Healthy Zucchini Lemon Muffins
These Healthy Zucchini Lemon Muffins are simply the BEST! Bright in flavor, delicious, easy and made with simple ingredients. Dairy-free and can easily be made gluten free! You are going to love these healthy muffins.
Zucchini Lemon Muffins
When life hands you lemons, make Zucchini Lemon Muffins!
Right? That’s totally the saying?
No? Oh, well now it’s my saying and totally fitting since all of the lemon trees here in San Diego are BURSTING with lemons needing a purpose. And the endless zucchinis in my CSA box inspired me to bust out this recipe that as been rolling around in my brain since last summer.
These muffins are actually inspired by one of my favorite breads from my Paleo days. I never knew just how magical zucchini and lemon could be together until that bread and now I am beyond hooked on that flavor combination. It just like summer sunshine in baked form and works for dessert, snacks or breakfast. Seriously, so much winning.
Why these Healthy Zucchini Lemon Muffins are just awesome
- The zucchini adds a healthy dose of veggies into your life! Plus, the shredded zucchini gives these muffins the perfect level of moisture.
- Lemon adds a lovely bright flavor to the muffins and is pretty much what sunshine tastes like.
- They are super easy, mixed in your blender! Less dishes = life goals.
- These muffins are totally dairy-free and easily can be made gluten free! Oh, and naturally sweetened, too!
Suggested adaptions
- Replace the zucchini with summer squash. I find that they are pretty interchangeable in recipes. Just be sure to still squeeze out all the moisture!
- Up the lemon flavor. If you are a lemon lover, by all means, add extra lemon zest to give these muffins an extra POW of lemon flavor. We all love lemon on different levels.
- Omit or reduce sweetener. These healthy lemon muffins are loaded with banana, which does oodles of naturally sweetening on its own. So if you are looking to reduce your added sugar or just enjoy a lightly sweetened muffin, skip the honey/maple syrup and up the banana to 1 cup.
- Use unsweetened applesauce instead of banana. I personally think lemons and bananas are a magical flavor combination. However if bananas are not your thing or you don’t have any on hand, swap out the mashed bananas in this recipe with some unsweetened applesauce.
- Stir in some poppyseeds! Poppyseeds and lemon are basically BFFs and these muffins are lovely with 1 Tbsp of poppyseeds stirred into the batter.
Other veggie-loaded muffin recipes
- Healthy Carrot Pumpkin Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
- Oatmeal Green Smoothie Muffins
- Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Muffins
- Nut-Free Paleo Chocolate Butternut Squash Muffins
- Almond Butter Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
Did you try this veggie-loaded muffin recipe and now you’re hungry for more?
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Zucchini Lemon Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 2 cups rolled oats, if gluten free is important, make sure the oats are certified gluten free
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup mashed banana
- 1/3 cup honey* or maple syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- zest of one large lemon, (mine made about 1 1/2 Tbsp zest)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
Equipment
- Muffin tin
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a 12-hole muffin tin with liners.
- 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, baking soda, baking powder and salt into your blender. Pulse until very finely ground and the oats resemble flour.
- Add remaining ingredients except zucchini to the blender. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides and continuing to blend as needed.
- Add drained zucchini to the batter and fold in. You can pour the batter into a bowl before zucchini if you want to. However, I was looking to make as few dishes as possible, so I just added the zucchini right into the blender with the batter and mixed well.
- Portion the batter out between the 12 lined muffin tin holes.
- Bake for 20-22 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.
As a total lemon head I can say that these have the best natural lemon flavor! Seriously a perfect muffin, and bonus – my 10 month old LOVES them! So thankful my neighbor lets me steal their giant lemons!
Babies loving healthy veggie-loaded muffins might be my favorite kind of review!
Just made these and my house smells SO AMAZING! I couldn’t wait for them to cool to try one. So good with a little butter in top.
Oh good call! And dunked in coffee!
These are delicious! The lemon flavor is perfect. Super easy. Will be making these again
I am SO glad you enjoyed them!
So easy to make and delicious. Another veggie loaded muffin my toddler loves!
I am so glad you and your family enjoyed these!
Have you ever substituted with a grain-free flour? Would love to know how it turned out!
I haven’t tried yet but I would love to try with a almond flour and tapioca flour blend!
These were amazing! Will definitely add them to our rotation.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
These turned out super tasty! Love the lemon and how easily they came together in the blender. And of course the veggies!
Thanks Heather! I am so glad they were enjoyed!
Delicious, loved by my 3.5 year old and 1 year old. Thank you
Love it! Reviews from little food critics are my favorite!
These have a fantastic flavor – so refreshing! I used almond flour instead of the oats and mixed everything together in my kitchenaid since I didn’t have to pulverize the oats and it worked great! I later realized my baking powder was very expired (which may explain some other baking problems!) so mine were very flat, but I believe that was due to the baking powder and not the use of almond flour. This will become one of my regular muffins to make!
Oh that is so great to hear! I have some almond flour coming today so I can try these grain free! So I am jazzed they worked. And yes, old baking powder can totally impact the rise of a baked good!
Got my new silicone muffin form yesterday and those were the first muffins I baked! Super delicious, nice and juicy and sweet enough even though I didn’t use any sweetener because I wanted my 9 months old to try them as well. Guess what – he loves them too! Win for the whole family, they were gone in a day 🙂 Definitely going to make them again soon!
I am SO happy to hear that!
Not turning out with as much lemon flavor as I’d like. Someone else made them and they had great lemon flavor. What am I doing wrong? (I’m using almond flour which they used but using unblanched.
I think the zest is so the key. Perhaps your lemon was smaller. Or maybe just didn’t have as much as a lemon flavor as someone else’s lemon. I recently made this recipe and found that massaging the lemon zest with some brown sugar (I still tried to keep the muffins lower in added sugar) made a HUGE difference in bringing out that lemon flavor consistently. https://thenaturalnurturer.com/yellow-squash-lemon-poppy-seed-muffins/
These were perfect for using up the zucchini coming from our garden! Making a double batch tomorrow! (Because today’s are already gone!)
I am so glad you enjoyed them!
the muffins tasted amazing
Anyone had any luck making these egg free?
Tried these out, and they’re delicious! I think I’ll add some extra lemon zest next time because my toddler and I love the taste of lemon.
Love trying healthy muffin recipes, so I can’t wait to try more! 😄
I am so glad!
These Zucchini Lemon muffins are yummy! My husband liked it too, yay! I shared the recipe with a girlfriend. I love the touch of lemon!
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Denise!
These are crazy good!!! I added the suggested poppyseeds and pulsed the zucchini a few quick times with the mixture in the blender (to make the pieces a bit smaller). My 1 year old practically bit my fingers off as I was giving him bites. I think he likes them. My husband was also a huge fan, so I’ll be making some just for us next! So. Much. Yum.
I am SO glad you enjoyed them so much….and you still have all your digits intact 😂
These are super tasty! We omitted the honey since there was so much banana and they were delicious. The only thing was that there didn’t seem to be as much batter as a typical muffin recipe, so the muffins were quite small. However, they still turned out great.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I have made these 3 times, but they came out gummy/dense each time. Followed recipe exactly. Flavor is great, but I wish they were fluffy.
Hi Melissa! Glad you enjoy the flavor! The oats do create for a much denser muffin vs. a muffin made with flour. With that said, I have found these to be pretty soft for an oat based muffin. I find that over blending/mixing the batter can result in a gummy middle. Perhaps stop the blender as soon as the ingredients is combined and see if that helps? Or maybe process the dry ingredients into a flour in your blender and then do the rest of the mixing in a bowl to prevent over processing.
I did exactly as you said and they are delicious! I was over mixing this recipe and one of your other one. Thank you so much!
Yay! I’m so glad it worked out!
Silly question (I’m a newbie to the kitchen!). What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder?
Baking soda needs an acid (like vinegar or lemon juice) to activate its rising action. Baking powder does not need an acid.
Hi!
Instead of oats, can I sub gf 1:1 flour?
Thank you
Deb
I haven’t tried it with GF flour but it might work! If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
I made these using flax for egg substitute and they did not turn out. I left them in the oven for 10 minutes longer and they are still wet and gooey on the inside. I put them back in and still waiting right now. They smell wonderful though! Has anyone made using an egg sub. that worked? Thanks!
Hi Hollie! I have made these several time egg free with flax eggs and they have worked for me, so lets see if we can troubleshoot! Did you squeeze out your zucchini well? Those suckers can add so much moisture to a baked good if you don’t!
Just made these and they are delicious! I used a full cup of mashed banana and no honey or maple syrup and they are the perfect level of sweet! I also had no baking soda so I doubled the baking powder and I guess it worked because they are soooo good! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
I am so glad you enjoyed these, Emily! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
Loved that these lemon muffins have some fiber (oats, zucchini) and taste delish.
Same! They are filling while also tasting bright and summery!
Have you made this in a cake pan before? Thinking about it for my daughters first birthday cake, but wasn’t sure what size pans to try.
I have not but find many of my muffin recipes work well as loaves….so I feel like the would work as cakes too. If you try it, please let us know how it goes!
I love this recipe but the cupcakes seem to have dipped in the middle :/ any idea what could be wrong?
Hi Lenny! So glad you enjoyed them. But let’s troubleshoot those sinking muffins.I find this happens when either the muffins haven’t baked long enough or they are too wet. Did you squeeze out the moisture of the grated zucchini before adding it to the batter?
Love these! Have made them several times and will continue, the kids devour them, and I do too :o)
Love these! Have made them several times and will continue, the kids devour them, and I do too :o)
So happy to hear that, Sonja!