Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

No search for hidden veggie recipes is complete without Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. Packed with freshly grated zucchini and heart healthy olive oil, these bakery style muffins are a tasty way to get more good stuff in your diet.

Save the planet: it’s the only one with chocolate and without chocolate I’d never get any vegetables in my diet. For nearly 5 decades, I’ve lived a nutrient-deficient existence while solemnly refusing refuse to eat anything green. Unless, of course, the green is completely covered in brown chocolate. Maintaining my malnourished diet is simple: I refuse to see green on my plate, to taste green on my fork, or to have any vegetable cross my lips unless it’s cloaked in chocolate.

And, to those who argue chocolate itself is a vegetable, stop trying to ruin my life. Yes, I’m talking to you FDA. This BS is precisely why nobody trusts the government. Chocolate is derived from cocoa beans growing in seed pods on cacao trees. For all intents and purposes, it’s a fruit. If chocolate was a MF vegetable, I wouldn’t eat it at all. The fact that I devour it nonstop proves the Food and Drug Administration got its classification all kinds of wrong.

Man, I love being right. I also love the combination of chocolate and zucchini in baked goods. It’s an odd admission for a vegetable hater but there’s just something about incorporating shredded zucchini into chocolate muffin batter that is creates magic in the oven. I’m talking about tall, bakery-style muffins with double chocolate and moisture-packing zucchini that’ll satisfy any sweet tooth. The best part? There’s no veggie taste so if you want to sneak vegetables into your kids’ snacks they’ll never know they’re getting fiber and nutrients with their favorite chocolate muffin.

Before sharing the recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Muffins, here are a few baking tips to help you out:

Ingredient Tips

Always use the spoon and level method to measure flour. Scooping flour is a no-no. That technique overpacks flour into the measuring cup which results in drier, denser muffins than the moist, tender muffins you get from properly measured flour.

For best results be sure eggs and sour cream are at room temperature before beginning.

Espresso powder is a secret ingredient that enhances the chocolate flavor. For best results, don’t skip this ingredient.

Don’t forget the health benefits of eating zucchini! This vegetable is high in fiber and packed with vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

Preparation Tips

Should you peel zucchini before grating? There’s no need to peel zucchini for this recipe. Simply cut off the ends with a knife and grate zucchini with the large holes on a box grater. Three cups of zucchini is approximately two medium zucchini.

For tall, bakery style muffins be sure to chill the batter before baking, fill muffin liners all the way to the top then bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes before reducing oven temperature to 350 degrees for the remaining time.

How to Store Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Cover and store muffins at room temperature up to 3 days or in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

Muffins can be frozen up to 3 months. First cover with plastic wrap then with a layer of aluminum foil and place in an airtight container before freezing. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then bring to room temperature before serving.

I hope you enjoy this Chocolate Zucchini Muffins recipe! Please leave a rating and review below once you’ve had a chance to try it out. And, while you’re at it, sign up for my weekly Recipe Newsletter so you never miss a tempting recipe.

Finally. if you like zucchini recipes then you’ll love this Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. Loaded with moisture and studded with dark chocolate chips, this quick bread gets an extra layer of flavor from chocolate ganache frosting.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Heather Wolf

No search for hidden veggie recipes is complete without Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. Packed with freshly grated zucchini and heart healthy olive oil, these bakery style muffins are a tasty way to get more good stuff in your diet.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Chill 20 minutes mins

Total Time 55 minutes mins

Course Muffins

Cuisine American

Servings 24

Ingredients

  

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour unbleached
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt fine
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 1 cup olive oil extra virgin
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
• 4 large eggs room temperature
• 1/2 cup full fat sour cream room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract pure
• 3 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda. baking powder, salt and espresso powder. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together oil and both sugars.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until well incorporated.
• Beat in sour cream, vanilla and grated zucchini until combined.
• Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, beating on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
• Add chocolate chips, stirring with a spoon until evenly distributed.
• Place batter in the refrigerator to chill while oven preheats.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners then set aside.
• After oven has finished preheating, remove batter from refrigerator and fill muffin liners all the way to the top. Return remaining batter to the refrigerator until it's time to bake the second batch.
• Bake muffins for 5 minutes at 425 degrees then, keeping the oven door closed, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 12 to 15 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
• Allow muffins to cool in baking pan for 5 minutes then place muffins on a wire rack to cool completely.
• After muffin tin has cooled to room temperature, increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees and repeat the baking process for your remaining batter
• Cover and store muffins at room temperature up to 3 days or in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

Keyword chocolate, muffins, zucchini