Zucchini cheese muffin slab

This is a savoury zucchini cheese muffin in slab form which is a handy big-batch zucchini slice recipe to serve lots of people without fussing with muffin tins (I know you hate cleaning them too!). Economical. Hidden veg. 5 day shelf life. CHEESE. I challenge you to think of a reason not to make these immediately! 🙂

Adapted from my Zucchini Cheese Loaf, this is a recipe that came into existence when I was shamelessly baking for the staff at the animal hospital when Dozer was in for surgery. Who me, bribing the doctors and nurses with baked goods to ensure Dozer got extra care and attention?? Never! 😇

Truthfully though, after 3 batches of muffins I lost the will to clean yet another muffin tin (paper liners just seem out of place with savoury muffins?) and flipped over to what I christened a zucchini slab-muffin. So much easier to make one big slab then cut it into pieces than using muffin tin after muffin tin!!

Though the initial versions were just fine, over the past few weeks I’ve been tweaking the recipe to make it even better (thank you team RTM for your brutally honest feedback!) to make the crumb softer and fluffier, and extend the shelf life to 5 whole days. I’m so happy with the end result, and I hope you love it too!

Freshly baked Zucchini cheese muffin-slab

Ingredients in Cheesy Zucchini Muffin Slab

Zucchini is the key ingredient in this muffin slab. It’s not just about sneaking in extra veggies or the lovely little green bits inside. It’s also keeps this muffin-slab fresh for up to 5 days, thanks to the moisture in the zucchini!

Zucchini

I use 3 zucchinis in this recipe. Two are grated and stirred into the batter, after sweating out excess water using a little salt. Zucchinis are over 90% water! The third is used to decorate the top.

I haven’t tried other vegetables in this recipe because my gut tells me the crumb will be a little drier than ideal. Even after squeezing out the excess water in the zucchini, there is still plenty of water in it which gets leeched out into the batter as it bakes. In fact, you’ll notice that the batter is a bit thicker than typical muffin batters – that’s to allow for residual zucchini moisture!

Dry ingredients

Plain flour (all-purpose flour) – Not self raising flour which already has baking powder built in. Generally speaking, cakes and muffins don’t rise as nicely and the crumb is not as soft. Better to add your own rising agent, like baking powder.
Baking powder and baking soda (bi-carb) – This recipe specifically uses both because it makes the softest crumb with an even rise (rather than a big dome). I know it’s irritating to have to use both, but it really does give the best result. I tried all sorts of combinations! However, if you’ve only got baking powder, you can substitute the baking soda with an extra 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, though the crumb will be a touch less tender (it will rise almost as well though).

Plain white vinegar – Acidity that gives the baking soda a kick start on the rising! You can’t taste it at all, it’s just to activate the baking soda. Either vinegar or something else with acidity in it (like yogurt or sour cream) is fairly standard in most of my baking recipes that use baking soda. I use regular white vinegar but any clear(ish) vinegar will work just as well. Don’t use balsamic vinegar!!! 🙂
Cheese – Use your favourite melting cheese like cheddar, tasty, colby (this is my everyday cheese), Monterey jack (this was, but difficult to find in Australia these days), gruyere (if your wallet stretches to this) etc. PS Pre-shredded is fine for this recipe!

Mozzarella is not recommended because it does not have much flavour. If I were to use mozzarella, I’d probably use 150g / 5 oz mozzarella plus 75g / 2 1/2 oz parmesan.
Milk – Full fat cow milk is best, though low fat works too.
Large eggs, at room temperature – 55-60g/2oz eggs from a carton labelled “large eggs”. Make sure they are at room temperature not fridge cold. More on eggs for baking here (including a quick way to de-chill them).
Oil and butter – Oil keeps cakes and muffins moist whereas butter adds flavour. Muffins that dry out the next day really bother me, so I was adamant that I wanted to use a bit. However, I missed the flavour of butter when just using oil. So I landed on a combination of both! Use any neutral flavoured oil.
Garlic – I love the hint of garlic flavour in this muffin-slab! Use fresh garlic cloves (not dried), crushed using a garlic crusher or finely grated using a microplane. If using a knife, finely mince it then use the side of the knife to smear it into a paste.

How to make Zucchini Cheese Muffin Slab

I know it’s tempting to skip the zucchini sweating. I tried. And regretted it. The batter just got too soggy and didn’t cook through!

If you really short on time, you can reduce it to 10 minutes sweating time but use a tea towel to wring out the excess water (you’ll get more out than using hands).

Sweat 20 minutes – Sprinkle the grated zucchini with salt and toss. Set aside for 20 minutes to draw water out.
Squeeze out excess water using your hands. Just grab handfuls and squeeze. There’s no need to remove every single last drop (to do that, I’d ask you to use a tea towel) because the batter is deliberately designed a little thicker than typical as we will rely on residual water in the zucchini to add moisture as it bakes. But please make a bit of effort during this squeezing step!

How much you need – We need 2 very tightly packed cups of squeezed out zucchini. A little more of less is fine, the recipe is pretty flexible. But if you have, say, 3 cups, that will weigh down the batter a little too much.

Decorative topping – Slice the third zucchini thinly however you’d like (I do lengthwise then halve, coins is also nice). Then toss with a little oil and pepper (not salt, it makes it sweat, we will salt later).
Whisk dry – For the batter, it’s delightfully straightforward as most muffins as. Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt).

Whisk wet – Then whisk all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Important to have all ingredients at room temperature else it won’t combine smoothly. For example, a jug of cold milk added into melted butter will make the butter solidify!
Combine – Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until the flour is mostly incorporated, but not fully. Stop mixing when you can still see some bits of flour.

Add-ins – Then add the cheese and zucchini and mix them through. Stop mixing once the zucchini and cheese is dispersed. Over-mixing will make the crumb less soft than it should be!
Spread into a 23 x 33 cm / 9 x 13″ paper lined pan (I grease with butter).

Top with the zucchini slices.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let it cool for a bit, then it’s ready to eat!

Serving and storage matters

This is one of those foods that has a place from morning to night, whether it’s a breakfast on the run, a filler for your lunch box, after school snack or taking into the office to share with co-workers. I also particularly like that it’s “grab and go” without the need to fuss with plates for serving. Just a napkin, if you’re feeling civilised!

It will stay fresh for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge, though if it’s not too warm where you are then you can even just leave it in the pantry. The crumb stays moist thanks to the moisture in the zucchini as well as the oil in the recipe. And even at the tail end of its shelf life, a quick little toast in the oven is all it will take to rejuvenate.

Love to know what you think if you try this! In particular, I’d love to know what people use it for. Feeding hungry teenagers? Morning tea in the office? Book club?? Tell me, I want to know! – Nagi x