Flourless chocolate chip zucchini banana muffins that are so tender and flavourful, you’d never know they were made without flour, oil, or refined sugar. Gluten free and made with wholesome ingredients, they make a healthy and delicious breakfast or snack.
I can’t even tell you guys how happy I am to -finally- be sharing another flourless muffin recipe here on Spoons.
I kind of fell in love with these super easy blender muffins after posting my first batch all the way back in January 2014, so not being able to share any new ones for over a year while I worked on recipes for the book was kind of torture. I mean, I was making a tonne of them (literally), but what good was having so many when I couldn’t share? Especially since those guys tend to be the more popular recipes here on the blog.
But the drought is over! I got the go-ahead to give you guys a taste of the kinds of recipes you can expect to see in my new flourless cookbook, and I decided to go with these flourless zucchini banana muffins found on page 50.
Because it’s totally zucchini season…
… except it isn’t at all.
I just really needed to use up a couple of overripe bananas, and I decided to toss some zucchini in there as well because a) it sounded more interesting than straight-up banana muffins (which I already have), and b) I love the extra moisture that zucchini adds to baked goods.
I know, I know. This coming from a girl who put zucchini on top of her veggie hit list, but in my defense, I did add chocolate chips to this batch… which I feel balances everything out. You don’t have to add them to yours, but I’m craving chocolate in a bad way, so in they went.
Okay! So let’s talk about the process of making flourless muffins in a blender, since I’ve had a decent amount of questions about it and never really went into any detail.
First up is the blender. I use a Vitamix* for all my mixing needs, and while you can definitely use one that’s less powerful, I can’t recommend a high-speed blender enough. I know it’s a bit of an investment, but I’ve had mine for over 10 years now and it still works as good as new.
It also makes the process of making muffins (and tonnes of other things) super easy since all you’re doing is tossing everything into a blender and hitting the switch. I actually split the blending process into 2 stages this time around – first come the dry ingredients to make sure the oats get fully broken down into a fine flour, and then come all the wet ingredients to make the final batter.
You could also skip the whole blending process altogether and use pre-ground oat flour* so that you can mix everything by hand. I give a handy dandy conversion for oats to oat flour in the book if you want to go that route.
The batter itself should be slightly on the thicker side – enough so that you have to spoon it into the muffin cups. And for those, I recommend either greasing your muffin pan or using parchment paper liners* since the lack of flour and oil could cause these muffins to stick to regular paper liners.
And for these particular muffins, I also recommend transferring the batter to a large mixing bowl when it’s time to stir in the banana and zucchini. This isn’t a necessary step for all the recipes in the book, but I’ve found that bananas release extra liquid when they’re pulverized, which ends up making the batter a little wetter than it should be when combined with zucchini. Alternatively, you could just toss both into the blender bowl and mix by hand, but that can get a little tight.
The muffins themselves are light and fluffy and subtly sweet with plenty of banana flavour. They’re gluten-free as long as you use certified GF oats, and loaded with wholesome ingredients like oats, almond butter, eggs, flax, honey, bananas, and zucchini… which means they’re basically like a bowl of oats in a conveniently portable form and you can enjoy them as a healthy snack at any time of the day.
Oh, and if you want to see more recipes like this one, you should totally check out my cookbook, which has another 79 flourless recipes for you to love. You can find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Indiebound.
Happy eating!
I’d love to know if you make this recipe! Leave a comment and rating down below to let me know what you think, and subscribe to our mailing list to receive new recipes in your inbox!
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Flourless Chocolate Chip Zucchini Banana Muffins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (120 g) rolled oats
- 2 tbsp (14 g) ground flaxseed
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tbsp (96 g) almond butter
- 6 tbsp (120 g) honey
- 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla extract
- 2 medium-size ripe bananas, mashed (200 g or 1 cup)
- 1 cup (115 g) shredded zucchini, squeezed of excess liquid*
- 1/2 cup (80 g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F (176C) and prepare a muffin pan by lining the cavities with parchment paper liners. Set aside.
- Add the oats, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a high-speed blender, and process on high until the oats have broken down into the consistency of a fine flour, about 10 seconds.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients except for the bananas and zucchini, and process on high until the batter becomes smooth and creamy, about 30 seconds. Periodically stop and scrape down the sides of your blender, if necessary.
- Transfer the batter to a medium-size mixing bowl (this makes it easier to mix in the remaining ingredients), and fold in the bananas, zucchini, and chocolate chips by hand.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each one about 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the tops of your muffins begin to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. As soon as they’ve cooled, transfer them to an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
* I like to place a handful of shredded zucchini between two paper towels and squeeze it over the sink. This drains it of just the right amount of liquid to allow the muffins to cook properly.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
Keywords: banana, breakfast, flourless, gluten-free, healthy, muffins, recipe, snack, zucchini
*Disclosure: Some of the links included in this post may be affiliate links, meaning I’ll earn a small commission if you purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and believe will add value to my readers. Thank you so much for helping support Spoons!
I just made these and wow – they’re my new favorite breakfast, snack, or any other excuse I can come up with. The only hitch was a bunch of “stuck” globbiness in the bottom of the blender after adding the almond butter and other wet ingredients. I might try grinding the oats in the blender and move the rest of the mixing to a bowl instead – or use a food processer instead. Also I subbed chia seeds for flaxseed and that worked great. How long would I bake these in the “big” muffin tins with just six muffins in them?
★★★★
Same situation here. I like your solution 🙂
Hi, can I use oat flour in place of ground flaxseed? I can’t have flaxseed.
Thank you
I made these and reduced the honey to 4 T because my bananas were very ripe, but they are still very sweet so I will probably cut the honey down to 3T next time. The main problem with the method of adding the eggs and honey to the ingredients in the blender was that the stiff dough was difficult to get out of the blender, resulting in a fair amount of waste (and almond butter is not cheap). So, the next time I will grind the oats and spices and then mix that with the eggs, almond butter and honey in a separate bowl (which one needs anyway to mix in the zucchini and banana.
I love this recipe and have made it many times! I can no longer eat almonds or other nuts due to medical reasons so can I replace the almond butter or replace it with something else?
★★★★★
These are awesome I have made them twice. I used stand mixer instead of blender and the turned out great.
If I bake these in a mini muffin baking liner would I leave these in the oven for the same amount of time? Thanks!
Made these and they were delicious however, I totally missed the chocolate chips as they aren’t in the recipe! Next time I’ll make them I’ll try to remember and then maybe my son will eat them too!
Oh my gosh I can’t believe I forgot to put those in the recipe card! I’m sorry about that, Evette, but thank you for letting me know. I went ahead and added them in.
These were not fun to make at all. I used my ninja which as we all know is super powerful and the batter just ended up splitting. Half the flour was stuck at the bottom that I had to dig out with a knife because it was so compacted in. After I managed to dig it out the batter was so thick it wouldn’t even blend anymore. There are a few other flourless muffin recipes super similar that are insanely easier to make. Definitely will be making those again next time.
I used my ninja as well and had no problems.
Hi there, these look great. Can’t wait to try them. Was wondering though, doesn’t putting the oats in a blender turn them to flour? Now you have oat flour, right? Is there a difference? I ask because I look for flourless recipes to follow the bright lines eating plan, which allows for no flour — not even oat flour.
Yes, these aren’t grain-free. I refer to them as flourless because they don’t contain more refined flours – just oats ground up.
I made these today and added walnuts. It was so delicious, even my picky eater fiancé loved them!
These are delicious. I made them yesterday and are my new favorite. I used the last of my flaxseeds and wondering if they are necessary? I want to make them again.
★★★★★
Hi! Making these right now and FYI there are no chocolate chips included in the recipe! I think you forgot to add them. I’m just going to wing it.
Just came out of the oven! made more than 12, made 15 but i’m not complaining! They smell and look great! Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
These look wonderful! Can I substitute real butter for almond butter?
I made these today and they were delicious! Thank you!
I’m so glad you like them! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know, Grace 🙂
If I bake these in a mini muffin baking liner would I leave them in the oven for the same amount of time? Thanks!
I would probably bake them from 10-12 minutes, Roxy! Start checking them at 10 and just make sure the tops aren’t getting -too- brown.
Hi, can I use egg whites instead?….
Hi,
just made them and no listing for the chocolate chips…
Two questions… 1) Do you read your comments? and 2) Where are the chocolate chips in these chocolate chip zucchini banana muffins? 🙂 Otherwise, they were very good!
What do you think about subbing chia for flax seed? It’s what I have in the house!
Made it for the first time, they were super delicious!!!!! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I’m so glad you liked them, Sindy! Thanks so much for letting me know 😀
I LOVE zucchini muffins! I posted a similar recipe recently, which was a play off one that my grandmother used to make with me 🙂 I’ll have to try yours out, too!
Wondering how much chocolate chips are suppose to be in here. It’s not mentioned in the ingredients..?
I am wondering the same thing!
Breakfast perfection!
I seriously need to start whipping out muffins and freezing some for quick breakfasts (add a side of cottage cheese with fruit and granola, plus hot tea, and I’m good to go!) And I am LOVING all the ingredients here. I just got some flax and couldn’t decide what to do with it. Thanks for the inspiration and recipe! 🙂
– MAK
Hey my name is Ellie and I love your blog! I’ve made your flourless muffins many times before and they always turn out fantastic! Other recipes often turn out dense or gummy or rely on weird ingredients to make them work. I really want to try this recipe but I realized I’m out of almond butter. I have peanut butter but I dont think it will go. Can I substitute whole milk plain Greek yogurt for the almond butter with similar results?
Sorry Ellie, but I don’t think yogurt will make a good sub just because the consistency is so much different. Because these are flourless, they really need the “bulk” of the nut butter to hold them together. But peanut butter will be fine if you don’t have almond butter!
Umm…how many chocolate chips to make these fit their name? 🙂
These look awesome! I am wondering though, if I just wanted zucchini flavored muffins without the banana could I use applesauce in place of the mashed banana? Thanks! 🙂
Yuppers, though while I have tried flourless muffins before – I so wanna try these too – I have your book and am bookmarking pg 50 to start off! Happy Monday, Amanda hope your week is wonderful!
I thought the handy dandy oats to oat flour ration conversion chart in the book was a fabulous idea.
Also I recommend Polish pottery because nothing sticks to those babies. They make clean up a dream, and the muffins just pop out.
Så nu har du både tagit bilder o tänkt till i lugn o ro! Tog ett tag innan jag förstod det där med däcket, men så &laago;binuo&rqquo; förstod jag!Ha, en fin söndag!Linnéa recently posted..
These look so great! I have no flax seed at home but will be stocking up to make some soon! I make my son a recipe similar to this but for banana Zucchini Pancakes and he eats them right up, these look a whole lot more convenient for on the go though! Thanks!
Hello, I am curious about your zucchini pancakes. Would you be willing to share your recipe?
Thanks in advance!
Erica
I’ve never tried flourless muffins before, but these are definitely calling my name! I’m a sucker for zucchini in baked goods…
YOUR OAT MUFFINS ARE DA BEST. And I love the combo of chocolate + zucchini. It’s just one of my favorites.
I can’t wait to try these! I bought your cookbook, and I have marked every page 🙂 Thanks for sharing on your blog too.
I noticed a lot of the muffins in your cookbook require almond flour. Can the almond flour be substituted with oat flour? And if so what would the ratio be?
you’re alive! You know I worry like a mom about you. <3 but you can make it up to me with these. Mm k? Sharing!
HI Amanda!!! It’s me from the old movesnmunchies! So awesome to see you still blogging away girl!
Anywho, these look delicious! Can you take like all my photos for me because you know how to handle a camera that is FO SHO!
I think I’m ready for zucchini muffins for sure, but only if chocolate is involved. They look awesome!
I really need to break down and buy a decent blender. Ours is really cheap and I can’t make a lot of stuff with it because of that. 10 years is a long time to keep it going strong like that!
Any way I can sneak some extra veggies into my daughter is a plus to me!
Obviously I’ve tried flourless muffins before….because of your blog!! 🙂 They’re my favorite recipes because I always have the ingredients on hand! These look perfect!
My mom used to make zucchini bread which I really liked. I love that you can’t taste the zucchini but you feel somewhat healthy eating there LOL…kind of like carrot cake I suppose. Have you made any carrot cake style muffins? Those would be good.
This looks good Amanda, thank you for sharing.