Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Name: Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 24 min
Ingredients: 1 large zucchini or 2 small (about 2 cups grated zucchini with the liquid squeezed out); 1 egg; ¾ cup granulated sugar; ½ cup neutral vegetable oil; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 cup all purpose flour; ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 1 tsp baking soda; ½ tsp salt; ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips + more for topping

Jump to Recipe

By:

Madeline

Updated: March 6, 2025

This site may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Use that extra zucchini to make a batch of Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. They are rich, chocolatey and super moist thanks to the shredded zucchini.

Above view of chocolate chip zucchini muffins on a cooling rack

Weeknight-easy

Beginner-friendly

You’ll Learn: How to batch, store, and reheat for meal prep

Worth It: You’ll want to make two batches

Bonus: Easy to tailor to common diets

Why You’ll love this Recipe

Use up your garden zucchini – By the time July or August rolls around our garden is absolutely overflowing with zucchini. That is when I start to incorporate shredded zucchini into sweet treats!
Moist and delicious muffins – The shredded zucchini helps keeps baked good nice and moist, but it is not dense so it also makes them fluffy.
Meal prep favorite – I love making these for the week ahead. They are the perfect pick me up for an afternoon treat!

chocolate zucchini muffins stacked up on a cutting board

How do you shred zucchini for muffins?

The easiest way to shred your zucchini to use it in baking is to use the largest grate on a box grater. These are traditionally used for grating cheese, but also work really well for shredding soft vegetables.

You can also use the shred blade on a food processor. This is a good option if you need to shred more than one zucchini at a time.

Serving Suggestions

I love to serve these chocolate zucchini bread muffins as a sweet afternoon snack. You can add a little more protein to the muffins by serving them with some peanut butter or almond butter.

To make them taste like they are fresh from a bakery just gently warm them up in the toaster oven or microwave before serving and the chocolate chips will be perfectly melty.

I love making summer desserts. If you like these zucchini muffins, try out this zucchini bread, peach blueberry crisp, or s’mores cookies.

Ingredients

Fresh zucchini – the zucchini creates such a great texture for the muffins while also keeping them moist
Egg at room temperature – the room temperature egg helps ensure an even bake
Granulated sugar – the sugar sweetens the chocolate muffin for the perfect taste. You can try maple syrup or honey instead, but you may want to decrease the amount of oil.
Neutral tasting vegetable oil – if you want to use coconut oil, be sure to use refined coconut oil
Vanilla extract – the vanilla enhances all of the flavors in your muffin
All purpose flour – the flour is the base of your muffin
Unsweetened cocoa powder – the cocoa powder adds the delicious chocolatey taste to your muffins
Baking soda – baking soda is the key to the rise on your muffins. I find this recipe does not need baking powder.
Kosher salt – I use kosher salt, but if you use table salt, cut the amount in half
Semi-sweet chocolate chips – I like to use semi-sweet, but you can use dark or milk chocolate if you prefer

Ingredient Substitutions

If you want to make gluten-free chocolate zucchini muffins, you can use a 1:1 gluten free flour substitute. Oat flour could also work.

To make these muffins dairy-free, just use vegan chocolate chips instead of standard semi sweet chocolate chips. If you want them vegan, you could try a flax egg instead of a regular egg.

You can also replace the chocolate chips with chopped chocolate, white chocolate or nuts like walnuts or pecans.

Step by step assembly of zucchini chocolate chip muffins

How to Make

step 1: Prepare muffin tin and grate zucchini

To begin, preheat the oven to 350F and line 10 muffin tin cups with cupcake liners.

Then, grate zucchini on a cheese grater. Use a tea towel or paper towel to squeeze out the excess moisture from the zucchini.

Really squeeze it to make sure you get out all of the moisture.

step 2: Prepare Batter

Pour grated zucchini into a large bowl with the egg, sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Stir it in with the whisk. In a separate bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients with a rubber spatula.

The batter will be thicker than a standard muffin batter.

step 3: Bake and cool muffins

Mix in the chocolate chips and place ¼ cup of batter in each of 10 muffin cups. Top with more chocolate chips.

Bake at 350F for 22-24 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack. Allow the muffins to cool completely on the cooling rack and enjoy.

zucchini chocolate chip muffins on a serving plate

Storage, Freezing and Reheating

I prefer to store these muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They get even fudgier in the fridge! Reheat in a toaster oven or microwave to enjoy them warm.

You can store the cooked muffins in the freezer for up to 3 months. All them to thaw in the fridge or on the counter and then reheat to enjoy!

Check out these other muffin recipes

Images by Ella from Alpine Ella.

You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!

Email Recipe for Later

About