Whole Wheat Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins
This Pumpkin Zucchini Muffin recipe is flavorful, fluffy, easy to make and the perfect fall baked good! Made with whole wheat flour, grated zucchini, pumpkin puree, applesauce, and lightly sweetened with a little brown sugar, these moist muffins are a delicious snack or breakfast.
So, I’ve been dreaming up this recipe all summer. I deeply love my go-to pumpkin oatmeal muffins and will be making them from October 1 until New Years day, but….not yet. Right now, we are in that *tiny* special window when summer is starting to fade into fall. The days are warm, the nights are cool, and the rare moment we get to enjoy pumpkins and zucchini at once is upon us. And, I am going to cease it in muffin form!
These Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins bring the best of both seasons together. They’re soft and fluffy from the mix of grated zucchini and pumpkin purée, warmly spiced, and just sweet enough thanks to a combo of applesauce and brown sugar. I like to make my muffin recipe with whole wheat flour because it creates for a bit more of heartier-stick-with-you-longer situation, so that is what I did with these. But if whole wheat baked goos have betrayed you in the past, do worry, these still bake up light and tender. And they are not a labor intensive kitchen project either. 10 minutes to prep. 20 minutes in the oven and they are done and ready for your snacking (or breakfasting) needs.
Oh and one more thing. Because these are so full of fruits and veggies, I HIGHLY recommended storing them in an air-tight container in the fridge. That way, they will stay fresher longer….even with all that added moisture that makes them so good.
Okay, let’s make them together…shall we?
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Whole Wheat Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup avocado oil, or melted coconut oil or butter
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin.
- Place grated zucchini in the middle of a paper towel or clean dish cloth. Wrap it up and press to remove as much moisture as possible. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, vanilla, brown sugar, and applesauce together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined, being careful not to over mix. Batter will be thick.
- Fold in drained zucchini until just evenly distributed. Again, don't over mix. The secret to fluffy muffins is to mix until ingredients are JUST combined.
- Portion the batter into prepared muffin tins, filling to the top. Spinkle more brown sugar on top, if desired.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before eating! They will firm up as they cool. Allow them to cool completely before storing in fridge in an air-tight container for 5 days or in your freezer for months.
Just tried these this morning with my children and we all loved them. Thanks for another great, easy recipe.
So glad you liked them as much as we do!
These were super easy and flavorful! Love that it’s a summer into fall bridge muffin.
So glad you enjoyed them, Cameron!
Delicious! I’ve never paired pumpkin with zucchini before, but this was great. I just omitted the sugar so I can share with baby, but added a drizzle of honey on mine. Yum! Thank you for the recipe!
I totally agree! It is not a pairing one would normally think of but it really does work! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
They just came out of the oven and my 14 month old toddler pointed at them and wanted the first one. The muffin was gone within minutes. Thanks for this wonderful recipe. I made a couple of changes, inspired by some of your other zucchini muffins recipes. Especially, I used one banana to sweeten and reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup and the apple sauce to 1/2 cup. Happy to have yet another healthy toddler snack at hand that has veggies.
Delighted to hear this, Jennifer! Thanks for sharing!
Do you think some combination of oat and almond flour could replace the whole wheat flour? Thanks for these healthier and unusual muffin recipes.
Hi Judy! I haven’t tested this recipe with almond or oat flour, but I do find that oat flour tends to work well as a whole wheat flour swap! If you give it a go, please let us know how it goes!
Delish! another fabulous muffin recipe. used olive oil, and 2 TBLS ground flax(in place of some flour). Added 1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Love pumpkin pie so this is such a treat, and nice way to welcome in fall. Bon appetite!
Yessssss! Love these muffins so much too. Such a fun bridge recipe between summer and fall.
Swapped whole wheat flour for about 2.5 cups of oat flour and swapped the brown sugar for two dates (blended with wet ingredients) and they came out amazing! My toddler couldn’t get enough!
Delighted to hear that, Kate! Awesome swaps and thanks for sharing what a success they were! I’m sure other readers will appreciate that!
Hello,
These muffins sound delicious. Could you replace the whole wheat flour with almond flour?
Thanks.
Hi Ann! I haven’t tested these with almond flour instead of whole wheat, but I know many people swear by that swap in baking. If you do give it a go, please let us know how it turns out!
I made these this morning and they were so perfect. I was a bit afraid my family wouldn’t go for all whole wheat so I used half King Arthur flour (all purpose). I also ran out of regular applesauce and used one pouch of apple cinnamon (extra cinnamon never hurt anyone). My son just said he didn’t want one, but he just ate one and loved it.
Yay! So glad these were such a success! Thanks for sharing, Juliet!
I was so excited to see this fall recipe with spring veggies. I used a 1/4 cup sugar and added white chocolate chips since my toddlers need chocolate chips in all muffins haha. They were super delicious! Only problem was that they stuck to the liners a little.
So glad you loved them as much as I do, Erin! Because my muffin recipes don’t have as much added oil or butter as a traditional muffin recipe, I do think they can stick to some paper liners. Either give your liners a quick spray with some cooking spray or use a liner with natural silicone (I like If You Care brand) and you should have no issues!
So delicious! My family devoured them and we’re making a second batch today. I always add mini chocolate chips and they were delightful with the pumpkin.
So glad you all loved these as much as we do, Jessica!
These were delicious! I tripled the recipe and added an extra 1/4 c. Olive oil. Also substituted white whole wheat flour for the whole wheat and replaced 1/3 of the sugar with unsweetened applesauce. Added dark chocolate chips and they were perfect! I baked at 400 for the first 5 min to help them rise. It took the full 22 min to get them done.
So glad you loved these too, Megan! House favorite over here!
My toddler gobbled them down – I think, that says it all! Thanks for this lovely summer-fall muffin recipe
Ha! A toddler approved recipe is always an extra win!
I cooked these “Fluffy”pumpkin muffins for an extra 20 min. They look great on the top but the bottom half came pasty like glue. Maybe I shouldn’t have filled the muffin tins.
I usually fill them 2/3. I didn’t add any nuts, I just followed your recipe to the letter. Any suggestions on what has gone wrong?
Thanks
I honestly think it might have been your pumpkin. After some pumpkin baked good “drama” this year, I went out and bought a whole bunch of different brands. And when I cracked them open, some were much thinner + watery than others. I tend to use Libby brand, which is thick and scoopable. Some brands, like Trader Joes, seem to have a lot more water and had an applesauce consistency. When I used the thinner pumpkin, I had gummy baked goods that had worked beautifully with the thicker pumpkin version.
Sorry these muffins didn’t turn out for you as they did for me and other readers. Perhaps this insight helped? Let me know. Having quality recipes out there is so important to me!
Love these muffins have been making them since fall. They are dense and delicious. I can eat them without add ins and at times will add some chocolate chips but they aren’t necessary because they are so good with and without them. Great snack! Thank you for sharing this recipe
Love how much you love these, Nicole! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
We made this out of season for pumpkin and loved the taste of fall on this late winter day. These are impressively packed with goodness and we loved every bite along side a glass of milk and a spoonful of peanut butter. Your muffins are so creative!
Oh yay! Thanks for trusting me when cooking for your family! Especially with baked good!
I love this healthier recipe for pumpkin muffins. I didn’t have applesauce, so added some grated, cooked carrots and greek yogurt. Also added walnuts. They taste great, but didn’t rise as much as they should. I can’t stop eating them!
So glad you’re loving them! Those swaps sound delicious…I bet the carrots and walnuts added great texture and flavor. The change in moisture from the yogurt and carrots might have affected the rise a bit, but it sounds like they still turned out tasty, which is what matters most!
Excellent muffin. I substituted 2.5 cups of oat flour that I made from oatmeal I had at home, I used EVOO & reduced the brown sugar to 1/4 cup dark brown sugar since that’s what I had open. Next time I will spray the muffin liners. I forgot to to it this time. Another fantastic recipe from your website.
SO glad this was another winner, April! Love your modifications and thanks for sharing them! People often ask about swapping in oat flour and its lovely to know that this one totally works with it!
I loved this recipe! Changed a couple things
– Used sucanat sugar
– Used 1/3 c oats 1&2|3c whole wheat flour
– Flax eggs
– Topping: brown sugar, sea salt, crumbled walnuts, pumpkin seeds & maple syrup (combined & sprinkled)
– Baked 15 minutes & chilled / stored in fridge
Turned out great! Thanks! Had no idea where to start!!