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These zucchini chocolate chip muffins are tall, moist, and loaded with chocolate chips! Bake up a tray to impress everyone.
Why we love this recipe
Looking for a fun baking project? If you’ve got zucchini on hand, meet your dream muffin: zucchini chocolate chip muffins! These little cakes are tall with the perfect domed muffin top, sweet and moist with bursts of chocolate in each bite.
They’re quick to whip up: much quicker than zucchini bread! Try them as a quick snack slathered with almond butter, or even as a little dessert cake topped with whipped cream. As two cookbook authors who have made and tested dozens of muffin recipes and zucchini recipes, this one is a fast favorite.
Ingredients in chocolate chip zucchini muffins
These chocolate chip zucchini muffins are simple to whip up once you’ve got the main ingredients: zucchini and chocolate! Otherwise, you might already have the ingredients on hand in your pantry and refrigerator. The ingredients for chocolate chip zucchini muffins are:
- Zucchini
- Chocolate chips
- All-purpose flour
- Unsalted butter
- Neutral oil
- Brown sugar and granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Cinnamon
- Salt
Tips for this chocolate chip zucchini muffins recipe
These zucchini chocolate chip muffins are tall and fluffy: nothing like those short, stubby muffin recipes that result from a random internet search (been there!). After experimenting for quite a while, we’ve found a few key things to creating the best muffin recipe. These tips apply to all our muffin recipes to get a nice tall, fluffy muffin:
- Use both butter and oil. Butter and oil work uniquely in baked goods. Typically we use oil in our muffin recipes, but we love the richness in flavor and even texture that butter adds here.
- For even baking, fill every other cup in two 12-cup muffin tins. This helps the muffins to bake evenly, getting that nice domed top. Don’t have two muffin tins? You can bake in one tin: this simply achieves the nicest looking muffins.
- Fill the muffin cups up to the top. This recipe is optimized so you fill the muffin cups very full up to the top. This avoids stubby muffins and makes a lovely domed top.
- Baking at 375°F makes a taller muffin. A slightly hotter oven makes a taller and fluffier muffin (versus the standard 350°F). This recipe also has a good amount of leavener (baking powder and baking soda) to get the job done.
How to grate zucchini for muffins
Some people swear by grating zucchini on the fine side of the grater holes for things like muffins and breads. This works, but you don’t get the lovely flecks of green in the texture. We like seeing the zucchini (no need to hide!), so we like to use the large grater holes. Either works!
Variations: bread or chocolate muffins
This zucchini muffins recipe also works as bread! You can follow the recipe below and place it in a 9-inch loaf pan and bake at 350°F for 60 to 65 minutes until the top springs back or a toothpick comes out with a few clinging crumbs. Or go to Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread.
Or, love chocolate? Try making Chocolate Zucchini Muffins instead! They are moist, rich, and extremely chocolaty! All you need is a bit of Dutch process cocoa powder.
Storing leftovers
How to store these zucchini chocolate chip muffins? They taste great the day of baking, but they’re even better after storage because they get even moister. Here’s what to know:
- Room temperature: Store at room temperature for 2 to 3 days in a sealed container. This keeps in the moisture and the muffins are even softer after storage.
- Refrigerator: These muffins store well in the refrigerator for up to 1 week! Let them stand at room temperature for a few minutes before eating. You can store them at room temp for a few days and then move to refrigerator storage.
- Freeze: Freeze in a sealable container and store for up to 3 months.
More zucchini recipes
There are so many things to bake with zucchini! Here are a few more zucchini recipes you’ll love:
- Go for classic Zucchini Bread, zingy Lemon Zucchini Bread, or spiced Snickerdoodle Zucchini Bread
- Opt for rich Chocolate Zucchini Bread or Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Mix up Banana Zucchini Bread
- Whiz up a Zucchini Smoothie
- Grab Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread or a pan of Zucchini Brownies
Dietary notes
This zucchini chocolate chip muffins recipe is vegetarian. For vegan, substitute flax eggs.
Frequently asked questions
No, you cannot taste the zucchini in these muffins. It adds moisture and a tender texture without affecting the chocolatey flavor.
Yes, you can reduce the sugar by up to ¼ cup without affecting the texture too much. However, keep in mind that reducing the sugar will make the muffins less sweet and the texture more dense.
Yes, you can substitute up to half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. This will make the muffins slightly denser and nuttier in flavor.
Absolutely! Chopped nuts or even additional chocolate chips would be delicious additions to these muffins. Just fold them in gently at the end of mixing.
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
These zucchini chocolate chip muffins are tall, moist, and loaded with chocolate chips! Bake up a tray to impress everyone.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted (or vegan butter or more oil)
- ⅓ cup neutral oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups [280 g] all-purpose flour
- 2 cups shredded zucchini, packed (about 1 pound or 2 medium or 1 large zucchini), grated with large grater
- 1 cup chocolate chips, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a standard muffin tin with 12 muffin paper liners*.
- Melt the butter, then whisk in the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Use a spatula to mix in the flour and zucchini until a thick smooth batter forms, mixing just until there are no longer streaks of dry ingredients. Fold in ¾ cup chocolate chips, mixing gently a few times.
- Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin cups: the cups will be full to the top, using about a heaping ¼ cup per muffin. Sprinkle another handful chocolate chips onto the tops of the muffins.
- Bake until the tops are set, rotating the pans halfway through the baking, about 22 to 27 minutes total (a toothpick inserted in the center should come out with a few clinging crumbs, but it can be tricky to tell with the chocolate chips since they melt onto the toothpick!). Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a baking rack to fully cool (about 1 hour). The muffins store very well in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, in the refrigerator for 1 week, or frozen for 1 month.
Notes
*For the most even bake, you can also bake in two muffin tins spaced apart with every other muffin, then rotate the sheets halfway through.
- Category: Baked
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Muffin
- Diet: Vegetarian
Hi! I have a convection oven, I usually adjust the cooking time by 25 degrees. Should I do the same for this recipe?
TIA!
Yes
Hi! Do you think there’s a way to make these without eggs?
You can try replacing the eggs with flax eggs and it should work! Go to https://www.acouplecooks.com/flax-egg/
Let us know if you have any questions!