5 from 20 votes

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Name: Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 16 min
Total time: 31 min
Ingredients: ½ cup granulated sugar; ¼ cup light brown sugar (firmly packed ); ⅓ cup neutral cooking oil (I like avocado, but canola or vegetable will work); ⅓ cup milk; 1 large egg; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour; 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder; ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional); ½ teaspoon table salt; 1 cup finely shredded zucchini (Measure/weigh and then blot out the excess water with a paper towel); 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips; 1 Tablespoon turbinado or granulated sugar (for sprinkling on top)

By Sam MerrittPublished Aug 01, 2024

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86 Comments

Servings: 12 muffins

31 mins

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Fluffy chocolate chip zucchini muffins are a great way to use up zucchini from your garden! These are soft, moist, and slightly sweet with a sprinkling of sugar on top. Recipe includes a how-to video!

Close-up view of a chocolate chip zucchini muffin.

Got Zucchini? Make Muffins!

These chocolate chip zucchini muffins actually debuted on the blog years ago. Today, I’m slightly adjusting the recipe to make an even dozen muffins (with just a bit more chocolate!) and sharing some new photos, too. If you were a fan of the old recipe, you’ll like this one just as much!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Flavor: chocolate chips, a touch of cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla add lots of flavor to this seemingly veggie-centered muffin. I promise, you do NOT taste the zucchini!
Texture: While zucchini muffins are generally very dense, mine are lighter and fluffier. Thanks to the zucchini, they are also soft, moist, and tender.
Appearance: We’ll get tall, bakery-worthy muffin tops using my special baking technique. Don’t worry, it’s simple!
Ease: No mixer (please don’t use one!) and only 15 minutes to prep before they go in the oven.

Ingredients

Each ingredient in this recipe was carefully selected for the tastiest and most tender results. I’ll review a few you might have questions about before we get started.

Zucchini. I always shred my zucchini in a food processor. I find that when I try to do it by hand (with a box grater), I end up with either zucchini shreds that are far too thick or zucchini that is so finely grated, it’s essentially mush. Maybe you have a better hand grater at home, but for me, using my food processor gets the job done quickly and correctly, providing perfectly grated strands. This is the food processor that I use (affiliate); I use this tool for shredding carrots for my carrot cake, too!
Cinnamon. Optional, but I think it’s the perfect accent to the chocolate and the zucchini!
Sugar. We’ll use three types of sugar today; granulated, light brown, and turbinado (for sprinkling on top). Despite three sugars, these 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. Honestly, I feel that way about every single one of my muffin recipes though, even my chocolate cheesecake muffins 😜
Milk. I typically use whole milk when I bake, but any kind should work here. Non-dairy milks will also be fine in this recipe.
Oil. Use your neutral oil of choice. Lately I’ve been preferring avocado oil in my cakes and muffins, but canola or vegetable will also work.

SAM’S TIP: There’s no need to peel your zucchini before shredding–you won’t be able to detect the peels in the final product.

As always, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Prepare the Zucchini

If you’ve made any of my recently shared zucchini recipes (like my chocolate zucchini bread!), you’ll be familiar with this process. It’s easy, and it creates the perfect texture and size, so no one bites into a chunk of zucchini!

Two photos showing zucchini being shredded and blotted.

Shred the zucchini with the shred blade of your food processor first, then switch to the normal blade. Pulse a few times to chop the zucchini into fine bits.
Blot the zucchini with paper towels until you’ve removed most of the moisture. The zucchini will start to stick to your paper towels when it’s ready.

Prepare the Batter

Four photos showing muffin batter being prepared and combined with shredded zucchini.

Vigorously whisk the wet ingredients together in a large bowl.
Whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Fold the wet and dry ingredients together until about 50% combined.
Add the shredded zucchini and chocolate chips and keep folding until the batter is just combined. Do not over-mix, or you could create rubbery, dense muffins!

Two photos showing muffin batter being portioned and baked.

Divide the batter into a lined muffin tin and bake. This is where my special baking technique comes into play; we’ll start at one high temperature and then reduce it without opening the oven door. The initial high temperature is what creates those tall, bakery-style muffin tops!
Let the muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove them to a cooling rack.

SAM’S TIP: I like to use a spring-loaded ice cream scoop or large cookie scoop to portion my muffin batter into the liners. It’s easy, fast, and so clean!

Overhead view of a pan of zucchini muffins made with chocolate chips.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add nuts?

Yes! I would fold in up to a cup and and a half of cup of nuts when you add the chocolate chips and zucchini. Toasted pecans or walnuts would be tasty here, but really any kind of nut would be fine!

Do zucchini muffins need to be refrigerated?

I let mine sit at room temperature in an airtight container for a few days (2-3 at most). If you want to keep them longer than that, then you will need to refrigerate them. Oh, they also freeze well!

Do you taste the zucchini?

Not at all! Just like in my chocolate zucchini cake, you don’t taste the zucchini one bit in these muffins. Instead of adding flavor, the zucchini adds moisture and a bit of nutritional value (though these are definitely still a sweet treat!).

Zucchini and chocolate chip muffin that's been unwrapped with one bite missing.

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!

Enjoy!

Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜

Recipe originally published 7/24/2015, recipe has been improved and updated and a video has been added. Please see the notes in the recipe card if you are looking for the original recipe.