Super moist and packed with zucchini, these Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins are great for breakfast or snack. We love them when we have too much zucchini on hand—or when we just need a dose of chocolaty goodness.
Whenever our garden explodes with zucchini, I see some at the grocery store or farmers market, or we’re just in the mood, we make these Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins. This is such a perfect recipe to add a veggie to a toddler breakfast or kids snack and is one of our very favorite zucchini recipes.
These muffins for kids are super moist, super fluffy, and a great mix of nutrients and flavors. They have a full cup of zucchini, plus whole grains, proteins, and healthy fats.
They’re great on their own or topped with cream cheese, peanut butter, or almond butter. You can make them with chocolate chips or blueberries too. My kids love them as much as I do!
(You may also like Spinach Muffins, Healthy Zucchini Muffins, Banana Zucchini Muffins, and Chocolate Muffins.)
Table of Contents
Ingredients You Need
To make this chocolate chip zucchini muffin recipe, you’ll need to have the following ingredients on hand and ready to go.
- Whole wheat flour: This flour absorbs moisture well and has fiber and nutrients, so it’s a great option here.
- Cocoa powder: I usually use Hershey’s Special Dark for flavor that’s not bitter.
- Baking powder and baking soda: These help the muffins rise nicely.
- Zucchini: Any variety of green zucchini works here.
- Sugar: A modest amount of sugar adds sweetness. You can sub maple syrup or honey if you prefer.
- Milk: Dairy or nondairy milk works in this recipe.
- Eggs
- Melted butter: I use unsalted butter in my baking so I can control the salt. If you only have salted butter, just skip adding the salt in the recipe.
- Vanilla extract
- Chocolate chips or blueberries: You can choose to add one or the other, or add some of each.
TIP: I coat my muffin pan with nonstick classic Pam spray. There is not enough fat for these to come out cleanly from paper cupcake liners, so spray them lightly with nonstick spray if you want to use them.
Step by Step Instructions
Here’s a look at the simple process involved in making this chocolate chip zucchini muffin recipe so you know what to expect. Scroll down to the end of the post for the full information, including the amounts and the timing.
Step 1. Grate the zucchini. Squeeze it very, very dry with your hands. Measure it out.
Step 2. Whisk together the wet ingredients.
Step 3. Stir together the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet.
Step 4. Add batter to a muffin pan and bake.
TIP: You can make these Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins ahead of time and then store them in the fridge or freezer and serve them on busy mornings.
Frequently Asked Questions
To make this easy muffin recipe, stir together the wet ingredients, add them to the dry, then mix your uniform batter. Bake the batter portioned into a muffin pan.
If you freeze shredded zucchini, thaw and make sure it’s totally squeezed dry, then add it to the recipe the same as fresh.
Yes, just use a mini muffin tray and bake for 10-12 minutes.
How to Store
Store fully cooled Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5. Freeze cooled muffins in a zip top freezer bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months.
Best Tips for Success
- Serve Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins at room temperature, warmed slightly, or chilled. (They may firm up a bit if chilled.)
- If using blueberries, expect the muffins to be super moist.
- Mini Muffins: Cook for 12-14 minutes in a 24-cup mini muffin pan.
- Dairy-free: Use melted coconut oil in place of the butter and plain nondairy milk.
- Gluten-free: Use cup-for-cup style gluten-free flour in place of the whole wheat.
- Egg-free: Use a store bought egg subsitute or omit the eggs, increase the milk to 1 ½ cups, and increase the baking soda to 1 teaspoon. Bake for 18-22 minutes and check for doneness with a cake tester. (I tested them and it worked well, though they are moister than the regular recipe so they take a little longer to bake.) Let cool fully before eating for the best texture.
- If you have more zucchini, try Zucchini Fries, Zucchini Tots, and Baked Zucchini Fritters.
Related Recipes
Desserts
Easy Zucchini Cookies
Breakfast
Fluffy Zucchini Pancakes
Breakfast
Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
Breakfast
Banana Baked Oatmeal with Zucchini
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe if you make it for your family, so please comment below to share!
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup sugar (or maple syrup; up the sugar to ½ cup for a more conventionally sweet muffin)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup grated zucchini, squeezed very dry and packed tightly (measure after grating and squeezing)
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (melted, or use canola or avocado oil)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup chocolate chips (or 1 cup blueberries; you can also use up to 1 cup of chocolate chips if you prefer)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a standard size muffin pan with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Grate the zucchini with a box grater and squeeze as much liquid out as you can with your hands. (I usually place it onto a clean kitchen towel and roll up to remove excess moisture, too.) Measure out 1 cup after this process.
- To a medium bowl, add the squeezed zucchini, milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
- Gently stir in the flour mixture. Gently stir in the chocolate chips (or blueberries).
- Divide batter among the prepared muffin pan, using a heaping ¼ cup in each. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean.
- Let cool for a minute or so in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
- Serve muffins slightly warmed or at room temperature.
Notes
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5. Freeze cooled muffins in a zip top freezer bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months.
- Serve at room temperature, warmed slightly, or chilled. (They may firm up a bit if chilled.)
- If using blueberries, expect the muffins to be super moist.
- Use ½ cup sugar if you prefer your muffins to be sweeter. These are very lightly sweetened as written.
- Mini Muffins: Cook for 12-14 minutes in a 24-cup mini muffin pan.
- Dairy-free: Use melted coconut oil in place of the butter and plain nondairy milk.
- Gluten-free: Use cup-for-cup style gluten-free flour in place of the whole wheat.
- Egg-free: Use a store bought egg subsitute or omit the eggs, increase the milk to 1 ½ cups, and increase the baking soda to 1 teaspoon. Bake for 18-22 minutes and check for doneness with a cake tester. (I tested them and it worked well, though they are moister than the regular recipe so they take a little longer to bake.) Let cool fully before eating for the best texture.
- Use the same amount of honey or maple syrup in place of the sugar.
- Use white whole wheat or all-purpose flour if desired.
Nutrition
This recipe was first published July 2021.
These muffins are now my favorite on the site! Really great moist texture and just the right amount of sweetness. Picky 4 year old approved. I will definitely make these again!
Great recipe- I also got almost 48 mini muffins. My almost 3 year old had fun helping me mix all the ingredients. Love all of your recipes.
Could I make this in a cake pan, like 8×8?
That should work. The timing might be a little longer so keep an eye on the center of the pan since that’s the part that will take the longest to cook through.
Made these muffins this morning and the whole family loved them – even my 3 year old son who hates nearly everything. Thanks for a great recipe! And for anyone’s reference I made these with flax meal and olive oil (instead of eggs and butter) and they came out just great.
So glad to hear it!
I made these today and my toddler ate 4 as soon as they cooled. She also loves your banana spinach muffins which are in our regular rotation. I love your site so much! In full disclosure, my picky toddler has not loved every recipe off this site, but I have and I happily add them to my lunch to eat, when she doesn’t. This one definitely gets 5 stars from us both. Yum!!
Delicious and it 2 thumbs up from my veggie-hating preschooler! Just one thing to note-I actually got 48 mini muffins! 2 full pans worth. Maybe my pans are small, but be ready with the second pan if you’re doing mini size.
I made these egg-free & dairy-free with homemade oat milk & followed the egg sub directions. It definitely needs to be fully cooled. We tried them warm, cooled at room temp, and refrigerated. Refrigerated was the best texture. The flavor is delicious & I’m happy to have an option for a vegetable my 3yo wouldn’t normally eat. We made these together & thoroughly enjoyed them.
I made these tonight exactly as the recipe outlined and with chocolate chips.
The flavour is great. Not too sweet, but just sweet enough.
The only issue i ran into was the inside being what i intially thought was undercooked. I baked for another 6 minutes but it didnt change much.
Amy specifically mentions to squeeze the zucchini very very dry. I thought I did, but wondering if maybe it still wasnt enough.
My toddler still ate 2 right away (and so did I).
I will try these again and see if i can figure out what i did. But otherwise, it’s a great recipe!
Do you think they were undercooked after they cooled? Sometimes the melted chocolate can make it a little hard to tell.
I am not sure how to edit my original review above. (Amy perhaps you could email so i could adjust it?) But I’d like to change it to 5 stars from 4. After letting the muffins sit for awhile longer, the texture improved and they are perfect now!
Oh, I’m glad to hear that. I’ll just remove that rating and will leave this one. Thanks for coming back to do that!
Amazing recipe once again Amy! My toddler always asks for chocolate cake, and I always say no, but then I saw this and decided to give it a try. So now I give him “chocolate cake” when he asks and he has no idea he’s eating healthy zucchini muffins. Muhaha so sneaky, I love it. Thank you.
I cook gluten free in our house for items that I too want to eat, this is one of them. Since I want to try this, how can I make it with the almond flour? Do I need to let it sit for sometime? If so how long? Thank you!
Almond flour is usually not a good substitution for wheat flour, so I don’t recommend swapping it in. A 1:1 style gluten-free flour is a better option if that might work for you.
Thank you so much for this ! Yes, I’ll use GF flour
Can I sub for all purpose flour using the same amount?
Yes, that should work okay.
Full disclosure, I bumped the sugar up to 1/2 cup after trying one of the other muffin recipes on this site and finding it too much like a bran muffin for my tastes, but these came out DELICIOUS! Approved by 1 out of 2 toddlers and a big thumbs up from Me 😊
Would they still come out if I sub the eggs for applesauce when I make them gluten and dairy free? 😳
I would recommend using 1 1/2 cups plain nondairy milk and 1 teaspoon baking soda (the rest of the ingredients the same) for the egg and if you use a 1:1 GF flour like the one from King Arthur, I have high confidence that they would turn out very similarly! Let me know if you try it!
I love courgette, and thanks to making things like this, so does my daughter!!
Just the right amount of sweetness with a hint of cinnamon! This Mom will definitely be making these for herself again! Thank you!
I’m so glad!