Lemon Zucchini Muffins so bright you’ll learn to love zucchini

These lemon zucchini muffins, moist and chewy with oatmeal, lots of lemon flavor and a tangy lemon glaze are going to make you think twice about zucchini.

I’ve never met a way to eat it that I didn’t enjoy: fried slices in olive oil and herbs, stuff the flowers with cheese, zucchini noodles, zucchini cookies–I’m here for all of them! Still, I know that once you have a zucchini plant, you have a zucchini problem very quickly. And if you don’t, you probably have a neighbor who does.

When faced with a glut of our green noble squash, it’s a good time to get creative. This recipe is all about a light, bright lemon muffin with the moisture of zucchini and a little chew from oatmeal. Add a lemon glaze, and you get a perfect sunny muffin to start your day.

Let’s get grating!

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Lemon Zucchini Muffins

What’ll make you run to pick a squash right now for these muffins

1. Using up zucchini: the zucchini adds moisture and some texture to these muffins, without any kind of off-putting vegetal flavor that you might be thinking could be there (I swear I don’t make things taste like kale!). Plus, you get to use up the bounty of your garden, which we all need to do!
2. Lemon LOVE: there’s triple lemon flavor here in the forms of lemon juice, lemon yogurt, and lemon zest. If you’re a lemon lover, this could easily become a favorite recipe in your repertoire.
3. Easy: I love making muffins. Because muffins have you simply mix wet ingredients, mix dry ingredients then combine the two, you can easily make the muffins before the oven gets to temperature. Actually, I often set this as a goal because it’s fun to race against the oven clock.
4. A hint of spice: I add a little bit of clove and some apple pie spice in here to brighten the lemon twang and add another layer of flavor in already delicious muffins.

Stuff you’ll need to make lemon zucchini muffins

Tips for making the best zucchini muffins

1. Brush your muffin tin: I don’t like using cupcake liners for muffins. Instead, brush the tin with some of the melted butter. It’ll add a little more buttery crust and the muffins will pop out without any problem. If you’re love using cupcake liners, you can skip this.
2. Use a box grater or a coarse Microplane grater: I like to see the zucchini. My favorite Microplane ribbon grater or a regular box grater will help you do that.
3. Squeeze out the water: While we want the moisture that zucchini brings to the party, we don’t want all of it. You’ll need to squeeze out as much of the zucchini’s juice after grating before you fold the zucchini into the batter. If you grate the zucchini and don’t squeeze out the water, you run the risk of getting a soggy muffin.
4. Glaze while warm: As soon as you can handle the muffins, pop them out of the tin and glaze them. When you glaze warm muffins, the glaze gets pulled down into the muffin itself. This in turn makes for a moister, more flavorful muffin.

Lemon Zucchini Muffins

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• Author: Elizabeth Farr
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 12 Muffins

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Description

Moist lemon muffins filled with the gorgeous green of zucchini, a little bit of toothy chew of oatmeal and packed with triple lemon flavor you’ll love.

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Ingredients

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Muffin batter

• 1 small zucchini
• 1 and 1/2cups all-purpose flour (195 g)
• 1/2cup quick oats
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar (76 g)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
• 1/2teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground cloves (from about 3-4 cloves if grinding whole cloves)
• 1 cup lemon flavored Greek yogurt
• 5 Tablespoons melted butter (70 g)
• 2 large eggs
• Grated zest from 1 lemon

Lemon glaze

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar (90 g)
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice (from the same lemon)

 

 

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F (205 C).
2. Brush a 12 cavity muffin pan with 1 tablespoon of melted butter.
3. Grate the zucchini on a box grater or a Microplane ribbon grater.  Gather up the zucchini into paper towels, a clean tea towel or a nut milk bag and press out some of the water from the zucchini.  Wring out as much of the zucchini juice as you can.
4. Whisk the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, apple pie spice, and cloves in a large mixing bowl.
5. In another bowl, mix the yogurt, eggs, lemon zest, and the rest of the melted butter.
6. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the egg/yogurt mixture, then stir everything together until the flour is just moistened. Be sure to scrape down to the bottom of the bowl as there’s usually flour hanging out that you missed!  Fold in the zucchini with a few turns of your spatula.
7. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.
8. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or the middle of a muffin springs back when you touch it.
9. When the muffins are done, turn off the oven and prop it open a crack.  Let the muffins sit in the turned off oven for 3-5 minutes to dry out any excess moisture in the zucchini.
10. While the muffins are baking, mix together the glaze ingredients in a small bowl.
11. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then pop them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
12. Spoon the lemon glaze over the warm muffins.
13. Muffins are best the day that they’re made, but you can freeze unglazed muffins for up to 2 months.

Equipment

Microplane ribbon

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Muffin tin

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baking spatula

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Notes

Whole cloves: zucchini and cloves go well together.  If you can, you’ll get more flavor by grinding a few whole cloves for this recipe.  Try it once and you’ll ditch the pre-ground stuff!

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Category: Morning breads
• Method: Bake
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 muffin
• Calories: 192
• Sugar: 14
• Sodium: 254
• Fat: 6
• Saturated Fat: 3
• Unsaturated Fat: 0
• Trans Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 30
• Fiber: 1
• Protein: 5
• Cholesterol: 44