Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
These Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are rich, fudgy, and secretly loaded with veggies. They're made with almond flour, naturally sweetened with banana and maple syrup, and dotted with dark chocolate chips for that irresistible double chocolate hit. A great option for, after-school snacks, or anyone needing a coeliac-friendly treat.
Why You'll Love These Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Gluten, grain, and dairy free – a great option for coeliac families or anyone with dietary needs
- Double chocolate goodness – rich cocoa and melty chocolate chips make these a true treat
- Veggie-loaded and kid-approved – hidden zucchini for extra goodness (and no complaints)
- Naturally sweetened – just enough banana and maple syrup for a perfectly balanced sweetness
Ingredients You Will Need
Ingredient Notes, Substitutes, & Allergy Swaps
- Almond flour: Also called ground almonds. Adds protein and healthy fats. Not suitable for nut-free needs.
- Cocoa powder: Use unsweetened cocoa for a rich chocolate flavor.
- Banana: Adds moisture and sweetness. The riper, the better!
- Maple syrup: Adjust to taste—use up to ⅓ or ½ a cup for a much sweeter muffin.
- Oil: Coconut oil, rice bran oil, or mild olive oil all work. Melted butter can be used if dairy is tolerated. Avoid Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the strong flavor will be overwhelming in this recipe.
- Zucchini: Grate and squeeze well to remove excess moisture.
- Chocolate chips: Use dark chocolate chips for a dairy-free option (always check the label).
GF Chocolate Zucchini Illustrated Step By Step Guide
Below are illustrated step-by-step instructions to make my Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffin Recipe, if you prefer just the written instructions then head straight to the printable recipe card below.
Step one: Start with the dry stuff
Grab a large mixing bowl and add in your almond flour, cocoa, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt if you like. Give it a good stir with a whisk (or a fork if that's what you have handy). You’re just making sure there are no clumps and everything’s nicely combined.
Step two: Mix the wet ingredients
In a separate jug or bowl, mash up your banana until it’s mostly smooth – a few lumps are fine. Then crack in the eggs, pour in the oil, maple syrup, and vanilla, and finally sprinkle over the baking soda. Give it all a good whisk. It should look a bit like a smoothie at this stage.
Step three: Time to bring it all together
Pour your wet mixture into the bowl with your dry ingredients. Before you stir it all up, add in your grated zucchini (make sure you’ve squeezed out the extra liquid over the sink – zucchini holds a lot of water!) and your chocolate chips. Now fold everything together gently until you have a thick chocolatey batter. It’ll smell good already.
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Step four: That batter looks ready
Once everything’s mixed together, you’ll have a thick, rich muffin batter. It won’t be runny like cake batter – that’s totally fine. You should be able to scoop it easily.
Step five: Scoop it out
Scoop the batter into your prepared muffin tray. Silicone muffin liners work beautifully for this, or you can use regular paper ones. I use a cookie scoop to portion the mixture – it makes things quick and tidy. You’ll get 10-12 muffins out of this mix.
Step six: Add a little extra chocolate (optional but highly recommended)
If you’ve got a few chocolate chips left, sprinkle them over the tops of the muffins before baking. It makes them look bakery-worthy and adds an extra gooey bite on top.
Step seven: Bake and cool
Bake at 180°C (160°C fan) or 350°F for about 20 minutes. A skewer should come out clean, or with just a little melted chocolate. Let them cool in the tray for a few minutes, then pop them onto a rack to cool fully (or at least until they’re just warm enough to sneak a taste).
Top Tips
Here is how you can make these GF Chocolate Zucchini Muffins perfectly every time!
- For extra sweetness, increase maple syrup to ⅓ cup.
- Squeeze zucchini well or the muffins may turn out soggy.
- Use paper liners or grease well—almond flour muffins can stick. I like to make these muffins in reusable silicone cups that I grease, the muffins pop out beautifully when I do this.
- Keep a stash in the freezer. Let them cool completely and store in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight or pop in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- What if I don’t have almond flour? Unfortunately, there’s no 1:1 substitute that will give the same texture and nutrition in this recipe.
Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
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Ingredients
- 2 cups ground almond
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 0.33 cup cocoa one third cup
- 1 medium banana 100 grams mashed
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup oil
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 medium zucchini (150 grams grated and squeezed)
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Prepare a muffin tray, you can either use paper muffin liners or grease a muffin tin
- Take out 2 mixing bowls
- In the first mixing bowl add the almond, cinnamon and cocoa (you can also add a grind of salt at this point), mix these so that they are evenly distributed
- In the second bowl, place the banana and give it a good mash with a fork
- Add the eggs, oil, maple syrup, vanilla and baking soda, use a whisk to beat all these ingredients together
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix to combine
- Grate the zucchini, give the grated zucchini a good squeeze over your sink so that most of the liquid comes out
- Fold the squeezed grated zucchini into the muffin batter
- Portion the muffin mix into the muffin tray, I typically get 9-10 muffins out of this mixture
- Sprinkle with chocolate chips/drops
- Bake in a 180 degree Celsius oven for 20 mins (160 degrees Celsius if fan forced) check readiness with a toothpick, it should come out clean
Video
Notes
- Squeeze zucchini well or the muffins may turn out soggy.
- Use paper liners or grease well—almond flour muffins can stick. I like to make these muffins in reusable silicone cups that I grease, the muffins pop out beautifully when I do this.
- Keep a stash in the freezer. Let them cool completely and store in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight or pop in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- What if I don’t have almond flour? Unfortunately, there’s no 1:1 substitute that will give the same texture and nutrition in this recipe.
- Almond flour: Also called ground almonds. Adds protein and healthy fats. Not suitable for nut-free needs.
- Cocoa powder: Use unsweetened cocoa for a rich chocolate flavor.
- Banana: Adds moisture and sweetness. The riper, the better!
- Maple syrup: Adjust to taste—use up to one third or ½ a cup for a much sweeter muffin. I find ¼ cup sufficient and 2 of my kids are happy with that level. My other 2 kids only liked the sweeter version I made with one third cup of maple syrup.
- Oil: Coconut oil, rice bran oil, or mild olive oil all work. Melted butter can be used if dairy is tolerated. Avoid Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the strong flavor will be overwhelming in this recipe.
- Zucchini: Grate and squeeze well to remove excess moisture.
- Chocolate chips: Use dark chocolate chips for a dairy-free option (always check the label).
Nutrition
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What woukd happen if I take the ground almond out, do I need to substitute it with something else to make it nut free?
You definitely will need to substitute something else, coconut flour should be a great substitute
MMMMMM love these! Love the blue cupcake cases you've used as well, they look so pretty.
If you don't have maple syrup on hand, could you sub it out for other sweeteners? Honey, coconut nectar? Just checking the sweetness before adding more?
Absolutely any sweetener will be fine
Any chance it would work with coconut flour? We have an almond allergy here 🙁
yes it should work just fine
Can I leave out the baking powder please?
You said "ground almond". Is this almond meal or almond flour? they are different textures.
almond meal