Those look delicious and I've been staring at my enormous zucchini from my organic farm (CSA). Would it taste much different to use whole wheat flour? (trying to keep the Hubby healthy!)

All I can suggest is to try it and let us know what you discover. ~Elise

I have a question: Approximately how many medium-sized zucchinis would make 3 cups shredded? And could I make this in a loaf pan instead of muffins?

So happy to see this! I've been looking for a zucchini bread recipe since the zucchinis have appeared at my local farmer's market. Can't wait to try it!

Really hard to tell how big is a "medium-sized" zucchini. Maybe one zucchini will make one cup? maybe 1 1/2? For this recipe I used half of a very large garden zucchini, usually the kind so big that you end up stuffing it. ~Elise

Can you tell us what the butter measurement is in cups? We don't have sticks over here and I can't bear the thought of scraping out 10 T worth into a cup and hoping it all made it in. But thanks for including the oil replacement. And do you know if I could use applesauce as a 1 to 1 replacement for the oil.

Enjoying your site and recipes as always. Thanks.

Hi G, I decided to change the measure to simply 2/3 cup. Regarding applesauce, personally I never use it as a substitution, though others do. ~Elise

I like making a variation of zucchini muffins by omitting the cinnamon and nutmeg spices and adding dried apricots, golden raisins and sunflower seeds.

Not having to use a mixer is the best part. The golden brown color of the muffins is so tempting...

Those look so good! I never even though of putting zucchini in muffins - very ingeneous. Another way to sneak those veggies into the daily diet. I'm going to try this recipe the next time I get a chance - thanks!

I love how moist zucchini makes baked goodies. These sound great... I'd have to agree with your 12 year old on the add-ins, though :)

Someone asked about using whole wheat flour. This recipe works, or you can use half and half whole wheat and regular all purpose flous. I use the half and half myself.

Zucchini and Carrot Muffins

3 cups flour (your choice as to the combination)
3 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cloves
3/4 tsp allspice
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3 large eggs (see note below)
1 cup honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini, well drained
2 cups peeled grated carrot
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Stir together the flour and spices, baking powder and baking soda. Separately blend the eggs in a blender with the honey, oil and vanilla.

Combine the two mixtures and mix well. Then add the zucchini, carrots, orange juice and walnuts. Stir just until ingredients are evenly distributed. Spoon into greased muffin tins until nearly full.

Bat at 370F for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inverted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Invert and cool on a rack. These freeze very well.

Makes 16 to 18 large sized muffins or 24 regular sized muffins.

If you wish to bake this as a loaf, put in greased loaf pans and bake at 325F until done. Depending on the size of the loaf pan, they will take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes to bake.

Note: I always use extra large eggs now. I have noticed large eggs now seem the size of what medium sized eggs used to be and if you just use large, the recipe is dry or tough, just not the same consistency.

Note: You can substitute grated apples or pears for the carrots or use a combination of 3 or 4 fruits. All work well.

I am looking forward to the zucchini bounty from my Mum-in-law's garden. These will be great to make with them. I've made a zucchini bread a few times but muffins is a great idea.

I have been contemplating making zucchini muffins for the last week, trying to decide what to do with the rest of the zuc's from the farmer's market. So, I think I will make these tonight.

If you have WAY TOO MANY zuc's in the garden, try making squash fritters one night. They make a delicious light meal, even though they are fried. Mine came out more like eggy hashbrowns, or potato pancakes. I added fresh herbs from the garden. It made so many, that I ended up sharing them with neighbors and co-workers.
Love the website! and the stories! Thank you!

We have a great zucchini fritters recipe on the site. Thanks for the reminder. ~Elise

Hi Elise, yes, that was YOUR zucchini fritter recipe I followed last week, and they did turn out wonderful. All my neighbors & coworkers loved them, but next time I think I will make less!

Thanks,
Kathy

mmmm those look good. The farmer's market has decent-looking zukes in again, and I'm always looking for ways to cook them! I've also become a fan of doing things in batches that can be eaten through the week (strata in a muffin pan my current obsession) since riding my bike to work means not coming home for lunch ... ever again :P

Adding succhini to muffins is such a unique idea. I've been seeing variations of these in other blogs and some cookbooks I have, and honestly I have never dared to bake them:) I think I should. It is a great way to have your kids eat vegetables if they don't like them. I must experiment it with my daughter who just can't stand zucchini and eggplants:) Thank you for the recipe. It looks really delicious!

I love the idea of using zucchini in muffins as I usually go with zucchini bread at holiday time to use for gifts. However, 12 muffins is abit much for my household. So.....I will pass on this one. Sometimes when you post a great recipe maybe you could get it down to half the quantity like 6 muffins or a 9x9 square pan. Sure would be great for small households. I still love to read your blog anyway. Thanks.

You can easily cut this recipe in half. ~Elise

Ophelia, my experience has been that substituting applesauce for HALF the oil in a recipe works fine. Total substitution makes the muffins way too dense & small.

Hello, Just wondering if there is a way to use less sugar and still have the muffin taste wonderful. Estelle

Why don't you try it and see? For my taste the amount of sugar in this recipe is perfect. Unlike bananas, which are very sweet, zucchinis are not, so if you cut back the sugar, you cut back the sweetness. But it really is a matter of taste. I've seen recipes for savory zucchini muffins with herbs and cheese, and practically no sugar. ~Elise

Looking forward to trying these (WITH butter, WITH nuts, WITH raisins). One question: do you squeeze the moisture out of the zucchini before measuring?

Hi Nancy, No, no need to squeeze the moisture out of the zucchini before measuring. ~Elise

When in college, I experimented with the substitution of applesauce in blueberry muffins for the ( yes, this was an actual food science experiment)
a) all egg
b) all oil or butter (fat)
c) both egg & butter

I think that there was a fourth, but we are talking 15 years ago. I think I threw away that notebook 8 yrs ago, when I got married. However, what I firmly remember is: KEEP THE EGGS!! Substituting the applesauce (or plumsauce) for the oil or butter was okay, but I think voce above got it right, only substitute half the fat for the applesauce. Don't try to do both, the muffins are like little hockey pucks. Substituting the sauce for the oil was okay, but for the eggs was not. Of the experiment, I know we didnt do half oil (there were no second stage experiments), just subst. the sauce for the oil was the best. You really need the lecithin from the eggs, and other egg-leavening properties to get a decent muffin, and don't over stir!

Elise
Would it be 1 cup or 1/2 cup of oil instead of butter? 1 cup seems like a lot.

The substitution is 1 cup of oil instead of the 2/3 cups butter. If you check other zucchini bread recipes you'll see that those that call for oil, along with the amounts of flour and zucchini that this recipe calls for, use 1 cup of oil. If you try it with less oil, please let us know how it turns out. ~Elise

Oooh! I've been looking for a zucchini muffin recipe. This looks wonderful! Thanks!

Cool.
I really love your recipe and even your photo!
Looks tasty! :)

As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew it was meant to be. I bought several zucchini this week and was worrying about not being able to use them before they went bad. I ran right home last night and made these -- and while many of my culinary undertakings tend to go south quickly, these turned out just perfectly. I'm definitely planning on making these a summer staple.

Hi Elise,

Guess what it is finally sunny up here! Well it is at least for today lol.
Thanks for posting this simple yummy muffin recipe. My guys prefer cupcakes/ muffins to cakes/loaves. I use sliced almonds and dried cranberries in my breakfast oatmeal.
Butter is just better for baking. The taste is worth the calories!

These look delicious! I bet my husband would looooove them.

Robin, Whenever you use whole wheat flour ALWAYS separate your eggs and beat the whites till stiff and fold in. You will be very surprised by the results. Works everytime!!

These are really good! I made them last night and my four year old son snuck a half muffin this morning before I left for work and polished off the other half when his dad was not looking! I added pecans cause we are pecan lovers and went with cranberries AND golden raisins which I think added a nice "zing." Thank you Elise for always delivering!

These are wonderful. I like to make zucchini muffins since it's a sneaky way to get some green stuff into my 7 year old! I made a chocolate chip version of these a couple of weeks ago.

Those zucchini muffins looks good!

I haven't had zucchini muffins in years, Thanks for bringing back good memories!

I can't wait to try these, I am growing zucchini in the garden this year.

I have one finicky eater who can spot the slightest bit of green from a mile away. I tried grating the zucchini on the fine side of the grater to eliminate the strand look and added a few mini chocolate chips instead of nuts. I called them chocolate chip muffins. All 3 of my boys gobbled them up and asked me when I'm going to make more! Also one other thing to try from my grandmother: she added a can of crushed pineapple drained of juice and cut the sugar to 1 cup to compensate for the sweetness of the fruit. Oh, yummy!! It was such a delicious and unexpected combination.

My friend's Mom burned zucchini bread when I was younger and I've been scared ever since! lol

I'm sure this is a huge faux pas, but you did ask for zucchini ideas and recipes. I apoligize profusely in advance if this is a no-no, because I really like this site. :)

Have you tried Heidi's Special Zucchini Bread? I really like baking with veggies like zucchini, carrot, and pumpkin but hadn't found a recipe I was happy with. I made this one on Friday (before I saw this muffin recipe!) and can't stop eating it!

I have pleeeenty of zucchini to use up, so don't worry, I'll be making the muffins as well.

I haven't yet tried Heidi's recipe, but given how great everything Heidi makes is, I'm sure it's fabulous. ~Elise

Wow, I think I’ve seen this recipe before! Of course, the instructions are more explicit, and the ingredients adjusted just slightly... Glad you could make use of my recipe (posted in the comments for Sauteed Zucchini with Gruyere Recipe, 6 June) in your search for that perfect zucchini muffin recipe!

Hi Ali - I thought I would republish your recipe here, so readers can easily see your muffin recipe:

ZUCCHINI MUFFINS
Beat together:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
Add:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
Add 1 cups sultanas
1 cup walnut pieces
Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 350 deg F (180 deg C) until done, about 15 minutes.

Thank you for the muffin inspiration. :-) ~Elise

Does anyone know if you can use other types of squash in this recipe? Or does zucchini have a special quality that makes it ideal for breads and muffins? Sometimes we have an abundance of yellow squash.

Any summer squash will work fine in this recipe. ~Elise

Ooooo, I made them, and they were WONDERFUL!

I left out the cranberries, because I don't care for them, but it was a really good recipe anyways! Thanks!

I made these last weekend. They were good but not great- more my fault than the recipe. I like a very moist muffin and mine were more on the dry side. I want to attempt making these one more time; any suggestions on how to make my muffins more moist?

These muffins should definitely not be turning out dry. I suggest taking them out of the oven sooner, or at least checking them sooner. ~Elise

If I made mini-muffins rather than regular, how should I adjust the cooking time/temp?

It sounds great!

These are delicious. I doubled the recipe and it turned out quite well. I used 6 small zucchinis to make 6 cups of shredded zucchini. I was short two tbsp of butter, but it didn't seem to matter. Great with coffee!

Hi elise,

These zucchini muffins are sooo good! just right on the sweetness. I just made them now and my mom really enjoyed it. I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful blog which help me curb our dining-out habits. Ever since my cousin introduced me to your website, I have resorted to meal planning and almost all recipes are from this site. In fact, my next project is trying the chipotle cake, can't hardly wait!
Thanks again, so very much for bringing the love of cooking back to my life.

Hello Beverly, Wow. I love to hear stories like that. Thank you! ~Elise

I tried this recipe yesterday. It made one pan of 6 jumbo muffins and one pan of 12 regular size muffins. I used golden raisins in the recipe and they turned out great. I used butter and I agree that using butter gives a great flavor. I will definitely make this recipe often. Thanks!

I tried this recipe a week ago and they turned out pretty good. Even with all of that sugar, they didn't taste too sweet. Though while they tasted good, they turned out pretty dense. I wonder if it was because I forgot to add in the melted butter until after I stirred everything all together? Regardless, these were good enough to try again.

My kids absolutely loved these muffins. The zucchini are so big in the garden right now. This is a great way to use them!

You are so right, these are extremely easy to make. I've never really baked before, or cooked much at all. I accidentally even bought cucumbers instead of zucchinis and had to run back to the grocery store for the correct ingredient! The muffins were so moist and delicious, thanks for the recipe!

These muffins were delicious! For anyone who's curious -- applesauce works well enough in this recipe as a substitute for the eggs. I didn't mean to substitute, but discovered at the last minute that I was out of eggs. I made a half recipe (6 super-full muffins), and used 1/4 cup applesauce instead of 1 egg. The only thing I'd change is to cut down on the sugar because the applesauce was sweet -- but it seems like the sugar amount would be perfect in the original recipe with egg.

I made these yesterday, and ate one for dessert last night, one for breakfast this morning, and one for a snack this afternoon. There was a lot of zucchini in my CSA box this week, and I was glad to have a tasty way to use some of it up beyond my usual saute--and-throw-in-pasta-with-other-vegetables routine. The recipe made 16 muffins (filling each muffing cup 3/4 full) for me, so I froze 6, and my boyfriend and I will feast on the rest this week. These were so delicious! Thank you!

Approximately how many pounds of zucchini will yield the required recipe amount? I won't hold you to it. It's frustrating not buying enough or having too much. A general rule of thumb would be great! Thank you!

Great question. I'll try to remember to weigh the zucchini the next time I make it. We just pick the zukes from our garden, so it's never an issue. In the meantime, perhaps someone else making this has access to a kitchen scale and can leave a comment with the weight. ~Elise

I've been looking everywhere for a volume to weight conversion for zucchini. I just made a double batch of these muffins and they turned out great.

I found that a cup of carrots weighed approx 90 grams. I estimated the zucchini at 50% more than that, due to the additional moisture content, so settled on 150 grams per cup of finely grated zucchini.

It worked great, good texture. I like extra zucchini so I may try 175g per cup next time. Hope this helps!

Great recipe. I was really happy with the results and I don't bake at all. Very moist and filling! Thanks, Elise.

I got up this morning and discovered a huge zucchini on my counter (A friend of my husband gave it to him at work) and found this recipe when looking for ideas on what to do with it. These muffins are so delish! I just made them with my two girls (age 5 and 2) and we all enjoyed one warm out of the oven. We strive to eat healthier every day so I made the following changes with perfect results. I used Sucanat as a replacement for the sugar and used one cup all-purpose flour and 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour. We also put in pecans because that's what we had along with the dried cranberries. We will make these again soon with the summers bounty of zucchini. The best discovery by far is your website. I added it to my favs and will use it over and over, as well as the muffin recipe. Thank you!

These muffins looked so good, however when I tried them, they were not very flavorful or moist. I followed the recipe exactly. I think they would be better with more spice, brown sugar or honey. A little disappointing.

Sigh. There are so many factors that go into baking that are beyond the reach of the recipe. If they were dry, then they were probably in the oven too long, given your particular oven and your particular muffin pan. If they weren't flavorful enough for you, I suggest upping the spice amounts, also checking the age of your spices. Basically if a ground spice is more than a year old, it should be replaced. Using brown sugar is a great idea. You can also achieve the same effect by adding a teaspoon of molasses to the mix. ~Elise

This recipe is another beautiful example of why I love Simply Recipes. Zucchini bread lends itself to endless variations, all of which are considered and honored. You've presented a strong base and said "go for it". Thank you!

I used what I had on hand--a zucchini that grated to about 2 cups, an added carrot and banana to make it about 3. Reduced sugar to about 2/3 cup (the amount in Chick in the Kitchen's recipe). Some of that was brown, some white. Same with the flour--used up the bag of whole wheat pastry flour and added white to make three cups. Tossed a bit of orange rind in because it was there. Used butter, about a stick (less what I scraped off for something else over the weekend).

And--awesome. This recipe is a fantastic base, and it's hard to go wrong.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Great muffins! I love zucchini and this recipe was yummy!

Thanks for this - I usually stick to my tried and true chocolate zucchini muffins but was looking for something a bit different. These are just the ticket - really yummy! Okay, but I am still a chocoholic, so instead of the nuts or raisins I put in chocolate chips.