You’d never guess these incredibly moist 100% whole grain Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Muffins have zero oil and are packed with veggies! Whip up a batch for easy healthy breakfasts on-the-go.
These here muffers kind of restored my faith in humanity.
They stand for something. They’re the muffins I didn’t make last week when life felt messy. They kind of symbolize me being at peace. That may sound super melodramatic, but the fact that they came out damn near perfect on the first try seemed like a gift from the anxiety gods.
Like, “congrats on not feeling too stressed to cook, hummus!! Want a cookie!? Or a muffin? How about the best chocolate zucchini muffin in the land?” Yeah, that’ll do.
I used to make Happy Herbivore’s Chocolate Zucchini Muffins alllll the time back in the day. I don’t really know why I stopped making them. All I know is having a boatload of zucchini, ripe nanners, and Bob’s whole wheat pastry flour on hand made it all just so meant to be. I knew I wanted them to have less sugar, so why not nix the almond milk and applesauce and triple the banana? And since they’re oil-free, why not substitute some of the pastry flour for almond meal? Because…moistness.
I took them out of the oven and worried they wouldn’t be as good as the original. I worried they’d be too wet or too dry. Oh no.
They were…everything. I immediately texted the boyf and told him how I’d just laid mouth on the best muffin I had ever made. I told him he should hurry his hiney over here to try one while they were hot and melty.
Of course he wasn’t done cleaning so I was forced to eat them all myself. Damn.
I assure you these beyond moist, perfectly sweet (and totally oil-free!) vegan chocolate zucchini muffins will distract you from any and every woe, even if just for a moment.
I love that good food can be an escape in that way. Go ahead. Let these divine muffamillions take you to a better place!
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ¼ cup almond meal
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 1¼ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 3 small over-ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 heaping cup grated zucchini (don't squeeze water out)
- 1 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup chocolate chips (I used mini) + more for topping
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tin/line with liners and set aside.
- Place flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl, stirring unti combined.
- Place bananas in a large mixing bowl and mash with a fork. Add zucchini and almond milk, and vanilla.
- Pour half of dry mixture into wet mixture stirring just until combined. Repeat with the rest of the dry mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Fill sprayed muffin tin evenly with batter. Top each muffin with additional chocolate chips.
- Bake for about 20-22 minutes, or until set.
I was out of vanilla extract, but that would be a delicious addition!
[Tweet “Snack smarter with these Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Muffins via @TheHummusapien”]
What kind of chocolate chips do you use?
Thank you for the recipes and ideas- you are so creative!
Awww thanks! I just used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips that were Kroger brand. I love Trader Joe’s chocolate chips too!
Hi! This looks so yummy and meets …..almost…. all my dietary restrictions. I need to make this totally grain free. To replace the cup of wheat flour—any idea how to substitute with coconut and/or more almond flour?
Try almond meal and let me know how they turn out! I’d leave out the almond milk and keep it a scant cup of zucchini. Maybe bake a bit longer? Hopefully they work well!
Would I need to make any changes to bake it into a loaf instead? Looks delicious
The stars are definitely aligned when your baking experiments come out perfect on the first try…at least for me haha! Can’t wait to try these! Might try to make then gluten free.
Kelly @ Eat the Gains recently posted…Healthy Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta {vegan/whole30}
I can’t wait to sink my teeth into one of these beauties!! Nothing like chocolate to make you feel better about yourself. 🙂
Emilie @ Emilie Eats recently posted…Easy Baked Vegan Doritos
These are awesome muffins. When it cools down here in Austin, I am cooking up a batch.
Lauren @ The Bikini Experiment recently posted…Best Quick Workouts for Traveling
Perfect muffins on the first try. Girl that is a good day. And I love that you don’t have to squeeze the water out of the zucchini. That alone makes this recipe a winner!!
Sam @ PancakeWarriors recently posted…Mango Lime Vinaigrette
Just saw somebody else’s recipe for zucchini chocolate bundt cake (with eggs and oil), calculated the calories on myfitnesspal, and then decided to back the eff up. So happy that I ran across this recipe just 10 minutes later!
Soooooo how many of these would you say that I should eat to help out my daily fruit and veggie quota? All of them? Yeeep. Sounds good to me
Amanda @ .running with spoons. recently posted…you need this, co-washing update, and my therapy (ToL#190)
Whole batch. No question!!
Just made these. So yummy! I ate three in a row! I baked them for 30 minutes, and they were still not 100% set. Did I use too much banana??
Hmmm my bananas were small! Maybe use 2 next time?
Made these today and they were delicious! I had to reassure my husband they were healthy. 🙂
Thanks for a great recipe!
Do you refrigerate them, or leave them on the counter?
Aww I’m so glad! Love it when it’s hubs-approved 🙂 I stored them in an air-tight container in the fridge and microwaves before eating for melty chocolate chips but they would be fine on the counter for a couple days I’d say.
This recipe looks amazing =) Thanks for sharing.
Thanks lady! Enjoy!
I don’t see vanilla in the recipe, is 1 Tbsp the correct amount of almond milk?
Oops–fixed! Yep!
Are the mini chocolate chips vegan ?
Yep!
What can I sub in for almond meal?
You could try more whole wheat flour! I’m not sure if they’ll be as moist, though.
They look super. 🙂 But do you taste the bananas?
I’ve been making these for a while now and thought I’d let you know this is one of my family’s favorite recipies! My husband and toddler love them – and I love that it gets them to eat some extra veggies. 🙂 Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Another winner Alexis!! Question about the nanners vs applesauce.. is there really that big of difference in sugar ? I kinda thought they were somewhat interchangeable?i don’t always have ripe bananas, there were 3 calling my name at the grocery -score !!
Bananas have more sugar than apples 🙂 1/2 cup of applesauce has about 18g sugar versus 1/2 cup banana has around 27g. Depends on the recipe but the banana adds great flavor here! I haven’t tried them with applesauce but let me know if you do 🙂
Oh yeah that makes sense 🙂 if I don’t have bananas on hand, could I use applesauce and maybe add a little maple syrup ?
Thanks !!:)
Ya! Or maybe some granulated sugar 😉
These are amazing!! I used oat flour rather than the recommended flour, 1/4 cup coconut sugar rather than 1/3, and 100% cacao unsweetened chips. The results were out of this world. Thanks for the recipe
Awesome! Love your spin on it.
How much mashed banana would you say this mesures out to be ? My muffins seem to be too wet and undercooked in the middle. 🙁
I’d say 1-1/2 cups. I always check my muffins with a fork before taking out of the oven so when it doubt just bake longer! Enjoy 🙂
I have made so many different types of healthy muffins, breads and cookies and normally they are good but my kids are like “ehhh…they’re okay”.
These are by far the best healthy muffin I have ever made. My kids loved them and so did my husband and I. I made no changes to the recipe, they turned out perfect! We took them camping but they are now my go to healthy muffin recipe.
Hey, Alexa! (I’m totally kidding — I read your confessions of a dietician post) *clears throat* Alexis,
I love this recipe! I’m a lactose free, vegetarian gal, so I am always looking for vegan recipes like this! However, after losing 15 lbs in my first trimester of pregnancy, I’m trying to gain it back. Therefore, I unskinified this recipe like so:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup high calorie protein powder
¼ cup cocoa powder
⅓ cup brown sugar
1¼ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
3 mashed bananas
1/4 cup avocado oil
1 tbsp almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup chocolate chips (I used mini) + more for topping
They’re great healthy weight gain muffins! Thanks for the fab recipe, as always,