Vegan Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

August 18, 2014

Unless you hide veggies in alllll the things…YOU CAN’T SIT WITH US.

I used to post muffin recipes all the time on this bloggy boo. They’re just the perfect snackity—hearty, healthy, and tasty to boot! Whenever I make muffins now, I use both almond meal and oat flour.

Using almond meal adds a boatload of healthy fats that not only make your hair and skin totally shiny and gorg, but it also helps boost your immune system, fight chronic disease, and combat inflammation!

Using almond meal rather than a grain-based flour also helps lower the carbohydrate content of the muffies, which is great for when you want a yummy snack that’s not a total carb bomb.

You know I love my carbs, but when you eat a plant-based diet that involves carbs out the wazoo (think beans, rice, whole-grain crackers, quinoa, sweet potatoes, hummus), sometimes you just want a snack that’s not as carbalicious.

Because almonds are higher in fat, I find you don’t have to add as much oil to the batter as you would with all whole wheat or oat flour. I get my almond meal at Trader Joe’s and then I simply whiz a cup of old-fashioned oats in the Nutribullet to make oat flour.

Sometimes I buy the organic Arrowhead Mills oat flour as a shortcut, but you really can’t beat the price of a hugh jass container of old-fashioned oats! I bought the biggest size of Target brand oats on sale last week for a whopping $2.69! Thirty servings for $2.69? Hellooooo cheap, healthy breakfast!

These babies are sweetened with a wee quarter cup of coconut palm sugar, so it’s of utmost importance for you to use SUPER ripe nanners. I’m talking the black kind that you think you should throw away but are secretly the key to the bestest banana bread. If you’re using spotted nanners that are still kind of yellow, you may want to add a couple more tablespoons of sugar.

To make these more of a dessert-like muffin, you could up the sugar to a half cup. I think they’re plenty sweet as is, especially with the melty bites of chocolate chips!

I like to use coconut palm sugar because it’s less refined and therefore has trace amounts of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, but good old brown sugar will work just fine, too. Coconut sugar also has a lower glycemic index than refined white sugar, meaning it won’t spike your blood sugar as quickly.

But at the end of the day, it’s still sugar—so go for the more natural kinds and use them in moderation! Keep in mind that coconut oil is still 100% fat (fourteen grams per tablespoon) with zero fiber, just like coconut sugar is still 100% sugar (four grams per teaspoon).

While they do provide some nutritional benefits, don’t go scarfing ’em down just because everyone and their brother promises they’ll lead to miraculous weight loss. There’s no substitution for good old-fashioned healthy eating and exercise, my friends…not even tablespoons on tablespoons of organic coconut oil.

Another note—if you don’t care about a muffin being vegan, you can always substitute the flax “eggs” for regular eggs (two in this case). I think these would also be fab with some shredded coconut, walnuts, some cacao, and a little nutmeg. If you try anything fun, tell me in the comments!

These were adapted from my banana coconut muffins, which is a super old recipe but definitely one of my favorites. Some of the oldest recipes on this site are actually the ones that I make most often, like my salmon burgers, avocado bean burgers, almond butter broccoli stir fry, and tomato, basil and kale quiche.

Brace yourself for some seriously funny old blog posts! PS–my almond butter zucchini bars are one of the most popular recipes on the blog, so if you have an extra zucchini, whip up a batch and thank me later! They are one serious present for your face.
Now go make these.

They’re so fetch.