Super moist muffins with the healthy benefits of zucchini and the tastiness of bananas and chocolate. Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are sure to be a family favourite!
I’m a latecomer to the wonderful world of incorporating zucchini into baked goods. I’ve seen so many recipes that have used zucchini as a major component to a sweet recipe. I had purchased a bag of zucchini at Costco and used up about half of it in my Italian Roasted Zucchini and Tomatoes recipe, and I was afraid that the rest of the zucchini was going to go to waste, but I remembered seeing these baked good recipes online and one particularly in one of my old cookbooks. I had some overly ripe bananas on hand too, so Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins was the right choice.
I can’t wait to try my hand at a chocolate zucchini loaf, zucchini brownies, zucchini cookies, or zucchini cake. Who doesn’t love those things already anyway? As I see it, getting zucchini into them makes them healthier and that way, I can eat more cookies and cake. Isn’t it funny how our brains work? For now, I’ll settle for one of these Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.
If you’re baking with zucchini, it’s important to remember that zucchini has a lot of water content and it’s important to rid the zucchini of as much of that water as possible before adding it to your recipe. As you may have guessed, the water content would greatly affect the baking time and the consistency of the batter. You might end up with a muffin that is way too moist or dense, or one that just won’t bake all the way through at all.
To get rid of the water in zucchini, there’s a very easy solution. Grate the zucchini very finely using either a box grater or a food processor. Once the zucchini has been grated, I like to let it just sit in a bowl for about fifteen to twenty minutes just so that it can relax a bit. The grated strands will slowly release the water. Next, scoop handfuls of the grated zucchini and squeeze out the water by cupping your hands together. Transfer the squeezed zucchini to the center of a clean kitchen towel.
Once all the zucchini is piled high into the center of the towel, gather up the sides and twist to get as much water as possible out of the zucchini. Unfold the towel and transfer the zucchini to a bowl, lightly fluffing it with your fingers until you’re ready to use it.
Trust me, even though the grated zucchini has been through the wringer – literally! – it’s the best approach to obtaining the perfect muffin. The water content is not needed to get a deliciously moist muffin. The banana will most definitely take care of that for you.
Now, even though these muffins are perfectly moist and sweet just as they are, I simply cannot eat a muffin and completely enjoy it without cutting it in half and smearing it very liberally with good salted butter. I do the same thing with tea biscuits and scones. Is that a Newfoundland thing or does everyone do that?
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Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups zucchini, grated and squeezed dry
- 1 large banana, ripened, mashed
- 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, use a hand-held mixer to blend together the banana, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, butter, and eggs. Mix very well until everything is very well combined.
- Add in the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. With the hand mixer on low, blend just until the flour is mixed into the wet ingredients.
- Add the zucchini and 3/4 cup of the chips. Fold into the muffin batter.
- Use a large ice-cream scoop to portion the muffin batter into the 12 cavities. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips evenly over the 12 muffins.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the muffins to sit in the muffin pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finishing cooling.
Nutrition
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Peter says
Great recipe. Moist. Delicious. Easy. Muffins will not last long!
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thank you, Peter. 🙂
Niveen says
When measuring the zucchini, is that before or after squeezing the water out?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Before squeezing. 🙂
Ari says
Making this recipe a 2nd time this week! They turn out great, and the directions are easy to follow.
Kelley Nesdole says
These are the best zucchini muffins I have ever made! I used mini chips instead of the regular chocolate chips which distributed the chocolate goodness throughout the muffin. Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes. And btw, I always smother my muffins with butter! It’s the best!
Michelle Meeker says
Easy, tasty and healthy – high on all marks. Learn from my fail, however… removing seeds from zucchini is MUCH easier BEFORE it is shredded than after. I used the shred feature on our food processor and it worked, using a box grater would give a much less dense shred of the zucchini and I would do it that way if making again. I also would use a smaller chocolate chip or mini chips. The chips I had were larger and with only using a cup, there are fewer chips per muffin.
Melinda says
Could I use 2 bananas and 1/2 cup less of zucchini.