These Gluten-Free Vegan Zucchini Muffins are seriously moist, perfectly dense and studded with chocolate chips. They’re great for dessert, breakfast, brunch or a snack, and taste surprisingly like banana bread!
Why you’ll love these Gluten-Free Vegan Zucchini Muffins:
- they’re undetectably vegan and gluten-free
- they’re seriously moist
- they’re subtly spiced and fragrant
- they have a warm, toasty flavour
- they’re nutty
- they taste a bit like banana bread
- they’re perfectly chocolatey
- they’re easily customisable
- they can be made either sweet or savoury
- they can be made refined sugar free or made with no added sugar
- they’re made in one bowl
- they’re perfect for dessert, breakfast, brunch or a snack!
How to make ground walnuts
These muffins are made using ground walnuts which add a wonderfully nutty flavour and keep them moist and fluffy.
To make ground walnuts, place whole walnuts into a food processor and pulse briefly until you get a fine powder.
Tip: Make sure not to over-blend as otherwise you’ll get nut butter!
How to make these Gluten-Free Vegan Zucchini Muffins
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- The zucchini (courgette) will need to be grated – the easiest way to do this is to use a box grater.
Tip: Use both hands to squeeze as much water as possible out of the grated zucchini – this will help it cook better.
- Then place all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl and mix it all together.
Tip: Make sure to use a measuring jug to measure out the exact amount of plant-based milk!
- Divide the batter between muffin cases in a [amazon_textlink asin=’B003W0UMPI|B009AQSB2E’ text=’muffin/cupcake tin’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’rhiansrecip00-20|rhisrec-21′ marketplace=’US|UK’ link_id=’d185c677-4fda-11e8-ab1d-9119bb5e3aef’].
- Bake for 20 minutes.
How long do these Zucchini Muffins keep for?
Though these Zucchini Muffins do taste best when fresh, they keep well covered in the fridge for up to a few days. If you have just taken them out of the fridge, I’d recommend warming them up in an oven toaster if you have one.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe:
- you can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil
- you can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc
- you can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc
- you can substitute the ground walnuts with ground almonds
- for a nut-free version: substitute the ground walnuts with ground sunflower seeds and use a nut-free plant-based milk
- you can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free
- the ground cinnamon can be omitted
- for a refined sugar free version, use refined sugar free chocolate chips
- the chocolate chips can be omitted or substituted with chocolate chunks
- you can make savoury/no added sugar zucchini muffins by completely omitting the maple syrup and chocolate chips
- you can top these muffins with chopped walnuts, pecan nuts, flaked almonds or coconut flakes before baking
- you can omit the chocolate chips and use other ingredients such as lemon zest, raisins or desiccated coconut.
More gluten-free vegan muffin recipes:
- Carrot Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Muffins
- Cornbread Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Apple Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Lemon Muffins
- Orange Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Gluten-Free Vegan Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 60 g (1/4 cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar * (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 cup) zucchini (courgette) , grated
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 150 ml (2/3 cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) ground walnuts ** (or sub ground almonds/almond meal)
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 50 g (1/3 cup) dark chocolate chips *** (ensure vegan/gluten-free if necessary)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Use both hands to squeeze as much water as possible out of the grated zucchini – this will help it cook better
- Place the coconut oil in a separate large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil)
- Once melted, add the maple syrup, vinegar, salt, zucchini, cinnamon, milk and ground walnuts to the same bowl
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
- Mix well, adding a splash more milk if it’s looking too dry
- Add the chocolate chips and fold in gently
- Transfer the mixture between muffin cases in a muffin tin
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean
- Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of the products, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Natalie
I love zucchini muffins! These look incredible – so moist and perfect for weekend brunch!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!
Frankie
I love these courgette muffins, delicious, so easy to make. Thank you
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you like them!
Anonymous
Delicious but not very big like a muffin? Don’t seem to rise much? Is that because I used rice flour instead?
Rhian Williams
If using rice flour in place of the gluten-free flour, you should add some tapioca flour too to help it rise and as a binding agent. Also what size were you muffin cases? The size of the muffin cases will impact how much they rise!
angelica
can I use rice flour instead of gluten free blend?
Rhian Williams
Yes! Add 2 tablespoons tapioca flour though!
Jenny
Delicious! I used almond meal instead of walnuts and my kids love them. Are the muffins safe to freeze?
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, glad you liked them! Yes you can freeze them!
fer
When you say gluten-free flour, what exactly do you mean? I’m new to all of this and I’m not sure if you mean gluten-free flour like rice flour, almond flour, coconut flour, or if there is already a special type of gluten-free flour that is none of the above I mentioned, please i will be very gratefull, i hope youre answer
Rhian Williams
I mean a store-bought gluten-free flour blend – which is usually made up of a mixture of gluten-free flours, mostly rice flour! You can also use white rice flour plus 2 tablespoons tapioca flour.