These Gluten-Free Vegan Flourless Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are an easy and healthy recipe made with only 8 clean, real food ingredients. They're a perfect plant-based breakfast or dessert and are made without traditional ingredients like white flour, eggs or oil!
Here's Why This Recipe Works
My top 3 favorite reasons:
- No White Flour, White Sugar, Oil, Egg or Butter Needed
- Kid-Friendly
- Made With Clean, Real Food Ingredients
I know you probably won't believe me, but what if I told you that you could still enjoy a moist and delicious chocolate muffin that was both vegan AND gluten-free?
Well, today I will make all your dreams come true because not only are these muffins vegan and gluten-free, but they are made without traditional muffin ingredients like white flour, eggs, oil or refined white sugar.
And even though they are gluten-free, they are also flourless, which means there is NO flour in the recipe at all - not even grain-free flour like almond flour, coconut flour or oat flour!
They are based on my Vegan Flourless Zucchini Brownies post all the way back from 2012, which I tweaked slightly for this recipe.
Are These Muffins Healthy?
In my opinion, yes!
Let's look at the ingredient list of traditional store-bought and homemade chocolate muffins to compare:
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Homemade Chocolate Zucchini Muffins Typical Ingredients: ¼ cup Vegetable Oil, 2 Large Eggs, 2 cups White Flour, ½ cup Cocoa Powder, 4 teaspoons Baking Powder, ¾ cup Brown Sugar, 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract, 1 cup Zucchini
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) "Healthier" Garden Lites Zucchini + Carrots Frozen Chocolate Muffins Ingredients: Zucchini, Carrots, Sugar, Egg Whites, Whole Eggs, Cocoa Powder, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Organic Cane Sugar, Unsweetened Chocolate, Cocoa Butter), Corn Starch, Brown Rice Flour, Sorghum Flour, Leavening (Baking Powder), Potato Starch, Flaxseed Meal, Canola Oil, Soluble Corn Fiber, Salt
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Walmart Marketside Triple Chocolate Muffins Ingredients: Sugar, Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Soybean and/or Canola Oil, Eggs, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Sugar, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Dextrose, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Natural Flavor), Buttermilk (Skim Milk, Dry Buttermilk, Salt, Bacterial Culture), Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Milk Chocolate Chips (Sugar, Dry Whole Milk, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate Liquor, Chocolate Liquor Processed with Alkali, Dextrose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Natural Flavor), Whey (Milk), Food Starch-Modified, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Artificial Flavor, Xanthan Gum
My healthier plant-based version is made with clean, real food ingredients and is vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free and paleo-friendly (with substitutions).
Karielyn's Expert Tips + Ingredient Substitutions
Here are my expert tips to make this recipe perfectly:
Zucchini: These are important tips regarding the zucchini:
- You will need 1 ½ cups after it's shredded + squeezed of excess water. I can get 1 ½ cups from (1) large zucchini, but you may need 1-2 zucchini if they are smaller in size.
- Make sure after you've processed the zucchini through the food processor you take a few minutes to squeeze as much liquid from the zucchini as possible. Zucchini is 95% water so any excess water left behind will affect the outcome of the recipe.
- After shredding the zucchini in a food processor, take a handful at a time and squeeze it as tight as possible in your fist to allow the excess water to drain into a small bowl. Another option is to use a nut-milk bag.
Peanut Butter: Substitute with organic almond butter or organic sunflower butter to keep this recipe and paleo compliant.
Cacao Powder: Can be substituted with regular cocoa powder in the same amount.
Vanilla Extract: Can be substituted with organic vanilla bean powder in the same amount.
Chocolate Chips: I like to use mini chocolate chips in this recipe so the size of standard chocolate chips doesn't overpower the muffins, but you could use standard-size chocolate chips if you prefer.
Himalayan Pink Salt: This is my salt of preference, however, you can always substitute with sea salt.
Serving Size: This recipe will make (9) standard-size muffins. Nutritional information is for (1) muffin which is (1) serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Make These Paleo?
Yes! Just substitute the peanut butter with paleo-approved nut butter, like almond butter or sunflower butter.
Are Zucchini Muffins Kid-Friendly?
I'm going to say yes, based on a true story and real-life experience.
You will be able to add 1-2 zucchini's to this recipe without anyone even noticing - especially kids, and I know this for a fact!
The first time after I made them, my youngest son came into the kitchen and asked what I was making.
When he saw the muffins, he asked if he could have one and I said, "Why...sure!".
Not only did he eat that muffin, but he also ended up eating the rest of them over the next couple of days.
He would have ~never~ touched them if he knew they had zucchini in them, so I can officially say these are "kid-approved" muffins.
How Many Zucchini Will I Need?
You will need 1 ½ cups of shredded zucchini. The number of zucchini you need to shred 1 ½ cups will depend on the size of the zucchini you use and since the size varies, here are some helpful tips:
- Large Zucchini - one very large should give you 1 ½ cups shredded
- Small Zucchini - 2-3 small should give you 1 ½ cups shredded
Want More Healthy Plant-Based Muffin Recipes?
Check out these:
- Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Blender Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Blender Muffins
- Chocolate Blender Muffins
- or my CLEAN EATING Cookbook with 75+ plant-based recipes made with clean, real food ingredients just like this one that you will love!
Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love to hear about it! Please give it a rating and leave a comment below...it would make my day! 🙂
Gluten-Free Vegan Flourless Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Equipment
- Unbleached Muffin Cups
- Muffin Pan
Ingredients
For the zucchini:
- 1 ½ cups organic zucchini* (shredded)
For the flax egg:
- 1 tablespoon organic ground flax seeds
- 2 tablespoons water (filtered/purified) (filtered/purified)
For the muffin mixture:
- 1 cup organic peanut butter**
- 1 /3 cup organic maple syrup
- ⅓ cup organic cacao powder
- 1 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
For the add-in:
- 1 cup Enjoy Life semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare a muffin pan lined with standard-sized silicone or unbleached muffin cups and set aside.
Prepare the flax egg:
- Add all ingredients for the flax egg to a small bowl and whisk together until well combined, then set aside while you prepare the zucchini.
Prepare the zucchini:
- Peel the zucchini and cut into 4 pieces. Add the zucchini pieces to a food processor and process until they are shredded into tiny pieces, but taking care to not over process.
- Remove the shredded zucchini from the food processor and taking a handful at a time, squeeze it in your fist very tightly to remove as much water as possible. Repeat until you've squeezed the water from all the shredded zucchini. This is an important step because the muffins will not bake properly if there is too much moisture in the zucchini.
- Transfer the shredded zucchini to a medium-size mixing bowl.
Prepare the muffin mixture:
- Add all ingredients for the muffin mixture to the mixing bowl with the shredded zucchini.
- Re-whisk the flax egg and add it to the mixing bowl.
- Stir everything together until all ingredients are well distributed.
Add the add-in:
- Add the chocolate chips add-in to the mixing bowl and gently them in until they are evenly distributed.
Assembly:
- Evenly divide the muffin mixture between 9 standard-size muffin cups.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick or fork comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool slightly before serving.
- Store in an air-tight BPA-free container.
Recipe Notes
- You will need 1 ½ cups after it's shredded + squeezed of excess water. I can get 1 ½ cups from (1) large zucchini, but you may need 1-2 zucchini if they are smaller in size.
- Make sure after you've processed the zucchini through the food processor you take a few minutes to squeeze as much liquid from the zucchini as possible. Zucchini is 95% water so any excess water left behind will affect the outcome of the recipe.
- After shredding the zucchini in a food processor, take a handful at a time and squeeze it as tight as possible in your fist to allow the excess water to drain into a small bowl. Another option is to use a nut-milk bag.
Nutrition Information
Copyright Notice
The instructions, notes, and photographs for this recipe by Karielyn Tillman of The Healthy Family and Home™ website are copyrighted material. This copyrighted work is protected and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and cannot be legally used without my written permission.
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