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Breakfast & Brunch | June 16, 2021

Amy’s Bakery Zucchini, Carrot and Apple Muffins

Amy’s Bakery Zucchini, Carrot and Apple Muffins are so moist and flavorful! When summer is in full swing, this is a great recipe for your zucchini harvest!

Amy's Bakery Zucchini, Carrot and Apple Muffins

Late summer is peak zucchini season. This recipe is one of my favorite ways to use our favorite, fresh, plentiful vegetable! Zucchini is the perfect ingredient for muffins and quick breads because it’s easy to work with and keeps muffins moist. Also, if you have a garden full, the price is right!

Amy's Bread Bakery Muffins

If you haven’t every baked with zucchini, you may wonder, what does zucchini taste like in baked goods? In one word – delicious! Once all of the rest of the ingredients are added, this muffin tastes similar to carrot cake, without the frosting. You’ll love this blend of fresh veggies and fruit to make the perfect hearty breakfast or brunch treat!

Amy's Bakery in NYC Zucchini, Carrot and Apple Muffins

Amy’s Bread NYC put this place on your list of bakeries to visit!

I love Amy’s Bread in NYC. Have you ever been? It is a MUST visit when you travel to NYC. If you love carrot cake, you’ll love these muffins. They are dense, not too sweet and are made with oil instead of butter. I added raisins to the batter, since I love raisins in my muffins. They have such a wonderful texture. It’s basically a meal in a muffin!

Fresh Carrot and Zucchini Muffins

Should I peel Zucchini before using in recipes?

To peel or not to peel zucchini before using in recipes always seems to be a question when making anything sweet. You definitely can see the little bits of zucchini and carrot in this muffin, but that doesn’t bother me. If you prefer to not have little green specks in your muffins, I suggest peeling the zucchini first, then grating. For me, part of the beauty of using the green skin is it doesn’t need to be peeled!

Carrot and Zucchini Muffins

Favorite Brunch muffins

Whenever I host a baby or wedding shower and the theme is brunch, I love to bake up a few different types of muffins. In this photo, we made Spiced Donut Muffins, Blueberry and Greek Yogurt Muffins and Amy’s Bakery muffins. All distinctly different, and each one so tasty! One of my all time favorite muffins is the one below…The World’s Best Fresh Blueberry Muffins!

World's Best Fresh Blueberry Muffin

Perfect for make ahead and freezing!

If you are like me, breakfast is often a hurry, grab and go type of meal. This muffin recipe freezes really well. I bake a batch, let them cool and freeze any leftovers in a Ziplock bag. When I want to have one for breakfast, I take a muffin or two out of the freezer, wrap in a paper towel, and microwave for 20-30 seconds. Muffins are perfect for freezing and taste as good as the day they were baked!

Homemade muffins!

This recipe was originally posted in September, 2011. It has been updated with new photos and content in June, 2021.

5 from 11 votes
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Amy’s Bread Zucchini, Carrot and Apple Muffins

adapted from Amy’s Bakery recipe
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Keyword Amy’s Bakery NYC, apple, Carrot muffins, carrots, muffins, zucchini
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 48 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour you may use half all purpose and half wheat flour
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sweetened coconut flakes
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon canola or coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 3 cups peeled grated carrots
  • 2 cups zucchini unpeeled
  • 2 cups granny smith apples grated, no need to peel
  • 3/4 cup walnut or pecan pieces or 3/4 cup golden raisins or both*

Instructions

  1. Position rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins or use cupcake liners

  2. In large mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, coconut, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Whisk together.

  3. In another medium size bowl, whisk eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add grated carrots, zucchini and apples.

  4. Mix together, until all fruit and vegetables are mixed well. Do not use a mixer, mix by hand!

  5. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients all at once.

  6. Fold until all incorporated, adding raisins and nuts if using. The batter will be very thick.

  7. Scoop the batter into greased muffin pan using a large cookie scoop. Or use a large spoon or measuring cup. Fill the muffin tins almost to the top to ensure full, rounded muffin tops.

  8. Bake the muffins for about 16-18 minutes or until golden and the top springs back when touched lightly. You may also insert a toothpick in center of muffin, if it comes out clean, muffin is done.

  9. Leave the muffin in the tin or on a cooling rack for about ten minutes to cool.

Recipe Notes

  • I use unpeeled, cored Macintosh or Granny Smith apples. 
  • You may use raisins or nuts or both. If you opt to not use nuts or raisins, add two additional tablespoons of flour. 
  • The original recipe calls for a yield of 12 large (bakery size)  muffins. I bake the muffins in regular size muffin tins. The recipe yielded about 22 regular size muffins, or about double the amount of mini muffins!
  • This recipe is easily halved. 
  • Leaving the muffin in the cupcake liner for at least 10 minutes will help the paper to not stick to the baked muffin! 

45 thoughts on “Amy’s Bakery Zucchini, Carrot and Apple Muffins

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Recipe Rating




  1. These muffins were great! I omitted the coconut since my daughter doesn't care for it (& I didn't have any!). I also did regular size muffins (made 24) & baked at 350 for 15 mins. They're perfect! Thanks so much for the recipe.

  2. We loved these muffins!!! I substituted whole wheat flour 3/4 cup to every 1 cup all purpose called for in the recipe also added 1 T chai seeds and loved your recommendation to add raisins. I also omitted the coconut. Fantastic muffins! Thank you for a delicious recipe my whole family can enjoy! I'll feature them on my food blog at some point in the future!

  3. Made these today and they are delish! I cut the recipe in half and didn't put in walnuts or raisins, although if I would of had some, I would of! The baking time is perfect too, my hubby loved it and so did my 14 months old son! A big hit with our family 🙂

  4. Do you squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini after grating it? Another of my recipies asks you to do that and I didn't know if it was needed for this one also. Thank you!

  5. Where did the recipe go? I have been making these for my son and returning to this page from one of my pin boards. As I look at it now, there is no actual recipe…

    1. Sorry, I just restored the recipe, it was lost in the conversion from Blogger to WordPress last month!

  6. This recipe is the best nutritious sweet treat dessert for my toddlers and baby. I’m so glad it’s back up! I’ve been using it for years! 🙂

  7. 5 stars
    I got worried the 2 teaspoons of baking soda was an error? I haven’t ever made muffins with that much soda so I ended up doing 2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp soda. The muffins rose well and were delicious- my family loved them. Is it really 2 tsp soda and only 3/4 tsp of powder? I wasn’t sure what would’ve been so acidic in the batter to react with all of that soda.

    1. I’m glad your variation turned out well, Asha. And yes, I use 2 teaspoons of baking soda for this recipe. Thanks for asking and for reading ABK!
      xo
      Si

  8. 5 stars
    One of the best muffin recipes I’ve tried on Pinterest! Just wish I had a food processor to grate the carrots, zucchini and apples…it’s arm strengthening for sure!

    also, baked mini muffins which are just perfect for a bite size snack! Baked for 11-13 minutes depending on your oven.

  9. Can you make this as a bread vs. muffins? If so, how would that change the baking temp and time? Thanks!

    1. Hi Liz,

      I think this will work as a bread. Just grease a loaf pan and fill 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until the top springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
      Thanks for reding ABK,
      XO
      Si

  10. 5 stars
    Such a wonderful recipe!! I baked them in silicone doughnut pans, hoping my 2 year old grandson enjoys them while he stays with us for a week. I added chia seeds for additional nutrition. This recipe is keeper- Thanks!!

    1. Hi Liz!
      I used sweetened coconut flakes and loved the flavor and texture. Please let me know how you like this recipe! Thank you for reading ABK.
      xo,
      Si

  11. 5 stars
    I just made a batch this morning. So good! I used 1/2 all-purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour. I added both raisins and pecans. I used the apples I had–I don’t even know which variety. I had enough batter for 24 regular-sized muffins and one mini loaf pan. Thank you, Si!

  12. These look good! Going to make an effort to try making these within the next week or two… do you happen to know the nutritional info? I’ve been tracking my daily intake of calories and would love to know how many calories per a standard-size or mini-size muffin:)

  13. 5 stars
    i have a one-year-old and i try to hide veggies in everything. these are packed with a great fruit/veg to flour ratio. the bake was perfect, the texture is spot-on, and even with the coconut flakes, the muffins weren’t too sweet. definitely saving this in my catalog of go-to recipes. and yes, the food processor saved me a ton of time.

  14. 5 stars
    Great recipe! We added pecans and craisins, and I used a monkfruit and Stevie blend to sweeten. They are delicious! Thank you 😊

  15. Since you posted this recipe I have been making them non-stop. I love the recipe as is, I like to chop the coconut up so it isn’t “stringy” in the muffins. I make a batch and freeze them and have one each morning. They are a super on the go breakfast and you feel great about something with fruit, veggies and not a whole ton of sweet. Thanks for providing this yummy recipe.

    1. Hi Ellen!
      Thank you for your positive comment and thanks for the tip about coconut – I’ll give it a try. I’m sure this will help our readers as well. I love a healthy breakfast that I can grab and go! Thank you for reading ABK and sharing your tips.
      xo,
      Si

  16. 5 stars
    Excellent muffins. I made a batch of 24 little muffins and 1 batch of 8 mini loaves. They turned out amazing. Family loves them!!!
    What would be the nutritional value of these, please.

    1. Hi Sylvia!
      I’m not in the practice of calculating the nutritional value of my recipes, but I understand there are sites online that help in that process. If you do find the nutritional value for this recipe, I’m sure our readers would appreciate that information. Thank you for reading ABK!
      xo,
      Si

  17. 5 stars
    Delicious! Very moist and light! I added an oat/brown sugar/butter streusel on top just for fun. Great recipe!

    1. Hey Sunny, you can leave out the apples for more carrots but it might change the consistency and flavor a bit. Let me know how it turns out! Thanks for reading ABK!
      Xo,
      Si

  18. 5 stars
    I’ve been making this recipe for the last 2 years for my toddler and now excited my second is old enough to try them too! Great way to sneak in veggies but delicious enough that the whole family loves them. Super moist and flavorful!

  19. 5 stars
    These are one of my all-time favorite muffins! My daughter attends a nut-free school and I sometimes struggle finding things to send for her that she will eat. These muffins are a win-win: she loves them and I love that they have some extra fruit and veggie goodness! I also like that the recipe makes a full 24 muffins, because these can be more labor-intensive. I’ll put the time in on a Saturday to make these and freeze them so we can have delicious muffins all week long!

  20. 5 stars
    I loved how many veggies were in these muffins and they still tasted so good! I did not put nuts in as my family doesn’t like those, but they sure loved these! I put them in the freezer and they were great to grab out for breakfast to defrost and eat.