The BEST healthy zucchini muffins – made with all the yummy feel-good ingredients: oats, zucchini, dates, maple syrup, and olive oil. Just blitz up in a blender and pour!
Feel-Good Zucchini Muffins
Featured comment
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve made these so many times the last few months, I almost have it committed to memory 🙂
These Zucchini Muffins Are Healthy, Easy, and Delicious
I guess zucchini muffins don’t have to be made with wholesome ingredients in the easiest possible way (hi blender), but honestly, when they taste this totally yummy and addicting, why wouldn’t you?
Running all your ingredients through the blender (yes, that’s what we’re doing) isn’t exactly a classic baking move, so if you are wanting a more traditional zucchini baked good situation, I have some other ideas for you, like lemon olive oil cake with zucchini, lemon poppyseed zucchini muffins, and/or cinnamon sugar zucchini coffee cake. I love the ease of the blender though, and have even used a food processor to make a similar recipe for these bars.
I love to make a batch of these for the week – they’re the perfect on-the-go snack (packed with veggies, fiber, with plenty of sweetness!) and my kids love them. We make these almost weekly, especially in the summer with all that fresh zucchini.
If you like recipes that are:
- Easy
- Wholesome
- Naturally gluten free
- Naturally refined sugar free
- Feel-good for the bod
- REALLY REALLY YUMMY
… then this is your zucchini muffin.
Ingredients For Zucchini Muffins
These zucchini muffins are both dense and springy in just the right balance – not heavy, not overly sweet, just wholesome and filling. And this is going to blow your mind because they are made with the following ingredients:
- rolled oats
- zucchini
- dates
- maple syrup
- olive oil
- eggs
That’s right: a delicious zucchini muffin with no flour, no butter, no sugar.
Which works really well for the feel-good part, especially when you’re feeding them to your kiddos, snacking on them 24/7, and eating at least two every time you pop the lid on the muffin container.
How To Make Blender ZUcchini Muffins
If you have a blender or food processor, you’re pretty much set to go to whip this batter up in five minutes flat.
There are three steps:
- Prep your ingredients – like grating your zucchini and pitting the dates.
- Blend up all the ingredients until a chunky batter forms.
- Bake in a muffin tin for 15-18 minutes (and add some chocolate chips if you want!).
- Sprinkle with salt and eat.
Easy, wholesome, simple – I love these so much.
Tips For Success
You really can’t go wrong with making these muffins, but here are a few tips I follow to make them the very best!
- Use a high-powered blender. In order to get the right texture (not too chunky!), it’s best to use a high-powered blender to really break everything down, especially the dates and oats. I’ve used a Blendtec and Vitamix and both are awesome!
- Squeeze the zucchini. Zucchinis have a lot of water! To avoid having a mushy texture after baking, I recommend squeezing the zucchini a few times in paper towels to remove some of the moisture.
- Reserve some zucchini. Before I add the zucchini to the blender, I like to set some aside to stir in after blending. I love having a little but of that texture and color so the batter isn’t too pureéd!
Variations On These Zucchini Muffins
If you’re into this healthy / easy / feel-good muffin thing, you’ll probably also like these too that use the same basic ingredients and are made in a blender:
But stay focused.
Grate your zucchini now. Get out your muffin tin. Zucchini muffins and good feelings, straight ahead! ♡
Watch How To Make These Zucchini Muffins
Feel-Good Zucchini Muffins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Description
The BEST healthy zucchini muffins – made with all the yummy feel-good ingredients: oats, zucchini, dates, maple syrup, and olive oil. Just blitz up in a blender and pour! YUM.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
- 8 medjool dates, pitted (about 3/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup
- 2 cups zucchini, grated (about 1 medium zucchini)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- chocolate chips (optional, for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prep Zucchini: Grate zucchini on the large holes of a box grater. Squeeze the shredded zucchini with paper towels a few times to remove the moisture.
- Make Batter: Blend all ingredients in a blender until a chunky batter comes together.
- Bake: Pour batter into a greased or lined muffin tin. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the tops gently spring back when you press into them.
- Finish and Store: Sprinkle warm muffins with sea salt if you’re into that kinda thing. These muffins keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week!
Notes
I recommend reserving a little bit of the grated zucchini, blend everything, and then add the last bit of zucchini so it doesn’t all get too pureed.
Chocolate chips contain refined sugar, which maybe isn’t a big deal if you have, like, 7 of them on top of the muffin. But if you are trying to keep these COMPLETELY refined sugar free, be sure to skip the chocolate chips on top and opt for cacao nibs, toasted coconut, or chopped nuts instead.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Snack
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: zucchini muffin, healthy zucchini muffin, zucchini recipe
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I don’t have a blender?
Because of the dates, this recipe really requires a blender or food processor break them down into a smooth batter. You could try chopping them very finely but the texture will just be a little different!
Can I use something other than zucchini?
I’d recommend checking out one of these other similar muffin recipes!
Banana Bread Muffins
Pumpkin Muffins
Apple Muffins
Carrot Muffins
What can I use instead of dates?
Other readers have substitutes other dried fruit (raisins, apricots, etc.) and it’s worked great! Another reader said they omited the dates entirely and it worked out fine, and another used mashed bananas instead, but we haven’t tried it ourselves to confirm. We’d love to hear about what substitutes you find that work!
What other add-ins would be good?
I love these with chocolate chips, but I think adding some chopped nuts (like walnuts) would be delicious too! I could also see adding some lemon zest being delicious too to really up the summer vibes!
How should I store these and how long do they keep?
I like to keep these in an airtight container in the fridge. They should keep for up to a week in the fridge!
Three More Healthy Muffin Recipes
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy zucchini recipes. Check it out!
Filed Under: All Recipes Baking Breakfast Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Healthy Most Popular Recipes Snacks Sugar-Free Summer Zucchini
September 12, 2023
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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These muffins sounded great and we looked forward to the road trip snack. When baking, they rose beautifully and then immediately sunk after taking them out of the oven (following toothpick checks). The result is a stodgy block of wet goo. They taste fine. We’ll see how they reheat, but I don’t think a muffin resurrection is possible.
Are you able to provide the shredded zucchini volume or weight for reference? I’m wondering if your zucchini may have been smaller than mine.
Can I make this like baked oatmeal? In a 9×9 pan?
Hi! We haven’t tested in a baking pan, just as muffins.
Hi there!
Would these freeze well?
Yes!
Do these freeze well?
Yes!
Amazing! My 3 year and 5 year old love them as well and have no idea there’s zucchini in them 🙂
I make these every week and refrigerate them in a container for a wonderful morning or afternoon snack! They are delicious. The consistency is perfect, the flavor delicate. Helpful tip for anyone looking for refined sugar-free chocolate chips-I use the Just Date brand, found at Whole Foods. That makes the entire recipe totally free of refined sugar!
These are a staple in our house! I have the kids make them regularly as well. Sure, sometimes they don’t turn out pretty, but they are delicious!
Just made these for the first time after trying them at a family gathering. Not sure how others are turning out too watery… mine turned out perfect and almost needed more moisture making me think I didn’t add enough zucchini. But overall, these are a hit and we love them. Thanks for the great recipe.
These are delicious. I cut back a little on the amount of dates as I prefer less sweet. I have made them a few times and always enjoy.
Could I sub butter instead of olive oil? It sounds like a lot of oo to use, so was curious if I could maybe swap that out….maybe applesauce instead?
We haven’t tested that!
Made this last night with addition of 1 overripe banana.
Yum!!
Will definitely make again.
Absolutely love these! One of our regular muffins in the rotation. So moist and perfectly sweet, my kids gobble these up. Double the batch, they won’t last long!
The muffins taste good. These do turn out a lot more green than the picture if you have people green food adverse in your family.
These are so good! They are super easy to make and are a wonderful outlet for my bounty of zucchini. I also love that they’re sweetened with dates and maple syrup. I’ve literally made several dozens of them, and everyone has loved them.
Although my first attempt was delicious, they were so moist they fell apart.
IMO – The zucchini definitely needed to be drained and squeezed dry, the oil needed to be cut back and mine needed at least 20 extra minutes of baking before the tops sprung back.
I, also, used 1 tsp. cinnamon, added some chopped walnuts and unsweetened carob chips on top. Yum.
These zucchini muffins are such a wholesome treat! Love how moist and flavorful they are without feeling too heavy
Do the dates need to be chopped?
Is there supposed to be any kind of flour?
I went to make these but the zucchini had gone bad. So I subbed 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour. I added walnuts. Turned out perfectly!
Oh, thanks for those notes!
I am loving all these blender muffin recipes that I found on here. Thanks for creating so many easy gluten free options. It’s such a treat to be able to make just one batch of muffins that everyone, including my gluten free kid, can eat. This recipe was the first blender muffin recipe we tried and fell in love with.
Great to hear, Betsy! Thanks for making the recipe.
These are easy and delicious! Thank you for another winner recipe that is on our rotation. I have made them 3 times and they never last very long! Your instructions are easy to follow as well.
These were delicious and I’d def make again. I read all the comments first. As an experienced baker I thought it sounded like a whole lot of liquid, so I did squeeze out my zucchini to remove some of that liquid. I knew the oatmeal would soak up a lot, but how much? I didn’t overprocess in the blender, left it chunky as instructed. They came out nice and moist, cooked perfectly in 18 minutes. I added about 2/3 cup chopped toasted pecans and sprinkled on cocoa nibs that I had in lieu of the dark chocolate chips my stinking children seem to have snuck out of the pantry. 😉
Hello, I enjoyed the zucchini muffins. Do you have this recipe in grams?
We do not, sorry!
Yay! So good! I’m usually skeptical of oat based baked goods as I usually bake with wheat flour. These were so light, moist and yummy! I made 1/2 a recipe because I was wary of the texture, but it’s going into my baking rotation and love that there is no refined sugar (except for the chocolate chips)! Thank you for a great recipe!
I, too, have made these so many times I don’t look at the recipe anymore! So good, they don’t last but a few days in my house. I swapped half the EVOO for avocado oil as my olive oil [Graza] is so pungent it was overpowering the taste. Love love love these!
So nearly a dozen friends have requested this recipe from me — I’ve been baking these for several months now — so I need to let you/all know!
These are the BEST — our family truly feels good after eating them 😍.
One tip: a food processor is a must… I was visiting family recently & made these in a blender at their house… that was a bit difficult. I mean, it was do-able, but just easy-peasy with a food processor.