the water out of my zucchini so that wasn’t the problem. I did substitute with Bob’s Red Mill GF flour but I don’t usually run into this problem. Any ideas on what happened?
Hi Llam! I’m sorry to hear that. I wonder if there was still extra water or if you may have over stirred? I don’t tend to have issues with that gluten free flour either.
Yes maybe it was the over stirring, will try them again for sure .
Oh my goodness, these muffins are delicious! I’m actually not a muffin fan and rarely make them for myself, but I felt inspired today. I followed the recipe and the muffins came out beautifully. I treated myself and added some chocolate chunks too. Thanks Kate!
I don’t leave reviews on things but these were amazing!! Sooo moist and tasty and I even over cooked them. I used olive oil and I actually processed the nuts and didn’t roast them as I made these for my toddler so there a just crumb like bits of nut throughout which is safer for him to eat. I have shared the recipe and will definitely re make !!!