We have a pile of Zucchini here at home and when we were kids, my mom always used Zucchini to make the best muffins and Zucchini Bread. Although I would prefer to make the bread, the Muffins work great for lunchboxes.. we toss in a few chocolate chips to draw attention from the “stringy green stuff” and it works out well – we didn’t measure chocolate chips we just used a handful and threw them in.
These are so easy to make, even easier eat ~ they are very filling so perfect for breakfast with yogurt or, just for snacks for the kids. If you prefer, you can use a mini muffin pan, it’ll make over 50 of the Mini Muffins (which are great to have for the kids, too!)
We cutback on the sugar, and you can sub applesauce for the butter. We added in 1/4 c. Chia Seeds and 1/8 C. Flaxseed Meal and they still turned out terrific.
We don’t have Nutmeg .. but we use Essential Oils as our spices so we keep them on our oil rack – Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Clove and all of the others – we use Young Living and wouldn’t recommend anything else.
We have a Black & Decker Food Processor and next to our Instant Pot it probably gets more of a workout than anything in the kitchen – if you don’t have a food processor it’s really a blessing .. especially when you have vegetables to put to use!
- 3 C. fresh Zucchini, grated
- 2/3 C. Melted Butter (not margarine) or substitute with 2/3 C. Applesauce
- 1 C. Sugar or substitute 1 C. Coconut Sugar
- 2 Eggs, beaten
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- 2 tsp Baking soda
- 3 C. All Purpose Organic Flour (or, 2 C. All Purpose + 1 C. Whole Wheat)
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg (or, 2 drops Nutmeg Essential Oil)
- Optional: 1-2 drops Clove Essential Oil
- Optional: Chocolate Chips, Raisins, Walnuts or even dried Cranberries)
- Optional: 1/4 C. Chia Seeds and/or 1/8 C. Flaxseed Meal
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large bowl stir the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and melted butter.
- Mix in the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon & optional chia seeds.
- Fold in the Zucchini, and optional chocolate chips.
- Evenly distribute into 12 muffin cups, fill them up completely.
- Bake 20-23 minutes at 350 or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out done.
- Cool for 5-7 minutes before removing from pan.
- The recipe can make up to 18 regular size muffins.
These muffins keep great on the counter for a day or two, if you have several kids though they probably won’t last all too long. You can also keep them in a generous size freezer bag and pull out each morning to put in the lunchbox, too.
