These gluten-free zucchini muffins are the perfect recipe for enjoying summer zucchini! They're packed with shredded zucchini and walnuts, and perfectly spiced with vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. Enjoy these tasty zucchini muffins as a breakfast treat or afternoon snack!
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY
BOB'S RED MILL
Muffins are such cute, little dome-shaped loaves of happiness. Don't ya think?
I mean, how can a person say no to a muffin?! Especially the kids. Kids loooove muffins.
And then, when we load the muffins with zucchini, it makes us parents (I speak for myself here) feel all the wiser for sneaking some veggies into our kids' beloved snacks (even if some people like to remind us that it's still a sweet treat, wah wah WAAAH).
I take my wins as they come, even if a bit of brown sugar is included.
Jump to:
🌟 Why you'll love these muffins!
Because we need snacks. And the kids need snacks all the time. Story of a parent's life amiright?
Plus it's hard not to fall head over heels for the tender, sweet-but-not-too, warmly spiced crumb. Accompany these muffins with a generous schmear of whipped honey butter and babe, you might just come undone.
These tasty muffins are great for:
- Packing into school lunches (kids love the surprise of finding a muffin in their lunch box, I would too actually)
- Road trips ("Are we there yet?" No, have a muffin.)
- Grab-n-go breakfast - convenient, delicious, easy to snack on
- Snack time (which, as mentioned earlier, is basically all the time)
🍴 Baking is better with Bob's
The perfect gluten-free zucchini muffin depends on the gluten-free flour used. For these muffins, I recommend and personally use Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour and Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Oat Flour.
Bob's Red Mill proudly operates a fully dedicated 58,200 square foot gluten-free facility, ensuring there is no cross-contamination in their gluten-free products. Their gluten-free flours are wonderfully consistent in quality and texture making them an excellent choice for all of your gluten-free baking needs. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour and Gluten-Free Oat Flour (as well as their baking powder and baking soda) are a few of my must-have pantry staples that I regularly use when baking.
🛒 Ingredients & suggestions
- Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-To-1 Flour: DO NOT substitute a different all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. This muffin recipe was developed using this specific gluten-free flour. No two gluten-free flours blends are the same so if you do go rogue and use something different the odds of your muffins turning out tasty are a risky gamble.
- Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Oat Flour: Finely ground from the highest quality gluten-free oats and processed, packaged, and tested in a Bob’s Red Mill dedicated gluten-free facility.
- Bob's Red Mill Baking Powder: My go-to baking powder. It's aluminum-free and has no bitter aftertaste. Provides lift to the muffins.
- Bob's Red Mill Baking Soda: An additional leavening agent that reacts with the yogurt and brown sugar to help the muffins rise.
- Greek yogurt: Helps keep the muffins moist and activates the baking soda keeping our muffins light in texture.
- Zucchini: Small to medium-sized zucchini are best, larger zucchini may need to be seeded.
- Walnuts: Totally optional but totally tasty. I love the added texture they give to the muffins. Pecans are equally delicious too. Not into nuts? Use chocolate chips!
- Coconut oil: For those who aren't fans of the flavor of coconut, you won't taste coconut in these muffins. But if you don't believe me, you can swap it out for light olive oil.
For a full list of ingredients and quantities see the recipe card at the end of this post.
🔪 Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Shred the zucchini. The fastest and easiest way I have found to shred zucchini is by using a food processor. Simply attach the grater attachment to the food processor and let it do the work! Don't have a food processor? No worries, a box grater will work just fine too.
Step 2: Place the shredded zucchini in the center of a clean tea towel (or a fine mesh bag such as a cheesecloth or nut milk bag) over a bowl.
Step 3: Gather the towel around the zucchini and twist tightly, squeezing out as much liquid as possible from the zucchini. Discard the zucchini juice (or add it to a soup or stew!).
Step 4: In a large mixing bowl, whisk your fantastic Bob's Red Mill ingredients (1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour, Gluten-Free Oat Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder), with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt until combined.
Step 5: In a separate mixing bowl, add melted coconut oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine.
Step 6: Add eggs, vanilla, and Greek yogurt to the sugar mixture and whisk again to combine.
Step 7: Add shredded zucchini and chopped walnuts to the wet mixture and combine using a spatula.
Step 8: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients stirring to combine until just incorporated.
Step 9: Line a muffin pan with parchment paper baking cups.
Step 10: Easily add the muffin batter to each muffin cup by using a 4-tablespoon cookie scoop.
Step 11: Top each muffin with chopped walnuts. Then place in a 350°F oven for 22 minutes and bake until the tops are lightly golden brown.
Step 12: Allow the muffins to cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve with whipped honey butter and enjoy!!!
👩🍳 Important recipe tips!
- Use a scale to weigh your ingredients. When baking, the most accurate method for measuring ingredients is to weigh the ingredients on a food scale. A food scale is a minimal investment for a guarantee that your muffins will turn out delicious each and every time. I have also included measuring cup measurements in the recipe card but be aware that the use of measuring cups is often the source of inaccuracies and significant errors for many people when baking.
- If you are determined to use measuring cups, spoon the ingredient into the measuring cup one spoonful at a time and level the top of the measuring cup with the flat side of a butter knife. When measuring flour, do not pack the flour down and do not tap the measuring cup as it causes the flour to settle in the measuring cup and you'll end up with too much flour.
- Do not make these zucchini muffins using a different gluten-free all-purpose flour than the one suggested. Trust me on this one. Not all gluten-free all-purpose flour blends are the same. They vary widely in both their ingredients and the proportions of those ingredients. This recipe was specifically tested and made outrageously tasty using Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Allowing all of the ingredients to come to room temperature prior to mixing allows the ingredients to bind together more readily versus if some ingredients are cold while others are warmer. Room temperature ingredients also ensure that the muffins will bake properly during the bake time suggested in the recipe instructions.
- Allow your oven to fully preheat prior to placing your muffins in the oven. The muffins may not rise or cook evenly if placed in the oven before it has been able to fully preheat.
- Use parchment paper muffin liners. Nobody loves it when their beautiful muffins stick to the muffin tin or to the paper liners. I love using these non-stick parchment liners to help prevent the muffins from sticking. If you don't have non-stick muffin liners on hand, simply cut out some 5"x5" squares from a roll of parchment paper, press the center of each parchment square into the muffin cup to form a natural baking cup, and line each muffin cup with that instead!
- Muffins tend to get soggy on the bottom if left in their muffin pan for too long. Remove the muffins from the pan within 5 minutes from taking them out of the oven to avoid those soggy bottoms. Place on a wire rack to cool.
💭 Frequently asked questions
Nope, just Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. I'm a BRM fangirl through and through and these muffins taste amazing using Bob's Red Mill gluten-free grains and flour blends. I haven't found a need to test these gluten-free zucchini muffins using any other brand especially since Bob's Red Mill products are well distributed in grocery stores across the United States and through online retailers. Find Bob's Red Mill products near you using their easy store locator.
No, don't peel the zucchini. Make zucchini muffin-making easier by leaving the skin on. Zucchini skin is thin and softens while baking. You won't even notice it when you're enjoying your muffin.
There are two possible reasons: The liquid wasn't fully squeezed out of the zucchini prior to adding it to the muffin batter or the muffins were allowed to rest in the baking pan for too long before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
If using small zucchini, the seeds do not need to be removed because they are small, tender, and won't be noticeable when shredded and later baked in the muffins. However, the larger the zucchini, the larger and less tender the seeds are and will therefore need to be removed. To remove the seeds, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, and using a spoon scrape out the seeds from the middle of the zucchini.
If you're burdened with a hoard of zucchini in your garden - a problem I would like to have - you now know what you must do. Over and over again.
And don't forget the whipped honey butter. Completely undone babe. ♡
More easy baking recipes!
Did You Make This Recipe?
If so, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment and a star rating below! I greatly appreciate your feedback and it is also so helpful for other PMST readers who are thinking about making the recipe. Remember to snap a photo and tag @passmesometasty on Instagram so I can see!
📖 Recipe
Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
Description
These Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins are the perfect recipe for enjoying summer zucchini! They're packed with shredded zucchini and walnuts, and perfectly spiced with vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. Enjoy these tasty zucchini muffins as a breakfast treat or afternoon snack!
Ingredients
- 260g (2 cups) zucchini, shredded
- 222g (1 ½ cups) Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour
- 60g (½ cup) Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Oat Flour
- 1 teaspoon Bob's Red Mill Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Bob's Red Mill Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
- 46g (¼ cup, packed) brown sugar
- 56g (¼ cup) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 45g (½ cup) walnuts (plus additional for topping), coursely chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-count muffin pan with parchment paper baking cups.
- Shred and drain the zucchini: Using either a box grater or the grater attachment on a food processor, shred the zucchini. Place the shredded zucchini in the center of a clean tea towel draped over a large bowl. Gather the towel around the zucchini and twist tightly, squeezing out as much liquid as possible from the zucchini. Discard the zucchini juice or save it for another purpose (see notes).
- Whisk: In a large mixing bowl, whisk gluten-free baking flour, gluten-free oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt. Set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk melted coconut oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and Greek yogurt and whisk again to combine. Add shredded zucchini and chopped walnuts to the mixture and combine using a spatula.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients stirring to combine until just incorporated. Avoid over-mixing.
- Bake: Using a spoon or a 4-tablespoon cookie scoop, spoon batter into the baking cups. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts, if desired. Bake for 22 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and the tops of the muffins spring back when you press them. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, and then transfer to a wire to continue cooling, or top with whipped honey butter (see notes) and enjoy warm!
Notes
More optional muffin additions: Swap out the walnuts for chocolate chips, raisins, pecans, or some combination thereof.
Whipped honey butter: In a mixing bowl, beat together 1 stick (113g) butter and 2 teaspoons honey until whipped, about 2-3 minutes.
Storage: The muffins will stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days. If they aren't eaten before then, store them in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freezing instructions: For longer storage, freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then warm in the microwave if desired.
Leftover zucchini juice: Save and use in a stew or soup!
- Category: Snack
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Thank you to Bob's Red Mill for sponsoring this post and for making awesome gluten-free products that everyone will love! And thank you to those of you who support the brands that allow Pass Me Some Tasty to keep cooking up the tastiness!
You can follow along with Bob's Red Mill on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter at @bobsredmill or on Facebook at @BobsRedMillNaturalFoods.
Disclaimer: All brand recommendations are purely my own opinion and are brands/products that I personally use and enjoy. This post may also contain affiliate links from which I may receive a small commission (without any additional costs to you). The money earned from these commissions helps me to maintain this website. Thank you for supporting Pass Me Some Tasty!
Leave a Comment & Rating!