Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (Healthy Chickpea Muffins)

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These Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are made with chickpea flour and naturally sweetened with bananas. These chocolate chickpea banana muffins are great as baby muffins, toddler muffins, or a high protein muffin snack!

These chickpea flour muffins came to life because I have a huge bag of chickpea flour. I look at it every time I open the cabinet, so I figured it was time to make use of it!

This isn’t my first time making a chickpea flour muffins recipe. My strawberry banana chickpea flour muffins are a huge hit, and we often switch out the strawberries for other seasonal fruits. Favorite mix in’s have included apple slices, cherries and blueberries!

Or these dairy free blueberry muffins.

But these chickpea flour zucchini muffins are delicious in their own right. They are sweetened with banana and a little bit of brown sugar.

Boasting bananas and zucchini, they make for a healthy kid friendly muffin or toddler muffin. I like to switch these off with my healthy baby french toast recipe.

If serving as a baby muffin recipe, just nix the brown sugar and chocolate chips, as babies shouldn’t have any added sugars.

I do like to mix pieces in with my spinach puree baby food or just add that as a topping to these zucchini muffins.

Camryn loves to help me in the kitchen, and I love including her in the muffin process.

She doesn’t quite understand that these chocolate chickpea muffins use chickpea flour, but she loves that they are chocolate! And of course, we add extra chocolate chips.

How could you not?!

Ingredients For Gluten Free Zucchini Muffins

Here’s what you need to make these delicious chocolate chickpea muffins.

chickpea flour
oat flour* (or oats grinded into flour) – look for certified gluten free oats or oat flour. Most oats are gluten free, however, they can easily be contaminated in the growing process.
cocoa powder
brown sugar
zucchini
bananas
eggs
apple cider vinegar
vanilla extract
coconut oil

I didn’t test these, but for vegan gluten free zucchini muffins, you could try these with a flax egg.

How To Prepare Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

These chickpea muffins require only about 15 minutes to bake. Once you do the prep work, just toss them in the oven and take in the smells.

To chop the zucchini, I first peel the zucchini and then use this onion chopper to get it into smaller cube shapes. You could also shred it!

First, combine your wet and dry ingredients separately, and then combine them together in a medium bowl.

It’s exciting to see these chocolate banana chickpea muffins coming to life.

Pour the batter in a greased muffin tin or use these awesome silicone baking cups.

Are These Completely Flourless Zucchini Muffins?

If you’re looking for flourless zucchini muffins, these do use chickpea flour (it’s a staple in my monthly Thrive Market orders) instead of your typical all purpose or whole wheat flour.

So they aren’t completely flourless muffins, but most people just want gluten free muffins when they search for that term.

Chickpea flour, or garbanzo bean flour, is a gluten free flour, but it is also high in protein and flour, making these a great option for high protein muffins. I love them slathered with peanut butter!

Let me tell you, chickpea flour does not taste like chickpeas, so you wouldn’t even know these chickpea flour banana muffins are made with garbanzo flour. And your kids won’t either

From a nutrition standpoint, one cup of chickpea flour offers:

20 grams of protein
10 grams of fiber
Micronutrients like iron, folate, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese and copper

These nutrients make these gluten free chocolate zucchini muffins a great snack for athletes! One of the biggest challenges that my athletes face is having easy to pack, portable and quick healthy snack options. These dairy free zucchini muffins are great for that, especially since dairy can be aggravating to some people and those with sensitive stomachs (more on that in this runners stomach post).

Are These Chickpea Flour Muffins Sugar Free?

I know a lot of people may be searching for “sugar free chocolate muffins” but I find that the cocoa powder is so bitter that I need a sweetener for them.

So, while there’s not a ton of added sugar in these garbanzo bean muffins, there is some. Of course, you can omit it. I used brown sugar, but you could also try coconut sugar, honey or maple syrup! The bananas also add a nice natural sweetness too, especially if they’re riper!

I find that these gluten free chocolate chip muffins have the perfect amount of sweetness without overdoing it.

How To Store Gluten Free Banana Zucchini Muffins

These tasty gluten free zucchini muffins will be fine for a few days in an airtight bag on the counter or in the fridge. They are freezer friendly, so they also make for great snacks to save for later.

I love these dairy free zucchini muffins as one handed nursing snacks. I trialed a modified dairy free (or I should say limited dairy) eating style with both Camryn and Hannah for short periods, because there were some symptoms that seemed like a dairy allergy for nursing.

I still haven’t figured it out since symptoms come and go, but to be safe, I just stick to dairy free muffins and dairy free baked goods when possible.