Deliciously moist vegan zucchini muffins that are buttery ‘n fluffy! The best gluten free zucchini muffins—egg-free & delicious.
So you wanna make vegan zucchini muffins. Interesting. Hehe!! Was that serious enough for you? I felt like I had on some kind of trench coat, most definitely a fedora and certainly a stern look on my face.
Oh boy… Well, let me tell you, I used to get so nervous about the mere thought of zucchini in my baked goods, never mind ever-so-popular zucchini bread or zucchini muffins! I mean, we haven’t even discussed vegan and gluten free zucchini muffins. M’kay?
But I kept thinking back to this amazing zucchini bread that I had. Picture it: it was 2003. Dang it, that was a long time ago. And yep, I had to ask Erik for that date because cobwebs in the brain and all that. Anywho, it was the most divine, moist ‘n rich chocolate zucchini bread I’d ever had. It was one of the best breads I’d ever eaten… including my famous vegan gluten free pumpkin bread!
Eyes: opened. Stomach: growling. Recipe Brain: pumping! So after a few years of running this food blog and getting all the requests for zucchini bread and zucchini muffins, I finally bit the bullet and created my gluten free vegan zucchini bread. And y’all loved it.
healthy vegan chocolate chip zucchini muffins
With just a bit of tweaking, I transformed that tasty ‘n easy zucchini bread into today’s Healthy Moist Vegan Zucchini Muffins (with chocolate chips, of course)!! These vegan zucchini muffins are moist, buttery (without any actual butter, woot!), oh-so-flavorful, with just a hint of cinnamon and packed full of vegan chocolate chips and a dash of chopped walnuts.
Trust me, you’re gonna love this. My mom, who’s not biased at all obviously (heh heh), kept asking me how I did it? Why they’re so soft ‘n moist? And how did I come up with the idea to add zucchini to muffins? To which I feigned a coughing fit, then conveniently moved on to the next subject…
Try my healthy moist vegan zucchini muffins and let me know what you think in the comments below! I simply can’t wait! Without further ado, let’s get started!
How to Make Vegan Gluten Free Zucchini Muffins
- Step 1: Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Step 2: Whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Step 3: Combine the wet and dry to make the gluten free zucchini muffin batter.
- Step 4: Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips and walnuts.
- Step 5: Scoop and drop muffins batter into lined muffin pan.
- Step 6: Bake.
- Step 7: Cool and enjoy the best vegan zucchini muffins ever!
Vegan Muffin Recipes For You: GF Vegan Dark Chocolate Muffins • Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins • Gluten Free Vegan Blueberry Applesauce Muffins
how do i turn this vegan zucchini muffins recipe into zucchini bread?
I’m so glad you asked! As it happens… I have a Vegan Gluten Free Zucchini Bread recipe that is soooo good. It yields the best loaf of zucchini bread, and yes, it’s gluten free, egg-free, dairy-free and vegan, just like this healthy zucchini muffins recipe!
storing these gluten free zucchini muffins
how long do gluten free zucchini muffins last?
These gluten free vegan zucchini muffins can last up to 5 days. They’re best on Day 1, still good/okay through Day 3, and can last up to Day 5.
can i freeze zucchini muffins?
Yes! I love baking, cooling, then immediately freezing these healthy vegan zucchini muffins. Freezing these muffins right away ensures that you lock in the freshness! To do so: simply cool the muffins completely, then store in a freezer-friendly container for 1-2 months. Allow frozen zucchini muffins to thaw for 15-30 minutes before enjoying.
where can i find more vegan chocolate chip muffin recipes?
Check out my favorite easy ‘n healthy chocolate & chocolate chip muffin recipes below!
- Vegan Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Muffins Recipe
- Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
q&a for healthy zucchini bread muffins (gf)
Can I make these vegan zucchini muffins with applesauce? I wouldn’t recommend it. These muffins are perfectly moist as is. If you swap out any of the ingredients for applesauce, you might create overly moist/undercooked zucchini muffins that will most likely be gummy & overly chewy!
How do I store these gluten free zucchini muffins? Check out the section above, titled “Storing this Gluten Free Zucchini Muffins Recipe” for answers.
Are these egg-free zucchini muffins dairy-free? Yes! These zucchini muffins are made with non-dairy products and are also gluten free and vegan.
Can I substitute the flax eggs in these zucchini muffins with something else? Yes, you may use chia eggs instead. For instructions on how to make a flax egg, click the link. If you choose to use regular eggs, the zucchini muffins won’t be vegan. 😉
How do you cut zucchini for zucchini bread muffins? Use a box grater or a food processor with the shredding disk attached.
Where do I find a good box grater to grate the zucchini for this zucchini bread muffins recipe? Here is the exact box grater I used to make these zucchini bread muffins.
So… did my mom lead you astray? Are these not the best easy healthy zucchini bread muffins EVER?? I can’t wait to hear what you and your loved ones think! It’s always a true pleasure sharing in these kitchen adventures with you. ‘Til the next one…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
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Gluten Free Vegan Muffin Recipes & More
- GF Banana Blueberry Muffins
- Vegan Banana Oat Muffins
- Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
- Healthy Banana Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Lemon Blackberry Muffins
- Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gluten Free Zucchini Brownies
- Soft Baked Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan Zucchini Muffins (Gluten Free)
- Total Time: 53 minutes
- Yield: 8-12 muffins 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Vegan Zucchini Muffins (Gluten Free): deliciously moist vegan zucchini muffins that are buttery, moist ‘n fluffy! The best gluten free zucchini muffins—egg-free & delicious.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free oat flour – if using homemade oat flour, make sure it’s very finely ground (not coarse)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 ½ flax eggs (4 ½ TEAspoons ground flaxseed and ¼ cup + 1 ½ TEAspoons water, whisked together, set for 15 mins)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Fold-in Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups grated zucchini
- ¾ cup vegan chocolate chips
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Optional Topping
- 1 tablespoon vegan chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place muffin liners into a standard, 12-muffin pan. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Whisk until just incorporated, making sure no flour patches remain.
- Thoroughly fold and mash zucchini into the batter, until zucchini is very well incorporated (about 1 min). The batter will be very, very thick—do not add additional liquids to thin out the batter. Fold in chocolate chips and optional walnuts.
- Using a large scoop, scoop and drop batter evenly into the muffin pan. I use this ice cream scoop to create beautiful domed tops. If not using a scoop, use a rubber spatula or spoon to smooth batter into an even layer with a domed top. To make fewer, high-domed top muffins, fill cups all the way with a slight mound on top; to make a larger quantity of medium-domed top muffins, fill cups ¾ of the way. Optionally, top with chocolate chips and walnuts.
- Bake for 24-32 minutes, depending on how many muffins are made. Mine took 28 minutes for 8 total tall-domed top muffins. It will bake on the lower end for 12 muffins. Insert a toothpick to check for doneness—once it comes out clean with just a few moist bits, it’s done.
- Allow muffins to cool in the muffin pan, placed on a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. Then lift muffins out of the pan, transferring directly onto the cooling rack. Allow to finish cooling for 30-60 minutes. Enjoy!
Adapted from my reader-favorite Vegan Gluten Free Zucchini Bread.
Yummy Vegan Gluten Free Muffin Recipes
Notes
Storing Instructions: Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, or in a cool, dark environment. Best the first day, okay through Day 3. Can keep for up to 5 days.
To Freeze: Freeze immediately after cooling completely. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1-2 months. Allow to thaw for about 30 minutes at room temperature before enjoying. Or, heat in the microwave in 15-second increments until just warm.
Nutrition Information is an estimate based on the products listed in the Ingredients section of the recipe. Also, it’s estimated based on 12 servings per recipe, made without optional ingredients. 🙂
Recommended Tools for Healthy Moist Vegan Zucchini Muffins
- Box Grater: Here’s the exact grater I use to make my zucchini muffins. It’s the best!
- Non-stick Parchment Liners: These liners are fantastic. They don’t stick to the muffins, so they’re easy to peel off.
- Muffin Pan: One of the most reliable muffin pans I’ve ever used.
- Ice Cream Scoop: My secret weapon when it comes to scooping muffins. It helps me control the batter and get perfectly domed tops.
- Vegan Chocolate Chips: One of my favorite brands of vegan chocolate chips. I love the way they melt!
- Maple Syrup: A major pantry staple for all of my vegan baking.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 28 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 232
- Sugar: 15g
- Sodium: 55mg
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated Fat: 9g
- Carbohydrates: 29g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: vegan zucchini muffins, gluten free zucchini muffins
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bob says
can you use english cucumber instead
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Bob. I would not recommend using English cucumber because it’s much wetter than zucchini, so it will through off the wet/dry ratios and leave you with less than ideal results. If you can’t get zucchini, try using another kind of squash (haven’t tried this myself though). Let me know how it all turns out! 🙂
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Bob. I would not recommend using English cucumber because it’s much wetter than zucchini, so it will throw off the wet/dry ratios and leave you with less than ideal results. If you can’t get zucchini, try using another kind of squash (haven’t tried this myself though). Let me know how it all turns out! 🙂
Lauren says
Love these! Used 1/2 oat flour and 1/2 all purpose – so delicious. Thank you!
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
That’s awesome! So glad the sub worked for you Lauren. 🙂
Andrea McKain says
Can I just use all purpose do you think?
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Andrea! I haven’t tried this with regular AP flour, so I can’t say for sure. If you do try it, please let me know how they turn out! 🙂
Myriam Gendron says
Thanks for the great recipe!
I used raisins in place of the chocolate chips. They baked up beautifully! I ended up with 11 small to medium muffins.
So healthy and satisfying! Next time I’m making a double batch 🙂
Myriam
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
That’s so wonderful to hear Myriam! 😊 Love the swap from chocolate chips to raisins. I’m so happy you enjoyed them!
Evan says
I made this recipe last night and subbed one cup of Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF baking mix for one cup of the oat flour. The other cup was oat flour, as directed. I had to add a few tbsp of almond milk to it because the Bob’s Red Mill flour I used tends to need a little extra liquid. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly and it’s delicious the next morning! They’re very moist without being soggy or gummy.
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Oh I’m so glad the flour sub worked out for you Evan! I know GF AP flours can be tricky. Thanks for taking the time to share the results! 🙂
Hannah says
Could I use a real egg instead of flax?
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
I haven’t tried it, but it should be okay. Let me know how it goes!
Jill says
I just made these. In place of coconut oil, I used 1/4 cup tahini plus 2 Tbsp applesauce, and they are delicious. Two questions:
1. You advise to cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Is that something unique to zucchini muffins? Because all advice I read elsewhere says muffins should be taken out of the pan within 5 minutes or they get soggy.
2. I grated and froze excess garden zucchini for future muffins. When they thaw they release lots of water. So should I let the thawed zucchini drain, or should I use the zucchini water in the recipe. Any advice is appreciated about how to use frozen shredded zucchini. Thanks! Love your recipes!
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Jill! So glad you’re enjoying the muffins. As for your questions, 1) This is not unique to zucchini muffins. Cooling in the pan allows is part of what gives my muffins their great texture. No need to worry about these getting soggy. 😉 2) I would drain the zucchini a bit, so that it had as close to the original moisture level as you can. Avoid adding excess liquid when possible. Happy baking!
LAURA says
It made 12 smallish muffins. I also used applesauce instead of coconut oil. WIll maybe use pineapple / carrot with this in future for part of zucchini to make them morning glory sans chocolate chips
Lol. Did not wait to eat these as directed
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
So happy you enjoyed them! And I’m glad to hear about the applesauce sub. 🙂
Taylor says
Sooo good! I used apple sauce instead of coconut oil and they worked out great!
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Thank you! Oh, I love that applesauce worked in place of coconut oil. Enjoy! 🙂
Sylvia says
Thanks for a great recipe 🙂 I am not vegan, but I love baking vegan recipes because they typically use much cleaner ingredients and omit a lot of ingredients that bother my stomach like eggs and dairy. Applesauce is one popular ingredient though and it bothers my stomach too so I was happy to find your recipe with no applesauce! I also had over 1 1/4 cups zucchini after grating one zucchini and didn’t want to waste any so I added it all and they still turned out great. I added 1 tsp ground cloves too! Love these so much and will be making again (and again)!
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
You’re so welcome, Sylvia! 🙂 So true about vegan recipes—some of us do typically try to make ‘em a bit cleaner and with whole ingredients, esp around these parts! 😉 I’m so glad that you were able to use up all of your zucchini without any troubles. Love that you added ground cloves too! Happy baking (and eating)! 😉
cheryl says
well I can tell you substituting rice flour for the oat flour does not work! If you cant use oat flour and you can”t have almond flour what other subs can you use??
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Cheryl, thanks for letting me know about the rice flour sub. 🙂 For the oat flour, you can try a gluten free all purpose flour (although every GF AP flour brand works differently). Hope this helps!
cheryl says
what can I substitute for the oat flour? I cannot have oats… Can I use white rice four?
Gracie says
These were so so yummy! I used half oat flour and half Bob’s Red Mill GF flour, and the muffins turned out so good. Thank you!
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Woohoo! Love that you enjoyed, and good to know about the flour subs. 😉
Kristi says
Could I use carrot/coconut instead of zucchini for carrot cake muffins?
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Kristi, unfortunately, I don’t think that will work. Zucccini adds a lot of needed moisture in this recipe. 🙂
Kristi Moore says
Thank you so much! I added fine shredded carrot squeezed to you gf vegan oat flour banana muffins and it was a hit. My kids and I can’t have dairy, gluten, potato, or eggs. We love your recipes! Thank you for all your hard work!
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
My pleasure, Kristi! 🙂 Oh my goodness, that sounds SO good!!! Great idea! I truly appreciate you reporting back on how it worked out and which recipe you used. 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind words—they mean so much to me. Happy baking & eating to you and your kiddos!
Shannon says
Do you think I can substitute yellow squash for the zucchini? My son has an egg allergy so I am looking forward to trying these. Thank you.
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Shannon! I haven’t tried it myself, but according to some sources, it should be fine. Let me know how it turns out if you try it. 🙂
Tiger says
Made these last night, so good!!! Thank you.
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Awesome!! I’m so happy to hear it, Tiger! Cool name, btw! 🙂
Priscilla Goodger says
3 Questions:
1) Do you squeeze moisture out of the zucchini?
2) Do you pack the zucchini when measuring?
3) Can I make them without chocolate chips & without nuts?
Your recipe and reviews sound encouraging as we have had too many failures with zucchini muffin recipes but wonder if we are doing something wrong with the zucchini.. Appreciate your answer.
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Priscilla! 1) I don’t squeeze the moisture out. 2) I don’t really pack the zucchini, but I do press it a bit to make sure there aren’t any big empty pockets in the cup. 3) You can definitely leave the add-ins out if you like.
Hope this helps, and happy baking!
Stephanie says
I made a recipe from a different website and ended up with little hockey pucks. I have a ton of zucchini to use up so I thought I’d give it another try with your recipe, and I’m so happy I did! These are delicious, and are super light and airy. The perfect muffin in my opinion. My batch made 10 muffin. Thanks so much for a great recipe!
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Oh dang!! Well I’m sure glad that everything worked out here for you with my recipe. 🙂 It’s always so crappy when you have two recipe fails in a row. Enjoy the muffins & thanks for stopping by!
Andrea says
For the flax eggs, can i use pre-ground flax or should I get flax seeds and grind them myself?
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Andrea, pre-ground flax works great! 🙂
ELISA PARADISO says
I”m wondering if there is a mistake with the quantity of flax eggs? Should it not read 4 1/2 tablespoons and not teaspoons? I feel that the quantity of water for 4 1/2 teaspoons is too much.
I’ve made your other recipes and it’s always said tablespoon.
thanks
Elisa
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Elisa. Nope, no issue there. This recipe calls for 1 1/2 flax eggs, so I listed the measurements differently than in other recipes. 🙂
Shelly says
I made them the first time like the recipe called for. My kids liked them, but they were not super excited. I tried it again replacing the shredded zucchini for 1 cup pureed zucchini, and they absolutely loved them. I just steamed and pureed with an immersion blender. I even froze a bunch of pureed zucchini in silicone muffin tins for future use. (You can pop them out when frozen and put them in another container.) I now have 1/3 cup servings of pureed zucchini for quite a while. Thanks for the recipe!!
★★★★★
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
You are so welcome Shelly! I’m glad to hear that your kiddos enjoyed the muffins, and so interesting to hear about the puréed zucchini!
Christine says
Hello! These look delicious. What can I substitute for coconut oil and the coconut sugar?
Thank you!
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Hi Christine, thanks! 🙂 For the coconut oil: melted vegan butter or your favorite cooking oil (like almond oil or avocado oil). Coconut sugar: organic brown sugar works! Happy baking!