These moist, lightly sweet gluten free zucchini muffins are made with healthy fats, and they’re relatively low in sugar.
The secret to tender and fluffy zucchini muffins with tons of flavor is to drain the moisture from the zucchini first, and to add some whole grains!
my take
Nicole’s Recipe Notes
- Texture and taste: Moist and tender with a fluffy crumb, and light nuttiness from added whole grain oat flour.
- Low in sugar: There’s only half a cup of sugar in all 12 generously-sized muffins, but still tons of flavor.
- Quick and easy: You only need one bowl and about 30 minutes start to finish. Grate and drain the zucchini ahead of time!
- Versatile: Try replacing some of the chocolate chips with raisins or chopped nuts, and add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Recipe ingredients
- Zucchini: Adds moisture and mild sweetness without much of any unwanted vegetable flavor.
- Gluten free flour: Make sure your blend is well-balanced and has finely ground rice flour so the muffins aren’t gritty. Add xanthan gum if it doesn’t already have it, or if it doesn’t have enough, like Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gf blend.
- Oat flour: Adds some hearty chew and a sweet, nuttiness. There are plenty of substitution options if oats aren’t possible for you.
- Sugar: Just 1/2 cup of granulated sugar makes lightly sweet, tender muffins.
- Coconut oil: Adds moisture and richness, and keeps the muffins fresh-tasting for days.
- Buttermilk: Makes the muffins tender, and adds moisture and flavor.
- Eggs: Bind the muffin batter together and add structure and rise.
- Chocolate chips: For some texture, rich chocolate flavor, and a bit of extra sweetness.
How to make gluten free zucchini muffins
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all purpose gluten free flour with xanthan gum, oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add grated and drained zucchini to the bowl, and toss to coat in the dry ingredients.
Add melted coconut oil, beaten eggs, and buttermilk, then mix to combine. The batter will be thick, but soft. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Fill the greased wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin all the way up with the batter. Smooth the tops, and bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, or until the top springs back when you press it gently.
My Pro Tip
Expert tips
Drain the zucchini
After grating fresh zucchini, squeeze as much water as possible out of it. Zucchini is around 95% water, which can make your muffins overly fluffy and flavorless. Plus, some zucchini has a lot more moisture than others. To drain your shredded zucchini, wrap it in a flat weave kitchen towel or a fine mesh bag and squeeze as hard as you can, wringing it out. Then, measure out 215 grams for the recipe, after draining it.
Prepare the zucchini first
You can grate and drain the zucchini and store it in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to 1 week. You can even freeze it for up to 3 months. Defrost it fully at room temperature before using it to make muffins.
Fill the wells for big tops
Fill the wells of your muffin tin to the top, even if that means that you don’t get a full 12 muffins, so your muffins have that big bakery-style dome. To ensure a larger dome, bake them at 400°F for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F until done.
substitutions
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy free
The only dairy in these muffins is the buttermilk. You can replace it with half plain nondairy yogurt, half unsweetened unflavored nondairy milk. And be sure that your chocolate chips are dairy free.
Egg free
There are a lot of eggs in this recipe, so I’m not sure what results you’ll get if you try to replace them. I would recommend trying “flax eggs,” even though they’ll add some unwanted flavor, because they provide more support than chia eggs. Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer may work, or try Just Eggs refrigerated plant-based eggs.
Oat free
If you can’t have oats, try quinoa flakes as a substitute for oats in this recipe. You can also try finely ground blanched almond flour in its place. The recipe should even work with an equal amount, by weight, additional all purpose gluten free flour blend.
Coconut oil
The recipe calls for virgin coconut oil, which is the kind that’s soft solid at cool room temperature. If you can’t have coconut oil, try using a stick of vegan butter, vegetable shortening or even regular dairy unsalted butter in its place.
Zucchini
Try replacing some of the shredded zucchini with peeled and shredded carrots or apple. Be sure to use a firm baking apple like Granny Smith, and drain the shredded apple along with the zucchini. Shredded carrots don’t have a ton of moisture, so you shouldn’t have to drain them.
- 12 ounces fresh zucchini, grated (from about 2 medium zucchini; 215 grams as drained of moisture)
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- ⅔ cup (80 g) gluten free oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (112 g) virgin coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 4 (200 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- ½ cup (4 fluid ounces) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips, raisins, chopped nuts, or other small dried fruit will work, too
Prevent your screen from going dark
Drain the zucchini
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Place the grated zucchini in the center of a large clean tea towel (a kitchen towel with a flat weave) or in a fine mesh bag.
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Roll the towel over the zucchini or gather the bag around it, and twist tightly to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
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It should reduce in weight by nearly half. Measure out 215 grams of shredded, drained zucchini, and set it aside.
Make the muffin batter
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In a large bowl, place the all purpose flour, xanthan gum, oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar, and whisk to combine well.
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Add the grated zucchini and mix to combine, breaking up any clumps.
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Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the melted coconut oil, beaten eggs, and buttermilk, and mix to combine. The batter will be thick but not stiff.
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Add the chocolate chips and mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
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Fill the prepared wells of the muffin tins about completely full of batter. With wet fingers, smooth the tops of the batter in the wells.
Bake the muffins
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Place the muffin tin in the center of the preheated oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when pressed gently and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs attached.
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Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to store leftover muffins
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These muffins freeze very well in a freezer-safe container. Just eliminate as much air as possible from the container before freezing the muffins in a single layer.
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Defrost on the counter overnight before serving. They can be refreshed in the toaster oven before serving.
My favorite gluten free flour blends are Better Batter’s original blend gluten free flour and Nicole’s Best multipurpose blend. Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour should also work, but you’ll need to add an additional scant 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum to the muffin dry ingredients or they’ll look good, but will be crumbly.
Cup4Cup changed its formula and doesn’t seem to work as well as it has in the past, so I don’t recommend it. To make your own blend using one of my “mock” recipes, please see the all purpose gluten free flour blends page.
Substitution suggestions.
Dairy free: In place of buttermilk, use half (2 fluid ounces) nondairy unsweetened unflavored milk and half (2 fluid ounces) plain nondairy yogurt.
Egg-free: Try one “flax egg” per each of the 4 eggs. They will add some unwanted flavor, but I don’t think that “chia eggs” are strong enough to replace all 4. You can also try Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer or Just Egg plant-based eggs (from the refrigerated section of the grocery store).
Oat flour: Try quinoa flakes, finely ground blanched almond flour, or more all purpose gluten free flour blend.
Virgin coconut oil: Try shortening, a stick of vegan butter, or even regular unsalted butter, if you can have dairy.
Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 306kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 291mg | Potassium: 190mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 163IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
make ahead/leftovers
Storage suggestions
These muffins will stay fresh at room temperature for about 2 days if you wrap them tightly or place them in a sealed container.
For longer storage, freeze them on a rimmed baking sheet or plate in a single layer. Then, pile them into a freezer-safe zip top plastic bag, squeeze as much air out as possible, and return them to the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature or for 20 seconds in the microwave. To refresh, sprinkle lightly with water and warm in the toaster oven at 300°F for about 5 minutes.
FAQs
No, it’s better to use my gluten free zucchini bread recipe if you’d rather use a loaf pan than muffin tin. The ingredient ratios in that recipe have been perfected for bread.
Yes, you can use the same recipe to make 24 mini muffins in a mini muffin tin. Grease the wells and fill them completely with batter. They should take 15 minutes or less to bake completely.
No, blueberries would add too much extra moisture. You can add any other mostly dry mix-ins, like chopped nuts, raisins, chopped dried apricots or other flavors of chips.
If you don’t drain the zucchini first, your muffins will have a spongy texture, will not have enough flavor, and will probably rise and then fall as they cool because there’s too much moisture.
You don’t have to, but you can peel the zucchini first before grating and draining it. Just measure out 215 grams of the peeled, shredded and drained zucchini, and your muffins should not have bright green flecks in them.
