Banana Zucchini Muffins made healthy with whole wheat flour, maple syrup and chocolate bar chunks. Shredded zucchini makes muffins moist and tasty with very little oil.
Healthy muffins like these and healthy banana muffins are on a regular rotation in our house because “kids”.
Zucchini Banana Muffins
Banana zucchini muffins are a good reason to turn on your oven this summer. So are lemon zucchini muffins and healthy zucchini bread.
Healthy little breads with whole wheat flour, maple syrup and dark chocolate chunks. The world’s fluffiest and most delicious banana zucchini muffins. I know there are many muffins out there but mine are the best! I swear.
They turned out so fluffy and moist. The ratio of everything was spot on. I promise, if you only turn on the oven.
Ingredients for Zucchini Banana Muffins
- Bananas: Make sure bananas are very ripe. The uglier bananas, the sweeter the muffins.
- Zucchini: Shred on medium size hole grater and pack in the measuring cup. Do not squeeze.
- Dark chocolate bar: Your favorite. I will cover the options below.
- Whole wheat or spelt flour: These are only 2 flours I would recommend to use because other flours act differently. Baking is a science and it is best to follow the recipe for favorable results.
- Maple syrup: Any liquid sweetener like honey, agave or brown rice syrup works. As long as it’s not sugar. Dry sweetener will offset the ratios and batter won’t work.
- Egg: You can replace with flax egg if you wish.
- Oil: Any mild tasting oil works. Here are 3 oils I cook with.
Chocolate Recommendations
This banana muffins recipe can use any of the following type of chocolate:
- Chocolate bar: 100 grams or 3.5 oz dark chocolate bar. My favorite!!!
- How dark: 70%, 85% or 90%. My kids loved muffins with 70%, I found them a bit too sweet.
- Baker’s chocolate: That is unsweetened chocolate you can use if you eat 90% dark chocolate no problem. That’s me.
- Chocolate chips: You can replace chocolate chunks with 1/2 cup dark or milk chocolate chips.
- Milk chocolate bar: You can use it but muffins will be very sweet. Up to you.
How to Make Banana Zucchini Muffins
- Prep: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line muffin tin with parchment paper liners. Chop chocolate bar.
- Batter: Mash bananas, add liquids and whisk in dry ingredients. Do not overmix for fluffy muffins. Don’t forget to stir in chocolate chunks.
- Bake: For 22 minutes with a toothpick test. And then cool for 5 minutes in the tin and as long as you can resist on a rack. 🙂
How to Serve and Store Muffins
Serving: I loved these muffins cold the best. Why? Because to me that is when chocolate chunks taste the best. Even when they are 100% cacao. With every soft and moist bite of bread you get a slight crunch of creamy rich chocolate. I specifically ate one muffin right now to make sure I describe my experience precisely.
Storing: I like to store muffins covered with a towel on a kitchen counter for the first 2 days. Since these are healthy muffins and they do not contain oil or sugar, I transfer muffins to an airtight container and refrigerate for another 3 days. Refrigeration helps muffins to retain moisture. If there are any leftovers, of course.
Freezing: Place cooled muffins in a gallon size Ziploc bag, let as much air as possible and freeze for up to 3 months. Mini quick breads take about 3 hours to thaw on a counter.
Enjoy!
More Healthy Muffins to Try
- Healthy blueberry muffins
- Healthy carrot muffins
- Healthy pumpkin muffins
- Healthy chocolate muffins
- Healthy apple muffins
- Healthy zucchini muffins
- Healthy chocolate chip muffins
Banana Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup 3 large very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 cup shredded zucchini packed and not squeezed
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder aluminum free
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat or spelt flour
- 100 gr dark chocolate bar coarsely chopped
- Cooking spray I use Misto
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray non-stick 12 muffin tin with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add bananas and mash well.
- Add remaining ingredients, except flour and chocolate, and whisk to combine.
- Now add flour and gently stir until well incorporated. Do not over mix otherwise muffins will be tough.
- Add chocolate chunks and give a few more gentle stirs.
- Fill each tin almost full with batter (I used trigger ice cream scoop) and bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let muffins cool for about 5 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack to cool off completely.
Store: Store in a cold dry place for a few days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Bananas - Make sure bananas are very ripe. The uglier bananas, the sweeter the muffins.
- Zucchini - Shred on medium size hole grater and pack in the measuring cup. Do not squeeze.
- Dark chocolate bar - Your favorite. I will cover the options below.
- Whole wheat or spelt flour - These are only 2 flours I would recommend to use because other flours act differently. Baking is a science and it is best to follow the recipe for favorable results.
- Maple syrup - Any liquid sweetener like honey, agave or brown rice syrup works. As long as it's not sugar. Dry sweetener will offset the ratios and batter won't work.
- Egg - You can replace with flax egg if you wish.
- Oil - Any mild tasting oil works. Here are 3 oils I cook with.
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes anywhere including social media, print and all world wide web. Nutritional info is provided for informational purposes only and to the best knowledge.
I have made these muffins several times now. They are always a hit with my 3 y/o and husband! We’ve modified the recipe various ways, including adding extra zucchini, blueberries, nuts and raisins, forgo chocolate, etc. It’s a very versatile recipe.
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Sarah!
These were perfect! Fluffy, just the right amount of sweetness and healthy! Easy to follow recipe – thanks for all your work to bring excellent and clear instructions.
You are very welcome Janae 🙂
I substituted the dark chocolate for dates and they were amazing! My toddlers enjoyed them too. They are so easy to make and I’ll be making them many more times. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Hi Emma! I am so happy that this recipe is enjoyed by you and your toddlers!
These are delicious, moist and healthy! Will be making them again!
Awesome!
Can I use coconut flour for this recipe? I’ve been loving the use of coconut flour lol.
Sorry but no.
you might be able to, but it would take some adapting. You may find needing less coconut flour since it absorbs liquid. You would need to experiment with measurements. Maybe try googling for similar recipes but using coconut flour instead.
I always stick with the original recipe first and then play around.
I found these a bit bitter I think I would use half whole wheat and half white flour next time or not as dark of a chocolate- maybe mini chips to spread the joy more! Overall they were good!
I made this but opted to leave out the chocolate. Still turned out great!!
Definitely, especially since it’s dark chocolate – you don’t lose much sweetness. 🙂
These are wonderful, Olena! I stumbled on your site after seeing a banana zucchini muffin recipe elsewhere but so many commenters had issues with the recipe/batter/baking I had to turn to google for another. Yours turned out great! I put to use past-prime blueberries and for some reason had no veg oil (or muffin tins, tossed mine a while back as they were old and rusty, bleh), but they came out just fine with butter in a pyrex dish. I worried about the timing in the pan but the batter fit at about the height of muffins and all was delicious. My 11 month old concurs with blueberry juice all over her face. On to your freezer meals as I’m trying to better balance work and dinner prep to avoid evening meltdowns, lol. Thanks!
Awe, you are so welcome! So happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes! Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule to let me know you enjoyed my recipe.
I double this recipe and make it every week to have as a snack after the gym and it’s amazing! I usually top them with a flavored almond butter, YUM. I also do half coconut oil, half applesauce to make them lower fat. Thank you!!
Glad it works with half the fat and sauce. You are very welcome!!!
Thanks for the idea! I thought the fat was high as well.
We loved this recipe. I even used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour. Very good. Any idea how many WW points for each muffin?
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Jane! No idea on WW Points…
Hi there!
I have a question….I just made these muffins and they didn’t seem to rise….I had to cook them a little longer as my toothpick came out wet but when I took them out they caved in a little. They tasted delicious but would have been better if not so doughy.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Lisa
Hmm. So many things could go wrong. What flour did you use? Did you scrape off top with a knife when measuring flour? Correct amount of baking powder and soda? Not mixed up between tablespoons and teaspoons? Any other substitutions? Measured bananas? Just trying to see what went wrong.
I’ve made this recipe numerous times, my boys love them and anyone who tries them love them too! Was just wondering if you know if it would work as a cake instead of muffins?
Hi Melissa. That is the best when kids (& the rest of the family) love what we moms make. That’s so great! You can but it will be more dense of a cake but not bad at all. And might be slightly different cook time. Just keep checking middle with a toothpick.
This recipe is a keeper! I substituted fresh blueberries for the chocolate. The muffins are moist and so yummy!
I forgot to rate the recipe. This one gets 5 stars!
Thank you!
I baked these muffins earlier today. I just tried one, and again….delicious! I just love your healthy snacks. They are so tasteful that I could eat them all at once, but I guess then it’s not healthy anymore. LOL!
Haha yes and no. At some point you will be so full you will skip a few meals.
We have made these twice: once for ourselves, and once to bring to a friends…. and these muffins are a big crowd-pleaser! I highly recommend you try this recipe!
Happy you enjoyed the recipe, Christine!
I was a little confused because the post said no oil but then the recipe called for 3tblspns oil. I subbed it for applesauce to really have no oil and just lightly misted the muffin color liners with avocado oil.
Sorry about confusion. Muffins need oil. I will fix that!
I would like to make these muffins, but unsure of the amount of chocolate to add. How big or what size is your chocolate bar? 100grm or 200grm
100 grams. That’s our standard in America. I will add that.:)
Thanks Olena! Made these yesterday and they were amazing. I love your page and great recipes!
Awesome!!! And thank you. And enjoy!
I’m so glad you said NOT to squeeze out the zucchini. It pisses me off so much when a recipe says to squeeze out the liquid lol! Great recipe, I’ll be making them again and again 🙂
Why does it piss you off? Lol. You are funny. Sometimes it’s necessary though. I know but … Glad you enjoyed!
These muffins are fantastic! Our family is focusing on low sugar rather than low fat due to recent research, so I appreciated the lower sugar amount. We loved them after they cooled best and they are a great snack!
Glad you enjoyed, Cathy!
My son has been whining lately for me to buy those pre-packaged mini muffins for his breakfast, but I just can’t force myself to do it. The price is ridiculous, and they are so full of junk. But I knew I could find a good alternative from your site to make us both happy. The best zucchini I could find at the store was very small, so I added a grated carrot to make up the ingredient difference. I added 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and these muffins taste like cake but no junkie fillers! Little man is going to be thrilled with tomorrow’s breakfast. You are right…the banana lends just nice sweetness and the muffins are light and fluffy.
I love that you focus on clean and healthy eating, so thank you for all the hard work you do to present such tasty dishes and healthy treats.
You are so welcome! And good call, those muffins are as sweet as candy!!!
These tasted just like regular banana chocolate chip muffins!
These are my dad’s favourite muffins. He asks me to bring them over every zucchini season.
Hi. Can applesauce be substituted for the honey?
No because that will throw off the proportions which are super important in baking. I just can’t vouch for successful results.
Can applesauce be substituted for the olive oil and if so how much?
Unfortunately not because applesauce is reacting with baking soda to help gluten rise. It would have to be a different retested recipe.
We make these muffins regularly, with or without the chocolate and they are delicious! Thank you for making wonderful baking recipes with no refined sugar.
You are welcome.:)
Olena, I have been making delicious recipes from your blog, today i made these muffins for my boyfriend who is going on a trip and will otherwise eat unhealthy snacks and drink beer, ha. These muffins came out fantastic! They are moist, light, and fluffy. I followed the recipe as is but added dry cranberries to the mix. Thank you for always posting easy, delicious, ideas here for us.
You are welcome.:) These are one of my favourite muffins ever. Haha yes my husband used to go on those trips where all they eat is steak and who knows what they drink. Now he says he is too old for that and wants to go only on a beach vacation with the gym and a juice bar.:)
I know. For me personally it all went downhill after 1st pregnancy. Before then I had no issues with weight at all eating way worse foods than now. Must have been hormonal changes. I swear before having a kid at 24 I could eat anything!!! What do you do…life.
This is such a great muffin mashup! Bananas, zucchini AND chocolate? Yes please!
Hi Olena!! If I can’t have wheat or almond flour, should I try oat flour? What amount would you recommend? I can’t wait to try this recipe!!!!
Oh, Jenn. Only oat flour would make these muffins bitter and not tasty. Gluten in whole wheat flour makes muffins rise too. I would recommend to buy gluten free all purpose flour like this one and try it. I have heard it replaces wheat in many recipes nicely. You might have to add xantan gum or might not. In any case you have to try at some point if you want to enjoy baked goods sometimes and not avoid them completely which is a miserable life. See you soon. xoxo
These look delicious! I’ll be trying them this weekend once I hit the grocery store. I don’t trust people who don’t like chocolate lol.
Haha. True.