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.
This was a disaster. The walnuts burnt in 2 minutes and had to be thrown out. I used honey as a sweetener and milk w/vinegar instead of buttermilk. I believe I followed the steps in the recipe properly. They didn’t rise and taste like sour milk. Into the dumpster this batch.
I just made these today! I also burnt my walnuts accidentally but only slightly and I did them on the stove top for more control. I used almond milk with apple cider vinegar. I thought that Apple cider vinegar might go better than white vinegar and I used honey. They were delicious! Can’t please em all. Oh and I used just whole wheat flour. They took a little longer to bake but I could tell they were going to be delicious when I was mixing the wet and dry because it was so fluffy! Highly recommend just like the rest of Cookie and Kate’s recipes!!
Just made these, I doubled the batch and they came out perfectly moist and cooked all the way through in 17 min. I made sure to squeeze out the zucchini and added mini chocolate chips. Thanks for another great recipe!
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Amy!
I’m afraid these were a disaster. Followed instructions to a T but they were raw on the inside. Baked them longer, but then they were overdone on the outside and still raw inside. I bake a lot of muffins, and never had a failure before. I was surprised, because I make a lot of your recipes, and always love them.
Same for me. ;(
I usually love your recipes
Me too :( been cooking for an hour and it’s still not cooked at all inside. Wish I read the reviews before making this and doubling the recipe.
Hi Joanne, I’m sorry to hear that. Did you squeeze out the excess moisture?
Same here, total disaster. Used the gluten-free flour and followed the recipe with everything else. Even after trying to bake them longer, the inside was still not done. Sad as I was really looking forward to try this recipe. I use Kate’s recipes all the time and love it, this was the first time it didn’t work.
Hi, I’m sorry to hear that. Were you able to get a lot of moisture out of the zucchini?
Same for me.. they were raw inside.. I baked for more than 30 mins.
Hi Catty, I’m sorry to hear that. Did you squeeze out the excess water?
They turned out moist and delicious!
I subbed blueberries for the nuts because I had to use them up, did a butter/olive oil combo, used a bit of almond flavor in place of 1/2 tsp vanilla, made a whole milk/vinegar combo, used whole wheat flour and honey, and left out the nutmeg this time. Combined ingredients as instructed. I let the batter rest a couple of minutes before filling the tins to allow the whole wheat flour soak up some of the liquid. Baked as instructed. Presto, muffins like what you pictured!
Your recipe is a great base for a whole grain, naturally sweetened muffin. Just what I was looking to make.
I’m glad you were able to make adjustments and have it turn out well, Marj! I appreciate your review.
Hello from London, UK. These were amazing! I made them yesterday after searching for recipes for my son’s lunch. We’re really trying to help him with healthy eating but he was saying how hard it is with other kids eating sweet treats. He really liked these and so did I! Lovely moist crumb, nice spice. I used whole wheat flour and a mix of honey and maple. They were fantastic and I will be trying more of your recipes. Thanks and enjoy your Sunday x
I’m glad he enjoyed them, Madeleine!
Made these as instructed with whole milk and lemon juice as substitute for buttermilk. I am confused by the reviews stating the dough was wet as mine was perfect and I barely squeezed out the zucchini. They turned out awesome! I’ve made your apple muffins and carrot muffins and they are favorites. Loved these as well!
Turned out moist and delicious! I used a mix of gluten free and coconut flour and mixed almond milk with the vinegar. Was worried they would turn out dry due to the GF flours but that was not the case! Very impressed with this easy, tasteful recipe!
I just made these muffins and added a cup of finely chopped honey crisp apple, I also used regular whole wheat flour. I switched up the spices a little too, I used 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t allspice, 1/4 t ground cardamom and a pinch of ground cloves.They are delicious!
Hi Kate. I love your recipes, easy to follow and always turn out well even with additions. I added lots of mixed spice,(cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice) mixed roasted nuts and chopped up raisins. I ran out of honey and substituted 1/3 cup with date syrup. Delicious.
Oh, and also I never throw away the zucchini juice but add it to the amount of liquid needed. Works perfectly fine and more nutritious.
Thank you for sharing! I’m happy you like these muffins, Elizabeth.
I’m on my third batch in as many weeks (our garden is producing a lot of zucchini-like squashes), and I’m in love! I added blueberries, and they’re a lovely, super-moist alternative to blueberry muffins. Hearty, tasty, and I don’t feel guilty for eating them!
Thank you very much, Kate! This was my first time making zucchini muffins and we loved it! I had to use 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup honey because I didn’t have enough honey on hand. I also used almond-cashew protein plant milk and olive oil, and I added 2 heaping Tbsp of ground flaxseed instead of nuts/fruit. Delicious! These will be gone fast! Will try to make them again with honey only.
I’m glad it ended up turning out! Thank you for your comment and review.
If you like an eggy muffin, this is your thing. The batter was more liquid than batter. I should have read the recipe instructions before I started because half-way through the instructions I was most certain I was following a recipe from a novice baker. My instincts were confirmed at the final product.
Followed the recipe exactly except without the nuts. Just made 6 muffins to start. Squeezed the moisture out of the zucchini and used raw honey. They are so good! Will definitely be making these again. Lots of zucchini in the garden! Thanks for the recipe Kate!
Kate,
I’ve used many of your recipes with great results. Maybe I didn’t squeeze enough moisture out of the zucchini, because the inside is gooey, like a bread pudding..but not inedible by a Longshot! Very tasty, and the toasted walnuts add a great texture. I made a double batch, one in a metal pampered chef muffin pan and one in a Wilton silicone muffin pan. I think the latter held up better. The muffins fell flat but likely due to the excess moisture. I made a double batch of the healthy pumpkin bread muffins a couple days ago and they were a hit. TIS the season to be baking, thanks for the more nutritious options.
**Update:
I reviewed this recipe yesterday when the muffins were just cool enough to touch. They were a little mushy in the middle. I chalked it up to user error b/c I didn’t drain the zucchini well enough. After they sat and cooled completely they were perfect! I mean moist, balanced flavor, and the toasted walnuts..yes please! My hubby and kids loved them because they’re not too sweet (one of the reasons I like your recipes). My sister and bro.-in-law “devoured” them (her words). I will definitely be making these again and again. Thanks for another great recipe!
My 15 month old wakes up famished, so I’m always looking for relatively healthy breakfasts that require no preparation. These muffins fit the bill perfectly!
Awesome recipe! I accidentally over mixed the batter, and they were still moist and soft with no tunneling. The sweetness and spices are just right too.
A couple notes: I strongly recommend squeezing the life out of the shredded zucchini to remove as much juice as possible. And my toasted nuts were almost burnt after 3 minutes – keep a close eye on them.
By far the best muffins I have made. I used 1/4 cup maple syrup and added walnuts. So. Easy and so good.
Hi! Looking to try this recipe soon. I’m counting my macros so I was curious how swapping almond milk for the buttermilk would effect the nutritional facts?
Hi Ariana! Anytime to change an ingredient, it will impact the nutritional facts. You can always calculate your own by using an online calculator.
Moist and delicious!
I’m happy you loved them, Carol! Thank you for sharing.
I left out the nuts because I wanted this to be school friendly for my daughter to take in her lunch. I used oat milk with vinegar, I added 2 tablespoons of ground chia seeds and I also threw in some blueberries. They turned out great! Thanks!
Grandma and I made these muffins. I LOVE THEM!!!
Wonderful, Tamera!
I’ve made many of your sweet breads, but this version was great! Much fluffier than any other!
Ive made these muffins a few times, turn out perfectly! I love the moist spongy texture. I use 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate chips instead of walnuts. Love this recipe!
Awesome! I had never used olive oil before in baking. All came together like a textbook muffin recipe.
Thank you
Cathy B
Moist and delicious! I love that these are not too sweet. I had toasted pecans on hand I needed to use. I am dairy free so I used almond milk with some lemon juice to make buttermilk. I baked them for 16 mins, they came out perfect. My 9 month old daughter loves them too! I was able to make more than 12 muffins, I baked the rest of the mix in a pan to make a small loaf to freeze for another day. Thanks for the yummy recipe, I will definitely be making them again soon.
Thank you for sharing your variation, Danica!
Wow, how disappointing. I have made this recipe twice- my 4 year old loves zucchini muffins and I thought I’d try the “healthy version” for him. I usually rely unwaveringly on C+K recipes for our healthy baking recipes, but gosh this one just doesn’t turn out for me. The first time I blamed myself; I assumed I mis-measured during a pre-coffee muffin attempt. The second time I know I followed it explicitly (post-coffee) and both times they turned out soggy and eggy and inedible. I’m very sad that we’ve wasted so much coconut oil and expensive maple syrup on two bad batches. Suffice to say, we won’t be trying this one again.
Hi Laura, I’m sorry to hear that. Did you zucchini seem extra watery?
I love your recipes. I frequently turn to your blog for reliably delicious, healthy and creative ideas! I wonder if Laura made the same mistake I did here. I squeezed excess water from the zucchini first, and then measured 1 1/2 cups (so I ended up using close to 3 small zucchinis). As I reread the recipe, I think I was supposed to measure 1 1/2 cups unsqueezed grated zucchini and then squeeze the water out. Am I right? They had delicious flavor – I’ll try again with this adjustment! Thanks, Kate.
Hi! Yes, grate the noted amount then squeeze. I hope that helps!
Very bad recipe, I kept the baking time and they were still raw inside.
Hi there, I’m very sorry to hear that. Did you squeeze the excess water out of the zucchini and measure carefully? I retested these muffins over the summer and have never run into raw insides.
Has anyone tried replacing half the oil with applesauce? I might try this and see how they turn out!
I made these but didn’t roast the walnuts, I used plain flour and subbed the buttermilk for whole milk with vinegar. I made them into mini muffins and doubled the recipe for my freezer stash for my 1 year old twins. Fan baked them on 180 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes, they turned out perfectly! Thanks for the healthy recipe :)
Hi Kate,
I’d like to make this recipe diabetic friendly. Do you have any suggestions for how to substitute the honey for a sugar alcohol such as Erythritol?
Thank you kindly!
Hi Carol, Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not an expert there so can’t provide much direction.
These turned out perfectly for us! Made them so my toddlers could eat them. Used soy milk (& apple cider vinegar), honey, no nuts or any extras besides a little bit of ground flax seed. Made them in mini muffins (and two big ones). They loved them and so did I. Baked the minis for like 14 mins. The 2 big ones for 19 mins.
These are so good even my mom loves them (which is huge believe me LOL!). Seriously Kate you are amazing, I recently discovered your recipes and loving all those sweetened with maple syrup…. you see we are from the Laurentides, north of Montreal and surrounded by lovely maple trees… our next project is actually to build a maple « shak » so please keep them coming!
Thank you, Brigitte! Thank you for your review.
Made these lots of times…..love ’em. The only thing I do differently is with the zucchini. I shred it and spread it out to air dry while I heat the oven and combine ingredients. Always perfect!
Hiya!
I tried this recipe – but tried coconut flour instead of the gluten free flour – using the same amounts. It didn’t stick together at all. I tried adding a bit more of the coconut milk, but it didn’t work at all. Any thoughts?
Hi! Unfortunately, coconut flour isn’t a great subsitute. I haven’t had much luck with it in the past.
This recipe was GREAT!! I made them with flax seed “eggs” and substituted a little unsweetened apple sauce for oil. Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips instead of nuts for a little sweetness! Yummy! Already planning to make a second batch!
That’s great to hear, Whitney! I appreciate your review.
This recipe is absolutely perfect! I followed the recipe to a T except I added a few raisins. There is nothing I would change. They’re perfect! I’m so glad I found you!
These turned out great. I used a mixture of walnuts and pecans for the nuts, light olive oil (but not EVOO) for the fat, and low fat milk plus white vinegar for the buttermilk. I added 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves. I used the food processor to chop the nuts and then grate the zucchini (without washing it out in between).I toasted the chopped nuts on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, putting them in the oven before it was all the way pre-heated. I took the nuts out of the oven ahead of the 4 minute mark for fear of burning them. My bake time for the muffins was 19 minutes. I used stand-alone heart-shaped silicone muffin cups which might be a bit smaller than standard muffin cups since the yield was 15 delicious muffins. This recipe is a keeper!
I picked this recipe because I’ve made lots of your stuff before, Kate, and I had buttermilk and a zucchini to use up. I got nervous once I slid them into the oven, because I scrolled past the directions to a handful of poor reviews. However, I shouldn’t have worried- my batter was perfect muffin batter consistency, and it tasted yummy (if a little wheaty because I used WW flour- trying to use that up as well!) I followed recipe to a T, using coconut oil, buttermilk, maple syrup and walnuts (plus threw in some chopped up chocolate), and the muffins puffed up beautifully and tasted great! Not too sweet, perfect with a cup of coffee. I wonder if some previous commenters were not measuring their liquids with liquid measuring cups? Kate, I’d also wonder if you could share the metric measurements in the future, as I prefer to bake with metric measurements for greater precision. That also may alleviate some of the wildly different results reported.
Thanks for this recipe! Great Thursday morning treat!
I’m glad these worked well for you! Thank you for sharing. I appreciate your feedback, Sheila. I don’t have plans to change method of measurement since I do live in the US. But I agree, metric is a great system!
These came out great. I used frozen zucchini and I made sure to squeeze it out really well.
I’m glad that worked for you, Kristina! Thank you for your review.
Followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfectly. Used buttermilk, maple syrup, and coconut oil. No nuts. Would definitely make again.
Hi Kate,
I was so excited to try this recipe, I made it dairy free and gluten free with dairy free chocolate pieces. However, they turned out very soggy! I even cooked them longer than suggested and I squeezed out all the water from the zucchini. However, being British I had no idea that the cups for liquids were different, very confusing. So I guess I added too much liquid? Also, when measuring a cup of zucchini do you squish it into the cup as much as possible? The quantity varies hugely. I agree with another poster, it would be good to have metric quantities as well as it’s generally more accurate for baking.
My little boy still ate them though as there was gooey chocolate in them so they weren’t wasted.
I would like to try them again and get a nice texture, do you have any advice?
Thank you so much.
Hi Nadia, I think the different measuring system is the culprit. I don’t have a great metric alternative at them moment, other than converting each recipe myself – taking time away from me creating delicious recipes for you all. Hopefully I will have a reliable plug-in sometime!
These turned out amazing! Followed the recipe exactly, using the make your own buttermilk (milk + vinegar) and these were fantastic!!
I’m happy you loved these muffins, Olivia!
I love this recipe! I’ve made it many times and it has always turned out perfect! This time, I substituted whole milk plain yogurt for the buttermilk and it still worked like a charm. Fluffy, light, minimally sweet. Thanks Kate!
You’re welcome, Brooke!
Just made strawberry and oat muffins , and about to make zucchini muffins , love the mixture, soft and fluffy, if the zucchini muffins turn out as good as the strawberry and oat, then this .mixture will be my go too for all my muffins thankyou
They turned out perfect! Only thing I forgot was to add the vinegar to the milk, so used regular milk. Other then that, followed recipe exactly and they are delicious!! My kiddos love them to.
I only skimmed the section about nuts as I didn’t think I had any! After pouring batter into the pan I noticed I had crushed hazelnuts. So I just sprinkled unroasted on-top of the muffins for a delicate crumble topping. Omg these are devine!!!
Perfection!! I was nervous to make these because of the comments that say the recipe didn’t work out but i was craving zucchini bread/muffins so I did it anyways. I followed the recipe with all vegan substitutes. Flax eggs, almond milk with apple cider vinegar, and maple syrup (skipped the nuts). They cooked in the specified time range and were perfectly moist. I did make sure to squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini and I let it sit on a paper towel while I prepared the batter which may have helped mine turn out better than others. Definitely making these again! They hit the spot and fulfilled my craving! :)
I’m glad it worked well! I appreciate you sharing what you did, Chelsea.
These turned out perfectly! I added some dried cranberries and orange zest as well.
I made these with raisins and nuts. Everyone loved them!
That’s great, Barbara!
This came out splendidly! I used chopped store bought walnuts and didn’t roast to save time. They are moist and delicious! And, they don’t taste as healthy as they are
Wonderful, Liberty! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
Just took these muffins out of the oven and they are awesome. Used avocado oil, added a couple tablespoons of plain yogurt to milk with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, also added some allspice, and a handful of raisins. Perfect texture.
and taste.
Thank you