Zucchini Bran Muffins

Close side angle of a brown zucchini bran muffin on a wooden platter.

These bran zucchini muffins are moist, fluffy, and flavorful. Taking the classic bran muffins and making a twist with zucchini. These muffins create a perfect balance of sweet and flavorful yet increasing good nutrition.

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Total Time40

Servings: muffins

Author: Danika Vanderpyl

Equipment

1 muffin tray

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients:

2 cups zucchini
2 eggs
⅓ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
3 tablespoon molasses
¼ cup oil olive oil, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, canola oil
1 cup milk any kind works
1 tablespoon vinegar apple cider vinegar or white
1 ½ cup bran (wheat bran, oat bran, all bran, raisin bran,. bran flakes)

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup flour white or whole wheat
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt or regular salt

Optional:

3 tablespoon pumpkin seeds chopped for on top

Instructions

Start by grating the zucchini with a box grater or a food processor until you get 2 cups. Squeeze the zucchini to remove moisture, by placing it between paper towels or a clean tea towel. Set aside.
Mix together the other wet ingredients: eggs, brown sugar (or coconut sugar), molasses, oil, milk, vinegar, and bran. Let it sit for 10 minutes. If you are using any kind of bran cereal let it sit for at least 1 hour until it is soggy.
In a small bowl place the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt, and stir well.
Add the flour mixture and the grated zucchini to the bran mixture, and stir only until mixed. In a greased muffin tray or a muffin tray with liners, place ⅓ cup of muffin batter into each muffin cup (they will be full). Sprinkle chopped pumpkin seeds on top if using!
In a preheated oven bake the muffins at 425 F for 7 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 375 F and bake for another 12-15 minutes until they are fully cooked.
Remove the muffins from the oven, let them sit in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins to fully cool on a cooling rack.

Notes

Storage: Store the muffins in a bag or container at room temperature for 3 days. After that keep them in the fridge for up to a week. These muffins can also be frozen and enjoyed within 6 months.

Baking temperature: Starting the oven at 425 F for muffins gives them a good rise. Then we turn it down to 375 F so they don't dry out and so they can fully cook through.

Bran: For this recipe, you can use oat bran, wheat bran, cereal bran (all bran, raisin bran, bran flakes). For the cereal bran it is very crunchy, so to incorporate it well let it sit for at least 1 hour with the wet ingredients, then stir it again with the wet ingredients to mix well.

Pumpkin Seeds: These are optional for on top, for nutritional boost (protein/zinc) and a little crunch!

Frozen Shredded Zucchini: To use frozen shredded zucchini, thaw at room temperature, squeeze out as much moisture as you can, then use 2 cups for this recipe.

Variations:

Cinnamon: add 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon to the flour mix
Chocolate Chips: Add ½ cup of chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips to this recipe before baking.
Apple pieces: Add 1 finely chopped apple when mixing everything together.
Mini Muffins: Bake these muffins in a mini muffin tray. Bake mini muffins at 350 degrees F for about 11 minutes.
Raisins: Add ½ cup raisins. If your raisins are hard, soak them in hot water for 15 minutes. Or if using raisin bran just include those raisins!
Vegan: Make it with flax eggs instead of eggs! 2 tablespoon ground flax seeds, 6 tablespoon of water, let it sit for 10 minutes.

Nutrition