Random Friday posts are good sometimes, right? They add a little jazz in between the food porn shots.
And so, here we go. I’m telling you 10 random things about me. There’s no rhyme or reason to it!
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- I blew out the speakers on my new car after a month. I’m going to go deaf. No biggie.
- I eat peanut butter out of the jar on a daily basis. Don’t even try to judge that right there. That’s real life.
- My dog is nicknamed Oscar de La Renta. He’s proud. I’m going to buy him a pink collar soon. He’ll figure it out.
- I have plans to attend culinary school. Someday, somehow! Let me pay off all of my student loans first. Or win the lottery?
- If I wasn’t so into food and cooking, I’d probably be a fitness instructor, doctor, or nutritionist.
- I have to confess that I drank close to a bottle of wine after my juice cleanse. Do you think that reversed the cleanse? Meh.
- I am addicted to BuzzFeed. You should be too.
- That new Almond Joy frosting was spooned out of the jar last week…. straight into my mouth. I suggest you find it and do the same.
- Zac Efron and I will get married someday. Obviously.
- These zucchini banana muffins? MY FAVORITE MUFFINS EVER! NO SERIOUSLY. EVER.
Remember those zucchini brownies I made last week? Holy fudge those were delicious and kind of got me a wee bit obsessed with zucchini. I’m sure you have an abundance of zucchini that needs to be used up, too!
Anyway I thought that I might as well put them in muffins… you guys know how much I love muffins.
I wonder if the muffin man is hiring an assistant? Probs not.
These muffins are incredibly moist from a multitude of healthy ingredients: zucchini, applesauce, banana, greek yogurt and a tiny bit of coconut oil.
All of these substitutes help to keep the calories of the muffins in check which allowed me to add in chocolate chips so they feel a little bit indulgent at the same time.
The best part? These muffins only have 153 calories! Plus you get over 4g of protein per muffin. Yum!
I based this zucchini banana chocolate chip muffin recipe off of my lovely honey whole wheat chocolate chip banana bread which uses whole wheat pastry flour.
When you bake these, I highly recommend using whole wheat pastry flour. It’s a lighter whole wheat flour that keeps baked goods light and fluffy. If you can’t find it at the store, I suggest using a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose.
Enjoy these big, soft healthy muffins. They’re freezer friendly and a great way to use up zucchini!
More healthy muffin recipes to try:
Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Healthy Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Muffins
Healthy Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Healthier Blueberry Greek Yogurt Muffins
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Skinny Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins {healthy, low-fat}
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 small to medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 teaspoon melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 medium zucchini)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt (I used Fage)
- 1/2 cup mini or regular chocolate chips (I like mini)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and generously spray inside of liners with nonstick cooking spray.
- Squeeze shredded zucchini of excess water with a paper towel! This is an important step.
- In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon; set aside.
- In bowl of an electric mixer, add mashed banana, oil, honey, vanilla and eggs; mix until smooth. Add in zucchini, applesauce, and yogurt and beat again until well combined. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Remember not to over mix the batter -- we want moist muffins! Gently fold in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
- Evenly divide batter into muffin cups. The batter will probably reach the top of each muffin liner, but that's okay -- we're making big muffins! Alternatively you can reduce the size and bake 15 muffins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!
Why do you only use the egg white?
These were intended to be a low-fat option when I made them years and years ago. Egg whites have less fat than egg yolks!
These are THE BEST banana muffins EVER! I love the combination of zucchini, banana, applesauce, yogurt AND egg whites. These are loaded with good ingredients and make for the most perfectly moist muffins!
So glad you love them!
My. kids love these! They are great grab and go breakfast items for busy school days
love these
Super easy and no added sugar- very easy and very moist. I used regular melted butter instead of coconut oil and they turned out perfectly.
These have been a great way to use up more of the zucchini I keep buying at the farmers market!
Yay! I’m so happy you enjoyed these, Reggie!
I try to always have these on hand for my little one. I make them into mini muffins, eliminating the choc chip.. They freeze well too!
Love these, and the fact that the ingredients are so wholesome. I made 12 muffins and didn’t feel like they came out particularly large, just regular sized.
Glad you enjoyed!
Hi! I’ve tried this recipe twice and I really enjoy it, but I’ve encountered two problems. The muffins stick to the muffin cups A Lot, even when sprayed. And they seem almost underdone in the middle after 25 minutes. I stuck a knife in and it came out clean. Maybe they’re too moist from the zucchini? I’m hoping you’ll have some advice for what I’m doing wrong! Thanks 😀
Be sure to squeeze the zucchini of all excess moisture! And that’s strange they would stick if the cups are generously sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
This recipe didn’t work out for me, which is a first when baking from your recipes! The only thing I changed was the type of flour I used, but my batter was so thick (like, cookie dough thick) after I added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients that I had to add Oat Milk to get it back to a muffin batter consistency. Then they just didn’t turn out very well.
I’m wondering if because I used a frozen banana or didn’t dry out the zucchini enough it didn’t work? Or replacing the flour with coconut flour just changed the recipe that much?
Hi Bonnie! The coconut flour is definitely what changed the consistency here. I would always recommend sticking with the listed ingredients so that the texture turns out the way it should (coconut flour is much more absorbent than whole wheat pastry flour). Feel free to try this muffin recipe using almond + coconut flour!
absolutely delicious!!!
I am allergic to coconuts including the oil
Can I just swap this out for vegetable oil? Same amount?
Yes any oil should work!
Very good! Hubby didn’t even notice it was “healthy” – will make again!
That’s the best 🙂 Glad you two enjoyed!
I made these into mini muffins by greasing the tin without paper liner and 12 minutes at 375. The only other changes I made were a whole egg instead of two whites and AP flour since that’s what I had. The consistency still worked well this way. I also made half without chocolate chips for my toddler and I think I prefer them that way myself 🙂
I’m glad those adjustments worked out! Perfect breakfast or snack 🙂
Can we use a different flour? I’m a beginner baker and I’ve never made muffins before, I’m doing this recipe for my Year 8 Food Tech class.
Oh sorry for the earliness, I live in Australia so the time zones are completely different.
Regular all-purpose flour should work!
Hi, I just want to check that there is truly no salt in the recipe? I’m prepping the dry ingredients to make tomorrow night. Thank you!
correct, but you can add a pinch of salt if you want!
Thanks so much! 🙂
Love the ingredients…and these taste great! However, I missed spraying the muffin liners (not used to having to spray paper liners when using them). That’s definitely a step you don’t want to miss. They are a huge mess to get out of the liner. 🙁
Spraying the liners does make a world of a difference! But glad these tasted great for you 🙂
These look great! I can’t use the wheat flour. If I use almond flour or coconut flour, how should I then modify the recipe? I can use flax seed flour. also.
Thanks,
Linda
Hi Linda! Unfortunately I haven’t tested the recipe that way so I’m not 100% sure on the ratios. Let me know if you test it out!
These are incredibly moist and delicious! I always make a double batch and they are always all gone in a day or two!! These are definitely a family favourite. Thanks for the yummy recipe!!
I’m so glad you (and the family) love this one! It’s one of my favorite too 🙂
Would you recommend this recipe or the regular skinny banana chocolate chip muffins for my daughter’s 3rd birthday party at her preschool? Not sure which one would be more popular with the kiddos. Thanks!
Probably the skinny banana ones! Hope they love them 🙂
Are the ones with zucchini moister?
They are both super moist! I usually suggest my baked goods without zucchini for groups of kids in case they see any of the zucchini shreds in it and decide they don’t like it 🙂 (kids can be the most picky!)
I’m desperate to try these muffins but can’t get a hold of any apple sauce, can you recommend a substitute? Thanks in advance!!
Hi Anita! You can use 1/2 a banana 🙂
Have you by chance tried this with oat flour or have any suggestions for doing so? I am super excited to try this recipe based on all the great reviews, but it’s the only flour I have on hand! I know oat flour doesn’t typically substitute equally for whole wheat, so any suggestions you have would be much appreciated!
This is my favorite recipe!
So glad, Jessica! It’s one of my favorites, too 🙂
These muffins were amazing!! I used white whole wheat flour (because I didn’t have wheat pastry flour) and it worked great! Question, would I need to make any adjustments if I wanted to make this into a zucchini banana bread instead of muffins?
Tried these with spelt flour and they were delicious.My husband was skeptical when he knew I was putting zucchini in the recipe,but he now is a big fan of zucchini after trying the finished product..
is it possible to sub whole wheat pastry flour somehow? maybe with oat flour?
huge fan of your recipes btw 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing… WOW these are so insanely delicious!
This is going to be a regular for sure.
I would imagine substituting chocolate with berries would be just as good.
I would LOVE to make these for my picky, picky eater, but the thing I’m worried about is still being able to see the green of the zucchini in the baked muffin. Maybe if it was a chocolate muffin the green would not be as noticeable… any suggestions on how to make these as chocolate zucchini banana chocolate chip muffins? (that’s a mouthful LOL)
Sure! Add 1/3 cup cocoa powder!
Just stopping by to stay that I made these muffins for probably the 100th time. Legit Monique, these are the best healthy muffins ever!!!! Thank you for the incredible recipe!
Thank you, Phi!
I’m new to your website and I’m addicted already! I just made these muffins. I wanted to see if my picky 6 year old would like these for her school lunches. I’m always trying to find ways to sneak in healthy food and this was very successful! I used 1/2 all purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour. My 6 year old and 3 year old son loved it! I plan on making these in mini muffin size to fit in her school lunch better. I made some without liners because I ran out, and I prefer them better that way. I love that they are freezer friendly too! Thanks for the awesome healthy recipe!
I just made this recipe last night, and I truly wanted to thank you. I am a first on your website, but will be making a lot more of them!
For anyone curious (I read through a lot of the previous comments), I am unable to eat large amounts of sugar, and used a honey substitute- came out delish! I decreased the amount of substitute to 2 Tablespoons, and used more applesauce- about 1/4 cup. I also used sugar free mini chocolate chips. I made mini muffins- made 36 in all- with each at 43.5 calories, 0.7g fat, 9g carbs, 1.8g protein.
One issue I came across was that the muffins stuck to the paper- even though I sprayed the cups. Next time I will use foil liners.
But really delicious- a worthwhile treat!