Chai Spice Zucchini muffins

If you ask me what my favorite vegetable is, zucchini is up there. The past two years I’ve had a garden and growing my own zucchini is one of the best treats. I love going into my garden and telling my plants.. I GREW YOU FROM A SEED AND LOOK AT YOU NOW! My neighbors think it’s weird, but that’s on them. However, if you have ever grown zucchini, or most any fruit or vegetable is you can often find yourself with a bit more than you could possibly eat.

So what else would I do with extra zucchini than bake it. Duh. So normal zucchini bread is a hit with me. What’s not to love. I usually add cinnamon to it, so of course my next thought was.. I wonder if I could add all the other chai spices to this. How would that taste. The answer? Amazeballs. Chai spice zucchini muffins you are now my favorite over the old standby of blueberry. Not even sorry.

These muffins don’t have actual tea in them, but are packed with the spices you would taste in a cup of chai. I also have tried several glazes on these: vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, maple butter, cream cheese. The recipe card has vanilla, but almost any sweet glaze tastes wonderful!

Now, I’m also a very picky muffin eater. I basically won’t eat muffins from coffee shops or restaurants because they are so sweet, and the tops are always weirdly sticky. It’s also a hard pass on prepackaged. I guess it’s one of those things where I got used to the ones my mom made as a kid and those were really only all I ever tried until I was a teenager. I like my muffins less sweet, and a little more on the dry side. I feel like if it’s more sweet/moist it’s just cake.. and I don’t like cake. These muffins are sweet, but not overly so. Spice though? Full steam ahead. And the zucchini insures they are NOT dry. Let me know if you make them and if you too are a muffin snob.

Chai Spice Zucchini Muffins

A chai spiced zucchini muffin with an optional vanilla glaze

4.50 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Ingredients

• 150-170 g Grated zucchini 2 cups
• 360 g All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 1 tsp Sea salt
• ¾ cup Dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup Granulated sugar
• 2 large Eggs room temp
• 1 cup Neutral oil vegetable, canola
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 ½ tsp Cardamom
• ½ tsp Ground ginger
• ½ tsp Nutmeg
• ¼ tsp Clove
• ¼ tsp All spice
• 3 tsp Vanilla extract

Glaze

• ½ cup Confectioners' sugar sifted
• 1-2 tbsp Half and half
• ½ tsp Vanilla extract

Instructions

• Lightly grease or line muffin tins with liners. Grate zucchini into a colander and lightly sprinkle with sugar. Let sit for 20-30 minutes to release water, then put zucchini in a tea towel and squeeze out additional moisture.
• Preheat oven to 425°F
• Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices together in large bowl. Ina smaller bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and zucchini until combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry, mix until just combined, do not overmix.
• Fill muffin cups ¾ full and bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350°F and bake for another 15-25 minutes depending on size of muffins. Toothpick inserted into center will come out clean. Remove from tins immediately and let cool on wire rack.