You’ll love these easy zucchini muffins because they pack a lot of wholesome flavor and only require about 30 minutes start to finish. Enjoy cinnamon, vanilla, and sweet brown sugar in a moist yet fluffy crumb. (And you can’t even taste the zucchini!)
One reader, Carla, commented: “I had lots of zucchini this summer and I struggled to know what to do with it! I made a batch of these muffins and the kids gave them 2 thumbs up, so I will make again for sure and freeze! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Dana, commented: “These zucchini muffins are delicious! They have the perfect texture and the flavor is wonderful. They’re also so easy to make. ★★★★★“
I bake zucchini bread often in the summertime and recently made a couple small tweaks to my usual method. This zucchini bread comes from an award-winning recipe and is now updated with a little more volume (taller 9×5-inch loaf!) and moisture. It’s better than ever!
You could turn the quick bread recipe into muffins or try today’s muffins recipe, which is quite similar.
Here’s Why You’ll Love These Zucchini Muffins
- The batter comes together quickly.
- No mixer required.
- Easy way to use a plentiful summer vegetable.
- Perfect balance of moist, hearty, and soft.
- Dairy free if using dairy-free milk.
- Adaptable to your liking with any add-ins you love in a muffin.
- An extra special treat with a swipe of homemade honey butter on top—YUM.
BONUS: Zucchini muffins are vegetable delivery vehicles that even picky vege-skeptics will love. You can’t taste the vegetable because the zucchini takes on the flavor of the cinnamon-spiced batter. Hop on over to my zucchini cake and chocolate zucchini cake recipes… you can’t even see that sneaky vegetable inside! For even more inspiration, here are 20+ of my favorite zucchini recipes.
Zucchini Bread vs Zucchini Muffins
As I was experimenting with ways to perfect my zucchini bread recipe, I also wanted to get the muffin version just right. Muffins usually have a thicker batter and heartier texture than quick bread. If a quick bread batter is too thick, your bread may easily dry out during the long bake time. Additionally, quick bread slices can become flimsy and fall apart if you stuff the batter with too much, but the compacted muffin shape welcomes extras.
Comparing today’s muffins and the quick bread version, here are 3 differences:
- I use a little more zucchini in the muffin batter.
- I slightly reduce the brown sugar in the muffin recipe (you could successfully do the same quick bread recipe though).
- I use a touch of milk to thin out the muffin batter. In the zucchini bread, I use applesauce. You could use applesauce instead of milk in the muffins, but I do not suggest milk in the bread recipe because the bread will be too moist.
FYI: You can use the batter from my peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread and apple zucchini bread to make muffins, too.
Key Ingredients You Need & Why:
In addition to baking powder, baking soda, and salt, the following ingredients are imperative for the success of this recipe:
- Whole Wheat Flour or All-Purpose Flour: Like these applesauce muffins, healthy apple muffins, bran muffins, and morning glory muffins, today’s zucchini muffins taste wonderfully wholesome with whole wheat flour. You can use all whole wheat or all all-purpose flour or a combination of the two.
- Vanilla, Cinnamon, & Nutmeg: Use all 3 for unbeatable flavor.
- Oil & Eggs: Oil adds moisture and eggs give the muffins structure.
- Brown Sugar & White Granulated Sugar: Brown sugar not only sweetens the muffins, it adds flavor and moisture. Using all brown sugar weighs down the muffins, so use a combination of brown and white sugars, just like in these pumpkin muffins. If you’re curious about using unrefined sugar, try substituting both the brown and white sugars with coconut sugar, or you may enjoy turning this Greek yogurt zucchini bread into muffins instead.
- Milk: Like banana muffins, this batter needs some liquid to help thin it out. Dairy or nondairy milk work wonderfully. Orange juice works too; it sounds odd but I swear by it when making pumpkin bread!
- Optional Add-ins: Chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and raisins are favorites.
And of Course… Shredded Zucchini
Zucchini adds flavorless moisture. It’s truly a magical ingredient in your baked goods—just wait until you try this zucchini crumb cake, chocolate zucchini bread, or a batch of zucchini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
- Shredding Zucchini: I use and love this box grater because it’s easy to use, grates quickly, and has held up well with regular use. No need to blot the shredded zucchini before adding it to the muffin batter, unlike when you’re making zucchini fritters or zucchini biscuits. (Where moisture is NOT a good thing!)
All you’re doing is whisking the dry and wet ingredients together separately, and then combining everything. Expect a thick batter. If desired, sprinkle coarse sugar on top of the muffins before baking. It adds a sweet crunch that also happens to make homemade muffins look like they came from a bakery display case. 🙂 Or a sprinkle of Sugar In The Raw works well here, too.
Can I Add Crumb Topping?
Absolutely! Feel free to top the muffins with the crumb topping used in these apple cinnamon muffins. Or you can swirl the muffins with the same streusel used in these banana chocolate chip streusel muffins.
Plain or chocolate chip are the favorite varieties around here. You might also love these slightly different (but just as marvelous!!!) cream cheese zucchini muffins with a thick cream cheese swirl hiding inside.
Zucchini Bread Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Flavorful and moist, these zucchini bread muffins are an easy summertime baking staple. No need to peel the zucchini before shredding, but you certainly can if you’d like. See Notes for freezing instructions.
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220g) all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour (or mix of both), spooned & leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil)
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk (dairy or non dairy)
- 1 and 3/4 cups (210g) shredded zucchini (no need to blot)*
- optional: 1 cup (180g) semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chopped nuts, raisins, etc)
- optional: coarse sugar, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and milk together. Whisk in the shredded zucchini. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk or stir until just combined. Fold in any add-ins you want to include, if any. Avoid over-mixing. Batter is thick.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C); then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce heat to 350°F (177°C) and continue baking for another 15–17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20–21 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake 11–13 minutes at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.)
- Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, and then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling, or enjoy warm.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days, then transfer to the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then heat up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Box Grater | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Coarse Sugar
- Zucchini: I do not peel the zucchini before shredding, but you certainly can if you’d like. I like to use a box grater for shredding zucchini. Zucchini can vary in size, but 1-2 medium zucchini are plenty for this recipe.
- Can I reduce the sugar or oil? You can absolutely slightly reduce either or both, but understand that sugar and oil help produce moist, tender muffins and the results may be disappointing. For the oil, feel free to swap *some* for applesauce. You could also try substituting all or most of both sugars with coconut sugar. Or you may enjoy this Greek yogurt zucchini bread as muffins instead.
- Can I add a crumb topping? Absolutely! Feel free to top the muffins with the crumb topping used in these apple cinnamon muffins.
- Why the initial high oven temperature? Like I do for most muffin recipes, bake the muffins for 5 minutes at a very hot temperature. Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, switch to a lower temperature for the remaining bake time. This initial high temperature will quickly lift the muffin tops so they’re extra high, then the centers will bake during the lower temperature bake time. This trick makes beautiful bakery-style muffins every time.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This was by far the best recipe for zucchini I have ever made! Thank you so much! It was incredibly moist, full of flavor, and the entire family gobbled them up way too fast!
Loved these! Toddler approved. We subbed vegetable oil for coconut oil, brown sugar for coconut brown sugar and regular flour for oat flour (gluten free option). Since oat flour can be crumbly, the secret is to put them into a glass storage container when still slightly warm in order to retain humidity and moisture. SO GOOD!
Hello and good day!
When you say “no need to blot” with regards to the zucchini, does that mean that you don’t have to squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini? May be a silly question but…..
Thank you!
Correct!
Can I substitute the oil for butter instead?
Hi Kim, we don’t recommend substituting oil for butter and vice versa, because they have different properties as one is solid at room temp. The oil in this recipe adds flavorless moisture, and the muffins will be heavier/denser with butter.
I made these muffins as a baking activity with the preschooler I care for. We added some chocolate chips. They came out great and everyone in his family and mine loved them. Will definitely make them again.
The Zucchini Bread muffins are fabulous, going to make the Apple Zucchini Bread tomorrow when it’s cooler . Thank you I am loving following you. Most helpful and the tips are great . Already want two of your books .
Coming back to say I did pat the zucchini like half dry before adding them and frozen blueberries. They needed to bake 2-3 minutes longer! Came out BEAUTIFULLY. Made a batch of blueberry and chocolate for the week!
If I added blueberries to this as an add in should I dry the zucchini first?
Delicious and super easy to make.
Made these muffins this morning. Fantastic recipe, although I did reduce the sugar by half as well as the oil by half. I used 2 cups of zucchini. I also added a half a cup of chocolate chips and a half a cup of pecans. Very good and very moist muffins!
Made these muffins this morning. Super moist and delicious. I generally use less sugar than recipes call for and added chocolate chips too.
Me too, exactly same way. Fantastic!
Didn’t see the rating option with my other comment. 5 stars as always!! I used half spelt and half all purpose flour. Perfection!
Sally is an honorary family member in my home. She never disappoints! I was too impatient to make a loaf so these muffins were perfect. These are my most favorite muffins to date and even with some small changes they are spectacular!
I doubled the recipe for 24 muffins. I swapped date sugar for the brown sugar, reduced the white sugar by 50 grams and increased the zucchini by 46 grams because I wanted to use all of two zucchinis. I live at high altitude so I cut the baking soda and powder in half. My favorite milk replacement is half part lactose free yogurt and half part water. The crumb is so light and balanced. I got an amazing rise plus the course sugar made them bakery worthy. Will be making these on repeat!
I always trust Sally’s. I’ve never made zucchini muffins before and they turned out great! Love your cupcake and cookie recipe also. I changed nothing and it turned out delicious again! Thanks
Made these muffins several times with fresh garden zucchini, came out great. Gardening season ending here, going to shred/ bag and freeze zucchini. After freezing, most vegetables, water separate from the fruit. In this case… do I dump the water or add total contents of the bag into recipe?
Hi Mike, drain any excess liquid after thawing.
Thank You
Perfect recipe for the baseball bat sized zucchini I found in my garden…. Made the whole recipe in the food processor alternating between the shredding blade and the regular blade. Finished incorporating the flour with a spatula. Didn’t change a thing in this perfect recipe. Another winner from Sally!
I have used this recipe numerous times and the muffins always come out great. I grow my own zucchini and usually have more than I can use. This year I decided to use it to make extra muffins to be frozen. I did 3 dozen today. These muffins freeze in a regular zip lock freezer bag really well. I put them on a baking sheet to freeze them for about an hour before bagging them to keep them from sticking together. We take out what we need and let them defrost for about an hour. It’s very convenient for my wife to have something to take to work. We take them on road trips also.
I leave the salt out and add 3/4 cup of crushed walnuts. I love the idea of high heat then low heat to make them rise.
Really great recipe, the flavor is great and I get comments from kids and grandkids when the are over. Thank you.
Wonderful recipe! I’ve made it twice now, one batch with craisins and one double batch with dark chocolate. The chocolate was definitely our family favorite. I cut down on the white sugar by 25% with the chocolate batch and left out some chocolate. But I made sure to chop my chips so the chocolate could easily spread throughout. I think it was still really rich. But I would hesitate to cut down any more on the sugar for the sake of structure and composition.
A great way to use up some summer produce! Thank you for the recipe!
No temperature no baking g time! If there is it’s hidden in way too much text@
Hi Jeanette, do you see the instructions in the recipe card above? You can use the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page to go directly to the recipe. Hope this helps!
These turned out perfect! I added an extra tbsp of milk and they came out looking perfect. I was worried they would be heavy/stodgy like zucchini bread can be sometimes but this is definitely still a muffin. Will make again!
Can I substitute all purpose flour for oats in this recipe ?
Hi Fay! That would not be a 1:1 substitution, we recommend sticking with all purpose flour.
Is it true that I don’t need to squeeze the moisture out of the zucchini? Other recipes I’ve used for zucchini bread require squeezing all the moisture out with cheesecloth. Please advise. Thank you.
Hi Donna, it’s not necessary in this recipe. The added moisture is welcome!
A perfect simple zucchini muffin recipe that I will definitely be coming back to. I added cinnamon chips instead of chocolate chips and it was great!
Fantastic recipe! Have made them twice in one week with fresh zucchini from the neighbours garden. Thank you Sally! P.S. My Mum’s name is Sally as well and she loves them too!
Great with wild Montana huckleberries…no milk needed!
Do you happen to have the nutritional facts on one muffin ?
Hi Mary, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Could a diabetic substitute Splenda for the sugars in this recipe without impacting taste and texture?
Hi C. D., We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
The recipe calls for 2 TBSP of milk. You mentioned that it could be replaced with applesauce, so can I replace the milk with 2 TBSP of applesauce?
Thank you.
Hi Dar, yes you can in this muffin recipe.
Can you substitute almond flour for white or whole wheat flour called for in the recipe?
Hi Colleen, that 1:1 replacement will not work in this recipe. You may enjoy any of these gluten free recipes instead such as these blueberry almond muffins.
This recipe is super for Texas muffins (6). Bake for 10 minutes on high (425F), then reduce the temperature as indicated and bake for about 28 minutes longer to get nice, high muffin tops. So delicious! I accidentally forgot to add the oil, but was also accidentally generous with the zucchini and the end result was perfect in texture and flavor when eaten warm with unsalted butter. Great recipe! I’ll try this again, hopefully without accidents next time. Thank you, Sally.
SBA never disappoints! My son even liked these, even though he witnessed me putting in the zucchini. I omitted the brown sugar, with chocolate chips it was still sweet enough.
I made these today but forgot the oil…….oops. They still turned out tasty and not dry at all.
The first time I baked these, they weren’t quite sweet enough without the chocolate chips so I added 20 g more of granulated sugar and 13 g more of light brown sugar, and I also threw in a quarter teaspoon of cardamon. They came out the perfect sweetness.