Description
Enjoy a fall favorite with no guilt! Healthy Zucchini Muffins contain no oil, no refined sugar, and no flour. The oil and sugar are replaced with ripe bananas and the flour is replaced with whole grain oats. Zucchini, spices, and mini chocolate chips give the muffins classic zucchini bread flavor.
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups old fashioned oats
- 2–3 large bananas (1 cup mashed)
- 2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (honey can also be used)
- 2.5 cups shredded zucchini (peeled or unpeeled)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips, mini (optional, plus 1 Tbsp for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place oats on a baking sheet and toast until lightly browned, stirring once (about 4 to 6 minutes). Let cool to room temperature. (If you are in a hurry you can skip this step, however the toasting adds flavor!)
- Reserve 1 Tbsp of oats for muffin tops. Place remaining oats in food processor and pulse until they reach a rough, flour like consistency.
- Turn oven heat up to 350 degrees.
- Mash bananas well, they should have no lumps. (I use my mixer to mash them before adding the other wet ingredients.) Add eggs, maple syrup, zucchini, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated.
- Allow mixture to rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This allows the oats to soften and soak up the liquids. (It should look thicker after resting.)
- Optional: Fold in 1/3 c mini chocolate chips or nuts.
- Scoop into muffin tin  (greased or lined with muffin wrappers). The muffins should be about 7/8 full, recipe makes 14 muffins.
- Sprinkle muffin tops with the 1 Tbsp of reserved oats and 1 Tbsp mini chocolate chips (if using), press lightly to make sure they stick.
- Bake at 350 for 35 -45 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean.
Notes
Check baked muffins. These muffins are very moist, if necessary you can cut one open and check to make sure they are baked through. Â If tops are getting too dark place a sheet of foil on top of the muffins to prevent over browning.
Use parchment baking cups. Healthy muffins have a habit of sticking to the baking cups and muffin tins. Parchment baking cups will prevent them from sticking, no greasing needed.
Overfill the baking cups. Want your muffins to look like mine? Fill the baking cups 3/4 full (muffin tins are usually filled 1/2-2/3). Gluten-free muffins do not rise as much as traditional muffins so overfilling the tins will make them look taller.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 140
- Sugar: 12.9 g
- Sodium: 197.9 mg
- Fat: 3.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 25.1 g
- Protein: 3.5 g
- Cholesterol: 27.5 mg
