Low Carb Zucchini Bread Muffins
4 grams net carbs and amazing flavor make these muffins a hit!
you're making mealtime meaningful.
As zucchini ripen in home gardens and appear at the farmers market stalls it can be tempting to turn them into tasty, sweet zucchini bread. Laden with sugar and sometimes even chocolate chips this type of bread can be high carb. It’s still healthier than a big piece of layer cake, but isn’t what I would call low carb. If you love zucchini bread and are looking for an option that tastes amazing and won’t spike your blood sugar then look no further.
There are two main ingredients here that enable us to get a low carb bake here. The first is almond flour. Famously low carb and moist, this flour is great for dense treats like chocolate cake and these zucchini bread muffins. It doesn’t behave like regular flour, and it’s not suitable for anyone with nut allergies. But, if you can bake with it you will have moist treats without all the carbs.
The second ingredient that makes these low carb is a 1-to-1 sugar replacement. I used a “brown sugar” flavored variety, but I can honestly say it doesn’t have that rich, lightly caramel flavor that brown sugar brings to baked goods. Therefore, I added some maple flavoring to the recipe to give that deeper flavor.
If you want to use sugar in this recipe instead you can- it will still be lower carb thanks to the almond flour, but won’t be low carb in the same way. Using sugar adds 7.5 grams of carbohydrates per muffin. These muffins with recipe as written have 4 grams net carbs each.
To make sure you get an even bake you want to drain your shredded zucchini and then press the remaining moisture from it using aa paper towel. It might seem counterintuitive to remove the moisture only to add wet ingredients to the batter, but zucchini can hold a lot of water. A batter that’s too wet can cause an uneven bake so we want to avoid that.
Once the batter is mixed up let it stand for 10 minutes to let the almond flour soak in the moisture. Then add in the baking soda and scoop into lined muffin pans. You only want to fill them about 3/4 of the way full. Ask me how I know!
I have made this recipe as a loaf and I prefer the texture of the muffins. Plus there’s no cutting at the end with muffins!
These muffins have a tendency to rise and then fall in the oven, but I can assure you it doesn’t affect the flavor at all. These are almost indistinguishable from regular zucchini bread in terms of flavor, with a slightly wetter and less cakey texture than normal zucchini bread.
For a low-sugar option these muffins really deliver on both flavor and texture.
Low Carb Zucchini Bread Muffins
Yield(s): 8-10 muffins
45m prep time
50m cook time
Diet: Gluten-Free, Diabetic
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini, grated
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup 1-to-1 sugar replacement (like Besti or Lakanto)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
- 2 cups (8 oz) blanched almond flour
- 4 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 325˚F. Set zucchini in colander to drain. Squeeze with paper towel after draining for 15 minutes. Line muffin pan with paper or silicone liners.
- Combine egg, sugar replacement, vanilla and maple flavorings, almond and coconut flours, cinnamon, cloves, orange zest, and salt in large bowl. Fold in grated zucchini. Let sit for 10 minutes then stir in baking soda.
- Pour into muffin pan slots and bake for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cover with foil after 30 minutes if browning too quickly.
- Cool in pan for 30-60 minutes before removing. Good with butter or cream cheese.
Recipe adapted from Healthy Recipes Blogs.