Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Fluffy vegan chocolate zucchini muffins that are so moist and rich! These muffins have large bakery-style tops and come together in one bowl. They’re a great way to use your extra zucchini, just like my vegan zucchini muffins and chocolate zucchini bread!
Ingredients you’ll need
Notes about the ingredients
Grated zucchini and there’s no need to squeeze it! The excess moisture from the fresh zucchini is balanced with a lower ratio of dairy-free milk so your muffins aren’t too moist. I used a food processor for shredding my zucchini, but a box grater is fine.
However, if your zucchini happens to be extra wet, I recommend removing some of the moisture with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels.
Brown sugar for depth of flavor and moisture. Granulated sugar or coconut sugar will also work!
Dairy-free milk. I prefer soy milk in baked goods as it’s higher in protein which makes muffins more tender. However, any milk will work for example, almond milk or oat milk.
Unsweetened cocoa powder. If your cocoa powder is lumpy, sift it before using it in the recipe.
Even though these muffins are eggless, we don’t need any special egg replacers to make these muffins light and fluffy.
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to make vegan chocolate zucchini muffins
Like most of my recipes, you’ll only need one large mixing bowl to prepare these easy muffins!
All you have to do is whisk the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients and stir until combined. We’re adding the sugar with the wet ingredients so it dissolves quickly.
The consistency of your batter will depend on how you measured your flour/sugar and how you shredded your zucchini. If you used measuring cups and packed your cup with too much flour, your muffins will be dry. I recommend using the spoon and level method or the grams method.
Also, avoid overmixing your batter. Overmixing leads to tough and dense muffins that can have gluey streaks.
Extra tips for bakery-style muffin tops
These vegan double chocolate zucchini muffins will bake beautifully as they are, without any modifications!
For extra tall muffin tops, my biggest tip is to space the muffins apart in your muffin tin (pictured below). This encourages more oven heat to circulate each muffin which encourages them to grow more. If you have only 1 muffin tin, you’ll need to bake 6 muffins at a time.
You can also:
- Initially bake the muffins at a higher oven heat. Preheat your oven to 220°C (425°F), bake them for 5 minutes then reduce the oven to 180°C (350°F) for around 20 minutes. The initial burst of heat encourages the muffins to grow taller. But we reduce the temperature otherwise the muffins be dry!
- Rest your muffin batter in the fridge for 2 hours (if you have extra time). This allows the flour to absorb the wet ingredients which creates a thicker batter that domes more. However, I prefer the other tips as they’re much quicker :).
I only used the first tip for the pictured muffins :).
Customizing the muffins
Yes, some other delicious add-ins include:
– chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds
– chocolate chunks (instead of dark chocolate chips)
– vegan white chocolate chips, for those chocolate lovers!
– 1 teaspoon espresso powder for a deeper chocolate flavor
If you’d like muffins without zucchini, see my vegan chocolate muffins or my other vegan muffin recipes!
Gluten-free version: My team and I have tested these muffins with King Arthur’s gluten-free measure for measure flour and they work well! If using, I suggest baking the muffins for around 27-30 minutes.
Heathier zucchini muffins: Use whole wheat flour or spelt flour but an an extra dash of milk as those flours are more absorbent.
You can reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup (145g) without any drastic changes (the muffins will be less moist and smaller). Or use coconut sugar for less sweet muffins.
I don’t recommend using other sweeteners, like maple syrup or mashed banana, in the same amount. You’ll need to do your own testing to find a ratio that works for you.
I recommend checking out my recipes for chocolate zucchini bread and regular zucchini bread instead. Quick breads are larger than muffins and need to be sliced, so benefit from an egg replacer.
More vegan muffin recipes
See my full collection of easy vegan muffin recipes.
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Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) coarsely shredded zucchini, (around 1 medium large zucchini)
- 1 cup (190g) packed brown sugar, granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- ¾ cup (190g) dairy-free milk
- ½ cup (125g) neutral flavored oil, such as a light olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Dry ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose plain flour, spoon and leveled (note 2 for gluten-free)
- ½ cup (50g) cocoa powder
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt, optional
- ¾ cup (130g) vegan chocolate chips, optional, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin liners.
Make the vegan chocolate zucchini muffins
- Add all the wet ingredients to a large bowl and mix until combined and there are no bits of zucchini sticking together. Add the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips and mix until just combined. If you're using chocolate chips, add them to the batter and gently fold them through.
- Use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to divide the batter into your muffin pan. The batter should fill each muffin cup almost completely (check the step-by-step images above, note 3). If desired, sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top.
Baking and storing the muffins:
- Bake the muffins for 23-27 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in a muffin and it comes out clean. These muffins are moist so a few crumbs on your toothpick are fine. Try to avoid overbaking the muffins otherwise they'll be dry.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes (or until they aren't too hot) then place them on a wire rack.
- Enjoy the muffins warm or at room temperature.
- Store any leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
- For the best results, I recommend using a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients. It’s difficult to measure flour and zucchini accurately with measuring cups. If you only have cups, make sure you don’t pack the flour into the cup. Instead, use a spoon to fill up the measuring cup and level it with the flat side of a knife. Using a measuring cup to scoop flour out of a container will pack in too much flour and make these muffins dry and dense.
- Gluten-free version: We tested these muffins with King Arthur’s gluten-free measure for measure flour and they work well! If using, I suggest baking the muffins for around 27-30 minutes. Other gluten-free flours may produce different results.
- To get higher muffin tops, I recommend baking 6 muffins at a time in a 12-cup muffin tray. Spacing apart the muffins allows the hot oven air to bake them faster, resulting in higher tops. This means you’ll need to bake the muffins in 2 lots.
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I just made these and they are so fluffy and moist and not too sweet, love!!! I used the trick of spacing them apart in the pan and they domed really well. It’s so nice to have someone post good vegan recipes without 1:1 egg-replacements, thank youu!
Thank you so much for the lovely feedback! We’re so happy to hear that you enjoyed them and love that you tried the spacing trick, it really does make a difference! It means a lot to hear you’ve been enjoying the recipes too 🥰
I have made these and they are great. What is the timing difference for mini muffins. i was going to try and do the 425 and then turn it down. not sure if that would be good with mini muffins and what do you think timing should be?
Hi Brianna, so glad you enjoyed these! I haven’t tried the recipe in a mini muffin pan so I’m not 100% sure, but try baking them for 15-20 minutes. If you use the 425 trick, I would bake them for a few less minutes. Hope that helps!
Great recipe. I let the batter sit overnight in the fridge and everyone raved about them.
Yay, we are so happy to hear that and glad the fridge trick worked for you! Thank you!
These are the best chocolate muffins I’ve ever made and I’m not even vegan. This was fantastic!!!!
Thank you so much for your feedback! We’re so happy you loved them!!
Would like to make this for my Dads birthday. Can this be made into a cake please?
Hi Vidya, it’s best to make my chocolate zucchini bread in a cake pan! When these muffins are scaled up, they’re a bit more crumbly so a little dairy-free yogurt helps with the structure. Hope that helps!