These gluten free zucchini muffins are the perfect healthy way to satisfy your chocolate craving! They’re moist, fluffy and rich, but made without dairy or refined sugar.
Gluten free zucchini muffins with a rich chocolate flavor but no refined sugar OR dairy?! Sounds too good to be true, but it’s not! These muffins are light yet rich, with a moist and tender crumb and beautifully domed muffin tops.
We’ll be using a few key ingredients to keep these muffins delicious but also healthy too! For dry ingredients, you’ll need oat and almond flour which keep these gluten free, plus cocoa powder for a rich chocolate flavor.
For wet ingredients, we’ll be using maple syrup and coconut sugar to sweeten, plus coconut oil and almond butter to keep them moist.
We’ll finish them off with some eggs and non-dairy milk to give them structure and nice rise! If you like this recipe, be sure to try my gluten free blueberry muffins next!
How to make gluten free zucchini muffins
GRATE ZUCCHINI. Line a muffin tray with 12 liners and set aside. Grate the zucchini and set aside. Don’t squeeze out the liquid, it will help add moisture to the muffins!
WHISK WET. Whisk together all wet ingredients aside from the zucchini.
WHISK DRY. Whisk in the dry ingredients, aside from the chocolate chips, making sure to spoon and level the flour and cocoa. Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips.
SCOOP. Scoop the batter into the muffin tray, filling each pretty close to the top for nice round muffin tops. Add some extra chocolate chips on top.
BAKE. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, but careful not to over bake!
SERVE. Let cool in the tray for about 10 minutes, then remove and let finish cooling on a cooling rack.
Should I peel zucchini?
You can! But you definitely don’t have to. Since these zucchini muffins have chocolate in them, you won’t even notice the green specks, so safe yourself some trouble and just grate the zucchini as is!
A lot of recipes for zucchini bread and muffins will tell you to squeeze the extra liquid out of the zucchini, but I actually never do this!
I like to keep the zucchini as is, since that extra moisture keeps the muffins moist and fluffy.
How to store
These gluten free zucchini muffins will keep for about 5 days at room temperature. I suggest keeping them in a ziplock bag or air tight container so they don’t dry out.
I like to pop one in the microwave for a few seconds so they get nice and warm and fudgy! Almost like a brownie in muffin form.
Ingredient substitutions
Whether you’re missing an ingredient, can’t stand an ingredient, are allergic or anything else, here are some simple swaps you can make!
EGGS. This recipe calls for two eggs, which is just within my limit for being able to safely swap for an egg replacer. For this recipe, I would recommend mashed banana, apple sauce or flax eggs.
If you use mashed banana or apple sauce, you’ll want about 4 tbsp per egg, so 1/2 cup for the recipe, of whichever you choose. For the flax eggs, just whisk together 2 tbsp of ground flax with 5 tbsp of water, let thicken and use that in place of the two eggs.
NUT BUTTER. I’m a *big* almond butter fan. I use it a lot! You can absolutely swap the almond butter for any other nut or seed butter of your choice such as peanut or even tahini.
For best results, use a natural one with the nut as the only ingredient.
OIL. Any oil will work here! Avocado, vegetable or even olive for a deep and rich flavor. If you use coconut oil, just make sure it is refined so there is no coconut flavor.
FLOUR. For these gluten free zucchini muffins, you need 1 cup each of almond and oat flour. If you want to use all of one of them, you can most likely swap 1:1 with no issues. Just make sure you’re using a total of 2 cups of flour.
Almond flour has a lot more moisture than oat flour, so if you use all almond flour, the bake time may be a little longer, so keep an eye on the oven!
Try these next!
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Sweet Potato Muffins
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Almond Flour Banana Muffins
Lastly, if you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. As always, tag me on instagram if you make this recipe so I can see your creation!
Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut or light brown sugar
- 5 tbsp melted coconut oil
- ½ cup runny almond butter or other nut/seed butter
- 6 tbsp non dairy milk 6 tbsp = 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup grated zucchini with or without skin, about 1 small zucchini
Dry
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1 cup oat flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a muffin tray with 12 liners and set aside. Grate the zucchini and set aside. Don't squeeze out the liquid.
- Whisk together all wet ingredients aside from the zucchini.
- Whisk in the dry ingredients, aside from the chocolate chips, making sure to spoon and level the flour and cocoa.
- Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips.
- Scoop the batter into the muffin tray, filling each pretty close to the top for nice round muffin tops. Add some extra chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, but careful not to over bake! 22 minutes is usually perfect in my oven, but all ovens are different.
- Let cool in the tray for about 10 minutes, then remove and let finish cooling on a cooling rack.
Erika says
This recipe is fantastic! I used coconut milk as my dairy free milk alternative and used a 1/4 mixed seed butter plus 1/4 hazelnut spread for the nut butter. It is so fluffy and delicious. Thank you
Weezee says
The batter was so thick! I had to add more milk… fingers crossed 🤞🏻
It would’ve been helpful to add in the wet ingredients not to add the zucchini in the batter right away… I messed that up
Claire Cary says
The batter should be fairly thick, it will ensure the muffins are nice and tall!
Danyelle says
I made these last night and oh my goodness!! They are so soft and fluffy with amazing chocolate flavor. I will definitely be making more! Thank you so much for the recipe.
Kellie Palumbo says
Can I sub the almond flour for oat flour?
Claire Cary says
That should be fine, but the muffins might not be quite as moist as they are with almond flour.
Kate says
Beautiful muffins, very moist and a lovely texture. I had to sub oat flour for buckwheat flour as I didn’t have gluten free oats at home and it worked superbly. My kids had no idea that there is zucchini in it! Cashew butter worked well as a nut butter. Excellent instructions, very easy to read and follow. I’m looking forward to trying out some of your other recipes. Thank you for sharing this wonderful dairy and gluten free recipe.
Claire Cary says
Thank you Kate! I’m so glad the buckwheat flour worked well. Can’t wait to see what else you make!
Kim says
Good call on the buckwheat flour! I had some to use up, so it saved me from blitzing some oats.
This recipe turned out great, but I think I overbaked them by 2 minutes, as they are a wee bit dry Fantastic crackle top and great rise!
cheyenne says
Have you tried without any nut butters at all? We aren’t super nutty fans wondering if I can omit all together or substitute something different?
Claire Cary says
I haven’t tried it without nut butter, you can try subbing with oil and using half the amount of what the nut butter calls for. You can try sunflower seed butter or cashew butter which has a bit more of a mild flavor!