Zucchini-Applesauce Muffins
These are, by far, the healthiest muffins I’ve ever made—and they’re pretty tasty! Be sure to drain and squeeze as much liquid out of the squash as possible. This recipe was adapted from Simply Recipes.
by: Three Many Cooks
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 extra-large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Heavy pinch salt
- 2 cups zucchini and/or summer squash, grated and squeezed of excess liquid
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ½ cup toasted pecans, chopped
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the squash, oil, and applesauce. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture and stir until just incorporated. Add nuts and raisins and stir to combine.
- Using a spoon, distribute the batter equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for about 5 minutes, then remove them from the tin and allow to cool completely.
I used to be somewhat anti-healthy baking too. I’m of the mentality – make that ooey, gooey pan of brownies. But just enjoy one. But then I made these cookies a couple weeks ago. They’re so healthy I could have had them for breakfast (I didn’t!) and I realized that sometimes the healthy version is as good as and in some cases slightly better than the regular version. Applesauce does good things for baked goods. http://threemanycooks.com/recipes/sweet-treats/chocolate-chip-cranberry-cookies/
I agree with Maggy; I think applesauce is wonderful in baked goods – and I’ve recently come to love substituting yogurt in as well. I’m not always going to make the substitution, but I think everything in moderation is key. 🙂
These muffins look and sound like they would taste so delicious! I love the flavors!
So many muffins…so little time! I bet these would be good with some WW flour too!
My kind of muffins! YUM! And by the way, I love you ALL more after meeting you in person. Miss you already!
Do you think whole wheat flour, rather than AP would work here? Seems like that would make them even healthier!
Without testing it, Jacki, I think I’d start with half white, half whole wheat.
I bet that the grated zucchini and applesauce make these muffins very moist. Great way to start the morning!
Fabulous w a capital F! Always love your recipes ladies!
I love that these are dairy free. I might consider making them vegan as well by subbing the egg for a flax seed “egg”
Wish I had some zucchini right now so I could whip up a batch of these to have with my coffee this morning. Somehow “healthied up” muffins feel better to me if I’m having it for breakfast. And Maggy, I look forward to the day when I make a pan of ooey gooey brownies and only eat one!!
these were so great! i have a bunch of zucchini and squash from our csa and was at a loss as to what to do with them. thanks! and i substituted half white whole wheat for the ap flour and they were wonderful.
now if only there were a way to bake with cucumbers. i’m swimming in them.
These are so delicious. I need to get my toddler eating more veg so I have made these. I’m going to try using a little less sugar next time but first time around I followed the recipe to a tee and they are scrumpdiddliumptious. I have no doubt he will crush one of these for his afternoon snack 🙂
Anyone make these w soy flour? I don’t eat white flour but am looking for tasty recipes that are healthy.
I dont’ see any reason why soy flour wouldn’t work. If you try it, let us know how the muffins turned out.
Thanks for a great recipe. They turned out yummy.
Great recipe! I used ww pastry flour, slightly less sugar (2/3 cup), a touch of cardamom, and dark chocolate chips. 25 min cook time was a little long for my oven, but texture and moisture are superb! I’ll definitely be using this as my base zucchini muffin recipe all summer long!
Just tried this recipe using whole wheat flour and subbing 1/2 an avocado and about 1/3 c of nonfat Greek yogurt for the oil. Next time I would take out the nutmeg and just use cinnamon, but they turned out great!!