Packed with zucchini and oats to provide the most perfect texture, 100% whole-whole grain, lower in sugar, and bursting with melty chocolate, these chocolate chip zucchini muffins are perfect for breakfast, snacks, or dessert…pretty much anytime!

Eeeeeee!! The first recipe using the abundance of garden zucchini!  Anyone else have more zucchini than they possibly know what to do with? This is my second year having a garden, and we had so much zucchini last year that I was giving it away to friends and family, as well as freezing some for later. My husband and I ate so much zucchini in various forms that after our garden stopped producing it last year, I didn’t buy it in the grocery store all year long haha. Needless to say, it’s been awhile since we’ve eaten zucchini!

If everything goes according to plan, at the time you’re reading this I will be in Europe! Germany on this date, to be more exact. Make sure to follow me on instagram for some trip highlights! Would anyone be interested in a travel recap once I’m back?! Let me know if that’s a post you’d be interested in!

With the exception of islands I’ve visited to on past cruises (such as the US Virgin Islands, Bahamas, and Bermuda), this is my first time out of the country. I’m a bit nervous but also super excited! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was too good to pass up. I’ll be visiting Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France (Paris), and England (London). I’ll be traveling with my mom, aunt, and cousin.

All that to say, while obviously I’m sure I’ll be having the time of my life in Europe, I’m a wee bit sad to leave behind my garden during once of the busiest months! My husband does an amazing job of tilling up the garden and helping me plant….and then quickly loses interest after that. ? I’m the one who does the weeding, harvesting, canning, etc. Not that I mind. Gardening can be incredibly time consuming (especially canning!), but so rewarding and worthwhile. I’m hoping our garden produce doesn’t go to waste while I’m gone!

Anyways. Back to this recipe! Baking recipes can be tricky…I assumed this would take many, many trials like my monster cookies to get the texture, taste, rise, etc. all perfect. I was pleasantly surprised by my very first batch! Just to be sure, I tested in again with various substitutions and had family and coworkers taste test for feedback….and we have a keeper recipe here!

Why make this zucchini bread recipe?

I know there’s a million recipes for zucchini bread out there, but this one is different. Different in the BEST way possible. It’s 100% whole grain, very lightly sweetened with just ¼ cup maple syrup in the entire batch (ok, and the chocolate chips…which I suppose are optional), and seriously have the best texture ever partly thanks to a little tip I’ve recently learned.

You’ll want to soak the oats in the milk and shredded zucchini before adding to the rest of the muffin batter to allow the oats to soak up as much moisture as possible. I learned this life-changing tip (ok, at least life-changing regarding muffin making) tip from one of my blogging idols to help achieve the best texture for muffins containing oatmeal. I recommend checking out her post for some pretty drastic side-by-side photo comparisons as well as a more detailed explanation as the reasoning behind this recommendation! Not only that, we have 2 whole zucchinis in this batch…many recipes only call for about half of the zucchini in the recipe. So you’re pretty much eating vegetables for breakfast. ?

Substitutions Ideas

I’ve tested this recipe using both maple syrup and honey, and they both work great! I personally prefer maple syrup as I find that flavor works well with the spices used. Melted butter can also be substituted for the coconut oil if that’s what you have on hand or prefer. I have not tried this recipe using a liquid oil, so I can’t vouch for the results if you try using something else! Both coconut oil and butter are more solid fats at room temperature, so they have different properties and can often act differently than liquid oils (such as olive or canola oil) in baking.

If you’d rather have zucchini bread instead of muffins, you can bake this in a loaf pan. I always prefer muffins over bread, as they are already perfectly portioned and bake much quicker/easier than bread (I’ve had one too many loaves of banana bread get burned on the outside but then sink in the middle!). I’m not exactly sure how long it will take to bake, but the baking time will be much longer if baking it in a loaf pan.

These muffins have become a fast favorite for us, and I know will be my new go-to recipe whenever I’m baking zucchini bread! Hope you love this as much as I do! ?

5.0 from 1 reviews

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Oatmeal Muffins

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Packed with zucchini to provide the perfect texture, 100% whole-whole grain, lower in sugar, and bursting with melty chocolate, these muffins are perfect for breakfast, snacks, or dessert…pretty much anytime!

Author: Audra's Appetite

Recipe type: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 ½ cups (drained of water) finely shredded zucchini
• ½ cup milk of choice**
• 1 cup white whole-wheat flour***
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ cup maple syrup (or honey)
• ¼ cup coconut oil or butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 12-count muffin tray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine oats, shredded zucchini, and milk. Stir until combined and set aside to let oats soak up and absorb the milk and zucchini.
3. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together maple syrup, coconut oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients over flour mixture. Fold in zucchini oat mixture and stir gently until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Use a ice-cream scoop to evenly divide batter among 12 muffins cups.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18-22 minutes (mine took 20 minutes) or until tops are set and toothpick comes out mostly clean. Note I have a gas oven, so baking times may differ.

Notes

** I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk
***can sub all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend

3.5.3251