By Inspired by the famous Olympic muffins from 2024, these protein zucchini chocolate muffins will keep you fueled and happy! These have a chocolate ganache filling that is to die for, packs in 16g of protein, and 5g of fiber. You just need 30 minutes to whip these moist muffins up and you'll enjoy a gluten-free snack or breakfast all week.
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I, like everyone else in 2024, became obsessed with the Olympic village chocolate muffins. I first posted this recipe to my Instagram, and with its popularity, it's been on my list to post to the site forever! We'll the day is here and I'm so excited for ya'll to finally try it.
While I know you guys love the protein blueberry muffins and banana cottage cheese muffins, those use all-purpose flour, and I wanted a gluten-free option. These ones use the same great ingredients like coconut sugar and coconut oil but swap all purpose for almond flour, and I've included ways to make them nut-free and dairy-free.
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Recipe
Protein Zucchini Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- ½ cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1.5 cups fine blanched almond flour (see notes for nut-free options)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup hemp hearts
- ¼ cup oat flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 zucchini (medium-sized (about 1.5 cups pressed lightly into a measuring cup after squeezing dry))
- ⅔ cup plain Greek yogurt (5.3 oz or Siggis plant based)
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil (virgin, melted or butter)
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet, dairy free as needed)
Filling Ingredients
- ¾ cup chocolate peanut butter (use nut free as needed or just regular peanut butter)
- 3 tablespoon milk (soy milk preferred)
- 1 pinch flaky sea salt (for finishing)
Before you start!
If you make this recipe, please take a moment to leave us a review. We love to hear from you!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare your muffin tin with liners (if needed). If using a silicone tin, then no need for liners. Shred the zucchini (I use a cheese grater). Use a paper towel to dry shredded zucchini and squeeze out excess moisture. Melt the coconut oil in a small bowl in the microwave.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: ½ cup coconut sugar, 1.5 cups fine blanched almond flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¾ cup hemp hearts, ¼ cup oat flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients: 1 zucchini (shredded), ⅔ cup plain Greek yogurt, 2 eggs, ¼ cup coconut oil (melted), and ⅓ cup pure maple syrup. Fold together until just combined. We don't want to overmix! Once combined, add the ½ cup chocolate chips and fold together again.
- Scoop muffin batter into 12 muffin tin spots and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Then, remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. They will continue to bake, so letting them cool is essential to ensure they set up!
- While the muffins cool, make the ganache filling by melting the ¾ cup chocolate peanut butter for 30 seconds in the microwave, then mix with 3 tablespoon milk.
- Use a spoon to scoop out the center of the muffins and fill with about 1 tablespoon of chocolate ganache filling. Finish with flaky sea salt and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Looking for more information?
Additional substitution information can be found above in the substitution section of this post.
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate and for informational purposes only.
Nutrition
your muffin liners matter
A common issue with what I'll call "healthified" muffins is that they stick to the muffin tins or liners. The best way to avoid this is to use either foil liners that have been sprayed with oil, parchment paper liners, silicone liners, or a silicone muffin tin (and skip the liners). It also helps to let the muffins fully cool before trying to take them out of the liners.
key ingredients
All substitutions are a 1:1 substitute unless otherwise noted. See the recipe card for quantities.
- Sweeteners: I love using coconut sugar fot the muffins because they help stabilize all the wet ingredients and have a lower glycemic index. For the filling, we need pure maple syrup, though to keep it smooth.
- Greek yogurt: Feel free to use plain Greek yogurt or a high-protein dairy-free alternative like Siggis.
- Hemp hearts: These have more protein per serving than almost any other seeds and add fiber! Plus, they don't affect the taste at all. You can find them next to flaxseeds and chia seeds in the store.
- Flour: This recipe uses both almond flour and oat flour for the perfect moist texture. You can use all oat flour, but will need to add an extra 2 tablespoons of coconut oil.
- Cocoa powder: Grab unsweetened powder.
- Baking basics: You'll need salt, baking soda, eggs, and soy milk (or any kind). And flaky sea salt!! You will be amazed at how bright any dessert becomes with flaky sea salt.
- Zucchini: You'll need 1 medium zucchini, which works out to about 1.5 cups shredded. There's no need to peel it. And if you have extra zucchini, then give our protein zucchini bread a try!
- Coconut oil: I love using this because it adds a slight sweetness and healthy fats. Butter works too for a nut free option.
- Chocolate: We need chocolate chips for the muffins (dairy-free as needed) and chocolate peanut butter. Feel free to use a nut-free alternative like chocolate sesame butter or chocolate tahini.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
high protein ingredient spotlight: hemp hearts
Hemp hearts (aka hemp seeds) are little seeds with big protein. Just 3 tablespoons pack in around 10 grams of complete protein, meaning they contain all 9 essential amino acids. They're very soft and have a super mild flavor, so you can't even tell there's a whole ¾ cup in these muffins! We also use them to secretly amp up protein in other protein baking recipes like our breakfast cookies or chocolate peanut butter rice krispies.
here's how to make chocolate zucchini muffins
Be sure to scroll to the recipe card for the full protein muffin recipe!
- Mix together the dry ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Bake until set.
- Make the ganache filling.
- Scoop out the center of the muffins and fill with ganache. Top with flaky sea salt and enjoy!
quick recipe video
prep the zucchini
Before you prep the ingredients, grate the zucchini and spread it out on a towel. Let this sit while you prepare the other ingredients. Just before you add them to the batter, squeeze out any moisture from the shredded zucchini and then add it.
make it a breakfast
I love these as a snack or as part of a high-protein breakfast. My favorite breakfast pairings are:
- Cottage Cheese Egg Bites: These are simple to prep and creates a nice sweet and savory moment with these chocolate muffins.
- Protein Coffee: Who doesn't love coffee and a muffin?!
These were absolutely decadent! I opted not to do the filling. The middle of my muffins was very soft and moist almost felt like it didn’t baker through byt I did leave them to cool and in the oven for 27 minutes. I will have to measure better next time, since I did eye it a bit. Either way way, these do not taste like protein muffins at all 100% will make them again! Thank you for the recipie!
I love hearing that so, so much!! If they happen to be a bit too wet inside again, try sprinkling the zucchini with salt first to draw out excess moisture, then squeeze it with a cheese cloth before adding to the batter. If you do this omit the salt in the recipe.
I used silken tofu and a splash of oat milk instead of greek yogurt and it still turned out delicious 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know that worked well!
These are delicious, decadent and filling! They are really easy and fun to make as well. Thank you. I will definitely make them again.
These are so yummy!! The first time I made them I didn’t have enough zucchini so I added shredded carrots. Delicious. I also just end up adding chocolate chips to the batter and not doing the filling, although the filling sounds amazing.
That sounds so so good!!
These muffins were delicious! I had to sub whole wheat flour for the oat flour but they were still fantastic. They were VERY soft, hard to get out of the tin. I didn't have muffin liners, so next time, and there will be a next time, I will buy tall parchment liners. Highly recommend
Thats so great to hear!
Love this! So good!
Very good I didn't use chocolate peanut butter I used all nut butter with chia seeds and added some chocolate chips to ganache filling not to the base. they are a keeper!
Yum!!