Looking for a hidden veggies snack your kids will love? Try these Zucchini Muffins with Chocolate. The Veggie Packed Muffins are a great snack on the go that both kids and adults will love!
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Don’t you just love Zucchini Muffins (or muffins in general, really…)? Adding Zucchinis or veggies to your muffins are awesome for so many different reasons:
- It is a great way to get picky eaters to eat more vegetables
- They make any cake batter more moist
- Grated veggies in a cake are a clever way to make it a bit healthier
Whether you make Sweet Zucchini Muffins like here with Chocolate or Savory Zucchini Muffins like my Goats Cheese Zucchini Muffins, they always turn out like great little treat that are easy to pack in a lunchbox or enjoy on the go!
Hidden Veggies Chocolate Muffins Ingredients
The more important ingredients here are the obvious ones: the Chocolate and the Zucchini. Chocolate is added in two ways: with Cacao Powder and with chunks of Dark Chocolate. The chopped Dark Chocolate will bring that deliciously gooey melted chocolate touch these muffins need!
To make these Sweet Zucchini Muffins, you will need:
- Grated Zucchini
- Vegetable Oil – I used Canola Oil
- Eggs
- Full Cream Milk (or a Plant-Based Milk if you want to make this recipe Dairy-Free)
- Plain Flour
- Unsweetened Cacao Powder
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda
- Dark Chocolate Chunks or Chocolate Chips – preferably 70% Cacao Chocolate
How to make Chocolate Chips Zucchini Muffins
This first important step in making these Muffins is grating the Zucchini. You can use a Classic Boxed Grater or a Food Processor that will be much quicker and easier. Use the thin to medium shred to grate the zucchini – you want them to be thin enough to be easily combined into the batter but not small enough to fall apart.
Once you have grated your zucchini, it is VERY important to drain them well so you don’t get extra moisture while being baked. Transfer the grated zucchini into a thin mesh sieve and gently press on it to release as much moisture as possible. Leave them to drain until ready to be folded in the cake batter.
Here are the steps to make these super easy chocolate muffins:
- Grate and Drain the Zucchini and set aside
- Whisk the Sugar and Oil together, then add the Eggs one at the time.
- Whisk in the Milk
- Mix and Sift all the dry ingredients together and stir them in the wet ingredients
- Fold in the Grated Zucchini and finally the chopped Chocolate or Chocolate Chips
How to store these Muffins
These muffins will keep fresh for 2 to 3 days. Once completely cool, they need to be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature. I love this tip from Well Plated by Erin to use Paper Towel below and above the muffins in the container to keep them super fresh. The Paper Towels will absorb any moisture that can come out of the muffins to assure they stay fresh and don’t go soggy!
Simply put a layer of paper towel at the bottom of your container and put a layer of muffin over it. Cover with another layer of paper towel and if needed, repeat the process until all of your muffins are in the container. Finish with one last layer.
Can you freeze Zucchini Muffins?
One of the best thing about these muffins is that they will very easily freeze and keep fresh for up to 3 months in the freezer. To freeze these muffins, first make sure they are completely cold. Wrap each muffin individually with a layer of wrap and aluminium foil before freezing. Alternatively, you can also individually wrap the muffins with baking paper, plastic wrap or aluminium foil, then place them in freezing bags.
When ready to be eaten, take them out of the freezer and leave them to thaw at room temperature for a few hours or in the fridge overnight. You can also re-heat them in the microwave or oven for a few minutes.
Looking for more small snacks and treats?
Try these ones:
Zucchini Muffins with Goat’s Cheese
No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
Lemon and Blueberry Muffins
Almond Tahini Cookies
Easy Chocolate Brownie Bites
Raspberry Lemon Muffins
The Best Hidden Veggies Muffin Recipe:
Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150gr) Zucchinis, grated and drained, about 1 medium size zucchini
- 1/3 cup (60gr) Brown Sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Canola Oil (or any cooking vegetable oil)
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Full Cream Milk, use a Plant-Based Milk to make this recipe Dairy Free
- 1 1/2 cup (225gr) Plain Flour
- 1/3 cup (30gr) Unsweetened Cacao Powder
- 1/2 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 teasp. Baking Soda
- 1/2 cup (75gr) Dark Chocolate, chopped, or Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Grate your zucchini and place in a sieve to drain. Try to remove as much of the moisture as possible, then set aside.
- Preheat your oven on 180'C / 350'F. Line a Muffin Tray with Paper Cups.
- In a large bowl, whisk the Brown Sugar and Canola Oil until the sugar has dissolved. Add the Eggs one at the time, then the Milk.
- In a seperate bowl, sift the Plain Flour, Cacao Powder, Baking Powder and Baking Soda. Add the to the wet ingredient and stir until combined.
- Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently stir in the Grated Zucchinis then the Chopped Dark Chocolate or Chocolate Chips.
- Pour the muffin batter into each muffin cup and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the tip of a knife comes out clean.
- Leave to cool down completely and store in an air-tight container.See instructions above for freezing these muffins.
Hi there, I'm Sylvie - a Belgian Expat living in Melbourne, Australia. I am addicted to baking and love to share my favourite recipes and tips. Join me on my Baking Journey! - Sylvie
I’ve never made veggie muffins, but we’re growing about a million courgettes in our garden so I might come back to your recipe when I need something to do with them all!!
That’s exactly why I made this recipe, we received a 10kg homegrown zucchini so had to get creative to use it! Enjoy 🙂
Looks interesting. I bet I could make a vegan version with egg substitute and plant milk.
It would very easily be made vegan for sure, just need to substitute the eggs 🙂
These looks divine! I’m always looking for healthy alternatives to my favourite treats – Can’t wait to try these!
Thank you Georgette, I’m glad you liked the recipe!
Sooo excited to try these!
Thanks Megan, hope you love them!
These muffins look yummy. I love sneaking veggies into everything. We will be trying this recipe for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you like it Heather! Love hiding veggies in things too!
I normally hate zucchini but these muffins look so good I want to give them a try for sure!
I’m sure you will love these then because you can barely taste the zucchini, they just bring a great moisture without any taste 😉
Those look amazing. And you can convince yourself that they are healthy because they have zucchini
My way of thinking exactly! If it has veggies in them, they are healthy – right!?
These muffins looks delicious 😊 I have been wanting to dry veggie muffins for a while but unsure how they would taste. These look really good though, will need to give them a shot 😊
Thank you! I’m happy this recipe makes you want to try veggie muffins, and I hope you love them 🙂
This is such a good idea! I love courgette in cakes but I’ve never added chocolate before, looks yummy!
It works so well with chocolate, you should definitely try it!
I love so many things about this recipe: the zucchini, the fact it’s low in sugar and all the cacao. In fact I love everything about this recipe! Thank you for bringing it to #CookBlogShare
Thanks Monika, I’m so happy you loved everything about this recipe!
I love muffins with sneaky veggies in them and zucchini is fantastic in both sweet and savoury recipes. My kids would go bananas for these (or should I say zucchini) lol? Thanks so much for sharing with #BakingCrumbs 🙂
Haha yes I think it’s one of those recipe kids would go crazy for, and the parents would love for the sneaky veggies 😉 Thanks Jo!
Such a clever idea to put zucchini in the muffins! And anything that is chocolate (especially DOUBLE chocolate!) is a good idea to me! 🙂
Chocolate is always a good idea! Especially when you can sneak in some veggies too 😉
These look so rich and chocolatey you wouldn’t know that they had hidden veggies in them! I’ve made cakes with different veggies but never zucchini, I’m definitely going to give these a try.
Thank you Lou, I’m glad you liked the recipe! You would never guess there are veggies in them, and you can barely taste the zucchini either – great way to eat more veggies but still feel like you are eating cake 😉
These look so delicious. I love baking with zucchini and muffins in general!
Thank you Cat, me too!
These look amazing and I LOVE how they have zucchini (or courgette as we’d say in the UK) hidden inside. I reckon my kids would love these (and me!) Eb x
Thank you EB! I’m sure your kids (and you) will love them 🙂
Gosh these sound darkly good. I have always wanted to try the courgette/chocolate combo and these sound perfect! Love the sound of the goats cheese and courgette muffins too! Thanks so much for bringing these delicious bakes to #BakingCrumbs
Thank you Jenny! You definitely should try it, it is a great combo!