These Chocolate Banana Muffins are moist, soft, and so easy to make! You need only 10 ingredients and little hands-on preparation time. They are perfect for breakfast and dessert. By the way, have you tried my air fryer muffins yet?
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Photo instructions
Combine flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk mashed bananas and sugar to combine.
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.
Then fold in banana chunks and chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into 19-20 muffin liners and fill the liners between ¾ to almost full, as shown in the picture below, and bake.
Expert tips for success
- 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 risen.
- Measure the weight/volume of the mashed bananas rather than sticking to a specific number of bananas for consistent results every time.
- The secret of well-risen muffin tops is the high baking temperature at the beginning. So please make sure your oven is hot and preheated when you pop in the muffins. Here's what they look like after the first 5 minutes of baking (sorry for the poor quality but I haven't figured out how to get a nice photo through the oven door):
FAQs
Yes, absolutely. Overripe, fermented black bananas work best in muffins because they add a strong, sweet banana flavor to the muffins. Black bananas may not be pleasant to eat because of the strong smell of alcohol and fermented taste, but they are great for this recipe.
If you only have fresh yellow bananas, you can quickly ripen them by baking them in the oven at 300°F (149°C) for about 30-40 minutes until black and soft. Let them cool to room temperature before using them in this recipe.
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.
Freezing
Wrap each muffin tightly in plastic wrap, one by one, place in freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, unwrap, and place them on the kitchen counter for about 1 hour.
More breakfast recipes to try
You're still searching for breakfast ideas? In this case, you will also like banana walnut muffins, white chocolate muffins, chocolate muffins, blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, bacon pancakes, or baked cake donuts.
Recipe
Soft and Moist Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, spooned and leveled
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 â…“ cup ripe bananas, mashed
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar
- ½ cup oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 large ripe banana, cut into small chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line two 12 muffin pans with about 18-20 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
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Rose Anne Comeau
These are the best muffins I've ever baked, just love them, the banana mixture makes them so moist and tender, Thank you very very much, this is my 3rd time baking them, giving this batch to my grandson who is out to sea lobster fishing!!!
Diane
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 .
Jade
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.
Naomi
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.
Danielle
Hi. Can I possibly add walnuts on this recipe? A fan from the Philippines
Sabine
Hi Danielle,
absolutely, in fact, I think that is delicious! I think 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts would be perfect. Hope that helps!
Sarah
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!
Sabine
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!
Feyza
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.
Stephanie
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!!
Gaya
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
Sabine
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!
Linda
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
Sabine
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.
Sara
Just baked it !! It's moist and yummlicious. Super easy to make too. Thank you!