These zucchini muffins from Mel’s Kitchen Café are the fastest way to a delicious and nutritious snack that will not break the bank. Since college students are notoriously broke and always busy, this is the perfect recipe for you to prep at the beginning of your week and eat throughout the week. You can eat them anywhere, making them the perfect on-the-go snack.
One of the best parts of these muffins is their versatility. If zucchini is not your preferred vegetable, or you want to make these into a sweet fall treat, you can use apples instead. If you want to make these muffins a little sweeter, you can add your choice of chocolate chips into the batter before baking. Even sprinkling a little granulated sugar on top will add a perfect tasty crunch! There are so many options to make these muffins your own, so get creative, and I promise you will never get bored of them!
The baking process is super simple, so even if you are new to the kitchen, or just don’t have any fancy tools, this recipe is for you! All you need are mixing bowls, a spatula, a whisk or fork, muffin tins, and an oven. After preheating the oven, the first step is mixing the dry ingredients. Next, you mix the wet ingredients. Once mixed, you combine the wet ingredients with the dry. Finally, you add in the zucchini and mix lightly. Divide evenly into muffin tins and then cook for about 17-22 minutes until light and fluffy.
If you are concerned about the cost of these ingredients, we have a cost breakdown provided for you. If you want to make it even cheaper you can visit the SNAC pantry on campus. Additionally, a lot of people have an excess of fresh zucchini from their gardens and give it away to food banks and neighbors. Splitting the cost of baking ingredients with a friend or roommate can also relieve some financial stress.
Overall, we love these muffins. They allow college students to make healthier choices for themselves by choosing whole grains and zucchini. Zucchini is low in calories, high in fiber, and is a good source of Vitamin C which makes it a great way to add nutrients to a not-as-nutritious food like muffins. Not only do you get to incorporate more healthful foods into your diet, but you will also build confidence in your abilities in the kitchen. And most importantly, these zucchini muffins are delicious! Bon Appetit!
Cost Breakdown
Ingredient | Amount Needed | Unit Cost | Recipe Ingredient Cost |
Granulated Sugar | 3/4 cup | $3.69/4lbs | $0.32 |
Eggs | 2 large eggs | $3.60/dozen | $0.60 |
Canola Oil | 1/3 cup | $3.79/32 oz | $0.23 |
Vanilla Extract | 1 tsp. | $1.99/2 oz | $0.48 |
Whole Wheat Flour | 1 1/4 cup | $2.69/5lbs | $0.21 |
Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp. | $1.25/1.94 oz | $0.05 |
Baking Soda | 3/4 tsp. | $1.19/16 oz | $0.01 |
Baking Powder | 3/4 tsp. | $3.59/8.1 oz | $0.05 |
Salt | 1/2 tsp. | $0.79/26 oz | $0.002 |
Zucchini (shredded) | 2 Cups | $1.49/lb | $0.89 |
TOTAL RECIPE COST | $2.85/recipe | ||
Cost per Serving (12 servings) | $0.23/muffin |
As shown above, this recipe is budget friendly (and gives you your veg for the day) because even the brokest of us need and deserve a delicious treat to get us through the day (or even to start our day).
First Things First
When making this recipe it is important to remember that you are incorporating a wet vegetable into the batter, which affects consistency. When we made this recipe, our batter was running dry even after mixing in the oil and eggs. We ended up using an extra teaspoon of oil and not squeezing all the water out of the zucchini to get our batter to the right consistency and it made the end result moist and delicious! You could hold back on extra oil and instead not squeeze your zucchini dry, this could also help retain the water soluble vitamins and minerals.
The other thing to keep in mind is what you desire out of your muffin. Do you want it to be a sweet treat or feel like it hits the healthy spot. This can determine how much sugar you use, what kind of chocolate chips you use, and the type of flour. We wanted a mix of both when we made ours so we did 3/4 cup of sugar, with semi sweet/dark chocolate chips.
When mixing, you don’t want to over mix it because then you can find yourself with a dense mess of a muffin. It can also make your muffins not look as appealing (which doesn’t matter if you’re eating them yourself but can be a pain if trying to make an impression) because they will cook differently and won’t rise up to perfection. You want it to be just barely incorporated, which leads to fluffy, melt in your mouth finished product.
You’ll want to use a scoop to divide your mix into the muffin tins, or if you don’t have one you can spoon the portions in. But a scoop is preferable because it gives you even portions in each tin to ensure even baking. Another thing to consider when cooking is that the oven should be preheated and you want to clean up any spillage on your muffin tin, otherwise it can lead to burning or weird looking muffins. Use an oven light if you can, which is preferred to opening the oven too soon, as this could also deflate your muffins. We didn’t have an oven light and so we waited for the 20 minutes before we opened the oven up and stuck the muffins with a toothpick. Ours came out clean but you can adjust your time based off of how the muffin top looks and if your toothpick comes out clean.
Zucchini Muffins
Description
These simple and delicious zucchini muffins are an easy way to consume veggies and whole grains on a daily basis. There are a lot of variations, so you can make the recipe your own. They are fast and perfect for an on-the-go breakfast or snack.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla until well-combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula 3-4 times until the batter starts to come together but there are still streaks of flour throughout.
- Stir in the shredded zucchini and chocolate chips, if using, until the batter is just combined. Don’t over mix! It’s okay if the batter is still slightly lumpy.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin tin. Add a few chocolate chips to the top of each muffin for a prettier chocolate chip appearance (totally optional). If making the batter without chocolate chips, sprinkle a bit of raw or coarse sugar over the top of the muffins (again, optional, but super delicious).
- Bake for 17-22 minutes until the tops spring back lightly to the touch.
- Let cool for a few minutes in the muffin tin before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- * use 1/2 cup for less sweet muffin
- ** can use alternative oils (avocado, coconut, or vegetable)
- *** can use alternative flours (all- purpose , wheat, etc.)
- **** gently squeeze out excess water
- You can use apples to substitute the zucchini if desired
Nutrition information (per Serving)
Serving: 1 muffin
Calories: 186 kcal
Carbohydrates: 26g,
Protein: 3g, Fat:9g,
Saturated Fat: 2g,
Cholesterol: 29 mg,
Sodium:206 mg,
Fiber: 2g,
Sugar: 16g