We really wanted to create fluffy, moist, and thoroughly delicious muffins that are simply healthier. So, we "crossed" a zucchini bread recipe with our favorite blueberry muffin recipe. Success! These zucchini muffins will make everyone happy.
What makes these zucchini muffins so healthy?
Admittedly, "healthy" is a very subjective term when it comes to muffins, but here are a few reasons why we consider these muffins more nutritious than the usual ones:
- We recommend making the muffins with whole wheat flour instead of conventional white flour. Whole wheat flour has a mild flavor while containing the highest level of valuable nutrients.
- We replace butter with ghee, coconut, canola, or sunflower oil.
- We replace refined sugar with real maple syrup, so these muffins are naturally sweetened. However, you can also forgo sugar entirely and sweeten them with birch sugar (xylitol), for example.
- All this combined makes for hearty and delicious zucchini muffins.
These muffins are also perfectly suited for a vegan and gluten-free diet! See the notes below.
Recipe: Healthy Zucchini Muffins
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 16 minutes
Total time: 36 minutes
Recipe for: 12 muffins
These healthy zucchini muffins are naturally sweetened and made with whole wheat flour. They are fluffy, moist, and absolutely delicious. The recipe makes 1 dozen muffins.
INGREDIENTS
¾ cup coarsely chopped raw walnuts or pecans (optional)
⅓ cup melted coconut oil, ghee, canola, or sunflower oil
½ cup maple syrup or birch sugar (honey is also an option)
2 eggs
⅔ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups grated zucchini (you will need 1 small to medium zucchini – if the grated zucchini is very wet, squeeze out the excess moisture over the sink before stirring it into the batter).
1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
PREPARATION
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (approx. 400°F). If necessary, grease all 12 cups of the muffin tin with butter. Alternatively, you can prepare 12 paper muffin liners.
- Toast the nuts: Once the oven is warm, place the chopped nuts on a small, rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the nuts are fragrant and lightly golden brown (approx. 4 to 5 minutes – you may want to turn them).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil with the sweetener. Whisk until the mixture is well combined. Add the eggs and stir well. (If the coconut oil solidifies upon contact with cold ingredients, simply let the bowl sit in a warm place for a few minutes or warm everything up for about 30 seconds in the microwave.)
- Add the buttermilk, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and vanilla extract and stir. Fold in the zucchini with a large spoon, then add the flour and stir only until all ingredients are combined. A few lumps are fine! Now gently fold in the toasted nuts.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Bake for 16 to 19 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown. It is best to do the toothpick test!
- Remove muffins from the oven and let cool.
NOTES
OIL OPTIONS: We love coconut oil for this recipe. We used organic virgin coconut oil, which you can barely taste in the final product.
IDEAS: Use chocolate chips, cacao nibs, or small chopped dried fruits instead of the nuts.
MAKE IT VEGAN: Use maple syrup instead of honey, replace the eggs with egg substitute powder, and choose a plant-based milk such as almond or oat milk instead of buttermilk.
LACTOSE-FREE: There are now numerous alternatives to animal milk available: almond, cashew, oat, rice, coconut, or hazelnut milk.
GLUTEN-FREE: Choose a gluten-free all-purpose blend; these usually work better than just a single gluten-free flour alternative.
NUT-FREE: Simply omit the nuts and do not use nut milk.
LOW-FAT: Replace the oil with applesauce if you are following a low-fat diet.
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