Banana Zucchini Muffins made healthy with whole wheat flour, maple syrup and chocolate bar chunks. Shredded zucchini keeps muffins moist and tasty with very little oil. Ripe banana adds sweetness and dark chocolate decadence. Freezer-friendly recipe is perfect for a make ahead snack and on-the-go mornings.
Healthy muffins like these plus banana muffins, blueberry muffins and chocolate muffins are on a regular rotation in our house because “kids” and if we are honest, adults are eating them fresh out of the oven, too!
Table of contents
Banana Zucchini 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 zucchini banana bread muffins with whole wheat flour, maple syrup and dark chocolate chunks. The world’s fluffiest and most delicious zucchini banana muffins. I know there are many muffins out there but mine are the best! I swear, just check the reviews!
These healthy muffins turned out so fluffy and moist. The ratio of everything was spot on. I promise – you just need to turn on the oven and make them.
Why This Recipe for Healthy Zucchini Banana Muffins Works?
- Easy: Normal baking ingredients that you probably already have on hand.
- Healthy: No refined sugar, whole grain, low oil plus filled with fruits and veggies, sign me up for a double batch!
- Less kitchen fresh food waste: By using overripe bananas or your ‘grew too large’ garden zucchini, there is no need for food to go to waste!
- Versatile: Use either whole wheat or spelt flour, sub nuts or blueberries for the chocolate, use honey instead of maple syrup and even make vegan muffins by using a flax egg!
- Make Ahead: Zucchini and banana make these muffins moist, they freeze well without fear of drying out upon thawing!
Ingredients for Zucchini Banana Muffins
- Bananas: Make sure bananas are very ripe. The uglier bananas, the sweeter the muffins, just like in healthy banana pancakes.
- Zucchini: Shred on medium size hole grater and pack in the measuring cup. Do not squeeze.
Do not squeeze the water out of your zucchini for this muffin recipe! Shredded zucchini is what keeps these muffins moist.
- 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. If you need gluten free, try these almond flour banana muffins
- 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 is often called ‘chunky monkey’ because of the chocolate bar chunks in them! You 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 semi-sweet 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 375F degrees and line muffin tin with parchment paper liners. Chop chocolate bar.
- Batter: Mash bananas, add liquids and whisk in dry ingredients. Don’t forget to stir in chocolate chunks.
Do not over mix batter for fluffy muffins.
- 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. 🙂
FAQs
While most bakery or grocery muffins contain a hefty amount of calories, when you make your own homemade muffins they can be healthy! Choosing whole grain flours, using unrefined sugars and using a low amount of oil keeps your baked goods waistline friendly. Also, using healthier ingredients helps avoid that ‘processed ingredients’ sugar crash later.
You can make this recipe into mini muffins by reducing the baking time. Set the time for 12 minutes, then test. If mini muffins are not done add 3 minutes and so forth. Mini muffins can take anywhere from 15-18 minutes.
Sure can! Omit the egg and make a flax egg for vegan banana zucchini muffins.
This recipe is written for muffins, but try my zucchini banana bread recipe for the perfect ingredient ratio for a quick bread. One reader did test this in a baking dish and had great results, but I have not tested that.
Some readers have tested this using half oil / half applesauce to lower the amount of oil and another reader used only applesauce with no oil – both had great results, but I have not tested this.
Serving Recommendations
You might be wondering what is good to eat with muffins and in that case, there are so many options for serving your breakfast or snack muffins.
- Assorted muffin basket: Love to bake? Make a healthy muffin assortment with morning glory, gluten free muffins and chocolate quinoa muffins. You could even add some sliced quick breads like coconut flour banana, cinnamon bread and pumpkin chocolate chip.
- Part of a healthy breakfast: Serve with strawberry yogurt and eggs for those days when you are really hungry (or your feeding hungry boys like mine!)
- Brunch spread: Along with breakfast casserole, vegetable frittata, poached eggs, smoked salmon salad and Ukrainian breakfast potatoes for a special mid morning breakfast/lunch.
- Snack platter: Raw vegetables with veggie dip, crackers with garlic hummus and a few muffins satisfy hungry after school appetites!
- Favorite beverage: Sip on iced coffee or lime iced tea while enjoying a muffin and quiet time.
Making Muffins in Advance
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 described 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 carrot muffins
- Healthy pumpkin muffins
- Healthy apple muffins
- Healthy zucchini muffins
- Healthy chocolate chip muffins
Banana Zucchini Muffins {No Refined Sugar}
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
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Hello and welcome to iFOODreal.
My name is Olena Osipov. I'm a mom to 2 boys, a wife to Alex and we reside on magical Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. This is our healthy family recipes blog. Originally from Ukraine, I grew up on real food. As an adult, I struggled with diets for years because none worked long-term. Now for over 10 years, I cook easy healthy meals for my family. I can help you with “What’s for dinner?” too.