This high-fiber recipe was inspired by Martha Stewart. Zucchini muffins are moist, nutritious, and really easy to make - this is how!
These muffins taste like dessert but are packed with fiber, antioxidants, and nutrients. When I say they are packed with fiber, I'm not kidding. Barley flour, flaxseed, zucchini, and banana all give your body the fiber-boost it needs.
This recipe is loosely based on one that I found from Martha Stewart. I changed quite a few things to make it an egg-free and dairy-free recipe. If you need it to be completely gluten-free, I shared a substitute in the notes for you.
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Intro
The Best Muffins For Pregnancy
When I was pregnant with my first baby, a college friend sent me "What to expect when you are expecting" and "What to eat when you are expecting" by Arlene Eisenberg and Heidi Murkoff.
And she left me a note on the page for a Zucchini Bread recipe. She said, although she wasn't pregnant, she baked the Zucchini Bread (on the page) and it was awesome!
Of course, I had to bake it that night. And guess what? I finished the loaf out of the pan the very same night! Seriously. What can I say? I was pregnant. I had an excuse.
And I baked it a few more times throughout the pregnancy - maybe that's why I gained 45 lbs during the pregnancy?
So when I saw Martha Stewart's Zucchini, Banana and Flaxseed Muffins recipe, I thought of my college friend and that zucchini bread. I adjusted this recipe to fit my family's dietary limitations and I'm thrilled to share this recipe with you, too.
Ingredients
Flour
For the flour, I used a combination of gluten-free oat flour and barley flour. If you need to keep these muffins completely gluten-free you substitute ¾ cup of coconut flour for the barley flour.
Ground Flaxseed
There are so many health benefits to flaxseed - but I used the flaxseed for more reasons than that. Flaxseed is really high in fiber and healthy fats. It also acts as a gluten-replacement when you bake.
Zucchini
I just kept the skin on the zucchini and grated it until I had about 1 ½ cups. A really fast way to do this is to just use a food processor. Just be careful not to chop it up too small.
Banana
The best bananas to use when you bake are the really ripe ones. They are softer and mash up better. I like to let my bananas ripen to the point that they have black spots on them - that's perfect.
Milk
Any kind of milk works in this recipe. I used almond milk in order to make this a dairy-free muffin recipe. Oat milk or coconut milk both work too. If you use a milk substitute, use the unsweetened varieties since you are already using sugar in the muffins.
Egg
This is also an egg-free muffin recipe. I used Bob Mill's Egg Replacer and a little bit of water. This worked perfectly instead of eggs.
It was amazing! It was moist. It wasn't too sweet. It was nutritious. It was perfect!
FAQ
If you don't have flaxseed, chia seeds can be used as an easy replacement. They have lots of the same properties.
Yes, you certainly can use an egg in this recipe. I used an egg-replacer because of my family's dietary needs, but one egg will work just as well.
Yes, you can add chocolate chips to the zucchini muffins. I suggest using semi-sweet or sugar-free chocolate chips since there is already so much natural sugar in them.
These should only take about 25 minutes to bake completely. You can tell they are cooked when you insert a toothpick into the center of the muffins and it comes out clean.
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Recipe
Martha Stewart Inspired Zucchini, Banana, and Flaxseed Muffins
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray - I used olive oil spray
- ½ C Gluten Free Oat flour
- 1 C Barley flour Use ¾ C of Coconut Four for Gluten Free Version
- ½ C ground flaxseed
- 1 C lightly packed light-brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ C coarsely grated zucchini with skin 1 large zucchini
- 1 large mashed banana
- ½ C almond milk
- 3 tablespoon apple sauce
- 1 teaspoon egg replacer and 2 tablespoon cold water - equivalent to 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Lightly coat 12 standard muffin cups with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, flaxseed, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add zucchini and mashed bananas and combine well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together milk, egg replacer (or egg), and vanilla.
- Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined. DO NOT OVER MIX.
- Turn on the oven to 350 degrees.
- Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. For non-convection oven, it may take 25-30 minutes.
- Let muffins cool completely in pan on a wire rack before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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Lori Popkewitz Alper says
These look incredible-and I think my kids would be all over them! Thanks Karen.
ecokaren says
Even my kids who aren't too fond of flaxseed powder liked these. You can't even taste it! I ight try adding raisins or craisins next time. Nuts would work well too, if they are not allergic to nuts. Hope you try them!
Mary says
Yum! I can't wait to try this recipe!
ecokaren says
Let me know how you like them if you make them!
Kathy says
I am so making these today!
ecokaren says
I need to make some more and freeze them. They were gone in one night! Hope you get to make them.