📖 Zucchini Muffins with Applesauce

Close up of a healthy zucchini muffin sitting on a wire cooling rack, along with the additional muffins from the batch, a white linen, and zucchinis.

5 from 22 votes

These easy zucchini muffins with applesauce are quick to make, moist, and fluffy! A great way to get your veggies in (without even tasting them!) for breakfast or as a snack.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: Servings

Calories: 190kcal

Author: Meredith

Equipment

Ingredients

2 large eggs
½ C neutral oil (canola or vegetable)
½ C unsweetened applesauce
½ C granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 C shredded zucchini (from approx. 3 medium zucchinis)
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 + ½ C all-purpose flour
optional: turbinado sugar for topping

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare muffin tins by either lining with cupcake liners or spraying with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
Whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, applesauce, and vanilla extract. Then stir in the shredded zucchini.
Slowly stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and flour. Stir until just combined, DO NOT overmix your batter (a few lumps are ok!).
Divide batter between 12 standard sized muffin tins, filling the tins about ⅔ full.
Before putting the muffins into the oven, add a sprinkle of turbinado sugar on top of each muffin if desired. This adds a nice texture and a little more sweetness to your muffins.
Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (ok to have a few crumbs).
Allow muffins to cool in the muffin tins for a few minutes and then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy these muffins warm or cold. Option to slather with butter, or whatever other topping you may enjoy!

Notes

Recipe Variations and Substitutions

Substitute in whole wheat flour. Replace half of the all-purpose flour 1-for-1 with whole wheat flour.
Add some mix-ins! Add up to 1 cup of mix-ins if desired. Try chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, rolled oats, craisins, raisins, dried currents, or a combination.
Add a glaze instead of the turbinado sugar. If you’d prefer to have a glazed muffin, skip sprinkling the muffins with turbinado sugar before baking. Instead, once the muffins are cooled, add a simple glaze. To make a simple glaze for your muffins, whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of liquid until a smooth glaze is formed.
- Using water with a tiny splash of vanilla makes a quick vanilla glaze.
- For a lemon glaze, use fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Option to add some lemon zest into your glaze if desired (½-1 teaspoon would work well, but adjust the amount to your taste).

Storage

Store these delicious zucchini muffins by placing cooled muffins in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

You can also freeze these homemade muffins for another day! To do so, allow the muffins to fully cool before storing. Individually wrap each muffin in plastic wrap and place into a gallon-sized freezer bag and freeze for up to 6 weeks. To thaw, remove individual muffins from the freezer and let them sit at room temperature for about 1 hour. You can also warm them up directly from the freezer, removing the plastic wrap and microwaving them for 15-30 seconds!

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