Peanut butter muffins with mini chocolate chips – what could be better? These muffins are extra soft and moist and couldn’t be easier to whip up!

chocolate chip peanut butter muffins ~ dessert for breakfast!
You don’t have to be a kid to appreciate the allure of these muffins. Peanut butter makes them so satisfying, and those little bursts of chocolate are everything. Wholesome enough to be breakfast, they also make the perfect lunchbox treat or anytime pick-me-up snack. If you loved my Double Chocolate Muffins, I know you’re gonna love these too.
what you’ll need for the best peanut butter muffins
- peanut butter
- although I love natural peanut butter I don’t like to bake with it because of the oily separation. Jiff is my baking fave, creamy or crunchy is up to you. You can use no a sugar peanut butter, but don’t use a low fat variety. Note: Jiff and Skippy both have ‘natural’ varieties that are a good compromise and will work well in these muffins.
- vegetable oil
- the oil in the muffins keeps them exceptionally moist. Use a neutral veg oil like canola, corn, or safflower.
- milk
- eggs
- mini chocolate chips
- or substitute regular chocolate chips!
- flour
- I use all purpose flour, measured by fluffing the flour first, then scooping it with your measuring cup, and leveling off with the side of a knife. You’ll get accurate, consistent amounts.
- brown sugar
- brown sugar contains molasses that that makes baked goods extra moist and flavorful.
- vanilla extract
- you won’t taste it as vanilla, exactly, but it serves to enhance all the flavors.
- baking powder, baking soda, salt

the problem with baking with peanut butter
We’re big fans of the stuff here, but, if you’ve ever tried to bake with peanut butter, you might have found that it can be tricky, and a lot of recipes come out sort of dry and dense. That’s because peanut butter actually has a tendency to soak up liquid in baking recipes, resulting in less than optimum results. I’ve solved all that here, with extra liquid ingredients for a nice, sweet, moist muffin that even keeps on the counter for a day or so with no problems. (P.S. my Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cake is another fan favorite recipe that puts peanuts and peanut butter center stage.)
to store and freeze muffins
- The cooled muffins can be stored on the counter under a glass dome, or under foil. I don’t like to use plastic wrap because it can make muffins soggy.
- These muffins will freeze beautifully: let them cool completely, then wrap in plastic, and again in foil.

adapt this peanut butter muffin recipe
make mini peanut butter muffins
- This recipe can be made as mini muffins. Use a nonstick mini muffin pan and also grease it. Minis cook quickly, so check on them after 10 minutes.
change up the flour
- You can experiment with using part oat flour or whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour would also be good alternatives.
use up that leftover buttermilk in your fridge
- I love to bake with buttermilk, and it would work nicely in this recipe.
add peanut butter powder
- For an extra dose of pb flavor and protein, try subbing 1/3 of the flour with peanut butter powder (Trader Joe’s carries it.)
try peanut butter chips
- If you’re not a fan of chocolate, double down on the peanut butter flavor with peanut butter chips! For a super decadent version, you could even use mini Reese’s cups.
lighten these muffins up
- You might experiment with substituting applesauce for the oil. Fair warning: I have not tried this, but it has worked in other recipes.
make them dairy free
- If you cannot tolerate dairy you can try an alternative milk like almond milk, and use dairy-free chocolate chips. Be aware that the muffins may not be as moist.
make gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip muffins
- Use a good quality all purpose gluten free baking mix in place of the flour. I like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour’s products.

more recipes for peanut butter and chocolate lovers
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bread
- Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones
- Peanut Butter Frosted Brownies
- Milk Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins
Equipment
- muffin pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup peanut butter, creamy
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (or use regular chocolate chips)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin tin liners.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, peanut butter, brown sugar, and eggs until smooth.
- Add the milk and the vanilla extract, and whisk together.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour, and then add this mixture to the wet ingredients, folding it together.
- Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. You will have enough batter to fill them all the way to the top, like I did, but you can also make more like 14-16 smaller muffins by filling your muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, until puffed up and starting to turn golden brown on top. Remove to a rack to cool.
You know it`s a well written and developed recipe when your results are delicious.Used buttermilk and regular chips that were already open.Bonus,it made 14 instead of 12!
🙂 thanks
The taste is spot on but I think I’ll reduce the oil a little the next time.
Incredibly delicous and easy to follow. Plus I apprecaited all the extra notes; they made me feel confient about changing up the oil. I used avocado oil and it was super. Our new favorite muffins.
how come you want tell us how to make it
The recipe is right above where you left this comment, just scroll up!
Great recipe. I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup and reduced the oil by half. Reduced the milk to 1 cup. Added tsp cinnamon. Bake time was 15 minutes. Great texture and flavor. Added 60 grams raisins. Needed more. Next time.
This recipe made 24 muffins, filled mostly to the top. Next time, I will cut the recipe in half. These are delicious, though. We didn’t have any trouble dispensing with 24 of these! They taste like cookies!
Thanks C!