Moist and rich, these chocolate courgette muffins are the perfect way to use up a glut of courgettes from your garden or allotment. Best of all they can be made in under 30 minutes.
Enjoy them for breakfast, as a snack, or even a quick and easy pudding!
A little bit of magic happens when you add courgettes to cakes and baked treats (check out my fudgy courgette brownies). They help the chocolate muffins become incredibly moist, rich, and oh so moreish. I guarantee you won't be able to stop at just one.
I use my trusty basic muffin recipe as the base for these delicious chocolate courgette muffins, and add grated courgette, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips, for a double chocolate hit.
Love chocolate muffins? You'll want to try my moist chocolate orange muffins too!
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✔️ Why should you try it?
- A great way of sneaking extra vegetables into the kids.
- An easy after-school snack.
- Under 200 calories a serving.
- Great for freezing to use at a later date.
Courgette or Zucchini?
Essentially courgettes and zucchini are the same thing. In the UK we call them courgettes and in the US, they are known as zucchini.
If you are based stateside, just use zucchini instead of courgettes. I also have a handy weight conversion to US customary in my recipe card, at the bottom of the post.
🥘 Ingredients
My basic muffin mix combines plain flour, caster sugar and bicarbonate of soda, with natural yogurt, eggs and melted butter.
I swap out some of the plain flour for cocoa powder in these chocolate courgette muffins (or chocolate zucchini muffins), add grated courgette, and an extra chocolate hit of milk chocolate chips (although feel free to use dark chocolate if you like).
🥄 Equipment
A couple of mixing bowls, a 12 hole muffin tin, and some muffin cases (paper or silicone), are all you need to make these intensely rich chocolate muffins.
🔪 Instructions
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
One: Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix gently until combined.
Two: Stir in the grated courgette and chocolate chips.
Three: Be careful not to over mix, otherwise the muffins will become tough.
Four: Spoon the muffin batter into paper cases and bake in a preheated oven for 18 minutes.
💭 Top tips
Squeeze out excess water from the grated courgettes, to prevent your chocolate muffins from becoming too soggy. There is nothing worse than a soggy muffin.
The best way to do this is to wrap the grated courgettes in a tea towel, and squeeze out the excess water over your sink.
🍴 Serving suggestions
These delicious muffins make an ideal after-school snack for kids. My lot enjoy them with an ice-cold glass of milk, and I'm partial to eating one with a cup of tea.
I sometimes serve the muffins as a quick and easy pudding too, straight from the oven with a scoop of honeycomb ice cream. They could also be eaten with warm creamy custard, for a comforting snack or dessert.
📖 Variations
- Try using white chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate chips. Or you could even use a combination of both.
- The muffins could be made vegan by replacing the melted butter for vegetable oil and the natural yogurt for dairy free yogurt.
- I sometimes add a handful of chopped nuts for added crunch. Walnuts or pecans would work well.
🥡 Storage
The muffins will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I'm pretty sure they won't last that long though!
🧊 Suitable for freezing?
These muffins freeze brilliantly. I often make a double batch and freeze half for another day.
Place the muffins in a freezer-safe container with a lid, placing a sheet of baking paper between each layer of muffins, to prevent them from sticking together.
As they only take an hour or so to defrost, they are perfect for unexpected guests, or when the kids are starving and the cupboards are bare.
😋Related recipes
Some more muffin recipes you might like;
- Bakery Style Strawberry Muffins
- Carrot Cake Muffins
- White Chocolate and Cherry Muffins
- Blueberry and White Chocolate Muffins
- Banana & Peanut Butter Muffins
- Sweet Potato and Apple Muffins
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Rhubarb and Pecan Muffins
- Banana and Pecan Muffins
- Blackberry & Lemon Muffins
- Cinnamon Spiced Mincemeat Muffins
You might also like my recipe for chocolate courgette sheet cake, which can be found on my Cornish food blog Jam & Clotted Cream.
❓ FAQS
Courgette is perfect for adding to sweet baked goods because the delicate flavor allows it to blend in perfectly with cake mixtures. It also helps to keep baked goods moist without having to add a lot of extra fat to the recipe. Grate the courgettes finely and you will not even notice them!
🍽️ More family-friendly recipes
Recipe
Chocolate Courgette Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 140 g Caster Sugar
- 180 g Plain Flour
- 20 g Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
- 100 ml Natural Yogurt
- 2 Eggs
- 140 g Butter melted and cooled
- 250 g Courgette grated and excess water squeezed out
- 100 g Milk Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°c (170° fan/ 375F/ Gas 5) and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
- Mix together the caster sugar, plain flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.
- Whisk the yogurt, eggs and melted butter together in a bowl, until combined.
- Gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix.
- Fold in the grated courgette and chocolate chips.
- Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases.
- Bake for 18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack once cool enough to handle.
Video
Notes
- Try using white chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate chips. Or you could even use a combination of both.
- The muffins could be made vegan by replacing the melted butter for vegetable oil and the natural yogurt for dairy-free yogurt.
- I sometimes add a handful of chopped nuts for added crunch. Walnuts or pecans would work well.
#CookBlogShare
I'm linking this recipe up to #CookBlogShare, which this week is hosted by The Peachicks Bakery.
Gina
These look so lovely! I wish I had a glut this year but my zucchini plants are male flower dominated and so far I've only gotten one!
Beth Sachs
Oh no! I always seem to end up with way too many.
Susan Lowe
Is it just me? I can’t find how much courgette is used or how much plain flour is substituted with cocoa powder. I’ve got everything ready, just can’t find the quantities needed. Sue x
Beth Sachs
Hi Susan. The recipe card is at the bottom of the post.
Susan
😊 Thank you. Didn’t read it properly☺️ All made now, look and taste lovely! Sue x
Janelle
I am a massive fan of zucchini in cake. Thanks for a great recipe
Sue
These muffins look delicious and a truly great way to sneak some veggies into the family!
Beth Sachs
I didn't tell my kids there were courgettes in them...until after they had eaten them and proclaimed them the BEST chocolate muffins ever!
Steph Tombs
Made these today with some courgettes from a friend's garden 😊 Easy to make and delicious 🙂
Beth Sachs
Glad you enjoyed them Steph!
Alisa Infanti
I have never heard a zucchini called that before so was intrigued. They are delish!
Carrie Robinson
I so wish that I had a couple of these for breakfast this morning! They look perfect. 🙂
Julie
Such a good way to get that green veggie in there. The muffins look delish too.
Jill
Great way to use up the abundance of zucchini from my garden. These muffins look scrumptious.
Jessica Formicola
Chocolate for breakfast sounds like a great idea to me, so I can't wait to try these muffins!
Becky
I have tried baking these buns and they are amazing. I used 200g of choc chips instead of 100g but everything else I kept the same. Xx
Beth Sachs
So glad you enjoyed them Becky! The extra choc chips sound like a good idea.
Mindy Fewless
These turned out beautifully!! Thank you!
Emily Liao
These chocolate muffins were so fluffy and delicious! Not to mention, pretty easy to make - so will definitely come to this for when I have a chocolate craving.
Kat (The Baking Explorer)
What tasty looking muffins!
Midge @ Peachicks' Bakery
Oooh these look like a fab way to use up courgettes! Definitely pinning it to make a peachick safe version! Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare 🙂
Cat | Curly's Cooking
I love using courgettes in baking. These muffins look delicious!
Paula
Sorry if this seems a silly question or has already been clarified but is the courgette weight before or after grating?
Thanks
Beth Sachs
Hi Paula. Not a silly question. This is the weight before they are grated.