Oatmeal Zucchini Carrot Muffins

These hearty Zucchini Carrot Muffins are made with oats, naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup and packed with grated carrots and zucchini. Easily gluten-free when you use certified GF oats, these have been one of our family’s favorite grab-and-go breakfasts and snacks for years.

Thank you to Packit for sponsoring this post. My promise to you, my readers, is to only promote products that I truly believe in and buy myself. All opinions stated in this post are my own.

As I am typing this, the laundry is going with my daughter’s new school uniforms. My email is dinging with updates and reminders from her principal. And I am staring down the multiple bags of school supplies purchased and waiting to be brought in on the first day of school, just hanging out next to my desk.

Yes, friends. Summer is over and it is officially back-to-school season.

I don’t know about all of you, but I kinda love the routine and schedules that organically come with the school year. Don’t get me wrong, I will certainly miss the slow mornings, pool afternoons, and beach evenings that come with summer. But I will welcome the flow of alarms, set pick-up and drop off times and fun of after school activities that comes with the academic year. But that’s just me.

However, one thing I can say that I am less then jazzed about is the school lunch box packing. I seriously don’t love it. Even though I often share my (soon-to-be) second grader’s lunch boxes on my Instagram, I often feel like a deer in headlights when it is time to pack her lunch everyday.

Over the years, I have learned a few tips and tricks for helping make lunch box packing a bit easier on myself. And my favorite, go-to, healthy lunch box filler that is always sure to be eaten is a batch of healthy muffins for kids. Which is where the inspiration for these Healthy Lunch Box Muffins came from.

Why these muffins are great for lunch boxes

Let’s face it. When packing a lunch box, there are so many things to consider!

What will my child eat? Are there any allergies in his/her class we need to be aware of? Will this keep until lunch time? Is it healthy? Is this enough food?

It is enough to make one’s head spin, give up and order hot lunch from the school. However, these muffins are great for making ahead of time to toss into your kiddo’s lunches because they take care of all of those issues!

They are loaded with fiber and are naturally gluten free when made with gluten free oats and there are no nuts or nut products in them, something so many schools simply can’t have brought in due to allergies. They are packed with TWO different veggies, naturally sweetened with banana and a little honey or maple syrup, can easily be made dairy-free AND are totally kid approved! Plus, muffins are the perfect size for lunch boxes. So they are easy to grab and toss in your favorite lunch container.

Wondering how to store your carrots so they stay fresh as long as possible? Check out my post on How to Keep Cut Carrots Fresh and get the most out of your produce buck!

How do you keep a lunch box cold?

It can be hard to pack healthy food that can sit out at room temperature for several hours. So, I don’t even try! I just opt for ice packs to keep foods chilled and safe until my daughter can get to eating them.

My husband and I have been using Packit freezable lunch bags to keep our lunches cold for years. We love that the bags have the freezable gel built into the walls of the lunch bag, so we can just store the bags in the freezer and then pop our lunches into them. And they do so well at keeping our food cold for hours.

We like them so much that we scored a Packit Lunch Bag for our daughter this year for the same reason! No only will the lunchbox keep her lunch cold all morning, but she won’t lose the ice packs when taking her food in and out at lunch time (I can’t tell you how many ice packs I have lost over the years).

Tips for making lunch box muffins

• If you don’t have a high-speed blender, blend the oats first. Then add the remaining ingredients before blending again. This will help your muffins to have a better texture without overtaxing your blender.
• Let them cool. If you are enjoying a muffin straight out of the oven, don’t worry if they seem a bit soft in the middle! They will firm up as they cool!
• Don’t skip on squeezing out the zucchini! Zucchini naturally holds onto a lot of water, so it is important to squeeze out as much of it as possible before adding it to the muffins. Otherwise, you might end up with a mushy muffin.
• Store them in the fridge or freezer! They will stay fresh and delicious all week long for easy lunch box packing!

4.72 from 21 votes

Oatmeal Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Prep Time: 7 minutes mins

Cook Time: 20 minutes mins

Total Time: 27 minutes mins

Cuisine: American

Course: Breakfast

Author: Taesha Butler

These hearty Zucchini Carrot Muffins are made with oats, naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup and packed with grated carrots and zucchini. Easily gluten-free when you use certified GF oats, these have been one of our family's favorite grab-and-go breakfasts and snacks for years.

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Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ ½ cup grated zucchini
• ▢ ½ cup grated carrots
• ▢ 2 cups uncooked rolled oats
• ▢ ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
• ▢ 2 medium very ripe bananas, (the riper, the sweeter they will be)
• ▢ ¼ cup avocado oil, (or any neutral tasting oil)
• ▢ ½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ¼ cup milk of choice, (dairy or non-dairy milk will both work)
• ▢ 2 large eggs, see above for egg replacement suggestion

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a 12-hole muffin tin with liners.
Since this muffin recipe uses less added oil than most traditional muffin recipes, I find that silicone liners or disposable liners with a natural food-grade silicone coating (I like If You Care baking cup liners) work best to prevent sticking. If using traditional paper liners without a coating, lightly spray them with cooking spray before filling so the muffins release more easily after cooling.
• Take the grated zucchini and place it in the middle of a clean dish towel or large paper towel. Wrap the zucchini in the towel and squeeze out as much of the moisture as you can. Set aside.
• Pour oats into your blender. Pulse until very finely ground and the oats resemble flour.
• Add remaining ingredients except zucchini and carrots to the blender. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides and continuing to blend as needed.
• Add drained zucchini and carrots to the batter. Fold them in.

  You can pour the batter into a bowl before adding carrots and zucchini if you want to. However, I was looking to make as few dishes as possible, so I just poured them into the blender with the batter and stirred them in.
• Portion the batter out between the 12 lined muffin tin holes.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
• Cool for 15-20 minutes before enjoying. Allow the muffins to cool completely before transferring to an air-tight container. Store in fridge for 4-5 days or in freezer for up to a month.

Notes

*If making muffins for a child under age 1, use maple syrup instead of honey. 

Calories: 151kcal, Carbohydrates: 21g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 36mg, Sodium: 174mg, Potassium: 173mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 973IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 23mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information provided here is only an estimate shared for convenience and as a courtesy. Information will vary based on ingredients + brands used to create the recipe.