Zucchini muffins are a season spanning treat that combines summer zucchini with toasted walnuts and a hint of cinnamon ~ they’re soft, moist, and yummy.
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zucchini muffins with toasted walnuts
These easy one bowl muffins share DNA with rich, moist zucchini bread, so you know they’re going to be good. They’re packed with zucchini, which gives them a distinct personality that’s hard to define, because, as we all know, zucchini doesn’t have much ‘flavor’ per se. But whatever that mysterious something is that zucchini adds to these muffins, I love it. I think the toasted walnuts add tons of extra character, too, so don’t leave them out.
what you’ll need for perfect zucchini muffins
- zucchini
- I choose small zucchini because they have the best flavor, better texture, and fewer seeds than large specimens. I grate them with the shredding disc in my food processor because it creates sturdy shreds that aren’t at all wet.
- walnuts
- I toast them in a 350F oven for 10 minutes before chopping. The flavor payoff is huge, plus they’re crunchier! Pecans work, too.
- sugar
- use all granulated sugar, or half brown sugar.
- all purpose flour
- experiment with substituting half whole wheat or oat flour for extra nutrition.
- baking powder, baking soda, and salt
- vanilla extract
- an extra teaspoon of extract brings the vanilla from the background to the foreground in these zucchini muffins and gives the impression of extra sweetness without extra sugar.
- vegetable oil
- you can also use melted butter but I find oil keeps the muffins moister longer.
- eggs
- buttermilk
can you make these zucchini muffins ahead?
You can make the batter and store in the refrigerator for up to a day ahead. Then bake as needed.
the secret to a better muffin…
I like to fill my muffin cups and then let them sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature to take the chill off the batter. Muffin batter actually benefits from resting, so even when I’m not making it ahead I like to let it sit on the counter for an hour before baking, if I’ve got the time. They definitely rise better that way.
Serve zucchini muffins with butter or cream cheese, and if they’re not warm, zap them for 15 seconds in the microwave. This is hands down my favorite way to wake up.
more muffins!
- Healthy Buttermilk Bran Muffins
- Orange and Cardamom Muffin Recipe
- Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
- Apple Crisp Muffins
- Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins
- Spiced Peach Muffins
- Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
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Zucchini Muffins with Toasted Walnuts
Equipment
- muffin pan with paper muffin liners
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 2/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted first
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
- Whisk the oil, eggs, buttermilk, sugars and extract together until well combined.
- Whisk in the cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Fold in the flour, and after a few folds, add the zucchini and walnuts. Continue folding until everything is well incorporated, but don't over mix the batter at this point.
- Fill muffin cups to the top (you will get 10-12 muffins depending on your pan and how full you fill your cups) and bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out without wet batter on it (moist crumbs are fine.)
- Remove the zucchini muffins from the pan to cool on a rack, but they are really good warm from the oven!
Notes
- 1/2 cup unprocessed wheat bran
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 5 Tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
- 2 extra-large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Mix the bran with the buttermilk and set aside.
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a small bowl to combine and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar till fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and add the vanilla. Pour in the bran/buttermilk mixture and combine well.
- Add the zucchini and nuts to the wet mixture and stir.
- Mix the dry into the wet until just incorporated, don’t over mix.
- Fill 10 muffin cups and bake for about 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool on a rack
Sugar ? Not listed. You have sugar in oat/bran recipe.
Just fixed, refresh the page and you’ll see it listed, sorry!
Excellent muffins!
Ok, the recipe doesn’t say how much can zucchini to use and I guessed two cups. I think a better guess would have one cup-because the muffins were too wet. Great flavor though!
It’s one cup Angela.
I must have missed how much zuchinni to use?
Sorry, that’s one cup!
what a touching little post, sue! i’m the type of person who doesn’t show emotion until i’m out of my family’s view, but i feel it! 🙂
I have never found goodbyes easy. You had to deal with a lot of them almost simultaneously. The wings part of ‘roots and…’ doesn’t come easily. I would need at least 2 muffins to get through three in such a short period of time. Your muffins look wonderful. Have a great – albeit quiet – weekend. Hugs and blessings…Mary
These muffins look wonderful. Zucchini muffins and breads are my favorite of all time. I can hardly wait for our squash to be ready in the garden!
Good-byes just get harder as I grow older. I can hardly fathom watching my kids leave for their own lives some day in the future. I’d dearly love to live in the same town with all my siblings again some day! It’s an impossible dream, but it’s still a great dream nonetheless.
Mary, I’m with you on that. Our whole family is scattered and I often think how different life would be if that weren’t the case. I’m planning to stalk my girls, maybe we’ll get a trailer to live in and follow them around!
Alyce—We come home to dogs, too, but to be honest, we leave them in the kennel just an extra day while we get settled. It would be a quiet house without them, though.
Barbara—the new era of airport security really makes the separation anxiety worse. We used to be able to escort our kids right to the gate, now I have to watch them disappear into the security line.