These Chocolate Banana Muffins are the moistest, softest, and easiest ever. You need only 10 ingredients and little 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 muffins? I think it’s easier to find out who doesn’t. Who else loves to end lunch or dinner that way? Haha, same question and answer here, right This recipe is perfectly suitable for breakfast and dessert.
They are awesome in taste and texture, and the intense chocolate flavor is combined with sweet banana taste.
Instructions
For this recipe, you need two bowls. In the first bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk mashed bananas and sugar to combine. You can mash the bananas with a fork or puree with an immersion blender.
Slowly mix in oil and stir to combine.
Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine.
Then stir in the dry ingredients just until combined.
This is how the batter should look like at this step:
Then fold in banana chunks and chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into 19-20 muffin liners. Use one or two 12 muffin pans. Fill the liners between ¾ to almost full, as you can see in the picture below.
Then bake at 425°F (220°C) 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.
Top tips
- Use a whisk rather than an electric mixer and stir at every step just until the ingredients are combined. Muffins tend to dry out, sink, or spill over if you overmix them. With mixing as little as possible, you make sure that they are super soft, moist, and beautifully high.
- The secret to high-doomed muffins is the high baking temperature in the beginning. Baking them for 5 minutes at high temperature lets them rise beautifully high right from the beginning.
This is how they 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):
Substitutions
If you are looking for healthy, gluten-free, or vegan options, I got you covered.
Replace
- canola/vegetable oil with applesauce 1:1
- canola/vegetable oil with healthier oil, like coconut 1:1 (choose a mild-flavored oil)
- ½ cup sugar with ⅓ cup honey or maple syrup
- all-purpose flour with Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour 1:1
- eggs with flax eggs 1:1
Be aware that all substitutions affect the taste and consistency even if it is just lightly.
Variations
Mini muffins
Make the recipe as described. Then 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 constantly 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.
Small batch
Just divide the recipe in half and you will get about 9-10 muffins instead of 19-20. Dividing the recipe by half leads to about 27-28 mini muffins.
Storage
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.
Freezing
If you plan to freeze them, let them cool completely. Then wrap each muffin tightly in plastic wrap, one by one, place in freezer bags and remove as much air as possible. They freeze well up to 3 months.
To thaw, unwrap, and place them on the kitchen counter. They need about 1-2 hours to come to room temperature.
Related recipes
You're still craving muffins? In this case, may also like white chocolate muffins, chocolate muffins, or blueberry muffins. I also dedicated a whole chapter to them in my cookbook.
Recipe
Soft and Moist Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 10.5 oz ripe bananas, mashed
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar
- ½ cup oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (or 2 vanilla beans*)
- ¾ cup chocolate chips
- 1 ripe banana, cut into small chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line two 12 muffin pans with about 19-20 muffin liners. Set aside.
- Combine flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- 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.
- Fold in chocolate chips and banana chunks just until combined. Divide the batter into muffin liners and sprinkle a few additional chocolate chips on top (if desired). Fill liners ¾ to almost full.
- 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, they 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 or freeze for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Top tips
- Use a whisk rather than an electric mixer and stir at every step just until the ingredients are combined. They tend to dry out, sink, or spill over if you overmix them. With mixing as little as possible, you make sure that they are super soft, moist, and beautifully high.
- The secret to high-doomed muffins is the high baking temperature in the beginning. Baking them for 5 minutes at high temperature lets them rise beautifully high right from the beginning.
Substitutions If you are looking for healthy, gluten-free, or vegan options, I got you covered. Replace
- canola/vegetable oil with applesauce 1:1
- canola/vegetable oil with healthier oil, like coconut 1:1 (choose a mild-flavored oil)
- ½ cup sugar with ⅓ cup honey or maple syrup
- all-purpose flour with Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour 1:1
- eggs with flax eggs 1:1
Mini muffins Make the recipe as described. Then 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 constantly 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.
Small batch Just divide the recipe in half and you will get about 9-10 muffins instead of 19-20. Dividing the recipe by half leads to about 27-28 mini muffins.
Great muffins, I did forget about the extra chopped banana but they are so good and I loved the hint for high temp to get a dome. I got 18 muffins. . Recipe is a keeper .
Love that the muffins are moist on the inside though the muffin tops crack quite a bit. I substituted the chocolate chips with dark chocolate chips to have a more intense chocolate flavour instead of being too sweet. I also added a tablespoon of milk to enhance its taste.
These were SOFT and MOIST and utterly DELICIOUS!!! For the first time ever my muffins had a nice dome top and that was using gluten-free flour. These muffins are an absolute winner.
Hi. Can I possibly add walnuts on this recipe? A fan from the Philippines
Hi Danielle,
absolutely, in fact, I think that is delicious! I think 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts would be perfect. Hope that helps!
Hi Sabine. This recipe looks great! I’m going to use cupcake cases as I don’t have a muffin tray. Should I adjust the cooking time similar to that of the mini muffins? Thanks!
I assume the cupcake cases are similar in size like the molds of the muffin tray. Therefore the baking time should be almost the same but to be sure not to overbake them, check them 2-3 minutes earlier and then regularly. For the next time, you know then for sure how long the baking time is. Hope that helps!
This is the first time I comment on a recipe I tried. These muffins taste heavenly! Already made them twice this week and everybody loved them. Thank you so much for this delicious recipe, now it’s time to try some others! Love from Turkey.
They came out so delicious and moist. I shared with a friend who also enjoyed them and the requested chocolate orange ones next time. I made them two weeks ago and I am about to make them again!!
Hey Sabine!
I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say that these are 100% some of the best muffins I’ve tasted, if not even better than coffee shop muffins! This recipe was lovingly pinned to my Pinterest a while back and finally, during the current U.K lockdown I got down to baking these this afternoon! I used the Wilton muffin pans and tulip-style baking cases, which probably make about 8 to 9 jumbo (coffee shop style) muffins. I kept a close eye on the time as I eventually realised these were much larger than your beautifully photographed muffins, (about 5 mins and 30 seconds at 220 and then the 14 mins at 175 worked for me) and they came out beautifully moist, chocolatey yet with an intense banana flavour - the banana chunks added to this. Next time, I will probably have to double this recipe or will have to get smaller cases like yours. Anyway, thanks again!! X
Hey Gaya, I'm so happy that you like the recipe as much as we do! Doubling the recipe is definitely a great idea 🙂 Stay safe and healthy!
Hi, I just made your recipe, I am always happy to find a recipe that uses oil instead of butter, so much easier. I have one question. The mashed bananas were measured in oz., so I weighed them. It seemed like a lot of banana, so I skipped the chunks. Did I miss something? It made 15 muffins which were tough to tell when baked. My son and I split one. The flavor is good and texture soft. Being a fussy, long time baker, the very bottom might be a touch dry. I expected them to be a bit more fudge. Linda in RI
You can skip the banana chunks in the recipe without a problem. It is important to use the correct amount of mashed bananas though. It's best to test if they are done with a toothpick as stated in the recipe. If baked correctly the muffins are moist and soft as described but not fudgy.
Just baked it !! It's moist and yummlicious. Super easy to make too. Thank you!