Zucchini Muffins with Chocolate Chips
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Start the day off right with homemade zucchini muffins – they’re a hit with kids and a great way to sneak in some veggies!
As zucchinis reach their prime, the school bells start ringing again. I totally get the temptation to grab a box of sugary cereal or pre-packaged snacks (been there, done that!). But with zucchinis in abundance, why not turn them into a tasty morning or afternoon treat, like zucchini bread or muffins? For these delicious chocolate chip zucchini muffins, all you need are some basic kitchen staples, a little baking spirit, and a mere 35 minutes. The best part? Kids devour them, and you’ll love knowing they’re munching on something packed with veggies. Feel free to replace half of the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour, or swap out the chocolate chips and nuts for your favorite add-ins.
Table of Contents
“First comments from my teenaged son: “VERY good! A keeper for sure!” The amount of spice, pecans and chocolate chips was perfection. These babies are so good they should be illegal lol!”
What You’ll Need To Make Zucchini Muffins
- All-purpose Flour: Provides structure and texture to the muffins. Measure by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off to ensure accuracy.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder: Act as leavening agents helping the muffins rise.
- Cinnamon and Nutmeg: Add warm, aromatic flavors that complement the zucchini and chocolate.
- Butter: Adds richness and flavor to the muffins.
- Light Brown Sugar: Sweetens the muffins and adds moisture.
- Eggs: Bind the ingredients together and provide structure.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the overall flavor of the muffins.
- Zucchini: Adds moisture, texture, and a nutritional boost to the muffins. Neutral in flavor, so picky eaters won’t balk!
- Chocolate Chips: Infuse the muffins with bursts of chocolate flavor, appealing to kids.
- Chopped Pecans or Walnuts: Add crunch and nutty flavor, enhancing the texture and taste of the muffins.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step instructions
Begin by shredding the zucchini. I use a food processor but it’s also fine to grate by hand. There is no need to wring out the shredded zucchini.
Next, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Stir to combine, then set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract.
Whisk until evenly combined.
Then stir in the zucchini.
Add the dry ingredients to zucchini mixture.
Stir until just combined, then add 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips and all of the nuts (if using).
Mix until just combined.
Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, divide the batter into the muffin wells, filling each almost completely. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips onto the muffins, pressing them in lightly so they adhere.
Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
Serve warm or room temperature and enjoy!
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Zucchini Muffins with Chocolate Chips
Start the day off right with homemade zucchini muffins – they’re a hit with kids and a great way to sneak in some veggies!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 medium (9 oz) zucchini, grated (about 2 packed cups/no need to wring dry)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons chocolate chips
- ⅔ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and set rack in the middle position. Generously coat a muffin pan generously with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and whisk to combine. Stir in the zucchini.
- Add the dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in ½ cup of the chocolate chips and all of the nuts (if using).
- Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, divide the batter into the muffin wells, filling each almost completely. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips onto the muffins, pressing them in lightly so they adhere. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling. Serve warm or room temperature.
- The muffins are best served on the same day they are made, but will keep, wrapped in foil, at room temperature for 2 days.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw for 3 – 4 hours on the countertop before serving. To reheat, wrap individual muffins in aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F oven until warm.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 muffin (with nuts)
- Calories: 337
- Fat: 16 g
- Saturated fat: 7 g
- Carbohydrates: 44 g
- Sugar: 27 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Sodium: 193 mg
- Cholesterol: 53 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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These muffins were too dense, so much so that I had trouble swallowing them. I made the recipe exactly as written. I would not make these again, sorry.
Hi, Jenn.
Do you have a basic recipe for savory muffins? I wonder … Zucchini with panceta or ham and some cheese, perhaps …
Mojca
Hi Mojca, As of now, the only savory muffins I have (which still have a touch of sweetness) are these cornbread muffins. Sorry! I’ll have to add that to my list of recipes to potentially develop. 🙂
Great recipe. Followed the comments and ommited nutmeg. Perfection!
This is a go to recipe for me. My toddler loves these, he calls them cookies and will eat like 5 in a sitting. For a slightly healthier version I use olive oil, 2 zucchini’s and no chocolate chips and they’re still great!
Thanks for the advice Jenn. I seemingly have the opposite issue to many of your readers, I am trying to up the nutrition of my elderly mother rather than feed children. Her appetite has seriously dwindled as she gets older but she has retained her sweet tooth and her lifelong habit of ‘a little something’ with her afternoon tea. I added 2 tbsp of hemp seed and reduced the flour by the same amount, as suggested. I added the chocolate chips and very finely chopped walnuts. She baked them in mini-muffin tins and she loves them. The hemp seed does provide a slightly granular texture but it is fine, and my fussy mother has not commented. It is good to know that these muffins are providing added nutrition in addition the necessary calories. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes and your responsiveness to readers. Have a lovely American Thanksgiving. Despite the challenges of the present times, we all have so much to be thankful for. Cheers.
💗
I like to add things like hemp seeds, or a hemp/chia mixture to muffin and cookie batters to up the protein. Can I just add them directly or should another ingredient, such as flour, be reduced. Thanks. These muffins look delicious.
Hi Stella, if you want to add something like hemp or chia seeds, I would cut back the flower proportionally. (I’d limit it to a few tablespoons.) Please LMK how the muffins turn out with any tweaks!
Just made these this morning, and they are delicious! So moist and flavorful! We didn’t add nuts, because my daughter didn’t want them, but I’m sure they would add yet another tasty/crunchy element. Your recipes never disappoint, Jenn. Thanks!
I made these today and they are delicious. I tried one while they were still cooling! I can’t wait to share with my neighbors. I have the time to bake and they have three little children who love to see me bring over some treats. Thanks for another great recipe and it’s so easy.
I am not a fan of zucchini bread or muffins, but wanted to give these a shot because we love all of your other muffin recipes. OMG these are amazing! They are so easy to make too.
I doubled the recipe and used 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of oatmeal. They turned out great!
I do the same thing! Yum and healthier.
gg – Sounds wonderful! When you use oatmeal, do you grind it up at all, or just use it straight out of the box?
I had a giant zucchini and so I tripled the recipe. They are soooo darn good.
Another winner! Tried to be sneaky and substituted whole wheat pastry flour instead of white AP flour. The whole family loved them!
Absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS!! Easy, too- thank you!
Just made these delicious muffins. I only had a 1/4 cup of butter, so I added a 1/2 of applesauce and they turned out great! Whole family raved how good they were, so I guess I’ll be adding this to the recipe box! 🙂
My 3 year old son absolutely loves these. He asks for them all the time. It’s his favorite thing right now.
We just found out he likely has a wheat allergy. Is there any way to make these wheat/gluten free?
Thank you so much!
So glad your little one likes them! Yes, I think these would work with an all-purpose gluten-free flour. A lot of readers have mentioned they really like King Arthur’s gluten-free blend. Please LMK how they turn out if you try it!
Thank you so much ! I will try it this week and let you know 🙂 🙂
They turned out amazing ! So yummy. My son can’t tell the difference. Thank you so much. It means a lot to me as a food allergy mama to be able to bake these for him ❤️
I made these and they were absolutely delicious! I was pretty skeptical at first because of the zucchini. We had grown these huge zucchini this year and I didn’t want them to go to waste, so I looked up recipes and found yours! So glad I did! Thank you!
Delicious.
I made these zucchini chocolate chip muffins and they are amazing!
I also froze them and they taste just as good when thawed and warmed up!
Perfect muffins!
Made these today. Delicious. I used brown rice flour, coconut sugar, instead of regular flour and brown sugar. Coconut oil instead of butter. Was hoping to reduce the fat and carbs a bit.
Thanks for the easy recipe 🙂 Kim
This was so amazing. I used Walmart gluten-free all-purpose flour, 1 cup of coconut sugar, took out the cinnamon and 2 tbs of chocolate chips, and followed it to a T. It came out wonderful. My kids asked me to make them again because they gobbled them up so quickly. This is rated 5 stars in my book.
How many cups of zucchini would that be? I have a massive zucchini from the garden so I’m not sure how many cups of it that I should use
Hi Tamara, I’d estimate you’ll need about 1 & 1/3 cups. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Jenn
Can I substitute 18% cream for the butter? Thank you.
I don’t think that will work here — sorry!
These turned out so good! I added two tablespoons cocoa powder and reduced the flour accordingly. I also reduced the sugar a bit and it didn’t impair the flavour at all. I’ve now made these muffins and your chocolate chip muffins in the space of a week to send to my daughter at Uni. She loved the choc chip, let’s see what she thinks of these. Thanks for two fantastic recipes! 😀
Hi there the recipe instructions don’t appear anywhere for some reason.
Hi Sheryl, It sounds like you are just looking at the portion of the page that has the pictures with some instructions underneath. If you scroll down a bit to under the pictures, you’ll find the full recipe. Alternatively, at the very top of the page, under the recipe name, you’ll see an orange/red button that says Jump to Recipe – if you click on that, it will take you directly to the recipe. Hope that clarifies!
I make these muffins regularly! My grandsons love them and so does my husband! They are moist and tasty with the addition of vege’s and chocolate chips. Yum!
I make double batches of these and add extra zucchini since I omit the pecans due to a a nut allergy. I made one dozen with no chocolate chips and added chocolate chips the rest of the batter (made 18 more!). I’ve made this several times and the recipe works really well even when using half whole wheat flour and reducing the sugar. It was a big hit in my family. We freeze them and heat them up in the microwave!
I’ve tried many of your recipes and they all turned out perfect. my cooking has definitely improved thanks to you.
I’m going to make this one soon. just wondering what the cooking time will be if I’m using the mini muffin tin?
thanks!
So glad you’ve had success with the recipes! For minis, I’d start checking for doneness at 11 to 12 minutes. Enjoy!
This looks great. Can I substitute the butter using unsweetened applesauce? How many cups of applesauce I should use? I can’t have chocolate and I have to omit that as well, should I add more zucchini or just leave it as the same? Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Hi Aileen, I’d suggest replacing half the butter with applesauce. If you do that, you’ll need 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup butter. If you don’t mind denser, more moist muffins, you could try replacing all the butter. And you can omit the chocolate chips without increasing the zucchini. Please LMK how they turn out!
Looks delicious – quick question — does 9 oz of zucchini equal about 1 cup.? Just don’t want to mess this up! Thanks so much!
Hi Elisha, I’d guesstimate you’ll need about 1 & 1/3 cups.
Thanks Jenn! Much appreciated. :)))
These were excellent and scarfed down quickly by family before I could capture a picture. 🙂
Super yummy. Used mostly white whole wheat flour and halved the butter, using applesauce for the other 1/2. And since applesauce is sweet, I reduced the sugar a bit. I quadrupled the recipe to make us 4 dozen for the freezer. Thanks for a recipe that doesn’t require squeezing the zucchini.
These were fantastic! I loved the cinnamon and nutmeg flavor in them. Will definitely make again!
I’m just sampling my first muffin and absolutely delicious! I used 2 cups of zucchini and instead of chocolate chips, I used raisins dusted in flour (plus walnuts). This one is a keeper! Thanks Jenn!
So delicious! Originally made for family but I couldn’t stop myself from eating them, I had to make another batch for everyone.
Best muffins I’ve ever made…delicious! You are my go to for all recipes.
Made my first batch today … so easy and delicious l have batch #2 in now the oven now! So simple to make but so full of yumminess! I used dark chocolate chips and pecans… It’s definitely a keeper!
hi there. I love your recipes and own your cookbook so I am looking forward to your new one. Just wondering of you can substitute olive oil for the butter in this recipe?
Hi Eileen, So glad you enjoy the recipes! Since the butter is melted, it’s fine to substitute olive oil. 🙂
Delicious & moist muffins. Everbody loved them. 🙂
is the 9 oz of zucchini grated or 9 0z before grating
Hi Lucilla, It’s 9 ounces before grating.
Make these! I’ve used the regular and mini muffin tin. Both worked well. My family and I love these. My almost 4 year old calls them chocolate chip muffins. Fine by me! Next time I’m going to double the batch. These don’t last long! Will put this one the list for a grab and go breakfast/snack option for busy days or road trips. Thanks Jenn!
Delicious! I used 2 cups of shredded zucchini. Also dark chocolate chips. Love the texture.
Thank you Jenn!
My daughter recently ate zucchini muffins at a friend’s house, and asked me to make them. I didn’t have a recipe, so I crossed my fingers and hoped that Jenn would have one. I agree with the other reviewers that the taste and texture of this muffin is perfect. I usually feel the need to tweak recipes but that almost never happens with recipes on this site. Thank you, Jenn!
Zucchini muffins turned out great!
Another delicious recipe by Jenn.
Jenn, you did it again…these are delicious. The walnuts are a must. Made them in cute tulip muffin liners that I ordered from Amazon. Only problem, am trying to diet and these are too tempting. My neighbors will benefit. Another winner!!!
Hi, can this batter be used to make cookies instead of muffins?
I don’t think this batter would be appropriate for cookies — sorry!
Okay, thanks! Appreciate the response and will stick with muffins for this recipe!
I made these muffins for the first time and they were amazing! My husband is devouring them. Thank you for helping build my baking confidence!
Warm regards and stay safe,
Beverlye
I roasted my pecans. I wasn’t sure how it would all taste- with nutmeg and pecans, but they turned out great I thought. I added a little less batter Per muffin to make slightly smaller muffins producing 27 muffins. I’ll definitely make these again!
This was a wonderful breakfast treat! They turned out wonderful and my whole family enjoyed it. These are delicious!
Just made these cuz I wanted a healthy treat for my kids. My 4 year old took a bite and said “oh my god”. He ate the whole thing and when I turned around he had another in his hand. Of course it was 5:45pm just before supper. My husband said “mmm”. Muffins were soft and moist and fluffy. I didn’t weigh my zucchini but I used 4 little ones to get the batter moist enough. They look exactly like the picture and taste perfect. This recipe is s keeper! Thank you.
Really delicious especially warm from the oven. I used slightly less sugar and changed the butter to sunflower oil.
Hi, can these be heated from frozen? Thanks
Sure!
Tasty muffins. I cut back the sugar very slightly but otherwise followed the recipe. I had a large zucchini so I cut off about a 4 inch chunk and shredded it for about 2 cups (didn’t measure). Added chopped walnuts. Didn’t have nutmeg. Will cut the cinnamon down to 1tsp next time. Tip: don’t put the choc chips on top, makes it hard to eat without getting melted chocolate everywhere.
Made for after school for my grandkids. Wonderful and love all the zucchini. Huge hit and easy. Will make again!
Could I substitute a neutral oil for the butter?
Sure, Jean – that will work. 🙂
My kids loved these muffins! Even my high schooler gave them high praise and asked me to make them again soon. I will for sure. I added unsweetened coconut flakes, which gave additional texture and a subtle flavor. Thanks for another great recipe!