Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
These paleo and gluten-free chocolate zucchini muffins are easy to make, moist, and super chocolatey! Made with simple ingredients like almond flour, shredded zucchini, cocoa powder, eggs, and coconut sugar, these healthy muffins will be a hit with your whole family!
When I’m craving dessert, I want something drop-dead simple that can be made with stuff already in my pantry—and it can’t crazily spike my blood sugar. Ding ding ding! My new chocolate zucchini muffin recipe hits the bullseye. Unlike other muffin recipes, this one doesn’t require you to squeeze out the excess moisture from the shredded zucchini or buy a bunch of different pricey flours from your local health food store. Plus, it’s a tasty way to use up all the zucchini languishing in your crisper! And did I mention there’s chocolate involved?
Almond flour chocolate zucchini muffins
You hear me right: this recipe doesn’t call for blending together a bunch of different flours. Instead, these chocolate zucchini muffins are made with just almond flour as the base. Even though I love grain-free paleo treats, I don’t have the patience, the budget, or the expandable pants required to test out every single substitution or alternative flour available. I hate wasting money on expensive flours and starches that I’ll rarely use. So any time I can create a paleo dessert recipe with just one type of flour—in this case, almond flour—I call it a day and say “you’re welcome” to my waistline.
Can you make ingredient substitutions?
Unfortunately, I’m not sure how this recipe will work with different flours or how to substitute the eggs, sweetener, etc. If you try a substitution and it works out great, please leave a note in the comments so everyone can benefit from your baking prowess.
Tips FOR MAKING the best chocolate zucchini muffins
Use a scale to measure the dry ingredients! The most precise way to measure dry ingredients for a baking recipe is to use an accurate kitchen scale —there’s just too much variability when you rely on measuring cups to portion out ingredients for baking. That’s why I always include gram measurements in my recipe cards for baked goods—just hit the metric button in my recipe card below to convert to grams!
No need to peel or squeeze out the zucchini! I hate messing up a clean kitchen towel or wasting paper towels by squeezing shredded zucchini in it, so if I can avoid it, I will. Besides, the extra liquid in the zucchini is perfect for giving a wonderfully moist texture to the muffins!
Beat the eggs and coconut sugar well! Coconut sugar doesn’t dissolve easily in liquids so make sure you beat them with the eggs for a good 2 minutes. Don’t be lazy!
Work quickly after the wet and dry ingredients are mixed! As soon as the dry and wet ingredients are combined in this muffin recipe, work quickly because the baking soda has been activated. If you dawdle, your muffins won’t rise as well in the oven!
Ingredients
Zucchini : A medium zucchini should work for this recipe—you should end up with about 1¾ cups of shredded zucchini (shredded on the large holes of a box grater ) or ~220 grams.
Super-fine blanched almond flour: I’m a proud card-carrying member of Costco, so I like to use Kirkland brand finely ground almond flour in this recipe. I don’t know of a good nut-free substitute but I have heard that sunflower seed flour may work as a good almond flour sub. (If it works for you, please let me know in the comments!)
Unsweetened cocoa powder: I’ve tried using both natural cocoa powder and dutch-processed cocoa powder in this recipe, and both work.
Eggs
Coconut sugar: If desired, you can substitute maple sugar in place of coconut sugar. But if you use honey or maple syrup as a substitute, you may need to decrease the amount because of the added liquid.
Dark chocolate chips: I use 70% cacao chocolate chips. You can leave them out, but the chips add a ton of chocolate flavor!
Vanilla extract
Baking soda
Cream of tartar : When combined, baking soda and cream of tartar (acid) work together like baking powder as a leavening agent.
Diamond Crystal kosher salt
How to make paleo chocolate zucchini muffins
Heat oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle position. While the oven is heating up, line a 12-cup muffin tin with parchment muffin liners or grease well with ghee or coconut oil.
In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
Whisk it all together.
In a separate large bowl, add the coconut sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Use a hand mixer or whisk to blend together until the sugar is fully incorporated and the liquid lightens in color to a lighter brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Stir the grated zucchini into the bowl of wet ingredients.
And make sure the zucchini is well incorporated.
Next, add the dry almond flour ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to mix everything until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Divide the batter evenly into each muffin liner.
Fill each muffin cup until the batter reaches about ¼ inch from the top. If desired, dot the top with additional chocolate chips.
Bake the muffins in the oven at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the muffin tray at the halfway mark.
The muffins are done cooking when the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffins from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy! You can’t even see the zucchini in there!
How to store the muffins
You can store the double chocolate zucchini muffins in a sealed airtight container at room temperate for two days, in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for 4 months. When you want to eat a muffin, you can thaw it overnight in the fridge or microwave it for 30 seconds straight from the freezer. If you’re using a countertop toaster oven to heat up a muffin, I would still thaw it first and then bake at 300°F for ~5 minutes or until heated through.
More paleo zucchini recipes
Instant Pot Zucchini Bolognese
Chicken Meatballs
Chinese Beef Noodle (Zoodle) Soup
Spicy Shrimp Pasta with Marinara Sauce
Zucchini Noodles and Meatballs
Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs with Summer Vegetables
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index . You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (Paleo, Gluten Free, Grain Free)
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These paleo and gluten free chocolate zucchini muffins are easy to make, moist, and super chocolatey! Made with simple ingredients like almond flour, shredded zucchini, cocoa powder, eggs, and coconut sugar, these healthy muffins will be a hit with your whole family!
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Prep Time 10 minutes minutes Cook Time 35 minutes minutes
Servings 12
Calories 248 kcal
Ingredients 2½ cups finely ground almond flour ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon cream of tartar ¼ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt 1 cup coconut sugar 4 large eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1¾ cup shredded raw zucchini (use the large holes on a box grater) ½ cup dark chocolate chips US Customary – Metric
Instructions Heat oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle position. While the oven is heating up, line a 12-cup muffin tin with parchment muffin liners or grease well with ghee or coconut oil. In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Whisk well. In a separate large bowl, add the coconut sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Use a hand mixer or whisk to blend together until the sugar is fully incorporated and the liquid lightens in color to a lighter brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir the grated zucchini into the bowl of wet ingredients. Next, add the dry almond flour ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to mix everything until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Divide the batter evenly into each muffin liner. Fill each muffin cup until the batter reaches about ¼ inch from the top. If desired, dot the top with additional chocolate chips. Bake the muffins in the oven at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the muffin tray at the halfway mark. The muffins are done cooking when the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Use a scale to measure the dry ingredients! The most precise way to measure dry ingredients for a baking recipe is to use an accurate kitchen scale —there’s just too much variability when you rely on measuring cups to portion out ingredients for baking. That’s why I always include gram measurements in my recipe cards for baked goods—just hit the metric button in my recipe card below to convert to grams!
No need to peel or squeeze out the zucchini! I hate messing up a clean kitchen towel by squeezing shredded zucchini in it, so if I can avoid it, I will. Besides, the extra liquid in the zucchini is perfect for giving a wonderfully moist texture to the muffins!
Beat the eggs and coconut sugar well! Coconut sugar doesn’t dissolve easily in liquids so make sure you beat them with the eggs for a good 2 minutes. Don’t be lazy!
Work quickly after the wet and dry ingredients are mixed! As soon as the dry and wet ingredients are combined in this muffin recipe, work quickly because the baking soda has been activated. If you dawdle, your muffins won’t rise as well in the oven!
Storage: You can store the chocolate zucchini muffins in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for 4 months. When you want to eat a muffin, you can thaw it overnight in the fridge or microwave it for 30 seconds straight from the freezer. If you’re using a countertop toaster oven to heat up a muffin, I would still thaw it first and then bake at 300°F for ~5 minutes or until heated through.
Nutrition Calories: 248 kcal | Carbohydrates: 23 g | Protein: 8 g | Fat: 16 g | Fiber: 4 g | Sugar: 13 g The post Chocolate Zucchini Muffins appeared first on Nom Nom Paleo® .
