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Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are rich, delicious and loaded with flavor. Have ’em for breakfast all week long. Every morning is better with chocolate!
Folks, I feel like we’ve FINALLY made it to summer in Ohio. And get this, we’ve had about 5 days straight without rain!
We took advantage of the gorgeous weather this weekend and set Elle and her friend up with a lemonade and cupcake stand.
I mean, who can refuse a couple of cute kiddos selling adorably packaged chocolate cupcakes with delicious buttercream frosting and lemonade? Clearly, no one because the girls sold out in less than 2 hours.
She earned $20 and I’m pretty sure we’ve ignited her entrepreneurial spirit because we’re already prepping for her next dessert sale! We’re thinking mini cheesecakes and my favorite chocolate chip cookies along with these chocolate zucchini muffins.
TIPS FOR BAKING WITH ZUCCHINI
As soon as the weather warms up, I get way into zucchini. From Lemon Zucchini Cake to Zucchini Cookies, I fully believe zucchini belongs in allllllll the baked goods.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at these 10 Zucchini Desserts and I bet you’ll change your mind.
Zucchini is perfect for adding to baked goods because the delicate flavor allows it to blend in perfectly with sweet cake or bread batters. It also keeps baked goods moist without having to add a lot of extra oil or fat to the recipe.
Everyone has come across a giant zucchini or two during the summer. You know what I’m talking about – zucchini that got left a bit too long on the vine and are a little too fibrous to enjoy on their own.
Those big zucchini are perfect for baking!
Whenever I bake with zucchini, whether it be in a cake or in zucchini muffins, I always grate it super fine because it practically disappears into the batter. Most of the time, you probably wouldn’t even know it’s there if you can’t see it!
My dad, who is not fond of the green squash, noshed down a couple of these Chocolate Zucchini Muffins in a matter minutes, and proclaimed them freaking delicious.
And I have to say, I totally agree with him.
THE BEST DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI MUFFINS
So let’s talk about these Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. They’re honestly one of the best muffins that I’ve ever made. And that’s a tall order, given I run a baking website.
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins could easily be called “Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins” because the chocolate batter is packed with chocolate chips.
You read that right! They are full of chocolate flavor from using cocoa powder and two types of chocolate chips, and the texture is simply amazing thanks to the zucchini.
They’re absolutely perfect for sneaking some veggies into a chocolate lover.
These Chocolate Zucchini Muffins will last about 3 days at room temperature in an airtight container. You can also freeze them for easy breakfasts later.
When you’re ready to eat one, just pop it in the microwave straight from the freezer for about 30 seconds to 1 minute for a warm muffin breakfast on the go.
I mean, who wouldn’t want a warm, chocolatey muffin for breakfast?
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Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder I used Hershey's Special Dark
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups finely grated zucchini slightly drained
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup mini milk chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray muffin pan wells with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the sugars, oil, eggs, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix until just combined.
- Fold in zucchini until it is evenly distributed into the batter. Stir in semisweet chocolate chips.
- Use a large cookie scoop (about 3 tablespoons) to distribute batter amongst the prepared muffin wells.
- If desired, sprinkle mini milk chocolate chips onto the top of each muffin.
- Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are so yummy. I do replace the AP Flour with Bob Red Mill’s 1 to 1 Baking flour and know one knows they are gluten Free.
Made this recipe this morning. Disappointed when I took them out of the oven they fell completely. I was surprised they there was no baking powder in the recipe. Found them to be overly sweet and very crumbly. Wont make the recipe again, sorry.
Hi Donna – The baking soda serves as the leavening in this recipe instead of baking powder or a combination of the two. I’m sorry you had trouble with them; I’ve made them many times, as have many readers, and haven’t had these issues, so I’m not sure what might have happened for you. Have a great day –
Jamie
Thanks for the recipe. I made these muffins with mostly almond flour (some all purpose – I didn’t measure the exact amounts), agave instead of sugars, added some grated apple, used butter instead of oil and I did not add any chocolate chips. They were delicious! Just sweet enough. Thank you!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your feedback, Karen! Happy baking!
Jamie
Our family made chocolate zucchini “cake” many times but I could not find my recipe so I did a search and this recipe came up. I took the advice from one of the comments and added half the sugar but I did stir in the whole bag (2 cups) of dark chocolate chunks. I didn’t sprinkle the mini chips on top. Like another commenter I used a 9 x 13 baking dish so it took a little longer to bake but the “cake” tasted delicious. I will double it next time so our family can eat one and I can freeze one for later when we don’t have an abundance of fresh zucchini from our garden:)!!!
So glad this worked for you, Judy! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your feedback. Happy baking!
Jamie
Made this recipe in a 9×13 pan. Delicious! They didn’t have the ‘crunchy’ top that the muffins have, however, it still tasted good!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Natalie! Thank you for stopping by to share your feedback. Happy baking!
-Jamie
Hello! Delicious recipe! Just wondering if I can make this recipe in a 9 x 13 pan. Also, could you add sour cream??
Hello! I haven’t attempted this recipe with this adjustment, so I am not sure of the result. If you happen to give it a try, I’d love to know how it turned out. Thanks so much for stopping by.
-Jamie
So I made this recipe with a few tweaks and it was delish! Made a bread instead of cupcakes, used half butter/coconut oil instead of oil, added nutmeg, used cacao instead of cocoa.
I had to add 1 cup of milk to the recipe. It was too dry. Also had to cook for 35 minutes at 375°F. Also used 1/2 cup of EVOO and 1/2 cup butter instead of the poison oil. Also added 1tbs of baking powder.
Made these today. I ended up with 30 muffins perfect size and I had to cook them for about 25 minutes. They turned out amazing. So yummy .
Yay! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for stopping back and leaving your feedback!
-Jamie
These were so good. Insanely chocolatey!! I subbed half the regular sugar with monk fruit sweetener and half the chips with sugar free chocolate chips, and I used coconut oil. They came out oily (there was oil in the muffin cup after I took the muffin out). Even though they get oil on your hands when you eat them they are still really good.
I prefer to use my kitchen scale and avoid measuring cups, so I used a converter to get the metric measurements. They turned out great! The only thing I did differently was double the cinnamon and not squeeze the zucchini (because the batter was looking a little thick). Here are the measurements used (feel free to share):
300 grams granulated sugar
107 grams packed light brown sugar
237 ml vegetable oil
3 large eggs
10 ml pure vanilla extract
300 grams all-purpose flour
40 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
6 grams salt
5 grams baking soda
2 grams ground cinnamon
250 grams finely grated zucchini
175 grams semisweet chocolate chips
87 grams mini milk chocolate chips
Glad is worked out so well for you, Carrie!