Last Updated on June 2, 2015 by Chef Mireille
These make ahead Zucchini Muffins are a staple recipe to have in the repertoire to utilize all that summer zucchini. Light, airy, moist and healthy – these delicious muffins are kid friendly and an easy make ahead and freeze recipe.
Zucchini, courgette or marrow – this versatile vegetable has a few different names depending on what part of the world you are in.
Zucchini is one of the most versatile vegetables that can be cooked in a variety of ways and utilized in both sweet and savory recipes.
It has a very mild flavor so that you won’t even notice it in the muffins, yet by using healthy zucchini for moisture instead of additional dairy products that would add more fat these are no guilt muffins that you can enjoy at any time.
With more road trips this year (2021) than ever before, this is a delicious and healthy zucchini muffin to pack along on the long car trips.
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Table of contents
Do you garden? Plant zucchini?
Before you blink, zucchini season will be upon us. If you plant zucchini, you know that once they start, coming up with delicious ways to utilize all that zucchini before it gets wasted is a constant challenge. Just one plant will keep you swimming in zucchini for the whole summer season.
Sure you can just saute zucchini as a vegetable side or use them in delicious recipes like Ecuadorian Spring Soup, Grissini Breadsticks and Italian Chicken Farro Salad, but when you are on the lookout for more recipes to utilize your excess zucchini then its time to make these Healthy Zucchini Muffins.
Now not all zucchini muffins are healthy. If they are loaded with sugar and refined flour, the health benefits of the zucchini in the muffins are minimal, if at all.
So I’ve added a few things to improve the protein levels and health benefits of these Zucchini Muffins.
How to make Zucchini Muffins Healthy?
- Yogurt – full of healthy probiotics that help digestion and boost your immune system. It is also very high in protein, calcium and potassium.
- Almond Flour – By replacing some of the flour with almond flour/almond meal, again you are adding more protein to these Zucchini Muffins with Almond Flour. By utilizing almond flour, it also makes it low in gluten. Just replace the whole wheat pastry flour with your favorite gluten free alternative flour to make the muffins 100% gluten free.
- Zucchini – and of course, by adding zucchini to the muffins, you are getting all the healthy vitamins and minerals from the vegetable.
- Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – by using whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour, you get additional dietary fiber. Pastry flour will yield the same result as all purpose flour, due to the reduced protein levels in pastry flour.
Frequently Asked Questions
So what do you need to make Healthy Zucchini Muffins with Almond Flour?
Ingredients
- almond flour/ almond meal
- whole wheat pastry flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- cinnamon
- cardamom
- butter
- sugar
- almond extract
- eggs
- zucchini
- plain yogurt
- walnuts or pecans
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How to make Easy Healthy Zucchini Muffins
- First grate the zucchini.
- Wrap the zucchini in a kitchen towel or cheesecloth and squeeze out as much liquid as you can.
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Beat the butter and sugar.
- Add dairy and flavorings.
- Add the flour combination.
- Fold in zucchini and walnuts.
- Bake.
Bake for 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool and remove from muffin tin.
Soft, tender, moist, light and airy – The Ultimate Best Zucchini Muffins with Almond Flour and Yogurt!
I used to see Zucchini Bread and Zucchini Muffins at the Farmer’s Market and thought it was kind of weird so never tried it. Then when I was in culinary school, we made Zucchini Nut Muffins and I was so amazed how good it was with the grated vegetable in it.
Zucchini has a very neutral flavor so is a perfect way to sneak some vegetables into a sweet treat for your kids with them being none the wiser. If you have one of those kids that wont eat it if they know vegetables are inside, just tell them its green apple if they ask what the green things are inside the muffins. After they finish falling in love with the muffins, then you can tell them the truth 🙂
Healthy Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour/ almond meal
- 3/4 + 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup zucchini grated
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1/3 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease muffin cups. Alternately, use silicone muffin molds.
- Wrap grated zucchini in a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth. Squeeze to extract all of the liquid from the grated zucchini.
- Combine almond flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamom in a large bowl.
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- In a small bowl, beat eggs, yogurt and almond extract. Add to butter and mix well.
- Add flour mixture a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in zucchini and nuts.
- Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool and remove from muffin tin.
Notes
Nutrition
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Mireille you talking about kids..even I should not be told that a veggie has been incorporated. ..:))..but truly it looks wonderful.
Wow again one more veggie combo of zucchini and almonds in muffins
I love the texture of these cupcakes… and my elder one has been after my life for me to bake some.. I think I will use ur recipe, susbtituing the eggs with flax seed may be…
Look forward to reading all ur interesting posts and global cuisine this BM, Mir :-))
very nicely done!!! love the idea of sneaking zucchini in the muffins!!! secret healthy stuff!!!
Sowmya
Merielle, i ahave zucchini and almonds right now…off to bake them…looks very nice…will update you once i bake these
Nutritious muffins. Yes we need to sneak in vegetables in sweet treats so that they would eat it…
I always combine zucchini with chocolates so that my kids wont notice it, seriously i want to give a try this nutty muffins.
Mireille this is awesome. Hats off yo you for I was trying to save Zucchini for Z and in your place would have tried to manuplate the name to suit my needs. 🙂 I know that would be cheating but then desparate measures and deparate situations! 🙂
This is so true, zucchini takes in the flavor of the stuff u add it with. Love the color on these muffins. Fabulous.
I've only seen zuchhini used in chocolate-based breads/cakes so as to 'hide' the veggie. The greens peeking out look so good Mireille. I love almonds and nuts in muffins. This is a sure winner for me. Great post as always and here's to a rocking start to BM 32!!!
I have just started seeing Zucchini around here. So this may be a good recipe to try out, eggless of course. And you are absolutely right, better not tell the kids there is veggie inside!And the muffins are sure to be a hit with that almond meal….
Mireille, those muffins are looking so stunning not to mention being healthy…and you are right abt kids and veggies..mine will run a mile if I talked abt veggies..so this is surely a recipe I would try for them..it's wonderful that you tried so many options before settling with this, I so look fwd to your rest of the dishes…:)
Lovely muffins with crunchiness of almonds and softness of zucchini ! I am sure kids will love it without knowing the presence of veggie inside.
Awesome muffins, Mir. Looking forward to your unique creations. I totally agree with you that the past 4-5 months was very exciting !
thats an very very delicious combo and they look super moist 🙂 lovely start to BM 🙂
Oh yumm.. you got me at the title itself. These sound like a super yummy muffins. They look moist and the combination sounds awesome. Looking forward to your creations for the A-Z marathon 🙂
i loved the zucchini when i added it recently in my bread, am yet to make a cookie or muffin, yours looks beautiful
I loved the. Li is a lot Mireille. All of them. And your first post has the first and the last alphabet as well 🙂
Rice recipe I have been thinking abt this combination for long never made it though nice to see the outcome well done
Lovely combo..Muffins look just irresistible..