Banana Zucchini Muffins with Sour Cream

Our garden is bursting with vegetables so we’re creating lots of easy recipes with our bounty. These homemade banana zucchini muffins with sour cream or yogurt recipe is one of our favorites. You can bake from scratch here or add shredded squash into our cake mix banana bread too.

We made homemade banana zucchini muffins for dessert tonight because why not??!! I will say that I prefer muffins and/or mini bundts over bread because they get done quicker, are already “cut” into servings, and ensure that the middle is always done. One of the best muffin recipes we have. (affiliate links present)

How to Make Banana Zucchini Muffins Healthy

There are a few ways to make baked goods not only healthier, but more moist and tender. One big tip is to swap out some of the oil with either Greek yogurt or sour cream! Makes sense right? You still are adding a bit of fat but a healthier version that is creamy so your end result will melt in your mouth. No brainer. 😉

Loaves outsides are always overdone for me in order to get the middle just right. Ok so I got sidetracked, back to our zucchini muffin recipe! We always seem to have a few brown or browning bananas at the house, that is why I came up with this list of overripe banana recipes a while back. I always revert to easy muffins because they are quick to bake.

Ingredients

1. Flour
2. Baking soda
3. Baking Powder
4. Zucchini
5. Ripe bananas – the browner the better
6. Oil
7. Eggs
8. Sugar
9. 1/2 cup Chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts would be optional

Baby Banana Zucchini Muffins

If you want to know how long to bake mini muffins you can read this post and do just that. Regular, large or tiny are all delicious and moist. Small are great for toddlers though since they are just the right size for their little hands and they can have “the whole thing” in one sitting.

with Chocolate Chips

You could add mini chocolate chips into the mix if you wanted to. Do you grow zucchini in your yard?? Are you overwhelmed right about now and need new zucchini recipes? We’re here to help!

We moved recently and have a garden so now we have tons of these green veggies to use too! We’ve always made our zucchini pineapple bread recipe but thought we’d try something new since bananas needed to be used as well.  These came out delicious! THIS is the key to making the best zucchini muffins!

1. You MUST eliminate a lot of the moisture created after you’ve shredded it!
2. To do this wrap it in a few paper towels and press down.
3. If you’re using 1 cup or more fold it up and gently squeeze over your sink.
4. You’ll be amazed how much moisture comes out!

How to Add Vegetables into Muffins

You can and definitely should add shredded vegetables into sweet breads and/or muffins! In fact, it’s a great way to sneak some extra veggies into your diet or to get picky eaters to eat more of them without even knowing what’s in their mouth. 😉 Here are some tips to keep in mind when adding shredded vegetables to muffins:

1. Choose the right ones, some good options include zucchini, carrots, sweet potato, and pumpkin. Make sure to shred them finely so they blend well into the muffin batter.
2. If you are following a recipe that didn’t initially have any in it you may need to adjust the moisture because once shredded they can add extra moisture to the batter.
3. Biggest tip of them all is you will most definitely need to squeeze out excess moisture before adding them to the batter.

If you’ve never incorporated zucchini into recipes it just gives it a nice moistness to it. The flavor isn’t overwhelming at all in my opinion. Not in the weird way you might think.

How do you get moisture out of zucchini before baking?

Here’s a tip when baking with it though: remove the moisture and gently fold it into the batter at the end. I have a few pictures to show you what to do here. Do NOT skip this step or it won’t come out right, they won’t rise.

After your shredded zucchini is a bit more moisture free you’ll be ready to bake with it. This is the key to the best moist zucchini bread recipe, and any type of muffins. Believe me, there’s still plenty of moisture inside.

What happens if you don’t reduce the moisture in your zucchini? It will weigh down your recipe a lot and it may not rise at all. Still, the more you add the more dense your muffins will be. So, if you want them fluffier don’t add quite as much.

2nd tip: Don’t add your shredded zucchini until you’ve mixed together all the other ingredients. This will keep the pieces in tact and won’t release as much moisture into the batter too. If you’re looking for a few more easy brunch menu ideas these are great!

Want to add other items like crushed nuts or mini chocolate chips to make them more chunky? No problem but 1/2 cup of each is plenty. Don’t add those until the end too so you ensure the batter is smooth and all dry ingredients are incorporated with one another first.

Muffins are a versatile baked good that can be customized with a variety of flavors and ingredients. Here are some ideas for what you can add to muffins:

What Can You Add into Muffins?

1. I have added finely chopped apples before, mashed bananas add a lot of moisture or raisins can all be added to muffin batter.
2. Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts can add crunch and flavor. I am not a huge fan as I don’t like mine to be crunchy but that is personal preference.
3. Chocolate chips or chunks can be added to muffins for a delicious treat.
4. Spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or cardamom can be added for a warm and cozy flavor.
5. Grated carrots work the same way and could be substituted instead of zucchini if you wanted to.
6. Rolled oats can be added for texture and a heartier, more nutritious bite.
7. Add a dollop of jam or jelly to the center of muffin batter for a burst of flavor.
8. Shredded coconut can be added to muffin batter for a tropical twist.

How to Bake Homemade Banana Zucchini Muffins

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Whisk together your egg, oil, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and yogurt or sour cream in a bowl. Set aside.
• In another bowl mix together your all purpose flour, baking soda and powder so they’re combined. Pour this into your egg bowl and gently stir just until combined. Mash your bananas and add to your bowl.
• Lay out 2 paper towels on the counter and grate your zucchini on top until it looks like you have about a cup.
• Fold over the paper towel and allow it to absorb the water.
• Unfold your paper towel and measure out 1 cup of this shredded zucchini.
• Add this to your bowl too. Gently fold in your bananas and zucchini. Mix will be lumpy.
• Add muffin papers to your muffin tin (or spray with non stick cooking spray inside) and fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full until all of your mix is gone.
• This will make a total of 12 normal sized muffins.
• Bake for 18 minutes or until the middle of muffins spring back when gently touched in the center. or 11-12 for mini.
  • you can test with toothpick inserted but should have moist crumbs attached, dry means they were cooked too long
• Remove from oven and take out of pan so they do not continue to bake in hot pan. Put on cooling rack and enjoy warm or cold.

with Cake Mix

You can add 3/4 cup shredded veggies into our 4 ingredient banana bread muffins recipe too. Like I said, if you want fluffier muffins decrease the amount of bananas from 3 to 2 and reduce the zucchini to 3/4 of a cup. That way they will rise a bit more as seen here. My opinion, the recipe as is below is PERFECTION!!

How to bake in a loaf

If you wanted instead to make this in a loaf pan and slice into pieces, I would follow our moist zucchini bread recipe. You can use mashed naners instead of oil in that one if you want both flavors.

Air Fryer Directions

You can bake these in your oven in a muffin pan of course, or make air fryer muffins in just a few minutes. Either way they turn out incredible.

Other easy muffin recipes you’ll love

• Pumpkin zucchini muffins are the best Fall treat ever
• Add another vegetable to the mix with our mini zucchini carrot muffins too.
• Bisquick savory breakfast muffins with leftover ham are yummy
• Cake mix rum bundt cake is perfect for the holidays
• Then try our Moist pumpkin banana bread or peanut butter blender muffins in the morning for breakfast.
• Try our apple carrot muffins next. They combine vegetables and fruit in them too.