The best Chocolate Banana Muffins made from scratch. These sky-high, bakery style muffins are filled with bananas, cinnamon and plenty of chocolate chips.
Muffin magic 🌟
These bakery-style Chocolate Banana Muffins will be your new lunchbox fave. They come together in minutes but those sky-high muffin tops say it all, don’t you think?
If you have some over ripe banana sitting in your fruit bowl, let’s bake some Chocolate Banana Muffins together!
You know I love muffins in all shapes and sizes. But these chocolate-y Banana Muffins are definitely a new fave.
They’re soft and sweet (but not too sweet) with a rich chocolate flavour, a hint of cinnamon and plenty of banana goodness for moisture.
Plus I’m sharing all my tips for making these muffins nice and high – just like the big ones at your local bakery.
Like my popular White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins, these Chocolate Banana Muffins use oil for moisture. While butter adds flavour, it can sometimes dry out baked goods.
Oil works perfectly in this recipe because there is already so much flavour going on from the cocoa powder, bananas and chocolate chips.
Please just promise me if you are going to make these, use VERY RIPE, spotty, stinky bananas. They will add so much more flavour and the right texture 👌🏻
TIPS FOR MAKING SKY-HIGH CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS
- There is a trick to making high top muffins just like those at a bakery. First, you need to make sure you fill the holes of your muffin pan right to the top with batter.
- Then you want to bake the muffins in a very hot oven during the first 5 minutes of baking. This will ensure the muffins rise quickly and form those lovely domed tops. The oven temperature can then be reduced for the remainder of the cooking time. My recipe below will guide you through this.
CAN I MAKE MY OWN BUTTERMILK?
Yes you can for this recipe. Add 1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1/2 cup of milk. Leave for 5 minutes to curdle, then use as normal. This substitution works well in this recipe.
HOW TO STORE CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS
Muffins are ALWAYS better on the day they are baked – there’s just no way around it. So I recommend having a few fresh out of the oven (of course) and then wrapping up any leftovers and storing them in the freezer to maintain freshness.
When you get that muffin craving, heat one in the microwave for 10-20 seconds until warm and soft ❤️
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
Let’s Bake
Chocolate Banana Muffins
Soft and tender Chocolate Banana Muffins.
Ingredients
- 245 grams (1 and 3/4 cup) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 40 grams (1/2 cup) cocoa powder, sifted
- 3 level teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 90 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk*
- 180 grams (3/4 cup) mashed banana, (2–3 overripe bananas)
- 150 grams (1 cup) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 C (390 F) standard / 180 C (350 F) fan-forced. Grease a 12-hole muffin pan well with butter or olive oil spray or line with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and sugars and whisk briefly.
- In a separate bowl, add eggs, oil, vanilla and buttermilk whisk briefly just to break up the egg yolks.
- Make a well in the middle of your dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, along with the mashed banana and chocolate chips. Very gently stir until the mixture is just combined – be careful not to over mix or your muffins will be tough.
- Spoon out the mixture into your prepared tin. Bake for 5 minutes before turning down the heat to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced and bake for a further 13-15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Notes
Buttermilk: If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, try making your own buttermilk from scratch. Add 1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar or fresh lemon juice to 1/2 cup of whole or full fat milk. Leave for 5 minutes to curdle, then use as normal.
Nutrition Information
Jean says
Hi. Can I use yogurt instead of buttermilk? Thank you.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jean, I haven’t tried but I think it would be fine. Hope you enjoy them!
Jane says
Can’t wait to bake this! Could I use regular milk instead of buttermilk?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jane, I recommend using buttermilk if you can so they are soft and fluffy. Check the recipe notes for a DIY version.
carolyn says
Do you recommend natural or dutched cocoa for this recipe?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Carolyn, just regular natural cocoa powder for this one.
ELMA says
Love these muffins. Thank you for the recipe. Will definitely be making them again. Scruptious. 🙌🏽
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them!
Hannah says
I had an eye on this recipe for a while and finally, I made my chocolate banana muffins. They were delicious! Super soft and tasty. I cut the recipe in half, omitted the sugar but kept 2 ripe bananas. The result was amazing. Thank you Jesse for this tasty recipe.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Hannah! Thank you for your lovely feedback!
Ashu says
I love this recipe .
I baked some mini muffins and some regular sized muffins ( like the recipe calls for )
I’ wasn’t sure when to take them out. I think mini ones were baked well and the regular was still squishy in the center. But nevertheless yummy!
How do you make sure that you don’t over bake or under bake? And what is the baking time for mini muffins ?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, so glad you enjoyed them! You can tell muffins are cooked when they spring back lightly to the touch or when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Hope that helps!
Hannah says
made these today and they turned out great! The muffins rose and were crumbly but moist. You have the best banana cake/muffin recipes!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Aww so glad you enjoyed them Hannah!
Syakirah says
Can i use butter instead of vegetable oil?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, you can but oil was specifically chosen for this recipe to produce a soft and light muffin.
Ece says
i loved this!!! i didn’t have bananas so i couldn’t add them but the muffins still turned out so yummy definitely will do it again.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them!
Lyn gordon says
So glad I found your recipe! Love chocolate muffins and now I can get rid of my yucky bananas, which I always seem to have lol. Nice change from banana bread too!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed them Lyn!
Sarah says
Would the recipe still work if I made it eggless without any substitute?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Sarah, I haven’t tried so I can’t say, sorry.
Freya says
I used three smaller bananas and they turned out great. They were perfect heated up in the microwave for 15-20 seconds the days after they were baked. Will definitely make these again, a nice change from banana bread.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Freya!
Zoe says
can i use self raising flour
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, I recommend plain flour as that’s how the muffins have been tested. The ratio of flour and baking powder wouldn’t quite be the same if you use self raising flour.
Luna says
Is there anyway you can make and then cook these in a microwave? We are on the road in a caravan and don’t have an oven .
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Luna, I haven’t tried myself and unfortunately I don’t have a lot of experiencing baking using a microwave. If you do try it, let me know how it goes!
Marissa says
I loved baking these. They turned out super yummy.
Jessica Holmes says
Love that Marissa!
Kelly says
I made these yesterday and my husband said they’re like crack. He could not stop eating them. They are definitely going to made often in this house. My question is can I add raspberries instead of banana. Sould I mash the berries?
Jessica Holmes says
Love that Kelly! Ooh I haven’t tried with raspberries so I’m not sure. You could add a few raspberries in with the banana!
Kelly says
Great idea. Thank you
★★★★★
Laurel says
Could you estimate how much the 2 mashed bananas are (1/2 cup or 1 cup?). Did you use medium or large bananas? Does it make a difference? Thanks.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Laurel, I just use 2 medium bananas which makes around 2/3 cup when mashed. But no need to be too exact – two normal store bought bananas would be fine.