Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Learn the secret to homemade bakery-style Chocolate Chip Muffins that beat anything you can buy. These muffins are soft, tender, and not too sweet – just a perfect ratio of muffin-to-chocolate.

A pan of chocolate chip muffins.


 

Ever since our Blueberry Muffin recipe became a rising star, I wanted to develop more muffin recipes for the site. You might think it’s as simple as swapping blueberries for chocolate chips, right? Not so fast. Hold your horses!

Blueberries and chocolate chips are totally different mix-ins; one is wet and juicy, the other is dry, and they require different kinds of fat. So while we used melted butter in the blueberry muffin batter, we needed to switch to oil for chocolate chip muffins. The chocolate chip muffins made with butter, while soft right out of the oven, quickly turned dense and dry. I’d still eat them (hey, a muffin is a muffin!), but they didn’t match our vision.

And while 2 cups blueberries was the perfect amount for blueberry muffins, it was WAY too much chocolate. You wouldn’t think a chocolate chip muffin could have too many chips, but here we are. Just 1 cup chocolate chips is enough for a batch of 12 bakery-style muffins. We are excited about how well these muffins turned out, and I hope you’ll give them a try.

Recipe ingredients

Labeled ingredients for chocolate chip muffins.

At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.

Equipment and ingredient notes

  • Muffin pan: I personally tested 8 different muffin pans in my home kitchen to figure out which one worked the best. My favorite was the USA Pan 12-Cup Nonstick Muffin pan. It effortlessly released muffins and cupcakes without paper muffin liners, even when they were still warm, and the coating is made from non-toxic silicone. Learn more in my post about The Best Muffin Pans.
  • Chocolate chips: Semi-sweet chocolate chips are classic, but you can use milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or even mini chocolate chips.

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with cupcake liners or generously grease. To prepare the dry ingredients, in a large bowl, whisk together 1 ¾ cups flour, ¾ cup sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
An empty muffin pan next to a bowl of dry muffin ingredients.
  1. To prepare the wet ingredients, in a medium bowl, whisk the large egg until smooth. Add the oil, milk, and vanilla, and whisk until combined. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined. (Dough will be lumpy.) Fold in chocolate chips.
A bowl of chocolate chip muffin batter.
  1. Fill prepared muffin cups with batter.
Chocolate chip muffin batter in a muffin tin.
  1. Bake until muffin centers bounce back when lightly pressed, about 18 to 22 minutes. Cool muffins on a wire rack for several minutes before removing them from the pan. Cool completely and store in an airtight container, up to 4 days.
A pan of chocolate chip muffins.

Recipe tips and variations

  • Yield: My Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe creates 12 regular-sized muffins.
  • Storage: Store leftovers covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.
  • Freezer: Transfer Chocolate Chip Muffins to an airtight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy them, thaw the muffins at room temperature overnight, then reheat thawed muffins at 300 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes or until warm.
  • Mix-ins: If you love extra crunch, stir in walnuts or pecans into the muffin batter.
  • Streusel: If you love a streusel topping on your muffins, in a medium bowl combine ¼ cup flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, and ⅛ teaspoon salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in 2 tablespoons cold butter until topping is crumbly and coarse. Sprinkle over the muffin batter in the cups before baking.
  • Banana muffins: Find my recipe for mini muffins in 12 Toddler Breakfast Ideas (it’s #3 in the list of 12).
Chocolate chip muffins on a plate next to a cup of coffee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I try this muffin recipe with a different mix-in?

Yes, this is a great base recipe for many flavors! Blueberries, cherries, raspberries, chopped peaches, or chopped nectarines would all taste great here. Let your creativity take the lead, just stick with 2 cups of your favorite fresh or frozen fruit and cut it into small pieces.

Can I bake these muffins in a mini or jumbo pan?

Yes, go ahead! You’ll want to adjust the cooking time to avoid over- or undercooking, but the recipe will work in any size muffin tin.

More chocolate recipes

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A pan of chocolate chip muffins.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Learn the secret to homemade bakery-style Chocolate Chip Muffins that beat anything you can buy. These muffins are soft, tender, and not too sweet – just a perfect ratio of muffin-to-chocolate.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 23 minutes
Servings 12 muffins
Course Bread, Breakfast
Cuisine American
Calories 378
5 from 8 votes

Equipment

  • Muffin pan (I tested 8 and this was the winner, see note 1)

Ingredients 

For the chocolate chip muffins:

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with cupcake liners or generously grease. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 ¾ cups flour, ¾ cup sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk egg until smooth. Add the oil, milk, and vanilla, and whisk until combined. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined. (Dough will be lumpy.) Fold in chocolate chips.
  • Fill prepared muffin cups with batter. Bake until muffin centers bounce back when lightly pressed, about 18 to 22 minutes. Cool muffins on a rack for several minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely and store in an airtight container, up to 4 days.

Notes

  1. Muffin pan: I personally tested 8 different muffin pans in my home kitchen to figure out which one worked the best. My favorite was the USA Pan 12-Cup Nonstick Muffin pan. It effortlessly released muffins and cupcakes without paper liners, even when they were still warm, and the coating is made from non-toxic silicone. Learn more in my post about The Best Muffin Pans.
  2. Chocolate chips: Semi-sweet chocolate chips are classic, but you can use milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or even mini chips or chocolate chunks. 
  3. Yield: My Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe creates 12 regular-sized muffins.
  4. Storage: Store leftovers covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 muffinCalories: 378kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 3gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 170mgPotassium: 148mgFiber: 1gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 111IUCalcium: 93mgIron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe?Tag @culinaryhill on Instagram so we can admire your masterpiece! #culinaryhill
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Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.

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