These Costco Muffins' First Ingredient Is Zucchini, but They Taste Like Chocolate

Even though we know how important vegetables are for a balanced diet and weight loss, they aren't usually the easiest food to eat more of. I mean, carrot sticks are great, but if it's a choice between that and chocolate, we all know who's going to win. That's why sneaking veggies into other foods is such a great way to up your intake, and why we're intrigued by Garden Lites's stock of healthy frozen vegetable muffins.

What makes them stand out? Each flavor lists a vegetable, either zucchini or carrots, as its main ingredient. But the flavors are all your favorite muffin classics, from double chocolate to banana chocolate chip and blueberry oat. They have their fair share of sugar, with five to 11 grams per muffin, but that's still less than most other brands of prepared muffins; according to the USDA, a comparably sized blueberry muffin can have up to 21 grams. Garden Lites's version is also substantially lower in calories, with 110 for the double chocolate flavor, compared to 248 in other brands. They're also free of soy, peanuts and tree nuts, and gluten.

You can bake your own vegetable-packed muffins, of course, but this frozen option is also pretty freaking convenient. The brand recommends simply pulling your muffin out of the freezer and microwaving it for 35 seconds to defrost and get it piping hot before eating. And speaking of convenience, Garden Lites are available at Costco, Target, Amazon, and on their website ($32 for a pack of 24 muffins), where you can also check out full nutrition info. Scroll on to see photos and more flavor options for these healthy vegetable muffins.