These Zucchini Blueberry Muffins are the perfect healthy alternative to coffee shop muffins! They’re made with unsweetened applesauce, grated zucchini and fresh juicy blueberries for the perfect healthy snack!
My readers absolutely LOVE these Best Ever Banana Muffins! Try them yourself to see why!!
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*I first posted this recipe in March 2015. I’m sharing it with you again today with fresh new photos and some of my tried and true tips for the perfect healthy muffin!
One of the first things I ever learned to bake was muffins. They’re easy to throw together and they’re generally a healthier choice, but for some reason I’ve always found it hard to find muffin recipes that taste great and also aren’t just cupcakes minus the giant mountain of frosting on top.
This recipe is really, really stellar. I’ve adapted this recipe from Alaska From Scratch’s Blueberry Zucchini Muffins. You can find her original recipe here, but I’ve lightened it up significantly and cut out most of the sugar it calls for. Mine are made with applesauce, grated zucchini and fresh juicy blueberries – these muffins are unbelievably yummy and a much healthier choice than traditional muffins! You’re going to love them!
Hungry for more?
Follow me! Like my page on Facebook!
Subscribe! Click here to get free recipes by email!
My readers absolutely LOVE these Best Ever Banana Muffins! Try them yourself to see why!!
Look at all that blueberry goodness!!
If you can keep yourself from eating the whole batch in one day, they store nicely in an airtight container on the counter for a few days.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favourite go-to muffin recipe?
Looking for even more AMAZING muffin recipes??
Try these Raspberry Lemonade Muffins!!
You’ll love these Lemon Pistachio Muffins!!
Zucchini Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup applesauce unsweetened
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups grated zucchini
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
Crumb topping:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 tbsp butter cold
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
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Wash the blueberries under some cool water. I've tried this recipe with frozen berries and it works in a pinch, but the result is always so much better with fresh blueberries.
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Lay them to dry on some kitchen paper or a clean kitchen towel, and try to resist eating them all by the handful.
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line 2 muffin tins with 18 paper muffin cups.
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In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla using a wire whisk.
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Add the zucchini and lemon zest, and switch to a wooden spoon or spatula to incorporate them into the mixture (the strands of zucchini get caught on the wire whisk and don't get incorporated properly). I don't ever peel my zucchini; I love the look of the dark green flecks in the muffins, and the skin contains a lot of healthy fibre, potassium, vitamin B-6, vitamin K, and antioxidants!
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Using a sieve or flour sifter, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.
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Once the dry ingredients have been sifted to prevent lumps, add the blueberries to the dry ingredients.
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This may seem strange, but adding the blueberries to the dry ingredients helps to keep the colour from the berries from seeping into the light coloured muffin batter. The flour mixture coats the berries and absorbs any berry juice that's sitting on the berries that might discolour the batter. This is an important step because it prevents your batter from turning purple!
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Adding the blueberries to the dry ingredients also prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins during baking, so this really is a crucial step!
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At this point, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula only until they're just incorporated. Spoon the batter into the 18 muffin cups, distributing it as evenly as possible.
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Grab another smaller bowl and add to it the 1/4 cup sugar, the 1/4 cup flour, the 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 3 tbsp cold butter.
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Roughly mix these ingredients together with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture becomes crumbly. Spoon a little bit of this mixture over each of the cups full of muffin batter. It's okay if you can see some small chunks of butter.
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Bake these muffins at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 23-25 minutes. You'll know they're done when a toothpick inserted in the centre of one comes out clean.
Recipe Notes
These muffins are best the day they're made because the crumb topping can go soggy if they're left in a completely airtight container for too long.
Anonymous says
March 7, 2016 at 6:00 amLove the look of this recipe.. any idea of carb count?
Erin says
March 8, 2016 at 4:30 amSo pretty!! I don't know why I don't make muffins. My kids would flip if I made these for breakfast this week!
Chrissie says
March 24, 2016 at 5:29 amThanks Erin! I'm sure they would! 🙂
cakelady says
March 21, 2016 at 9:01 pmwhy do you not substitute all the oil for applesauce? Is it a taste or density thing? thanks! They look amazing and I will be trying them soon.
Chrissie says
March 24, 2016 at 5:30 amThanks so much! It's both a taste and a density thing. A little bit of oil makes them lighter and it makes them taste just a little bit richer 🙂
Anonymous says
May 16, 2016 at 10:56 pmCan I substitute the oil and applesauce for butter?
Chrissie says
July 19, 2016 at 7:29 pmYou should be able to do that. I've never done it in this recipe, and it might change the texture a bit. Good luck!
Anonymous says
July 18, 2016 at 7:56 pmjust made these with my 3 year old. seriously the best! the crumb top made about 2x what i needed, or I didnt put enough on, i dont know!
theyre SO delicious
Thanks from Ontario Canada for the amazing recipe!
Chrissie says
July 19, 2016 at 7:32 pmThat's great!! Thanks so much for sharing that! I always have a little bit too much topping too, but the crumb topping is the best part so I pile it on! 🙂
Lindsay Lowther says
July 21, 2016 at 2:27 amI'm so happy to have found this recipe! They are in the oven now and smell great. I have just a formatting comment though–this recipe was very hard to read because I had to keep scrolling up and down. You included the ingredient list at the beginning, but then when you were narrating the recipe, you did not include amounts again, or summarize the steps at the bottom of the page. I found it cumbersome to have to keep scrolling past text and pictures in order to see how much of something I needed. Hopefully that is an easy fix and something you'll include on your other recipes too!
Chrissie says
August 3, 2016 at 2:44 amThanks Lindsay! This is an older recipe of mine and so the format is a little dated. I'll add it to my list of things to revise! Glad you liked the muffins!! 🙂
Anonymous says
August 1, 2016 at 10:45 amThese were quite possibly the BEST muffins I have ever made! Thanks for such a terrific recipe, definitely in the permanent rotation.
Cynthia
Chrissie says
August 3, 2016 at 2:47 amThanks so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!
Anonymous says
August 9, 2016 at 1:21 amThis sounds delicious and making them tomorrow. Thank you for sharing.
Chrissie says
September 27, 2016 at 12:38 pmThanks so much! Hope you enjoy them!
Maureen says
August 10, 2016 at 10:22 pmI just made these muffins and they are the best I ever tasted. Do you have the nutritional value for them? Thank you for sharing your recipe. They are delicious.
Chrissie says
September 27, 2016 at 12:39 pmYou're welcome! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Anonymous says
August 18, 2016 at 5:11 pmCan I use frozen blueberries?
Chrissie says
September 27, 2016 at 12:33 pmYes, absolutely! Just make sure you add the frozen blueberries to the dry ingredients to prevent the batter from becoming purple!
Alex says
February 26, 2017 at 2:11 pmWill be making these today for my kiddos! Do you know how time will change if I make mini muffins? And have you ever froze them?
Thanks!
Chrissie says
February 26, 2017 at 2:28 pmI haven’t made them as mini muffins, but I’d recommend halving the baking time and watching them carefully so they don’t over-bake. These muffins freeze very well, but it’s important to let them thaw uncovered (open to the air) since the crumb topping may get soggy otherwise. They’re really the best the day they’re made or the day or two after that 🙂 I hope you enjoy them!!
Jill says
May 3, 2017 at 12:49 pmAm I supposed to measure the dry ingredients after I sift or measure then sift. 3 cups seems like a lot of flour the batter was very dry.
Chrissie says
May 8, 2017 at 3:22 pmHow did you measure the flour? If you scooped it so it was 3 packed cups then it would be too much. I’d suggest sifting it first and then spooning the flour into your measuring cup to measure. The batter is a little bit dry, but the muffins turn out very moist from the zucchini.
Rajiv Kumar says
July 11, 2017 at 7:20 amNice recipe Thank you so muchhhhh. We enjoyed with this. It was too Delicious!!!!
Chrissie says
July 12, 2017 at 11:13 amSo glad you liked them! 🙂
Emilie says
July 25, 2017 at 1:00 pmThis recipe turned out perfectly! I used spelt flour with great success. Thank you for sharing such a delicious recipe.
Chrissie says
July 26, 2017 at 9:10 amThanks for letting me know! I’m so glad you loved the recipe 🙂
Melody D. says
August 25, 2017 at 2:35 amI substituted coconut oil and butter for the vegetable oil. I only had frozen blueberries so I used those. Then I measured the flour wrong (trying to bake with a 6-month-old is challenging!) and added coconut milk to get a wetter consistency. I put them in the oven and then realized there was a crumb topping I forgot to make. But regardless, They turned out delicious! 🙂
Chrissie says
August 25, 2017 at 7:13 amGlad to know you liked them! And it sounds like you made some great substitutions! I hear you on the baking with kids around!! So challenging!
bbika says
September 7, 2017 at 10:47 amI made them with raspberries, they were AMAZING
Chrissie says
September 14, 2017 at 8:23 amGood to know! Thanks for the feedback!
Denisse says
September 7, 2017 at 2:26 pmHow can I substitute the eggs? One of my kids is vegan and I would like to make this recipe.
Thank you so much.
Chrissie says
September 14, 2017 at 8:23 amI’ve never made this recipe without eggs, so I’m not able to guarantee the recipe will work. However, you could try adding a vegan flaxseed egg-like mixture (recipes for this are readily available online).
chel says
February 12, 2018 at 2:32 pmThese turned out really good, I didnt have any blueberries so I subbed dried cherries.
Chrissie says
February 13, 2018 at 6:54 amSounds like a great substitution!! Glad you enjoyed them!
Andrea says
February 20, 2018 at 5:23 pmThese are sooo good! Made them this morning & oh man they’re tasty! 😀 We didn’t have unsweetened applesauce so I used regular but reduced the amount of sugar in the muffins by 2 Tbsp and they seem perfectly sweet enough. 😊 Trying to get the 5 year old to eat better so I’ve been trying out recipes that sneak in veggies & these are perfect. 😉👍
Chrissie says
February 21, 2018 at 7:04 amI’m so glad you enjoyed them!! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!
Jan says
March 4, 2018 at 2:43 pmI’m trying to make this recipe more healthy. Has anyone tried using only whole wheat flour? (I try to avoid all purpose flour whenever possible.). Also thinking about adding up to 1/2 cup of unflavored protein powder. For a sugar substitute….has anyone tried using less sugar? Or using honey , etc instead in the muffin part? I don’t think it’s avoidable in the crumb topping unless I just sprinkle some cinnamon on top. Thanks for any advice!
Chrissie says
March 5, 2018 at 10:25 amThanks for your questions. I’ve only ever made this recipe with all purpose flour, but I have reduced the sugar and added applesauce in place of the sugar I removed and it worked very well. I can’t comment on the protein powder either. Hope that helps!
Dana says
September 7, 2018 at 8:29 pmI just tried these with Whole wheat flour and they did not turn out well at all- straight to the bin:(
Chrissie says
September 10, 2018 at 7:43 amI’m sorry these didn’t work out for you. I’ve used a mix of white and whole wheat flour with this recipe and that has worked well, but never only whole wheat. I hope you’ll give them another try!
Jennifer says
June 24, 2018 at 4:12 pmDo you peel the zucchini before grating? Cant wait to try these!
Chrissie says
July 9, 2018 at 9:00 amI never do, but you can. The peel contains nutrients and fibre, and it’s pretty 🙂
Megan says
July 28, 2018 at 8:04 pmI made these without the crumble topping because I wanted to freeze them. I also, found out my applesauce was moldy, so I swapped equal amount of mashed bananas! These muffins are SO GOOD!!!!
Chrissie says
August 14, 2018 at 6:53 amSo glad you liked them!! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!!
Michelle says
August 9, 2018 at 10:40 amAny substitute for the lemon zest? Juice perhaps? Also would the liquid need to be adjusted if I used thawed frozen zucchini?
Chrissie says
August 14, 2018 at 6:50 amLemon zest is what gives the best lemon flavour, and lemon juice would add too much acid to the recipe. I’d suggest draining the thawed zucchini as best you can before adding to the recipe. I use frozen (thawed) zucchini in this recipe all the time!