Banana bread is pretty much cake. Cornbread is too, a lot of the time. But zucchini bread seems to occupy a transitional space that’s sweet and sticky, but also feels too healthful to count fully as “cake,” probably because it contains green vegetables and does not have frosting (most of the time).
The actual healthfulness of zucchini bread depends entirely on the recipe, of course. This zucchini muffin recipe avoids butter, sugar, and flour, but the end result is still sweet and satisfying. The muffins are extremely easy to make, and just perfect for a lunch box treat.
A base of rolled oats gives the muffins a dense but springy texture, and they’re plenty sweet, thanks to some maple syrup and a generous helping of dried dates. The recipe calls for olive oil instead of butter, and after that the rest of the ingredients are just grated zucchini, eggs, and baking powder. You can add chocolate chips and sea salt on top if you want to, and I highly recommend that you do.
You don’t even need to stir this recipe. Just dump all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips and salt, into a blender and let it go until they’re blended together in a slightly chunky batter. The blender makes mixing easier and means you don’t even have a spoon to wash, and it also blends all the ingredients together so they’re basically indistinguishable inside the muffin.
Pour the batter into muffin cups, or into a greased muffin tin, then add the chocolate chips on top. Bake the muffins for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until the tops spring back if you push on them gently, and sprinkle them with sea salt while they’re still warm. You can eat one or two right out of the oven, but they’re great to have on hand for an anytime treat.
Kitchn Daily
Get the recipe: Feel Good Zucchini Muffins from Pinch of Yum
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