Grain-free and vegan double chocolate muffin tops with shredded zucchini, almond flour, and maple syrup. Fudgy, tender, and ready in about 40 minutes with 11 ingredients.
1 cup shredded zucchini, thoroughly squeezed in a kitchen towel to get the excess moisture out
½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
Categories
Breakfast
Dessert
Snack
Cuisine
American
Steps
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the ground flax and water. Give it a little stir and then set aside for 5 minutes to gel.
In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, sea salt, and baking soda. Whisk together until evenly mixed.
In a medium bowl, combine the maple syrup, almond butter, coconut oil, vanilla, and the flax gel mixture. Whisk this mixture together until evenly combined.
Add the maple syrup mixture to the almond flour mixture. Add the shredded + wrung out zucchini and chocolate chips to the bowl as well. Using a spatula, Fold everything together until evenly combined. The batter will be very thick!
Using a ¼ cup measure, scoop out even portions of the batter and transfer to the prepared baking sheet with a spatula, a spoon, or your finger. Give each pile of batter about 2 inches of space.
Once you’ve portioned out all of the batter, moisten your finger with some water and smooth each portion out so that you have some nice, even mounds.
Bake the double chocolate zucchini muffin tops for 24 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the halfway point. The finished muffin tops will be dry to the touch on top.
Let the muffin tops cool completely before enjoying. Leftover muffin tops store well in a tin or other container that isn’t 100% airtight. Loosely wrapping in Beeswrap or tin foil is also great. These babies are soft!
Reviews
jc on 2026-08-26 (5 stars): Loved, loved, loved these. Will be make weekly during zucchini season! Did not squeeze the zucchini as per 'B's' modification below and it worked perfectly.
Julia P on 2025-11-07 (5 stars): Delicious!! We loved everything about these. Thank you for another great recipe!
Emily on 2025-07-19 (5 stars): Oh my!! So great. These are perfect for all of our family - thank you for making something gluten free! My toddler loves them too. Will be making them on repeat with the overload of zucchini in our garden this year.
Andrea on 2025-07-16 (5 stars): I have made these on repeat so many times over the last 2 years! perfect size and amazing chocolate flavor. we add a spoonful of dairy free icecream on top after warming them up.
Andrea on 2025-02-04 (5 stars): I may have posted before but these are made many many times a year in my house. they are great warmed up as leftover with a bit of dairy free icecream on top. easy to make and deliciously moist. I sub avocado oil for coconut.
Stephanie M. on 2022-07-16 (5 stars): Made these this morning for breakfast and they were a huge hit! They are definitely getting added into regular rotation.
Sue on 2022-01-16 (5 stars): Family loved these! Thanks
Anna on 2021-10-02 (5 stars): I made 2/3 of the recipe as muffins and 1/3 as cookies and my family of 5 actually all preferred the muffins, although the muffin tops were good too. Thanks for a great gf muffin/cookie option!!
Katrina on 2021-09-27 (5 stars): Can’t wait to try these! I know they are going to be amazing, like everything you make!
Do you suggest the regular grate size or do you think I could pull off the smaller grate size for the zucchini to make them virtually disappear for tiny people on the hunt for green veggies in everything.
Nancy Ball on 2021-09-27 (5 stars): These are delicious! So fudgy and moist.
Brenna on 2021-09-23 (5 stars): Holy. Shit. Used Diaspora’s Cacao and these are pure magic
B on 2021-09-12 (5 stars): Made these with one important change. I never like wringing out zucchini, both because it's a bit of messy trouble and I don't like losing the nutrients in the liquid. So I omitted the water in the recipe and stirred the flax (I used ground chia seeds instead) directly into the maple syrup instead. After you lightly stir the zucchini shreds into the batter, let it sit a few minutes, then mix them in to the batter with the chocolate chips. The wait helps distribute the liquid through the batter more evenly. I've made these twice with this change, and they were delicious both times. Not too wet or too dry; I urge you to try it this way. We prefer them in actual muffin shape instead of 'muffin top', which looked more like cookies than muffin top; I've also used instant pot silicone egg bites mold (makes 7 adorable little half moon size) baked in oven. Wasn't sure I had enough almond flour, so I used 1/2 cup of pecan meal and 3/4 cup almond flour in mine. These are some of the best muffins I've ever made. Rich chocolate yumminess. Tastes more like cake than muffin. And for those who don't like to know something green is in their baked good, we can't tell there's any zucchini in this. Thanks for the idea, Laura.
Jennifer on 2021-09-08 (5 stars): I've already made several loaves of zucchini bread this summer, so these muffin tops are a great change! They are delicious--rich, but not too heavy. Will be making again!
Camille Guertin on 2021-09-01 (5 stars): These are the best!!!!! :) my husband and I ate a whole batch in a day (oops)! And I made them again 3 days later hahaha
Used tahini instead of the almond butter and they were delicious!
Laura on 2021-08-29 (5 stars): Made these yesterday and they are phenomenal! Like a fudgy brownie. Love them right out of the freezer too!
Anna on 2021-08-28 (5 stars): Loved! H8 to be ~that person~ to mod your carefully tested recipe but I used tahini instead of almond butter and did 1/2 choco chips 1/2 walnuts and they still turned out delish!
Samantha on 2021-08-27 (5 stars): Wowie!! These decadent morsels will not last long in our house. My chocolate obsessed fiancé practically fainted when I pulled them out of the oven. Yay for using garden produce to create something wholesome and yummy!
