Soft and Moist Chocolate Banana Muffins

These Chocolate Banana Muffins are the moistest, softest, and easiest ever. You need only 10 ingredients and 10 minutes of hands-on preparation time. Detailed step-by-step instructions including photos and video. Perfect for breakfast and dessert.

Who else loves to start the day with a couple of soft and moist Chocolate Banana Muffins? I think it’s easier to find out who doesn’t. Who else loves to end lunch or dinner with a couple of soft and moist Chocolate Banana Muffins? Haha, same question and answer here, right?

These Chocolate Banana Muffins are great for breakfast AND dessert. They are awesome in taste and texture. Intense chocolate flavor combined with sweet banana taste.

I folded in chocolate chips and banana chunks to get the most intense chocolate and banana flavor possible. The texture is moist, soft, and fluffy. Sounds like the perfect Chocolate Banana Muffins recipe, doesn’t it?

What you will learn:

How to…

• make the best Chocolate Banana Muffins
• make high doomed muffins
• make mini muffins
• make a small batch
• substitute single ingredients
• store them
• freeze them

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS?

For making these super moist and soft Chocolate Banana Muffins, you need two bowls. In the first bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. In the second bowl, whisk mashed bananas and sugar until combined. Slowly stir in oil. Then add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Fold in chocolate chips and banana chunks. The batter is thick enough that you can easily spoon it with an ice cream scoop or tablespoon into muffin liners.

In those muffins are mashed bananas and banana chunks. The banana chunks take the muffins to the next level. If you never tried to fold fresh banana chunks into your banana bread, cake, you name it, then please start now. You will never look back. I promise.

Ready?

Alright, combine flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt in a small bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk mashed bananas and sugar to combine. You can mash or puree the bananas with a fork or immersion blender.

Slowly mix in oil and stir to combine.

Add eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine.

Then stir in the dry ingredients just until combined.

This is how the batter should look like:

Fold in banana chunks and chocolate chips.

Then spoon the batter into 19-20 muffin liners. Use one or two 12 muffin pans. If you make mini muffins, spoon the batter into 55-56 mini muffin liners. Detailed baking instructions below.

Fill the liners between 3/4 to almost full, as you can see in the picture below:

The muffins are made with oil which makes the muffins extra soft and moist. There is no milk in the muffins because the mashed bananas and the oil add enough moisture to the muffins that there is no need for extra milk.

Don’t use an electric mixer for making muffins. Use a whisk and stir at every step just as long as the ingredients are combined. Muffins dry out, sink, or spill over if you overmix them. With mixing as little as possible, you make sure that your Chocolate Banana Muffins are super soft, moist, and beautifully high.

HOW TO MAKE HIGH DOOMED CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS?

High doomed muffins are so adorable, aren’t they? In fact, it’s a very easy trick to get them as pretty as from a bakery.

The secret is a high baking temperature in the beginning. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C) and bake the muffins for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, lower the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake additional 11-14 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Baking the banana muffins for 5 minutes at high temperature lets them rise beautifully high right from the beginning. With the lower baking temperature, they still rise. But the higher temperature, in the beginning, is the booster.

This is how the muffins look like after the first 5 minutes of baking time (please excuse the poor quality, but I couldn’t figure out how to take a beautiful picture through the oven door):

You see how much is happening in those 5 minutes?

HOW TO MAKE MINI CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS

Make the muffins as described. Fill the batter into about 54-55 mini muffin liners until full. Adjust the baking time as follows: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°) and bake for 6-8 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Be careful. Mini muffins overbake quickly because of their small size. Because of the short baking time, the baking temperature stays constant at 350°F from the beginning till the end. There is no high-temperature phase in the beginning. It would be too risky to overbake them, and then they dry out.

HOW TO MAKE A SMALL BATCH OF CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS?

Just divide the recipe in half. You will get about 9-10 muffins instead of 19-20. Dividing the recipe by half leads to about 27-28 mini muffins.

SUBSTITUTIONS

If you are looking for healthy, gluten-free, or vegan Chocolate Banana Muffins, I got you covered.

Substitute

• canola/vegetable oil for applesauce 1:1
• canola/vegetable oil for healthier oil, like coconut 1:1 (opt in for a mild flavored oil)
• 1/2 cup sugar for 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
• all-purpose flour for Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour 1:1
• eggs for flax eggs 1:1

Be aware that all substitutions affect the taste and consistency even if it is just lightly.

HOW TO STORE CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS?

You can store them in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days. If stored in the fridge, they stay fresh up to 1 week. However, they are best eaten at room temperature and in the first two days.

HOW TO FREEZE CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS?

As said, muffins are always best eaten fresh. However, if you plan to freeze the muffins, let them cool completely. Then wrap each muffin tightly in plastic wrap, one by one. Place the wrapped muffins in freezer bags and remove as much air as possible. They freeze well up to 3 months.

To thaw, unwrap the muffins and place them on the kitchen counter. They need about 1-2 hours to come to room temperature.

If you make this Chocolate Banana Muffins recipe, leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #alsothecrumbsplease on Instagram! Would love to see your snap!

You may also like Super Soft White Chocolate Muffins, Best Double Chocolate Muffins Recipe, Chocolate Banana Nut Bread, Easy Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting, or click here to see all things sweet.

5 from 2 votes

Print

Soft and Moist Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

16 mins

Total Time

26 mins

 

These Chocolate Banana Muffins are the moistest, softest, and easiest ever. You just need 10 ingredients and 10 minutes to make. Chocolate banana muffins batter filled with chocolate chips and fresh banana chunks. Perfect for breakfast and dessert.

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 20 cupcakes

Calories: 179 kcal

Author: Also The Crumbs Please

Ingredients

• 1 + 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (210g)
• 2 + 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (42g)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 10.5 oz ripe bananas, mashed (300g)
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar (150g)
• 1/2 cup oil (120ml)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 vanilla beans* (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (120g)
• 1 ripe banana, cut into small chunks

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line two 12 muffin pans with about 19-20 muffin liners. Set aside.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl stir mashed bananas and sugar just until combined. Slowly mix in vegetable oil just until combined. Add eggs and vanilla* and stir just until incorporated. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine. Don't overmix at any step.

4. Fold in chocolate chips and banana chunks just until combined. Divide batter into muffin liners and sprinkle a few additional chocolate chips on top (if desired). Fill liners 3/4 to almost full. You will get about 20 muffins. 

5. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (220°C) then lower the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake additional 11-14 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Don't overbake otherwise, your muffins will end up dry. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Recipe Video

Notes

*First, cut off the straight end of the vanilla bean. Then place the tip of your sharp knife below the curled end and cut the vanilla bean through the middle of the bean lengthwise. Although you don't need to cut it all the way through, it's ok when you do so. Then open the vanilla bean and scrape out the flavorful seeds with the back of your knife. Just use the seeds.

 

MINI CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS:

If you want to make mini muffins, line three 24 mini muffin pans with about 55 mini muffin liners. Bake mini muffins for about 6-8 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be careful, they overbake very quickly because of their small size.

 

SUBSTITUTIONS:

You could consider the following substitutions:

Replace...

• vegetable/canola oil with applesauce 1:1
• 1/2 cup white sugar with 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
• vegetable/canola oil with healthier oil like coconut 1:1 (opt in for a mild flavored oil)
• all-purpose flour with Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour 1:1
• eggs with flax eggs 1:1

 

SMALL BATCH

For small batch version, divide the recipe in half.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Read the blog post for additional information on how to make, store, and freeze chocolate banana muffins.
• Watch step-by-step photos to see the required consistency in every step. 
• Watch the 25-seconds video to see the whole process of making the muffins.