This fluffy chocolate chip zucchini muffin recipe is a great way to use up fresh zucchini from your garden or farmer’s market! They are soft, moist, and slightly sweetened with a generous helping of semisweet chocolate chips and a sweet sprinkling of sugar on top!
Another Monday, another muffin recipe!
These chocolate chip zucchini muffins actually debuted on the blog just over two years ago, and while the recipe itself was sound, they were in major need of a facelift (check alllll the way at the very bottom of this post for one of the original photos… we’ve come a long way).
I’ve been wanting to re-make these muffins since last summer, so when Zach’s mom handed me a few gigantic zucchinis I knew exactly what to do with them (and of course it involved adding chocolate).
While many zucchini muffins are generally very dense, with this recipe I wanted something that was lighter and fluffier, and I think you can see from the photos that this is exactly how they turned out.
Thanks to the shredded zucchini, they are soft, moist, and tender, the crumb of the muffin is light, but still moist.
I always shred my zucchini in a food processor because when I try to do it by hand I end up with either
- Zucchini shreds that are far too thick, you can actually feel yourself biting into the strands of zucchini in the muffin and having your tooth distinctly bite into a vegetable is just about the biggest turn off for me when trying to enjoy baked goods, or
- Zucchini that is so finely grated it is essentially mush.
Maybe you have a better hand grater at home, but for me, just using my food processor gets the job done quickly and correctly, providing perfectly grated strands for muffins (this is the food processor that I use (affiliate), it’s also a must-have when making my carrot cake).
Despite some pretty sweet add-ins, these zucchini muffins aren’t overly sweet (they’re a bit less sweet than my chocolate chip muffins, if you’re familiar with them) and they’re a perfectly acceptable breakfast option (I feel that way about every single one of my muffin recipes, though, even these).
There’s a reasonable amount of chocolate chips, enough to accent without overwhelming, well-sugared muffin tops, and I even added a bit of cinnamon into the mix. Don’t skip this, it’s the perfect accent to the chocolate and the zucchini.
These muffins keep well as leftovers, but if you manage to not eat all of them in one sitting then I recommend popping them in the microwave for a few seconds before enjoying. There’s just nothing quite like biting into a soft, warm muffin and hitting those melty semisweet chocolate mines.
What have you been doing with your zucchini this year? If you’re looking for more baking options, I recommend checking out my zucchini roll recipe — it’s like a summertime version of a pumpkin roll and is so good!
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- ½ cup canola oil or vegetable oil (120 ml)
- ½ cup milk (120 ml)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar tightly packed (100g)
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (280g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cup grated zucchini patted dry with paper towel (175g)
- 1 ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (255g)
- coarse sugar, for sprinkling (regular granulated sugar will also work)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F (220C) and line muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- In large bowl, combine oil, milk, and sugars, whisking well until well-combined and ingredients are not separated (oil and milk should not be separating and sugar should be mostly dissolved).
- Add egg and stir well. Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Give your wet ingredients another brief whisking to ensure ingredients are well combined, and then, using a spatula, carefully fold dry mix into liquid (do not over-mix, a few flour lumps are OK at this point).
- Fold in grated zucchini and chocolate chips.
- Evenly divide batter between prepared muffin cups, filling each liner ¾ way full.
- Sprinkle muffin batter generously with coarse sugar.
- Bake on 425F (220C) for 8 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 (175C) (do not open the oven door or remove the muffins, just leave them in and reduce the temperature) and bake another 10-12 minutes.
Do not over-bake or your muffins will dry out!
Nutrition
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Recipe originally published 7/24/2015, updated 7/31/2017. Original photo below, for entertainment purposes 😜
Ashley
I had a coworker bring in a bunch of zucchinis so I came to your website first since everything I have ever made from here has been divine. These muffins are no exception! The only thing I did different was use 1/2 a cup less of the chocolate chips. I had to stop myself at 3 muffins once they came out of the oven… The next day, I brought some into work, and I had coworkers emailing me for the recipe so I sent them this link! Thanks, Sam!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Ashley! 🙂
Larissa Thomson
I have commented before, but I have to comment again. These are my go-to zucchini muffin recipe. They are amazing! So amazing in fact, that my daughter’s boyfriend requested these as a Christmas gift this year! They’re in the oven right now–in Christmas liners (of course!).
Sam
I m so happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know how much your family loves them, it means a lot to me! 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Grace
Thees are so good! You cant even taste the Zucchini! I made a mini muffin batch and they were gone in less then 5 minutes. (I wasn’t the one who ate them all.) Theses are good beyond words! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Grace! 🙂
Madelyn Giles
I can’t remember if you already stated this, but can I add nuts?
Sam
Hi Madelyn! That should be fine. 🙂
Shelley Garl
My family devoted them….I made a double batch!! High praise from the non-zucchini eaters in the family!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Shelley! 🙂
Anju
They were so easy to make and turned out super delicious!!! Enjoyed thoroughly assisting my 7year old in this
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed them! I hope that you had fun making them together too! Thanks for trying my recipe, Anju! 🙂
Jenna
Made these today and they are fantastic. I didn’t have chocolate chips so I just added mite more zucchini to make up for them. Muffins still came out moist and fluffy. Thank you for the recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Jenna! 🙂
Jill
Delicious muffins Sam. What a delicious way to use up zucchini from the garden.
Sam
Thank you so much, Jill! I am glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Larissa
These were amazing! Even my zucchini-averse teenage boy couldn’t get enough of them! Thank you. We will be putting these on the muffin rotation list for sure!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Larissa! 🙂
Adina
Mmmmm, I feel like baking the muffins right now, I do have a zucchini in the fridge from my neighbour’s garden :). I love the plates as well, especially the one with the pattern. 🙂
Sam
Thank you, Adina!
Ben Maclain | Havocinthekitchen
That’s interesting. I’ve made a lot of carrot baked things. I’ve even incorporated beets, but I’ve never added zucchini. That’s kind of embarrassing. But you know what’s not embarrassing?! These lovely muffins. With cinnamon and chocolate, I’m in! Well done, Sam!
Sam
Thanks so much, Ben!
Zainab
Always a great classic to make any morning wonderful!!
Sam
Thanks so much, Zainab!
Kennedy Cole@ KCole's Creative Corner
Oh YES, Sam! I absolutely love these! Baking with zucchini is definitely one of my favorite things to do 😉 Zucchini really does add that perfect moist texture to any baked dish! And these muffins look so incredibly fluffy and light! LOVE these, Sam! 😀
Sam
Thanks so much, Kennedy! 🙂
Beeta @ Mon Petit Four
Your muffins look positively delicious, Sam! I love using zucchini in baked goods..reminds me of carrots in cake cake…they just tend to make the baked good so incredibly moist. And I bet your sister’s homegrown ones were incredible…the store-bought ones are just sad. Great job – I could totally go for one of these muffins! <3
Sam
Thank you so much, Beeta! The zucchini really does do so much for the moisture component!