Chocolate Banana Muffins — These chocolate banana muffins are moist and soft in the middle, with a slight chewiness around the edges of the muffin top. The best breakfast treat EVER!
Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe
Best muffin tops ever. And I’m one to judge. I’ve pilfered oodles of muffin tops in my day, leaving behind only the stumpy muffin cores. No shame.
These chocolate chip banana muffins are moist and soft in the middle with a slight bit of chewiness around the edges of the muffin top. Throw in the texture from the sugar granules, and it’s a perfect bite.
The muffin tops remind me of snow-capped mountains. They’re are as close to snow as I prefer to come.
I hit the jackpot when I recently snagged a big bundle of discounted bananas. Beat up and tired, practically free, and perfect for banana muffins, banana bread, and banana smoothies. When I saw Nikki’s muffins, I knew I had to try a version of her recipe with my banana bounty.
This is an easy, no mixer recipe, with the perfect amount of chocolate to satisfy your chocolate cravings without being too intense for a breakfast muffin, and the chocolate dominates the banana flavor. No complaints there.
Chocolate-banana cake disguised as muffins. Definitely a keeper.
What’s in Chocolate Banana Muffins?
To make the best banana muffin recipe, you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Egg
- Canola oil
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Mashed bananas
- Mini chocolate chips
How to Make Chocolate Banana Muffins
Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another, then combine the two. Gently fold in the mini chocolate chips last, then divide the chocolate chip banana muffin batter between 13 or 14 greased muffin cups.
Sprinkle the top of each muffin with granulated sugar — this is what gives these chocolate banana muffins that irresistible crackly topping.
Bake the moist banana muffins until they’re set, domed, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a crack comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Be careful not to over bake these muffins! It’s easy to over bake them because the batter is already so dark, so start checking them at the 20-minute mark to be safe.
Can I Use a Sour Cream Substitute?
Yes, plain Greek yogurt can be used in place of the sour cream, if desired.
Can I Freeze Chocolate Banana Muffins?
Yes, once fully cooled I recommend sealing these chocolate chip banana muffins inside a freezer bag. They’ll stay fresh up to 6 months if frozen correctly.
Tips for Making Chocolate Banana Muffins
I’m sure everyone knows this tip, but you can peel overripe bananas, break them into chunks, place in a Ziplock, and freeze. That way anytime you need ripe bananas for baking or smoothies, you’re set.
Although you can use regular-sized chocolate chips in the muffin batter, I love mini chips in muffins because they melt much more evenly and don’t sink to the bottom as easily.
Note that this moist banana muffins recipe makes 13 or 14 muffins, or 1 dozen plus a mini loaf. I love my mini loaf pans for that extra little bit of batter that I hate throwing out, but refuse to dirty another muffin pan for a couple muffins. The loaf pan fits perfectly next to the muffin pan on the same oven rack so everything bakes evenly.
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Chocolate Banana Crinkle Muffins
These chocolate banana muffins are moist and soft in the middle, with a slight chewiness around the edges of the muffin top. The best breakfast treat EVER!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup sour cream (lite is okay; Greek yogurt may be substituted)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (from about 3 medium/large bananas)
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (strongly recommended but regular size may be substituted)
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar for each muffin, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan and one mini loaf pan (recipe yields 13 or 14 muffins, or one dozen plus one mini loaf; or simply discard excess batter if that’s easier) very well with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (I don’t prefer the cosmetic look of muffin liners).
- To a large bowl, add the first 6 ingredients, through optional salt, and whisk to combine; set aside.
- To a medium bowl, add the egg, oil, sour cream, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Stir in the bananas.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir until just combined. Batter is quite thick and is prone to having dry bits hiding at the bottom of the bowl. Make sure everything is incorporated without unnecessarily over-mixing or muffins will be tough.
- Stir in the chocolate chips until just combined.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or spoon, turn batter out into prepared pans. Each muffin cavity should be filled to about 3/4 full, but not exceeding, or batter could overflow.
- Sprinkle the top of each muffin generously with sugar, about 1 teaspoon each. It looks like a lot but I like the visual pop and contrast of the white and dark; noting some absorbs and some is lost to the pan.
- Bake at 350F for about 22 to 25 minutes, or until muffins are set, domed, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a crack comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter, noting it’s not a perfect test and you may hit melted chocolate chips which shouldn’t be confused with raw better. Don’t overbake, which is very easy to do with dark-colored items and start watching them closely at 20 minutes.
- Allow muffins to cool in pan for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until they’ve firmed up and are cool enough to handle.
Notes
- Muffins will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. I find the muffins taste better on day 2 after the flavors have married.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
14Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 280Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 144mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 2gSugar: 27gProtein: 3g
More Easy Muffin Recipes:
Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins — Topped with Nutella and for serious chocolate lovers!
Flourless Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Mini Blender Muffins (GF) – No refined sugar, flour, oil & only 75 calories! They taste amazing!
Flourless Blueberry Banana Blender Muffins — No flour or oats, no butter, and no added white or brown sugar yet they’re incredibly moist, super soft, perfectly sweet, and are bursting with blueberries.
Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Blender Muffins – Gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, dairy-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, and under 100 calories each
Banana Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins (vegan) – You’ll never complain about eating your vegetables again! Soft, healthy, so good!
Fluffy Vegan Coconut Oil Banana Muffins — Soft and fluffy healthier muffins that you’ll never believe are made without eggs or butter!
Banana Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins — Banana muffins that could pass for dessert, that are studded with chocolate chips, and that are topped with streusel make me very happy to eat ‘breakfast’.
Hi! I really liked it! Just made them on monday. The only thing i changed was the sugar on top, because for me was enough sugar inside. I wasn’t very sure about the cocoa powder but they turned out perfect! The banana taste is there and the chocolate flavor it’s not so strong. Delicious! I’m baking them again!
Great to hear you will be baking them again!
Maybe I didn’t use enough sugar but my “crinkle” doesn’t look so crinkly. The sugar gathered into a crust on top. They still taste yummy, but they’re not as pretty. Any suggestions?
With baking, it’s really hard to troubleshoot something like why the tops didn’t crinkle as much, unless I was standing in the kitchen with you. As long as they taste great, I’m happy!
Wow! These are amazing and super easy to make! I wish there was a way to post photos on here to share between readers, because they’re also very photogenic muffins! My Instagram and FB friends are currently drooling over the photo I just posted! Lol! Thanks so much for posting this recipe; it’ll be a nice option for those brown bananas instead of banana bread on occasion.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And I agree these are very photogenic muffins!
You can always tag me in your IG posts https://www.instagram.com/averiesunshine/
Just one word -YUM! :-)
I actually got 18 regular size muffins from this recipe and as a result you have made many neighbors VERY happy :-) thanks again for a great recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And you have very lucky neighbors :)
I came across your website through Pinterest and made these muffins tonight…they are So Good!! Light, fluffy, moist, delicious, chocolatey without being too sweet. I like that you don’t need a mixer, that sucker is heavy. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And thanks for finding me!
If you lightly coat your chocolate chips with flour, they won’t sink to the bottom. It’s a tip my grandmother gave me years ago, and it works like a charm!!
I made these today and they were delicious! So easy and so nice :) Thanks for the great recipe — I’ve baked my way through a few of your cookie recipes already. This was the first non-cookie recipe I’ve tried and I loved it!
Glad to hear you’ve tried so many cookie recipes and that your first non-cookie recipe turned out great too! Thanks for trying the muffins and my other recipes, too!
You and me both girl — I hate the snow!! My guy dragged me up to Tahoe almost 3 years ago, and… That was the last time I went. And I stayed inside burrowed under the covers in bed for the entire time, minus when I wanted food and wandered down to the cabin’s kitchen. Anyway. These muffins… I think I’d eat the whole dozen, plus the mini loaf. I love the chocolate & banana combo!
I haven’t been to Tahoe in years! That’s the one exception I make for cold weather, is skiing. But 1 day of it!! and then I’m ready to come home!
We only live 2 hours away, so he wants to go ALL the time. I’m proud of you for skiing — I just want to snuggle up with warm blankets and coffee!
My daughter and I just had “tea” while eating the chocolate-banana-crinkle muffins in loaf form. I haven’t hauled out my mini-loaf pans in years–thanks for the opportunity! These tasted just the way I thought they would–delicious–I have a suspicion they will join my “regulars” in baking. And I love it when my baked projects turn out looking like the pictures. :)
So glad they turned out like the pics and that you hauled out your mini loaf pans and that these tasted just the way you thought they were going to!
I made these for breakfast this morning and they are fabulous. I made mini muffins and topped with the sugar and mini chocolate chips. Everyone loves them! Thanks for another great recipe, Averie.
Thanks for trying these and so cute that you made them as mini muffins and then mini choc chips…perfect! Glad they were a hit with everyone!
Such glorious muffins, girl!! Those sugary tops are so beautiful! :)
They were the best muffin tops I think I’ve ever had…loved those things :)
I just finished making these muffins and – oh man – they are insanely delicious! I have always loved the chocolate/banana combination but this was literally a party in my mouth! Thank you for such an AMAZING recipe! This was my first recipe of yours to try and I can’t wait to try more!
So glad they turned out great for you and keep me posted what else you make!
I’ve been on the hunt for how to make the perfect muffin top. These look great! Already pinned. :)
Awesome and thanks for pinning!
I love a good banana muffin, and better yet, a good banana muffin top! These look fantastic!
I made these this morning and my kids LOVED them!!
Oh that’s awesome! Glad the kiddos approved!
Muffin Tops and I go way back…love these! Especially the addition of the chocolate chips! Pinning!
These muffins look amazing!! Love those muffin tops!! :)
Why can’t we just have muffin tops!!? Love the crinkles because there’s usually ‘gooey’ just below!
Unrelated to these gorgeous muffins, but still info I have a hinger for: Do you have a macro lens? I’m very impressed with your closeups. GREG
It the 100mm macro Canon, the L glass version (there’s another one that’s not) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NEGTSI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002NEGTSI&linkCode=as2&tag=lovvegyogruna-20&linkId=4HEOOSXKELHB2LUW
Love this lens. I’ve had it for about a year and truly has replaced every other lens (bye 24-70mm) other than my 50mm 1.2 for top down shots only. Everything else, that macro lens. Loooooove.it.
I thought so! I want that lens. I’ve wanted it for two years. I just knew it was fabulous. Great pics. GREG
Hi! I’m going to make this recipe today for a play date and I’m wondering if I could make it in loaf form. I think that will make this yumminess go farther without having to double the recipe (don’t have enough bananas) and make extra muffins (because I would eat them all). Do you think I could make this work as a loaf?
I think it will be fine in a loaf pan. Just watch the baking time and bake til done. Enjoy! :)
gorgeous! I just love the muffin tops, Averie. And chocolate + banana can do no wrong in my mind. mini chocolate chips are a MUST in muffins! more in each bite.
Better *distribution of* chocolate when using mini. I can’t even bear full size chips in muffins anymore. They just don’t cut it like mini chips do :)
These are about as close to snow as I would like to get as well, thank you very much. Also, I really need to get my hands on a mini muffin pan! I’ve been coveting them for months and months.
Mini loaf pan AND full size muffin pans are what I used for this recipe, just clarifying for anyone reading comments :)
I love a good muffin top…as long as it’s not hanging over my jeans!!
Great tip with the frozen bananas. You can also use them to make ice cream.
LOL re the jeans comment, SO TRUE!
I love banana ice cream, too. One of my first blog posts in early 2009…banana ice cream :)
Muffin tops really are the best part, especially when they are like these, crackly on top and a little chewy at the edges!
Muffin tops are always the best part!! These look so yummy – love the sugar on top, and you can never go wrong with chocolate and banana.
YUMMMY!!! Currently have some ripe ones, woo! Will be making these :)
XO Chloe
A Latte Lipstick
Thank you for mini-loaf tip! I always get bothered by having to clean a whole extra muffin pan for the extra one or two muffins. Why haven’t I thought of that before?! Anyways, muffins tops are the best and I love these photos!
It’s a total dishes saver! You dont have to wash out a whole 2nd pan just to use 2 holes of it. I hate drying all those muffin holes! Plus, 1 pan + mini loaf fits on one oven rack whereas 2 full-size pans don’t!
Mini chocolate chips and bananas are a match made in heaven. I too am a muffin top thief so I am super pumped to make these!
These look pretty AND delicious!
Yay, muffins! These look AMAZING. :)
You aren’t kidding; those muffin tops look spectacular!
These look great! I definitely used to be a “save the best for last” kind of girl and eat the bottom of a muffin first to get it out of the way. These are probably delicious through and through, though :)
I just made banana muffins, but now I wish they had chocolate inside. OMG!! Pinned, obviously.
Thanks for pinning and I hadn’t made any choc-banana muffins in oh, 3 months? So for me I was way overdue :)
Holey moly – these look so AMAZING! Banana and chocolate, for me, are definitely one of the best flavour combos out there, especially in a muffin. I love it how these muffins have a sugary-snow cap and slightly rise up onto the edges of the muffin pan. Pinned 1000% ! x
Thanks for pinning and the great compliments! Every single thing you said, I was hoping!! to capture in the photos and I am glad I did! In person, these were some stunners!
Can these muffins be any more gorgeous? LOVE !! Beautiful photos, Averie! I’ve been playing with macro as well. Love getting close up with the food. :) Pinning and sharing!
Thanks, Anna. I’ve had my macro lens for a year or so and realized that the details are where it’s at for me. That old adage, ‘step BACK from your food’ it is true, to a point. But sometimes the zooming in is what I want and love to see in my pics and other’s pics, too. It just kind of depends I guess what the food is. But thanks for noticing and pinning!
Chocolate and banana is one of my fave combinations when it comes to food! And those muffin tops? PERFECT!
Thanks, Nora!
Oh how lovely are these???? I can only imagine how delicious they must taste too!!
Thanks, Aimee!
I love those crinkle tops!
I’m usually really happy with y green smoothie for breafat, but now I NEED a muffin
I can relate :)
I’m definitely an – eat the top and throw away the bottom – girl, too. These look fantastic!
So glad you can relate to that!!
That is one impressive muffin top there Averie! And I love the tip about using mini chocolate chips so they don’t sink to the bottom. PERFECT!
Oh you didn’t know that? Well glad it’s new to you! I swear I say it so often I feel like a broken record but you never know who will see what, and when.
I just saw your pumpkin bundt on FG and pinned it. PERFECT cake!
I love no mixer recipes. My mom is a muffin top connoisseur, I’m sending her this recipe right now!!
LOL well then I think she’ll be very happy :)
You had me at “best muffin tops ever”! Definitely will make them, thank you!
Ok well LMK how it goes!
Chocolate tastes so good with banana! I love the crinkle top of these muffins too! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning!
I love the idea of using a mini loaf pan for the leftover batter. This looks delicious!!!!
I always do because it tucks in right next to my regular muffin pan on the same oven rack. My oven really can’t comfortably fit 2 full size muffin pans and it’s annoying washing/drying all those little muffin wells when you only really dirtied two!
I use mini chips only and I have converted nearly every baker I know to do the same. It isn’t less chocolate, it’s a more even distribution of chocolate.
My SIL posted a photo on facebook of her break room where someone ate the top and left the bottom of a muffin and she was shocked. I was all, MEH. I’d have probably thrown out the bottom, but still.
You’d be surprised how many people still don’t know to peel and chop bananas before freezing them. I just told my best friend last summer and her mind was blown.
It isn’t less chocolate, it’s a more even distribution of chocolate. = WELL SAID!!!
Muffin top pilfering is nothing new, at least I didn’t think. Especially in places like break rooms, where it’s probably day, or three-day old, muffins from a mediocre groc store bakery to begin with, so the really only salvageable part of the muffin IS the top! The bottom is worthless :)
And the banana tip, as well as the mini chips not sinking, etc…people ALWAYS comment they didn’t know it, already in this post, so….every time I think it’s wasted breath, it’s not. So I keep on with it!
All I gotta say is: YUM.
These are gorgeous! Banana+chocolate=totally my jam.
Sounds and looks so delicious!! Pinning!
Thanks for pinning!
Why didn’t I think of combining chocolate and bananas in muffin form? I love the flavor combo … once again, Averie, you rock. I think I only have 2 bananas in my freezer now, though …
You could probably get by with 2 bananas as long as they’re big ones. Maybe cut the flour back a tbsp or two depending on how it looks. Otherwise you’re a good enough baker you can make it work. And I have a flourless choc blender muffin linked in the related recipes, those I believe from memory only use 1 or 2 bananas and they’re SO EASY!
I’ve made the flourless choc one before. It’s a highly dangerous recipe–I couldn’t stop eating them! :)
LOL well that’s good to know :)
Looks amazingly good Averie! Good job
These definitely look like the best muffin tops, Averie! I love the looks of them! And combining chocolate and banana is such a winning combination. Pinned!
its like a crinkle cookie but in a muffin form! I LOVE IT!
Great way of putting it!
Just printed the recipe-thanks!
Enjoy – LMK how they turn out!
Hello pretty muffins! I love those sugary tops and that you added chocolate to one of my favorite muffin flavours: banana!
These look Incr-EDIBLE! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning! :)
The chocolate banana combo is always a winner in my book! Perfect way to use up those ripe bananas.
And there’s always bananas to be used, right! :)
Crinkly tops on muffins and cookies are the best! Bananas and yogurt bake up so nicely–never dry but not too dense either. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to eat the muffin top and then smear the bottom with some kind of nut butter!!
I thought you were going to say…and then throw the bottoms out :) Which, given who and where I got the muffin from, depending on how good it was to begin with, well I’ve done. LOL
Know what’s sad? When someone posts photos of delightfully yummy muffins, and you don’t have bananas in the house. {sigh} NOW I HAVE TO GET DRESSED.
LOL well I hope you find yourself a few bananas. They go in spurts with me, seemingly multiplying before my very eyes when I don’t need them, and never having them ripe enough when I do get the bug to bake with them!
These look so yummy…that top looks sugary and crispy…I love that it’s crinkled. Can’t wait to try them.
Okay if you try them, LMK! And btw the Chex Mix because I know you said you were going to make that, people keep writing in that it’s not crispy, which it’s not. But I said that in the post but just wanted to make sure you knew that it’s more chewy and not crispy/crunchy in the traditional Chex Mix sense. Okay, bases covered now :)
Love the sugary tops! That makes muffin tops even more perfect than they already are!
And the recipe is nice and healthy, too. I love using the Greek yogurt. It makes an unbelievable texture!
It totally makes every better and more moist, that’s for sure!
These muffins look so delicious! I think they will become my favorite muffins! I will try it as soon as possible! Thanks for sharing!
I love finding beat up bananas at the grocery store! I did a big haul this summer and froze up enough bananas to bake into breads and whip into smoothies for a good couple months! These muffins are gorgeous, Averie – Pinned!
Thanks for pinning and glad you can relate to finding some ‘gems’ at the store!