These chocolate zucchini muffins are loaded with melty chocolate chips and fresh zucchini. They're a super easy breakfast or snack that comes together in about 30 minutes! These muffins also a great way to use up extra summer zucchini and hide some veggies!
You might also like these zucchini cornbread muffins or these banana chocolate chip muffins!
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Ingredient Notes
You only need a few ingredients to make these zucchini chocolate chip muffins!
Vegetable Oil - I use oil instead of butter in these muffins to help keep the cake super moist and delicious! You can also use canola oil or a neutral olive oil.
Cocoa Powder - My absolute favorite cocoa powder to use in my baking is the King Arthur Flour Triple Cocoa Blend! It's a blend of natural, Dutch, and black cocoa and is perfect for any baking. But you can easily substitute unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa instead!
Greek Yogurt - I love adding plain-full fat Greek yogurt to baked goods because it keeps them super light and moist! You can also substitute sour cream or whole milk instead.
Chocolate Chips - If you like dark chocolate, I highly recommend the Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate baking chips. The flavor is amazing and the baking chips are slightly larger than normal chocolate chips and melt beautifully inside the muffins. But you can use any chocolate chips you prefer.
Fresh Zucchini - You just need one small to medium sized zucchini for these muffins.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Preheat your oven to 400°F and line a muffin tin with muffin liners.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, sugar, and vanilla.
Add in the eggs and whisk until combined and smooth.
Using a large box grater, finely grate the zucchini and place in a bowl. Gently squeeze the excess liquid out of the zucchini (you can just use your hands, or squeeze the liquid out using a cheesecloth). Be sure to squeeze out as much liquid as possible! Ideally you want 1 cup of grated zucchini, but any amount between ¾ cup and 1 ¼ cups will work!
Then add in the grated zucchini and yogurt and mix until combined.
Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.
Then gently fold in the chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into your muffin cups so that they are almost full. If desired, press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops of the muffins.
Bake at 400°F for 18-24 minutes for regular sized muffins. Rotate the pan about halfway through so that the muffins cook evenly.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy the chocolate chip zucchini muffins warm!
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Recipe FAQ's
These muffins are best eaten the same day but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. I like to reheat them in the microwave for 15 seconds!
Yes! For mini zucchini chocolate chip muffins reduce the baking time to 15-20 minutes.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Muffin Recipes You Might Like!
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Recipe Card
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Special Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup zucchini, grated
- ½ cup plain full-fat Greek yogurt, substitute sour cream
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F and line a muffin tin with muffin liners.
- In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, sugar, and vanilla.
- Add in the eggs and whisk until combined and smooth.
- Using a large box grater, finely grate the zucchini and place in a bowl. Gently squeeze the excess liquid out of the zucchini (you can just use your hands, or squeeze the liquid out using a cheesecloth). Be sure to squeeze out as much liquid as possible! Ideally you want 1 cup of grated zucchini, but any amount between ¾ cup and 1 ¼ cups will work!
- Then add in the grated zucchini and yogurt and mix until combined.
- Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Then gently fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon the batter into your muffin cups so that they are almost full. If desired, press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops of the muffins.
- Bake at 400°F for 18-24 minutes for regular sized muffins. Rotate the pan about halfway through so that the muffins cook evenly.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
- Enjoy the chocolate chip zucchini muffins warm!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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