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Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins are the perfect way to use extra zucchini from your garden. Almond butter replaces the oil in these muffins and they’re packed with shredded zucchini and dark chocolate chunks. A delicious way to start the morning!
I wasn’t even planning to make these Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins, but I was deleting a bunch of old emails and the last one was a zucchini muffin recipe from my mom. From 2010! I’m really on top of deleting old emails.
Well, I had to open the email and take a look. It was actually a zucchini bread recipe that my mom had turned into muffins. Since we’re in the middle of “zucchini season” I decided why not test them out and see if they were good enough to share with all of you.
The day I decided to test them, I must have been out of my mind. It was 98 degrees and I thought turning on the oven wouldn’t be a big deal since they only had to back 15 minutes. Wrong! I was literally sweating after they came out of the oven and had to go down in the basement, the coldest place in the house, to cool off.
Luckily, it was worth it because they were delicious! I made two variations one with the chocolate chunks and one without. I liked them both ways, without is more my style for breakfast. However, when I did a poll on Instagram people were overwhelmingly in favor of chocolate being included.
If you’re on team no chocolate you can definitely skip putting it in and they’ll still taste amazing.
I made a couple changes to my mom’s original recipe. Instead of using half all purpose and half whole wheat, I just went with all whole wheat. I omitted the oil and replaced it with almond butter. I had half a jar left from when I made the Fig and Almond Butter Toast and thought it would be a great way to use it up.
Nut butters are a great substitute for oil or butter in baking and they add a wonderful nutty flavor to the muffins. I also swapped the sugar with maple syrup because my preference is to use that or honey for sweetening baked goods whenever I can.
These Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins don’t skimp on the zucchini. There’s two cups of shredded zucchini in the recipe, which adds moisture and keeps the muffins nice and tender. The muffins freeze well when wrapped individually and stored in an airtight container or freezer bag or enjoy them warm out of the oven. But maybe bake them on a day when it isn’t 98 degrees. Enjoy!
More Muffin Recipes
Blueberry Basil Cornmeal Muffins
Morning Glory Sweet Potato Almond Butter Muffins
Peach Quinoa MuffinsChocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 6 tablespoons almond butter
- 6 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. and line a standard muffin pan with liners.
- In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients and stir in the shredded zucchini and chocolate chunks.
- In a smaller bowl whisk together the wet ingredients, then pour it in with the dry. Fold together until combined, then divide the muffin batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan filling each cup approximately 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Stellar ingredient list!! LOVE IT! And really who wants chips when you can go big with the CHUNKS…
Thanks for the recipe!
– Margaret Ann
Exactly! Chunks are so much better!
Hi, could I use some other flour?
Hi Ivana, I only tested the muffins with whole wheat pastry flour, but I’m sure you could use all purpose flour or white whole wheat without any issues. If you do use all purpose, you may need to cut back on the milk a little since whole wheat typically needs more liquid.
Can you use peanut butter? I’m allergic to almonds!
Hi Stephanie, Any nut butter should work just fine, although the flavor will change depending on what you use.
I love using nut butter instead of oil in baked goods as well! And I love how this uses 2 full cups of zucchini :)
Gotta pack in the veggies! :-)