Erin’s Recipe Rundown
Texture/Taste: Light, moist, and perfectly sweet. Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Ease: So easy! Great beginners paleo recipe.
Top Tips: Once you add the coconut flour, let the batter sit for 5 minutes before proceeding with the recipe so the coconut flour has time to hydrate.
Recommended GF Flour: This paleo recipe uses coconut flour and almond flour. It is gluten-free and grain-free.
Would I make these again? Definitely! These muffins are delicious for breakfast, as a snack for kids or a healthy treat anytime.
xoxo erin
If you’re looking for an easy grain-free zucchini muffin, look no further! These muffins are nutritious and delicious. Shredded zucchini adds a sneaky vegetable while banana, honey, and warm cinnamon add sweetness and flavor.
These muffins are a great introductory recipe if you are new to gluten-free, grain-free baking!
Featured Comment
From Laura: “I LOVE these muffins! I have been making these for months now and am so grateful for this recipe! Finally a healthy muffin I feel great about feeding my kids. I always have these on hand in the freezer! I make a batch, toss them in there and just reheat for 1 minute in the microwave at breakfast time! Thank you for this awesome recipe!“
Table of Contents
- Erin’s Recipe Rundown
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- How to Make Paleo Zucchini Muffins
- Make-Ahead/Storage/Freezing Instructions
- Can these zucchini muffins be made dairy-free?
- Do I need to dry off the zucchini before adding it to the mixture?
- Can I replace the honey with another sweetener?
- What can I use in place of the banana?
- More Recipes To Try
- Paleo Zucchini Muffins Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are a few notes on some of the key ingredients. Jump to the recipe below for the exact measurements.
- Zucchini: About 2 small zucchinis will give you the full cup of shredded zucchini for 10 muffins. Not only does it add nutrients, the zucchini also keeps the muffins moist!
- Banana: Using just one mashed banana adds moisture and sweetness to the muffins without going overboard on banana flavor.
- Coconut Flour: Coconut flour has very different properties than any other flour, so don’t substitute it with more almond flour. This recipe might seem like it has a lot of eggs, but the coconut flour needs more liquid to hydrate properly.
- Almond Flour: A little almond flour helps with the texture and works well with the coconut flour to create a grain-free blend.
- Honey: Paleo recipes usually avoid granulated sugar. I like to use honey as a natural sweetener, along with the banana, to add subtle sweetness to these muffins. You can also use maple syrup.
How to Make Paleo Zucchini Muffins
Here’s an overview of how to make these muffins. You can jump to the recipe for the full instructions!
- Combine dry ingredients: Mix together the the coconut flour, almond flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.
- Blend: Use a food processor to pulse together the eggs, honey, vanilla, and coconut oil.
- Pulse together dry and wet: Add the dry mixture into the food processor and pulse the batter together.
- Rest the batter: Let it sit for 3-5 minutes so the coconut flour absorbs the liquids.
- Add the final ingredients: Pulse to mix the apple cider vinegar, banana, and zucchini into mixture.
- Scoop: Add the batter into the lined muffin pan.
- Bake: The muffins bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean.
- Cool and enjoy!
Make-Ahead/Storage/Freezing Instructions
To Make-Ahead: You can prepare the muffin batter a day in advance and bake the following morning.
To Store: Refrigerate leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
To Freeze: These muffins can also be frozen by wrapping each muffin individually in plastic wrap then storing in a resealable bag. Frozen muffins can be stored for up to 3 months.
To Reheat: Remove the plastic from the frozen muffin and microwave for 20 to 30 seconds, until thawed.
Can these zucchini muffins be made dairy-free?
Good news! These muffins are naturally dairy-free as paleo recipes do not include dairy products. No changes need to be made to enjoy delicious dairy-free muffins!
Do I need to dry off the zucchini before adding it to the mixture?
I usually just give mine a slight squeeze to get some of the moisture out and avoid unwanted sogginess. It doesn’t need to be really dry though.
Can I replace the honey with another sweetener?
Maple syrup works well as a replacement for honey in this recipe. Plus it is another natural sweetener!
What can I use in place of the banana?
You can use 1/2 cup of applesauce or pumpkin instead of the mashed banana.
More Recipes To Try
Paleo Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (56g) coconut flour
- 1/4 cup (25g) almond flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Other Ingredients:
- 4 large large eggs
- 1/3 cup (79ml) honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 banana mashed
- 1 cup unpeeled finely shredded zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Fill a standard muffin pan with liners.
- Combine the coconut flour, almond flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the eggs, honey, vanilla, and coconut oil until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and pulse to combine.
- Allow the mixture to sit for 3-5 minutes for the coconut flour to absorb the liquids.
- Add the apple cider vinegar, banana, and zucchini and pulse to combine.
- Scoop the batter into the lined muffin pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean.
- Cool and enjoy! Keep leftover muffins in the refrigerator.
I made these and they turned out great! I substituted one of the eggs with a chia egg without a problem. I ended up having to bake them for about 30 minutes (and they probably could have done another five but I was impatient!). Even my father who was reluctant to try them loved them so much he ate 2! Thanks for the delicious recipe!
These are so good! I have tried several paleo muffin recipes, and this is by far my favorite. Even my four-year-old likes them, and he is beyond picky. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
This was my first attempt at paleo baking and I was disappointed. While the flavor was good, the texture was just off….way too soft and mushy. I even baked them an extra 10 minutes but it did not help.
I’m sorry the muffins didn’t work for you! This is a tried a true recipe for me, but if your zucchini has too much water the muffins can turn out too soft. I usually squeeze my zucchini a bit to prevent this. I hope this helps!
I doubled the recipe and made 2 loaves instead of muffins. I baked at 350 for 50 min, checking after 40 min. I also added chopped pecans and walnuts to the too of the bread for baking. This is the best gluten free baking I have done so far!!! I’m in love with this recipe!!!
Anyone know what the calorie count is for one of these muffins? They are so delish! Wondering how many I can safely indulge in?
I made these with almost double the amount of zucchini because I grated too much and just threw it all in there and they were still amazing!!! Super moist and delicious. Will definitely make these again! Thanks!
I made these muffins this morning. I put the batter in a greased mini muffin pan and baked for 10 minutes. They are perfect toddler-sized snacks. Thank you for this super tasty recipe! It’s the best grain-free/paleo muffin I’ve made to date!
Do you need to wring out the zucchini for this recipe or is the wet from the zucchini part of the recipe?
I usually just give mine a slight squeeze to get some of the moisture out. It doesn’t need to be really dry though. Hopefully that helps/makes sense!
It does, thanks!
OMG!! Was searching the internet for a banana zucchini muffin recipe without added sugar and found this. HIT THE JACKPOT!! I made the recipe as is, took one look at it, and doubled the recipe. Added sugar free dark chocolate chips and walnuts. DELICIOUS!! Thank you so much and looking forward to trying other recipes from this site 🙂
Yum! Now I want to try adding walnuts and chocolate too! I’m so glad you liked them!
I really like this recipe! At first I wasn’t used to nutmeg (which I think I never had any before), but the more muffins I had (at least 5 of them in 2 days), the more I felt like it goes with cinnamon really well. They are well light and health, I love the after-taste of coconut in my mouth.
Thank you, Erin!
I added dark chocolate chips, substituted applesauce for coconut oil and used two cups of zucchini instead of one. So delicious!
Instead of vinegar I added a table of unsweetened applesauce! Great recipe though. Even the kids love them!
Made these tonight, they are delicious! Can’t wait for my 14 month old to have one for a snack tomorrow!! 🙂
So glad you like them! My toddler loves them too!
I recently made these and they were wonderful!
Because I couldn’t find our honey I ended up using maple syrup instead, which I think is an improvement on the original recipe.
I have another batch in the oven right now, I’ve tried adding raisins and carrots as well. We’ll see how that goes.
Also, because my son can’t take nuts to school, I just added about 2 tablespoons of coconut flour instead of the almond flour, and it was fine–more than fine, delicious!
I believe 1 cup of regular flour = 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of coconut flour, so a little goes a long way.
That is great to know! Always nice to be able to make things nut-free if needed.
What if I wanted to use only coconut flour and not almond flour? Would they still turn out?
R
Unfortunately I don’t think so! Almond and coconut flour have very different properties. You could always try it though! I would add an extra egg if you do.