Chocolate Zucchini Oat & Flaxseed Muffins

May 3, 2023

If you are looking for a delicious chocolate muffin recipe that is gluten-free, full of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids and low in sugar, but tastes like something far more decadent… then look no further! These chocolate zucchini muffins are made with ground oats and flaxseeds, almond milk, honey and dark chocolate making them full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

In addition to being full of health benefits, these muffins are also full of rich, chocolatey goodness that you will absolutely love.

Let’s get started…

These muffins are made with ground flaxseeds and oat flour making them gluten-free, but if you can’t find oat flour or don’t want to buy a whole bag of it just to make these muffins then you can easy make your own. Oat flour is simply ground oats, so add a heaping cup of old fashioned or steel cut oats into a food processor, blend on high speed until you have a very fine texture and voila! you have oat flour.

In addition to your freshly ground oat flour, you’ll need to grate a medium zucchini. Once you have about a cup of shredded zucchini, transfer it into a paper towel lined bowl. Let the zucchini sit over the paper towels while you gather the other ingredients and then wrap the shreds up in the paper towels and give them a good squeeze to remove as much of the liquid as possible before adding it into the batter.

In a large bowl, whisk 1 cup of almond milk with 1/3 cup of honey, 2 large eggs, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Combine 1 cup of oat flour, 1/4 cup of ground flaxseeds, 1/4 cup of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon of espresso powder, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt by either whisking them together in a small bowl or sifting them directly into the almond milk mixture.

Add the dry ingredients into the almond milk mixture along with your squeeze dried shredded zucchini and 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips or chunks.

Drying the zucchini may sound like an unnecessary step, but they have a lot of liquid in them and if most of this liquid is not removed before they are added into the batter then it will be released into your muffins as they bake making them soggy.

Mix the ingredients until everything is fully combined. As you mix, scrape the bottom of the bowl to be sure that you have worked all of the honey into the batter.

Line a cupcake tin and fill each cavity just below full. These muffins do not rise too much during baking, so as long as you see a little bit of the liners peaking through, you’ll be good to go!

Note: This recipe makes a little more than 12 muffins worth of batter, so you can add either wait until the first dozen bakes and then add the remaining batter in for a second time through or add the remaining batter into a mini muffin tin.

Bake the muffins in a 350 degree oven for 18-22 minutes or until they edges feel set and the tops of the muffins no longer look wet.

I love to give these beauties a tiny sprinkle with some coarse sugar just to add a little crunch, but this is definitely an optional addition. They are perfectly sweet as is, riding the line between a special breakfast and healthy dessert.

Look at how rich and moist these muffins are! When I first started making these muffins, I was concerned at how loose the batter was, but all of the almond milk, honey, butter and eggs come together to create a truly fabulous muffin.

The next time you are looking for a healthy muffin that feels quite indulgent then bake yourself up a batch of these chocolate zucchini oat and flaxseed muffins.

You’ll be so glad that you did…

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