Paleo zucchini muffins are gluten free, grain free, and refined sugar free! Made with almond flour and sweetened with bananas, these veggie packed muffins are the best breakfast or snack.
Every since I was diagnosed with Celiacs in December, my baking life has been a little unsteady.
I’ve loved baking baked goods ever since I can remember. Growing up I had the exact same birthday cake every single year – a chocolate bundt cake with a cream cheese and chocolate chip filling with chocolate ganache. The smell of chocolate chip cookies is probably my favorite smell in the world. And I rarely meet an cinnamon roll I don’t like.
And as I have aged, my love for baked goods turned into a love for baking. Baking became very therapeutic for me and I always find refuge in the kitchen.
But gluten free baking is not very therapeutic.
Gluten free baking has been a bit of a challenge for the obvious reason – flour. Do I use an all-purpose GF flour blend? Do I try grain free flours like chickpea or coconut? Baking is a science; it’s chemistry. And any sort of change – especially a change to the main ingredient – has ripple effects throughout the whole recipe.
Through my short time experimenting with different flours, I discovered that I reallllly like baking with almond flour. It makes baked goods ultra soft (cookies have an almost cake-like texture), doesn’t leave an almond flavor, and is made 100% from almonds.
So today, we’re baking with almond flour and making Paleo Zucchini Muffins!
These paleo zucchini muffins are phenomenal – they are grain free, gluten free, and refined sugar free! They are soft and moist, not too dense, and definitely not crumbly like lots of gluten free goods.
Super ripe bananas serve as the sweetener in these muffins. AND there is a cup of zucchini in there too. What more could you want?!
Nothing. There is nothing more that I want… except maybe chocolate. These muffins would be real good with a little dark chocolate thrown into the mix; they are totally guilt-free as is, so why not add in a little bit of the good stuff 😉 OH! And you can, of course, top them with grain free granola before you bake! In fact, I hiiiiighly suggest it.
Tell me: Have you tried gluten free baking?
Make these Paleo Zucchini Muffins, post a picture on social media and use the hashtag #imhungrybynature for a chance to be featured!
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Paleo Zucchini Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 9 muffins 1x
- Category: Breakfast, Snack
Description
Paleo zucchini muffins are gluten free, grain free, and refined sugar free! Made with almond flour and sweetened with bananas, these veggie packed muffins are the best breakfast or snack.
Ingredients
- 2 bananas, mashed*
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup grated zucchini, squeezed in paper towels to remove as much water as possible
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin.
- Prepare the wet ingredients: in a large bowl, mash the bananas and add in the egg, almond butter, and vanilla. Stirring to combine.
- Prepare the dry ingredients: whisk together the almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring until fully incorporated.
- Fold in the grated zucchini. Divide between 9 muffin tins.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in muffin tins for 10 minutes and then remove and finish cooling on a cooling rack.
- Store at room temp for 3 days or up to a week in the fridge.
Notes
*Can substitute with 3/4 cup applesauce.
This recipe was adapted from Fit Mitten Kitchen’s Simple Paleo Banana Muffins.
Don’t forget to pin for later!
This looks so tasty!!!
Thanks Hannah!
love these, ellie! a couple of my besties have celiacs & i never know what to serve them when we’re having a get-together. definitely pinning this one for our next brunch! (plus, of course adding the chocolate…because, why not?!) xx
Perfect! Literally as I was sticking these in the oven I realized I should have added chocolate- but they are still fab as is!
this IS everything I want! Ahhhh! I have the hardest time with muffins so THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
You bet girl! And these seriously couldn’t be easier 😉
they are GORGEOUS Ellie! Have you checked out Kristy @Southern In Law’s blog. She has so many amazing Celiac recipes too.
Thanks Emily! And I have nut not in since I was diagnosed… thanks for reminding me!!
I can’t eat bananas. Is there anything that I can substitute?
Hi Sharon! There are a few things you could substitute… Greek yogurt is a great option and it will increase the protein in the recipe. You could also substitute apple sauce or pumpkin puree! Let me know if you give these a try and how the substitute works!
Thank you. I think I’ll try it with apple sauce. How much should I use? (I’m not much of a cook!)
I would do 3/4 cup – that is approximately how much two medium bananas mashes down to. Let me know how it turns out!
Thanks. I will!
Ellie, I tried the recipe with 3/4 unsweetened applesauce instead of the bananas and it worked great! They’re delicious!
★★★★★
That is AWESOME Sharon! Thank you for sharing 🙂 I will update the recipe to include the swap!
Awesome recipe. Could one substitute coconut flour for the almond flour?
Awesome recipe. Could one substitute coconut flour for the almond flour?
Thanks Nick! I have not tried this recipe with coconut flour. But if you do, I could sub the 1 cup of almond flour for 1/4 cup coconut flour. Coconut flour is super absorbent so you do not need much. Let me know how they turn out!
I do not have almond butter. What could I substitute for it?
Hi Lauren! You can easily sub any nut butter you have – I have made these muffins with cashew butter and peanut butter too and both were delicious!
what is the nutritional info for this recipe
Hi Tanya, I do not calculate nutritional information for my recipes. But I suggest using My Fitness Pal (https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator)!
Amazing Ellie! Devouring one as I write… love the almond butter and added chocolate chips. So good!
Yay – thank you Veronica!!
Ellie,
I so want to try these muffins; but, I don’t use eggs. Would this work with the “flax seed/water” egg replacement?
Phyllis
Hi Phyllis! I’ve never tried these with a flax egg before, but don’t see why it wouldn’t work! If you give it a try, please let me know how they turn out!
Ellie, Thanks for your reply. Since you haven’t tried them with the egg replacement, I’ll give it a go!! Will let you know how they come out.
Looking forward to following you on your site. With this first visit, I’m impressed with your generousity in sharing your knowledge and providing a “space” here for others to share their comments.
Phyllis
Yes, please do!! Oh thank you so much Phyllis. I am so happy you found me and my site and that I am able to provide this space for you! I appreciate you being here!
Ellie, so sorry to report that my attempt at this recipe did not turn out well at all. I’m not convinced it was the use of the egg replacement. I believe it was in the other ingredients I used. Since I make my own Almond Milk, I end up with the almond pulp. Having been raised in a very large family (I’m the youngest of my parents’ 14 children), I learned at an early age to “waste not want not”; so, of course, I dehydrate the pulp, grind it & sift it. I also do not blanch & skin the almonds for my almond milk, making the use of the pulp more of an almond meal than flour. As a result, it isn’t as fine as almond flour. I also make my own almond butter, which is somewhat thicker than the store bought version with the 2 inches of oil on the top that takes forever to stir in!! The batter ended up being very thick and did not cook through, even after doubling the baking period (no surprise there I guess!). Oh well, it was an experiment. I’ll continue the experiment in the morning when I cut one in half and put it under the broiler and see it that gooey middle will finish cooking. If that fails, I take solice in knowing that here in New Hampshire Winter is nearly upon us (and that means hockey season. You know where I’m going with this don’t you?!!!) As I said, “waste not want not”!! Looking forward to trying more of your recipes; but, perhaps something other than muffins next time.
Thank you for reporting back! I’m sorry they didn’t turn out for you. But I know you will put them to good use!
I also had issues with this recipe. Followed all instructions carefully, but the muffins were very gooey even after baking quite some time. Maybe a reduction in the almond butter quantity is needed? They taste… not quite done. 🙁
★★★
I’m so sorry to hear that Taj. If they were still pretty gooey and wet inside, I would really try and remove as much water as possible from the zucchini – sometimes I place the shredded zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with salt to draw out any extra water even before I squeeze it out with paper towels. The size of the bananas could also make a difference! It should yield around 3/4 cup of mashed banana.