Breakfast, side dish, snack, lunch? Whatever the meal time, these savory cheesy zucchini muffins are the answer. Grated zucchini is mixed into a muffin batter with flour, seasonings, egg, and mozzarella cheese, and then baked until golden brown. Light, airy, delicate in flavor, these savory muffins are delicious and healthy. Add these to your meal plan when you’re looking for a fun way to get those veggies in.
All about this recipe
I created this recipe on a whim when I saw a package of zoodles in my fridge staring back at me. You see, every week I buy a package of zoodles. And every week, I don’t use them. It’s like I can’t help myself. I buy them with good intentions, but I don’t want to really eat them.
Today, I decided to try and be creative and use them in a fun way, instead of being wasteful. They were used in the first round of recipe testing for this recipe. Once I felt I was getting somewhere with the whole zucchini-muffin thing, I had to go to the store to buy more zucchini and perfect this recipe. I am glad I did.
These muffins are savory and cheesy; they have notes reminiscent of pizza because of the Italian seasoning. They would make a delicious breakfast, or lunch over some mixed greens, or even a great side dish for dinner. Heck, they even make a healthy snack. However you eat them, they’re sure to please.
What you’ll need to make savory cheesy zucchini muffins
- zucchini
- buy 4 regular-sized zucchini – the recipe requires 4 cups of grated zucchini, but this needs to be measured after all of the water is squeezed out of the grated zucchini
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- kosher salt
- Italian seasoning
- eggs
- almond milk (or cashew milk, or skim)
- part-skim mozzarella cheese
- basil (optional)
How to prep the zucchini
This is the most time-consuming part of this recipe. I won’t say “difficult” because it’s really not. It’s just the most involved part of the recipe. Once this is done, you just have to mix some batter. It couldn’t be easier.
But back to the zucchini. So, we are starting with 4 regular sized zucchini. Not super small ones, and not those huge ones. Just medium-sized will do. If your store doesn’t have medium sized ones, adjust accordingly.
Using a box grater, grate the zucchini into a huge mound on your cutting board, or into a bowl. Once all of the zucchini is grated, place it into a cheese cloth (or dish towel, whatever you have) and wring it out over the sink. You’ll be amazed how much water comes out!
Once the water is squeezed out, you’ll be left with a more condensed, packed product. This should yield 4 cups of zucchini.
How to make the muffin batter and bake the muffins
Once the zucchini is prepped, the rest of this recipe couldn’t be simpler! Preheat your oven to 375F.
Add the shredded zucchini to a mixing bowl, and then add in all of the other ingredients. Mix the batter really well, make sure the flour is fully incorporated throughout.
Spray the muffin pan really well with cooking spray (make sure to get the bottoms and sides coated) and then pour equal amounts of the batter into each opening. Start with 1/4 cup in each opening, and then add more until all of the batter is used up. This recipe makes really nice sized muffins.
Bake the muffins at 375F for about 40 minutes, or until they are cooked through and golden brown.
Equipment
- muffin pan
- mixing bowl
- cheesecloth (optional)
Ingredients
- 4 cups zucchini, 4 regular-sized zucchini, grated, then all excess water squeezed out to equate to 4 cups
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup almond milk, unsweetened
- 1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (optional ingredient)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Spray a regular sized muffin pan with 12 openings.
- Grate the zucchini using a box grater.
- Once grated, squeeze all excess moisture from the zucchini. Get as much water out as possible.
- The required amount of zucchini for this recipe (once the water is drained) is 4 cups of shredded zucchini.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, Italian seasoning, egg, milk, and cheese (and basil, if using) to the zucchini and mix well.
- Add equal amounts of the batter to each muffin opening. (Start with 1/4 cup each, then go back and add more until the batter is used up).
- Bake at 375F for 40 minutes or until the muffins are set up and golden brown.
Notes
- 3 points per muffin (all WW plans)
Nutrition
If you like zucchini, check out:
Zucchini Quiche with Hashbrown Crust
Cheesy Grilled Zucchini Stacks
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I can’t wait t make these! I am thinking these would be great as a bread side for Easter!
Tried this recipe, inside was not cooked at recommended temperature and time period. Added 10 more minutes, then another 10, Still not cooked inside while the outside was crusty.
This is likely to not having enough water drained. I’ve made these many times and they turn out just fine.
These are absolutely delicious! You truly have to squeeze and drain that water, I salted the zucchini then put them in a fine strainer and let them drain overnight and then squeeze out as much water as possible, mine had at least 2 cups of water it’s crazy, my first time making these they were all wet inside, but now I shred the zucchini the day before, it’s more work and hard on my arthritic hands but they are delicious.
Could I use 2% milk, that’s what I have on hand?
Yes, but the points/nutrition values will be different.
Another fabulous recipe by you!! Thank you!
Running to the store tomorrow to make these!!!
These were super easy to make and i used gluten free flour. The most tedious task was the zucchini. This will be a great go to for the week, I had to cook a little longer but good.
These are Delicious! The only thing I did different was that I added onion powder to mine since I like onion in my zucchini muffins. The almond milk taste is not the best but next time I might make them with skim milk to see if they taste any different but overall they taste really good! perfect for lunch with a soup on the side or even a salad.
These are delicious! I didn’t know what to expect but these are sort of like biscuit texture. They’d be delicious with garlic butter on top! My husband loved these too and he hates zucchini. I’ll definitely make these again!
I loved these! To be fair, I’m not sure if I have a really small muffin pan or I messed up the recipe, but I ended up with enough to make 24 muffins. The zucchini part was a pretty tedious, but I definitely think it was worth it. The muffins were very filling and paired amazingly with Stephanie’s tomato soup recipe!
Perfect snack and side to my dinners! So yummy and simple ingredients. Most time consuming part was shredding and draining the zucchini! Muffins lasted all week long! Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe!
These are sooo hearty and filling and delicious. I added 98% ff ham for a little more protein and they came out amazing.
These are amazing and I am not a fan of zucchini!! BIG Thank you to Steph!!
OMG! Just made them……they look and smell AMAZING 😋
I really enjoyed these! I think they would be great to toss in the freezer and heat up for a quick savory breakfast that isn’t egg centered.
That was supposed to be 5 stars!! Not sure what happened.
These were delicious! I think next time I will use feta instead of mozzarella.
Made these to go along with a big pot of chili and as usual another A+ recipe from Steph! Great as I side but I think I will be eating some for breakfast or a snack as well because they are that good and also filling!
Mine are in the oven now! I’m making them for my 14 mo old grandson that loves savory foods!
I substituted cheddar instead of the mozzarella. Cant wait to see him eat them, they look amazing in the oven!
Just made this for my hubby a grab and go breakfast. He loves them! He’s not WW, just a plain ole junky standard american diet kinda guy.
Thanks for the recipe. Would.like to bake these in a mini muffin tin. What would be baking time?
came out lovely!
– For flour I used whole spelt.
– I skipped the milk and instead used the water from the zucchini + a bit of oil + water from the feta cheese box.
saves lots of time and effort because you don’t need to press the zucchini at all, just use it as it is (meaning – i didn’t even measure that I get 1 cup of liquid because I already know that zucchinis contain lots of liquid).
– no fresh basil so I chopped garlic chives (at least double the amount of basil).
– no baking powder, I prefer that my home made food contain only natural ingredients. they’re still soft and not dense in my opinion.
baked for 37 minuted, didn’t want it to be dry on the inside, but every oven is different.
they’re soft and very tasty, really enjoyed them, it’s a great recipe.
Not sure what I did wrong. But I kept adding time into the oven and they still weren’t cooking in the middle. I did take the water out of the zucchini but maybe not enough?
I squeezed the zucchini out and let them bake for over 45 minutes but they’re very gooey still on the inside. I think I could have gone without the milk?
Followed recipe directions and my husband, who is very strong, squeezed out the water from the zucchini. I even reduced the milk by a 1/4 cup, to ensure the insides got done. After about double the baketime, the muffins were still not done in the middle. Very disappointed.
Sorry to make this long but I wanted to give others idea who’ve had the issue of the muffins being uncooked inside I’ve made these a few times and only once they came out good I guess because I didn’t get all the water out of the zucchini, this time I put the shredded zucchini in a pasta colander and salted it, the night before I kept pressing on it and got lot of water out of it 2 cups as a matter fact, then I put them on a paper towel in a bowl and the next morning I proceeded with the recipe and they came out perfect and delicious,😋 these also can be wrapped individually in saran wrap and frozen and they defrost and reheat very well, thanks Steph for all these delicious recipes
While the outside of these were very brown, the inside was still very wet. I cooked them at 375° for 50 mins trying to get them to cook more inside. Maybe they would cook all the way through better as mini muffins, but with twice as much zucchini as flour, I should have guessed that would happen. I used regular sized silicone muffin pans and it easily made 18 muffins.