After I bought my house earlier this year, my mom helped me move to San Diego. She drove a U-Haul down crammed full of my belongings while my brother and I followed in my car, its trunk and backseat completely stuffed too.
Two weeks later, she drove down again to speed up the unpacking process. She and I quickly got into a groove of tearing open the cardboard boxes, tossing the packing paper into garbage bags, and finding places in cupboards and shelves for the contents inside.
Because my mom wakes up incredibly early, usually before the sun rises, she would go for a run before I crawled out of bed, and she always ended up in the same place… The Starbucks a mile up the road, where she ordered a chai latte. She drinks one every day, rain or shine!
While we were out grocery shopping the day before she drove back to Northern California, she picked up a package of instant chai latte mix, just in case she left extremely early before the Starbucks opened. That evening, I convinced her it wasn’t worth waking up at 3 am to beat the LA traffic, so she left mid-morning instead—and got her coffee shop chai latte on the way out of town!
When rearranging cups and bowls last week, I stumbled across those instant chai latte packets. Their faint spice aroma smelled so cozy and comforting, just perfect for the cool fall weather that finally arrived here in San Diego, and that inspired me to bake these Healthy Chai Spice Chocolate Chip Zucchini Mini Muffins!
They’re really straightforward to make (no mixer required!), and with an irresistible blend of spices, they smell even better than Mom’s daily chai lattes. Plus they have the same texture as cupcakes, despite containing no refined flour or sugar, and they’re just 38 calories!
So… Would you blame me if I didn’t want to share? ?
To make these healthy muffins, you’ll start with whole wheat flour (or gluten-free, if you prefer!) and four key spices: cinnamon (← that kind is my current obsession!), ginger, cloves, and cardamom. Those spices always appear in chai, and even though I was a bit hesitant about the last one, the cardamom made a big difference in flavor. Totally worth buying! (You’ll use it in these recipes of mine, too!)
If you’ve been around my blog before, I have a feeling you might know what the next important ingredient is… With just ½ tablespoon of butter (or coconut oil!) and no egg yolks, you’ll mix Greek yogurt into the batter! Did you guess right?? I ♡ Greek yogurt because it adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your mini muffins a protein boost, too!
To sweeten these, you’ll skip the refined sugar and use another one of my favorite ingredients instead: vanilla stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean-eating friendly!), and it’s highly concentrated. You just need 1 ½ teaspoons for this entire batch of muffins!
This is the vanilla stevia I use because I love its warm flavor, and I don’t notice any strange aftertaste like with some other stevia products. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, but I buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Now for the mix-ins! Besides the spices, they’re the best part, right? Or am I the only one who loves green vegetables and chocolate that much?… ? These are the mini chocolate chips that I use! I love how rich they taste, and they turn perfectly melty in the oven. Plus they look so cute on those muffin tops, don’t they?
Before mixing the freshly grated zucchini into your batter, remember to thoroughly pat it dry with paper towels! This special trick removes excess moisture from the zucchini. If you forgot, that extra liquid would seep out into your muffin batter while baking, and it would cause your muffins to collapse and turn denser while cooling. It doesn’t take long to pat the zucchini dry, and it makes a big difference!
One last tip! Remember to coat your paper liners with cooking spray! Low-fat batters like this one usually stick to paper (and metal) liners like superglue… So this handy trick helps the papers peel away from your muffins!
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How yummy do those look? ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your mini muffins and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Healthy Chai Spice Chocolate Chip Zucchini Mini Muffins | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 tbsp homemade chai spice (see Notes)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ tsp vanilla stevia, or adjusted to taste
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¾ cup + 2 tbsp (210mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ½ cups (160g) grated zucchini, patted dry
- ¼ cup (56g) miniature chocolate chips, divided
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 36 mini muffin cups with paper liners, and lightly coat them with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, chai spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, and vanilla stevia. Add in the mashed Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in 2 tablespoons of milk. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and remaining milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 4 equal parts.) Fold in the zucchini and 3 tablespoons of miniature chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared muffin cups, and gently press the remaining miniature chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes or until the tops feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the regular whole wheat flour.
For the homemade chai spice, use as follows: 1 ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon, ¾ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, and ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom. (For a stronger spice flavor, increase both the cloves and cardamom by ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon!)
I highly recommend using the vanilla stevia! It’s one of my favorite ingredients, and you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too. I buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. If you prefer not to use the vanilla stevia, then substitute ½ cup (120mL) of pure maple syrup, honey or agave. If using this substitution, reduce the milk to 6 tablespoons (90mL).
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
Measure the zucchini before patting it dry. You must pat it dry to remove the excess moisture because that excess moisture will cause the muffins to collapse while cooling. To pat the zucchini dry, lay a double-thick layer of paper towels onto a cutting board, and arrange the freshly shredded zucchini on top. Place another double-thick layer of paper towels on the zucchini, and gently press down until the top towel turns wet.
This recipe will also make 12 standard-sized muffins, if you prefer. Bake at 350°F for 24-29 minutes or until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low sugar}
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You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Chai Spice Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
♡ Healthy Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
♡ Healthy Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Zucchini Bread Bran Muffins
♡ Healthy Zucchini Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Chai Spice Apple Crumble
♡ Healthy Chai Spice Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Hi these look delicious!!! Is there any way I could substitute spinach,broccoli or carrots? I don’t have zucchini in the house…. Thanks
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Claire! Freshly grated carrots would be the best substitute. Since they don’t release as much moisture as zucchini, you won’t need to pat them dry. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these mini muffins!
If I don’t want to use yogurt and want to use egg yolks and don’t mind using butter, would I use just one whole egg? And what amount of butter?
Thanks!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Lorraine! Unfortunately, you do need the yogurt for this recipe to turn out correctly. If you don’t have Greek yogurt, regular yogurt works fine, as does non-dairy yogurt. You’re welcome to use two whole eggs, if you prefer! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these mini muffins!
Amy, I couldn’t wait to try these muffins so I went ahead and made them without the yogurt! I used 1/4 cup of melted, cooled butter, 6 tbsp. milk and 1/2 cup of honey. I also put in quite a few more chocolate chips – I just shook them out of the bag until it looked like enough! I also used a gluten free flour mix. I baked them in my silicone mini muffin pans without greasing them first and they came out beautifully – I mean that literally as well as taste-wise! I ended up cooking them 20-25 minutes – just kept checking them with a toothpick. This seems like a very versatile recipe and I’ll definitely be making these again – thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins Lorraine! I’m never opposed to extra chocolate… 😉 Thanks for letting me know what tweaks you made — I always love hearing what little modifications turn out! 🙂 I’m truly honored that you’d considered making them again too!
I forgot to mention I used two eggs WITH yolks as well.
Thank you for a great recipe!! And a teen approved recipe at that! I love zucchini in muffins so these were a must try.
I’m so glad you and your teen enjoyed these muffins Theresa! That means so much to me! 🙂