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Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins | Recipe

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins

Simply put, I love muffins. They are so close to being cupcakes without the guilt. When we were on vacation vising family, my grandma sent us home with some zucchini fresh from a local farm. I definitely wanted to come up with some recipes for it, and since I love it in bread I thought it would make some great muffins!

My Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins are a great way to get some hidden vegetables in your family’s diet. The zucchini adds a unique flavor and color without overpowering the apple and cinnamon. The muffins look like cupcakes, so they can pass as (shh, healthy) dessert for your children and maybe even fill in some gaps in your child’s diet if they are picky at dinner as they are filled with fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and a little bit of dairy!

Moist, gooey, sweet with a little bit of spice, colorful, and topped with mouth-watering cinnamon apples, these muffins are sure to become a family favorite like they did in my house! I definitely knew these muffins were a hit when my very picky baby took a nibble, paused, then proceeded to shove the entire rest of the muffin into his mouth! The next day I was carrying him and a plate of muffins and he kept trying to steal them off the plate.

Be sure to print the recipe card at the bottom! Check the notes for how these can easily be made gluten free and/or dairy free!

You Will Need

  • 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped (you can use other varieties if you choose, but use only 2 if they are large like Fuji apples)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 medium zucchini, grated
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted—see recipe at the end for alternatives
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups flour—see recipe at the end for alternatives
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (for the apple topping)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar (for the apple topping)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°. 

2. Add your chopped apples and water to a pot and bring to a slight boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. 

3. While your apples are cooking, you can start preparing the rest of the wet ingredients for your muffins. Use a cheese grater with the zucchini, leaving the skin on. Put the grated zucchini into a large mixing bowl.

Grated Zucchini

4. Mix in the butter, egg, and vanilla.

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins Step 4

5. Once the apples are cooked, drain out the excess water then remove half of the apples and mash them up with a potato masher.

Mashed Apples Homemade Applesauce

6. Mix the mashed apples into the wet mix.

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins Step 5

7. Begin adding in the dry ingredients; mix in the salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar.

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins Step 8

8. Now slowly fold in the flour. Mix just until wet; be careful not to over-mix. 

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins Step 9

9. Scoop the muffin mixture into a lightly greased muffin pan filling each cup 3/4 full.

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins Filling Muffin Pan

10. Back to your pan with the remaining apples, add the 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Cook on medium for another 2 minutes to get the cinnamon sugar mixture to really stick. 

Cinnamon Apples

11. Using a spoon and pressing down on the mixture at a slight angle, add a small amount of apples to the canter of each muffin. Pressing gently as you dump in the apple mixture will prevent the apples from falling off after baking. 

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins Topping

12. Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes or until slightly golden and a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.

Tap Test Tip: You can tell if a muffin is done without a toothpick by tapping the top–if it leaves a print, you need to cook a little longer and if it bounces right back up the muffins are done!

13. Let the muffins sit in the pan for a couple minutes after they are removed from the oven, then move them onto a cooling rack. Enjoy warm or cooled!

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins on Cooling Rack
Yield: 12 muffins

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

These sweet and delicately-spicy muffins make waking up for breakfast exciting. These can be easily made gluten free and dairy free as well!

Ingredients

  • 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped (you can use other varieties if you choose, but use only 2 if they are large like Fuji apples)
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 medium zucchini, grated
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1½ cups flour
  • ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon (for the apple topping)
  • ½ teaspoon sugar (for the apple topping)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°.
  2. Add your chopped apples and water to a pot and bring to a slight boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
  3. While your apples are cooking, you can start preparing the rest of the wet ingredients for your muffins. Begin by grating the zucchini, leaving the skin on. Put the grated zucchini into a large mixing bowl.
  4. Mix in the butter, egg, and vanilla.
  5. Once the apples are cooked, drain out the excess water, then remove half of the apples and mash them up with a potato masher.
  6. Mix the mashed apples into the wet mix.
  7. Begin adding in the dry ingredients; mix in the salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar.
  8. Now slowly fold in the flour. Mix just until wet; be careful not to over-mix.
  9. Scoop the muffin mixture into a lightly greased muffin pan filling each cup ¾ full.
  10. Back to your pan with the remaining apples, add the ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon and ½ teaspoon sugar. Cook on medium for another 2 minutes to get the cinnamon sugar mixture to really stick.
  11. Using a spoon and pressing down on the mixture at a slight angle, add a small amount of apples to the canter of each muffin. Pressing gently as you dump in the apple mixture will prevent the apples from falling off after baking.
  12. Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes or until slightly golden and a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.
  13. Let the muffins sit in the pan for a couple minutes after they are removed from the oven, then move them onto a cooling rack.
  14. Enjoy warm or cooled!

Notes

This can easily be made gluten free or dairy free!

Gluten Free

Substitute your favorite 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour for the regular flour. We use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 baking and cook an extra minute or so.

Dairy Free

Substitute your favorite dairy-free yogurt for the dairy yogurt in the recipe.

Substitute your favorite vegan butter for the dairy butter in the recipe.

The amounts on these should not need to be modified, as they should substitute evenly, but if you notice the batter is a little bit dry, you may need to add another teaspoon or two of milk. This is why I include in-process photos, so you can see what the consistency should look close to.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 366Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 269mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 3gSugar: 23gProtein: 5g

This nutrition information is auto-generated. Nutritional values may change with specific items and brands used, so manual calculation is recommended if exact nutritional counts are needed.

Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffins Recipe

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45 Comments

  1. G’day! Looks healthy and great!
    Viewed at part of #SITS
    Cheers! Joanne @What’s On The List

  2. These look delicious! I can’t wait to try them.

  3. These look delicious! I can’t believe they use zucchini 🙂 Way to go!

  4. Looks fantastic! Which lugin are you using for the recipe box, love how it looks.

  5. Looks delish I have zucchini in my garden too!!!

  6. These look so good! What size zucchini did you use? I have a bunch I just picked from my garden so I’m looking for something to do with them but they are all huge (about 1.2 lbs). I’m not sure if they’re too big for this recipe? Thanks!

    • Thanks Jen! I used a medium zucchini, about 1 cup worth. You could probably use a little more zucchini and cut back a little on the apple if needed or just use part of the zucchini for the recipe.

  7. Oh my word I am so impressed with them .x

  8. That sounds totally amazing and I think my little man would really enjoy eating them. They are sneakily healthy! Nice job!

    • Thanks so much! I’m sure he will love them! Both my little boys did; they thought it was cupcakes. Let me know how you all like them!

  9. love, love your blog name and header! and these muffins do look amazing, and they are good for you! Sweet! THanks so much for linking up to Wined Down Wed..so great to have you 🙂
    Cathy

  10. How big of zucchini would I use?

  11. These look delicious Alyssa! I pinned the recipe to make soon!

  12. YUM! These looks so good! We make alot of muffins!

  13. Stephanie Hebert

    I bet my girls would like these!

  14. I love the idea of putting granny smith and zucchini together – this sounds wonderful! I don’t think I can wait until everyone is giving away zucchini to make this!

    • These are my absolute favorite. I’m so glad zucchini is coming back in season because I will be making these again! I might see how they do being frozen too.

  15. How much apple to use as I have some that I have frozen vs the 3 granny smith apples in the recipe.

    • I would say it’s about 2 cups worth? If it’s a little off, it shouldn’t be a huge deal. Most was for flavor and texture (after the applesauce part of it.)

  16. These muffins look so delicious and we love muffins in my house. I want to make these for the kids! Thanks for sharing.

  17. My favorite muffins are blueberry like you, but I am going to make these for sure!

  18. These muffins look delicious! Thank you for the recipe. My favorite muffins are cranberry orange

  19. Looks so yummy ~ so easy that I can make so many things with my grand daughter ~ thanks

  20. These muffins are perfect for this early autumn season, when fresh local zucchini are still available and the apples are coming in, too. Great idea to pair them! Thanks for the recipe.

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  24. This is a great food recipe, thank you for the detailed recipe.

  25. My children would love these, I am going to make them next weekend.

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