Name: Healthy Whole Wheat Zucchini Cornbread Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 2 medium Zucchini (2 cups Finely Shredded (moisture intact), 328g); 1 3" long Jalapeño Pepper (Optional) (about 15g, de-seed for less spicy); 2 Eggs; ½ cup Almond Milk; ½ cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt (112g); ¼ cup Melted Butter; 1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour/White Whole Wheat Flour (120g); 1 cup Cornmeal (172g); 2 Tbsp Zero Calorie Sugar Substitute (or regular sugar); 2 tsp Baking Powder

Moist and fluffy Whole Wheat Zucchini Cornbread Muffins for a healthy take on the classic southern cornbread. With the perfect balance of sweet and savory, serve these fresh cornmeal muffins with some butter, a bowl of chili, or as a Thanksgiving side dish.

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It really has been a hot second since I had cornbread – more like 2 years haha.

Looking back, I’m not sure what I was even doing at this time of year last year – definitely not making any of the classic fall recipes like Southern cornbread and chili and such.

It’s probably because I wasn’t following food trends on Insta as much. Which now that I think about it is because I wasn’t as active on there until earlier this year.

Well better late than never right? Now I’m just making (mostly baking) so many fall recipes that I need to rush through the product so I can try the next one.

Ate these zucchini corn muffins – smeared with butter – 1½ at a time to finish them up stat!

Whole Wheat Zucchini Cornbread Muffins Ingredients:

This recipe for whole wheat cornmeal zucchini muffins is made with no sugar, no butter, and no buttermilk – just clean ingredients!

Fresh Zucchini
Jalapeno for a bit of heat and something close to a Jalapeño zucchini cornbread muffin recipe, but it isn’t too overpowering. You can also just leave it out.
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for a healthy, nutritious and whole grain muffin recipe that’s still light and fluffy.
Whole grain Cornmeal – I used medium grind
Zero calorie Sugar substitute to make this muffin complete sugarfree since there’s no added sugar here. I use the one from Lakanto. You can also use regular sugar here
Melted Butter or Coconut oil; or Vegan butter for a slightly reduced fat and low calorie recipe
Almond Milk – no buttermilk needed in these cornbread muffins, but you can also use regular milk
Non-fat Greek Yogurt or coconut yogurt for a dairy free version; No unhealthiness from the usual sour cream
Eggs
Baking Powder

How to make Whole Wheat Zucchini Cornmeal Muffins with Greek Yogurt

These homemade zucchini cornmeal muffins are super easy to make, and are perfect for a small batch recipe or when you want to serve a crowd but avoid the whole cornbread.

Preheat your oven to 350°F, line 12 cups of a muffin tin and lightly spray the insides with cooking spray.
Shred the zucchini using a food processor or grater, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Use a cheesecloth or just paper towels.
This is important! See below why.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, almond milk and Greek Yogurt and butter.
Add in the zucchini and Jalapeño and whisk it all again.
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl: whole wheat pastry flour, cornmeal, sugar replacement and baking powder.
Add in the flour mixture to the wet mix, and fold together using a large spoon or spatula. DO NOT OVERMIX the batter or the muffins will be too dense at the bottom.
Feel free to add in some more mix-ins here like chopped bacon or cheese.

Pour the mix into the muffin cups, filling them about ¾ way to the top.
Bake the muffins for about 22-25 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out dry.

For a zucchini cornbread, bake it in a loaf pan or cake pan, but increase the baking time to about 45-50 minutes.

Tips for this Healthy Zucchini Cornmeal Muffins

Squeeze out the zucchini liquid as much as possible, or your cornbread muffins will rise when baking but and sink when they cool.

Use whole wheat pastry flour – not whole wheat flour or whole meal flour – to get a a light texture for the muffins. The other two will make a dense muffin.

Don’t over-mix the batter!
Pour the dry mix into the dry and just fold them together or too much gluten will develop, again giving you dense and gummy muffins.

Spray the insides of the cupcake liners with oil spray so the muffins come off easily without anything sticking to the liner.

Some alternatives for Whole wheat zucchini cornbread muffins:

Make Gluten free Zucchini Corn Muffins

Make these zucchini cornbread muffins gluten free by using a 1:1 gluten free flour.

Go Vegan!

For vegan cornbread muffins, you could try to replace the eggs with flax eggs (2 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 5 Tbsp water let rest for about 10 minutes), and use non dairy coconut yogurt instead of the Greek; I haven’t tried this alternative though.

Flavor up your Savory Cornbread Zucchini Muffins

Another reason I love this sneaky zucchini recipe because there’s so many ways you can cusomize the flavor – jalapeno, bacon, cheese, corn kernels, jalapeno, honey – they all go really well with savory cornbread muffins.

Feel free to fold some of these into the cornbread muffin batter while adding the zucchini.

My favorite would definitely be cheesy zucchini cornbread muffins!

If you want some more ideas, Ambitious Kitchen here has some that I’m definitely going to health-ify even more!

Can you store Healthy Zucchini Cornbread Muffins

These moist and fluffy zucchini corn muffins keep really well and are great for a make-ahead or meal prep Thanksgiving side dish – freezer friendly too!

You can keep the muffins out at room temperature for 2 – 3 days or 4 or 5 days in the fridge. Be sure to use an airtight container.

To freeze the courgette cornbread muffins, wrap them plastic wrap and place in a freezer-safe zipper bag. Thaw them when you’re ready to enjoy it with some chili! Looking for inspiration? Try my loaded vegetarian black bean chili; It’s Vegan too!

Some more Savory Corn and Zucchini recipes to try this fall: