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Shhh, I know where you are at. Drowning neck-deep in zucchini as far as the eye can see because your garden or farmers market thought the assignment was to kill you with squash this year. Well, these super-well-tested vegan zucchini muffins are coming through to help you turn those green guys into yummy, reasonably healthy goodies even if you don't have a ton of skill or time to speak of.
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Alright, to be fair, regular streusel is butter, sugar, and flour rubbed together into little crumbly clumps. Fine. The streusel in this recipe swaps the butter for good ol' extra-virgin olive oil and a hit of orange zest. So much less predictable and basic with no extra work at all.
The hyper-juicy and fluffy muffins underneath are doing plenty of their own work too. Instead of the usual one-dimensional note of cinnamon, this batter also rocks some cardamom and nutmeg, which makes them quite a bit warmer and more complex than a standard blah blah zucchini bread. What with all the OJ, walnuts and chocolate chips in there. Oh my.
These bake up tall, golden, and slightly domed, with that streusel forming a crackly, crumbly, faintly crisp cap on top. Get ready for muffins that aren't at all some dense chore of a thing you found wrapped in a metric ton of saran wrap on a dusty shelf at your local health food store.
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🥰 Why you'll adore these vegan zucchini muffins
🍊 The Streusel is Extra AF: Olive oil and orange zest instead of butter give this streusel a flavor that regular streusel looks at longingly while it wears a dunce cap and sits in a corner looking forgotten about.
🥒 Sneaks In a Veggie, Nobody Notices: a few cups of grated zucchini keep these moist for days without adding any noticeable zucchini flavor. Great for skeptics, great for anyone who just likes a moist muffin.
🍫 Customizable With Walnuts and Chocolate: Add one, add both, or leave them out entirely if you are the most boring person I've ever met. The base muffin holds up fine on its own, but the mix-ins take it somewhere even better. (Actual heaven.)
Tested and Approved Worldwide: Over 1,000 recipe testers bake my vegan recipes before I even dream of posting any to my site. People loved these muffins, and so will you, I bet.
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🧁 Vegan Zucchini Muffin Ingredients
The Squash
Grated zucchini adds a ton of moisture and keeps these muffins tender for days without contributing much flavor of its own (a very good thing, me thinks). Of course you can make this with yellow squash or other summer squash varieties, no probs there.
Cinnamon, Cardamom & Nutmeg
These spices are what separates these muffins from what you get when you use a basic, tired ol' zucchini bread recipe. If you read my blog a lot, you already know I absolutely adore the spices from Burlap and Barrel. They do several kinds of cardamom, and my fave amongst them is their cloud forest cardamom, which is legit insane magic.
Vegan Yogurt
My personal vegan yogurt of choice for baking is the unsweetened almond milk yogurt from Kite Hill. But the less yummy, slightly weird texture, considerably cheaper Trader Joe's cashew milk yogurt works fine in baking projects like this.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯 Other Vegan Muffin Varieties
Apple Cinnamon Muffins
My vegan apple cinnamon muffins come in swinging with cups of diced apple and a whole bunch of applesauce for muffins that hit you with apple flavor like you are driving through an autumnal car wash.
Pumpkin Muffins
If it's fall and you are legally required to bake with pummies, my vegan pumpkin muffins are pretty shockingly dope with their pistachio streusel, dripping in rosewater cardamom glaze.
Banana Walnut Muffins
Three miserable brown bananas guilt-tripping you from the counter? My vegan banana muffins mash those up and load in walnuts and chocolate chunks, finally giving those bananas a reason to exist.
Veganized Ritz-Carlton Blueberry Muffins
My Ritz-Carlton blueberry muffins are the veganized version of the muffin I grew up eating. My mom got the recipe from a New York Times article and they were up there with the best things about my childhood. No cap.
Grab my easy-yo-use app that builds your whole week with real, chef-tested vegan dinners in 30 seconds, customized to your budget, time, and taste, with a shopping list sorted by aisle.
📖 How to make Vegan Zucchini Muffins
The batter comes together fast, and the streusel takes about 2 minutes, so this is a genuinely easy weekday bake. Follow the steps and tips below, or scroll to the recipe card if you already know the drill.
Step One
Catcher in the Dry:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line one and a half 12-cup muffin pans (18 muffin slots) with paper liners or lightly grease the cups. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt.
Step Two
Mark Zucc'erberg:
In a separate bowl, whisk together the grated zucchini, orange juice, plant-based milk, yogurt, vanilla extract, and neutral oil.
Step Three
Batter Call Saul:
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until no dry flour remains. Do not overmix, or the muffins will bake up tough instead of tender.
Step Four
I am the Walnuts, Goo Goo G'joob:
Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips, if using.
Step Five
Let's Give Them Muffin to Talk About:
Divide the batter evenly among the 18 muffin cups, filling each nearly to the top.
Step Six
Dr. Streus:
In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, orange zest, and salt. Add the olive oil and mix with a fork until the mixture forms coarse, crumbly pieces. Set aside.
Step Seven
Muffin to Lose:
Sprinkle the olive oil streusel evenly over the muffins, gently pressing it into the batter so it stays put during baking.
Step Eight
Bake Street Boys:
Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool further.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
👉Top tips
- Do Not Squeeze the Zucchini: Unlike savory zucchini recipes (mukver, zucchini latkes, calabacitas, etc.), this batter wants all that extra zucc' juice. Grate it and add it straight in without draining or squeezing. Perfect for a lazy bum like you.
- Press the Streusel Down Gently: Give the streusel a soft little press so it grabs onto the batter instead of jumping ship the second the oven heats up. You're not tryna crush it, just introduce the two so they commit to each other in loving muffiny matrimony.
- Check With a Toothpick: Poke a muffin in the center and look for a few moist crumbs hanging on. Wet batter means it needs more time. A totally clean toothpick with nothing on it usually means you went a touch too far and produced a dry-ass batch of zucchini hockey pucks. Better luck next time, you distracted chump. JK.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
A 1 to 1 gluten-free flour mix like the one from King Arthur works fine in both the batter and the streusel. Look for a blend that already contains xanthan gum for the best structure.
Yes, pour the batter into a greased 9x5-inch loaf pan, top with the streusel, and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Tent with foil partway through if the top is browning too quickly, especially if the only place for them is on your top rack.
On the Counter
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. The streusel softens slightly over time, which is normal. Just make sure it's not 98 degrees in your kitchen, or they might go moldy on you kinda quickly.
❄️ In the Freezer
Freeze fully cooled muffins in a single layer, then transfer to a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or warm gently in a low oven.
✌️You'll also love these vegan muffin recipes:
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Vegan Zucchini Muffin Recipe
Equipment
- Muffin pan
- Cupcake wrappers
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients:
- 3 cups zucchini grated
- ¼ cup
orange juice
- ¾ cup unsweetened plant-based milk
- ⅔ cup unsweetened vegan yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup canola oil sunflower oil, or other neutral oil
Optional (but suggested) Mix-Ins:
- 1 cup walnuts chopped
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
Olive Oil Streusel:
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line 18 muffin molds (1 ½ standard muffin pans) with paper liners or lightly grease the cups. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the grated zucchini, orange juice, plant-based milk, yogurt, vanilla extract, and neutral oil.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until no dry flour remains. Do not overmix.
- Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips, if using.
- Divide the batter evenly among the 18 muffin cups, filling each nearly to the top.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, orange zest, and salt. Add the olive oil and mix with a fork until the mixture forms coarse, crumbly pieces. Set aside.
- Sprinkle the olive oil streusel evenly over the muffins, gently pressing it into the batter so it stays in place during baking.
- Bake for 24-26 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool further.
Notes
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Heather Nibley says
Excellent taste and moist but firm texture.
I didn't care for the streusel-kind of mealy and tasteless, but when I topped it with a lemon glaze, the muffins were EXCELLENT.
Michelle says
Chef, the instructions are saying 2.5 c of zucchini but the recipe is saying 3 c. Does it matter?
Adam Sobel says
3 cups is the correct amount. 2 ½ was from an earlier version of the recipe that's since been improved upon. I'll edit the post to be more clear.