Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Gluten-Free Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins – These fluffy gluten-free zucchini muffins are loaded with chocolate chips & warm spices. The perfect way to use up that zucchini!

Summer is THE BEST produce season of the year, in my opinion. (You, too?) From ripe tomatoes, to juicy berries and watermelon, to sweet corn, avocados, cherries, and more, it feels like everything delicious is in season all at once!

One of my favorite parts of the summer season ALLLLL the zucchini. We toss it into savory dishes like chicken meatballs, burgers, and trays of roasted veggies, but I can’t resist tucking it into at least a few yummy baked goods each year.

This summer, we’ve been on a big zucchini muffin kick, and I think our gluten-free zucchini chocolate chip muffins are everything I LOVE about zucchini baked goods:

• Fluffy, moist texture
• Warm spices & layers of flavor from the brown butter
• Chocolate chips in every bite

But perhaps best of all? They’re REALLY easy to make. Here’s what you need to make fluffy, moist gluten-free zucchini muffins…

Here’s What You Need To Make Gluten-Free Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

• Zucchini! Shredded zucchini adds moisture to the muffins without making them taste like a bunch of vegetables. My zucchini-averse children happily eat these muffins without a second thought!
• Butter. We start by browning the butter, which adds INCREDIBLE sweet, caramel-like notes to the these zucchini muffins. I highly (HIGHLY!) recommend you do NOT skip this step, as it adds a BIG flavor note. We like it so much better than using coconut oil or vegetable oil.
• Brown Sugar & Cane Sugar. Using a blend of sugars keeps these muffins perfectly moist, with gorgeous golden tops.
• Sour Cream Or Plain Greek Yogurt. The acidity in sour cream reacts with the baking soda to produce a gorgeous light texture and keeps the muffins gloriously moist.
• Eggs. Just enough to help the texture along. Room temperature eggs work best! (Try this trick!)
• Vanilla. Plenty of vanilla extract pairs so nicely with the warm spices and brown butter. YUM!
• Gluten-Free Measure-For-Measure Flour. We love and recommend this gluten-free measure-for-measure gluten-free flour from King Arthur. If you use another brand, be sure that it has xanthan gum!
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda. I love how this combo adds such lightness to the batter! Check if your baking soda & baking powder are fresh in seconds with this test.
• Cinnamon & Nutmeg. Warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg add SO MUCH flavor when paired with the brown butter and vanilla. (And they make your house smell amazing, too!)
• Salt. You’ll need just enough to balance the flavor.
• Chocolate Chips. The fun part! I prefer semisweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips in my gluten-free zucchini muffins, but if you’re a milk chocolate fan, feel free to use those instead.

How To Make Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins, Step By Step:

1. Preheat The Oven & Prep Your Muffin Pan. Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with parchment liners. (Or grease with cooking spray)
2. Brown The Butter. Melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk constantly until the butter begins to foam. (Watch carefully when the butter begins to foam, as it will turn golden and brown quickly.) When the butter under the foam is golden brown (like honey) and smells sweet, remove the pan from the heat and transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer or a mixing bowl to cool for a few minutes, until it’s no longer hot to the touch. In the meantime, prep your other ingredients.
3. Combine Cooled Butter & Sugars. When the brown butter is no longer hot to the touch, pour the brown butter into a large bowl and add the brown sugar and sugar. Stir until well blended. (It will look a bit like wet sand.)
4. Add Eggs, One At A Time, mixing after each addition.
5. Mix In The Sour Cream & Vanilla. Stir in the sour cream and the vanilla until well incorporated.
6. Add In The Dry Ingredients. Add gluten-free flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir the muffin batter until there’s just a tiny bit of flour still showing. (This helps prevent over-mixing.)
7. Squeeze Excess Liquid Out Of Your Zucchini. Place the shredded zucchini in a clean kitchen towel or a few layers of paper towel. Squeeze the excess liquid out of the zucchini and set the zucchini aside.
8. Fold In Zucchini & Chocolate Chips. Add the zucchini and chocolate chips (reserve a few chocolate chips for the tops of the muffins, if desired) and gently fold in until well distributed.
9. Scoop Into Muffin Cups. Then, spoon the muffin batter into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle with additional chocolate chips, if desired.
10. Bake & Cool. Place the muffin pan in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Let the muffins cool 2-3 minutes in the muffin pan before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
11. Serve & Store. Enjoy these muffins warm, and store leftover muffins in an airtight bag or airtight container. Muffins will keep in the fridge about 2 days, or in the freezer up to 1 month. (Re-heat leftover muffins slightly to help them regain their springy, fluffy texture.

FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The BEst Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins:

Do I Really Have To Squeeze The Zucchini? For best results, YES! Removing the excess liquid from the zucchini means that water doesn’t end up in the muffin batter. This will give you moist, fluffy, TALLER muffins than muffins that are weighed down by extra water.

Our Favorite Muffin Pan. Light colored muffin pans like this one conduct and distribute heat more evenly than dark muffin pans. This will give your muffins a more even bake and helps prevent them from drying out. 10/10 recommend!

The BEST Nonstick Muffin Liners. We’ve tried a LOT of muffin cup liners over the years and none of them work as well as these parchment liners. They are the most nonstick liners we’ve ever tried! No more losing half of your muffin to the muffin/cupcake liners!

The Quickest Way To Grate Zucchini is with a food processor! Use the grater attachment and you can grate the zucchini in literal seconds. SO much faster than any other method!

Let The Muffins Rest! It might seem silly, but letting the muffin batter rest for 30 minutes or so before baking will give you taller, fluffier muffins. The reason is that most baking powder these days is double acting–it works first when it combines with the wet ingredients in your batter, and the second is in the oven when they bake. Giving the first rise (in the batter) more time to work = lighter, fluffier batter.

Print