My double chocolate muffins are moist high rising muffins loaded with chocolate chips ~ aka chocolate cake for breakfast. Best of all, they’re super easy to make and ready in about 30 minutes.
rich chocolate muffins tread the delicious line between muffin and cupcake
These chocolate muffins have that perfect texture I’m always striving for in baked goods – super moist, rich and satisfying. Doubling up the chocolate flavor by using cocoa powder and chocolate chips makes them even better. If you’ve always thought muffins were a little boring and dry, I think you’ll be surprised at how insanely delicious something technically called a ‘muffin’ can be!
gather your ingredients
This recipe is super pantry-and-fridge-staple friendly, which is great, because you’re going to want to whip them up all the time, trust me.
- flour ~ I use all purpose flour here.
- unsweetened cocoa powder ~ Dutched cocoa gives the extra rich color and flavor to these chocolate muffins, but you can use any kind you have on hand. Just don’t use sweetened cocoa powder.
- baking powder and baking soda ~ the combination gives these muffins their high rise.
- salt ~ salt enhances both sweet and savory flavors, and in this case sharpens the chocolate flavor
- sugar ~ granulated.
- eggs ~ add richness to the batter.
- vegetable oil ~ use canola or any other mild flavored oil.
- buttermilk ~ if you don’t have any, you can make your own buttermilk by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to milk and letting it sit on the counter for 15 minutes.
- vanilla extract ~ don’t be shy with this, it complements the chocolate flavor.
- chocolate chips ~ use regular chips, mini chips, or chocolate chunks, they turn chocolate muffins into double chocolate muffins!
pro tips for making perfect chocolate muffins
- The combination of baking powder and baking soda act alongside the cocoa powder (which is acidic) and the buttermilk (also acidic) to give these chocolate muffins a nice lift.
- Don’t use a stand mixer or electric beaters for muffin recipes; a whisk and silicone spoonula works better because you don’t want to over beat.
- Muffin batter tends to be lumpy, so don’t try and smooth it out, a few lumps are fine. Again, too much mixing will make the muffins tough.
- Fill your muffin cups fairly full, the muffins won’t overflow the cups, they’ll spring up nicely in the oven. The traditional advice is to fill muffin cups 2/3 full, but you can push that a bit farther to get nice big tempting muffins.
- The chocolate chips in this recipe will be mostly under the surface of the muffin once baked. If you’d like them to be visible, I recommend popping a few into the tops of the muffins before baking.
- I prefer muffin liners with this kind of sweet muffin; the sides will stay soft and moist in the paper and won’t stick to your pan. Look for parchment paper liners, they don’t stick to the muffin, either!
- Make sure your oven has been preheated properly and is at temperature before you slide your muffins in. Muffins require a nice hot oven to give them that initial rising boost.
- Remember that muffins are small ~ they don’t take long to bake, and they can over bake in a flash. Keep alert!
why this is the best chocolate muffin recipe!
I don’t always get on my soapbox, but these chocolate muffins are really really good, in a wholesome sort of way. The interior is nice and soft, and the chocolate flavor is just perfect, giving you the one two punch from rich cocoa and those chips.
While lots of muffins are great just out of the oven, these are just as great the next day. In fact, the day after the chips have had a chance to firm up again, and the contrast between the soft cake and the intense chocolate nuggets are one of my favorite things about these muffins.
more chocolate recipes to feed your soul
- Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
- DoubleTree Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- Ina Garten’s Chocolate Cake
- Milk Chocolate Mousse
- Flourless Belgian Chocolate Cake
- One Ingredient Chocolate Mousse
- Dark Chocolate Truffle Tart
Chocolate Muffins
My chocolate muffins are moist double chocolate muffins loaded with chocolate chips ~ aka chocolate cake for breakfast. Best of all, they're super easy to make and ready in about 30 minutes.
Servings: 12 muffins
Equipment
- 12 cup muffin pan
- paper muffin liners
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder, I used Dutched cocoa
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin tin liners.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix together well. Then, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin tins, and bake for 20 minutes, or until risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out without wet batter clinging to it.
- Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the baking pan, then cool completely on a baking rack.
Video
Notes
frequently asked questions
- Can I reduce the sugar in this recipe?
- Can I freeze these muffins?
- Can I use regular cocoa powder?Â
- Can I make mini muffins?
Nutrition
Calories: 240 kcal · Carbohydrates: 33 g · Protein: 4 g · Fat: 12 g · Saturated Fat: 9 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 30 mg · Sodium: 237 mg · Potassium: 211 mg · Fiber: 2 g · Sugar: 18 g · Vitamin A: 81 IU · Calcium: 71 mg · Iron: 2 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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Just delicious
I accidentally forgot to add the vanilla and they were still delicious. I can’t wait to make them again WITH the vanilla. LOL
It’s so interesting how vanilla brings out the chocolate flavor ~ glad you enjoyed them 🙂
BEST chocolate muffin/cupcake recipe ever!! I added a big spoonful of sour cream into my measuring cup then topped to the stated amount of milk. Truly outstanding! Enrobed the tops with a chocolate shell and decorated with pink almond flavoured icing swirls, for valentines day. A BIG hit! And goes really well with champagne! Lol
You’re making me swoon!!
I made as directed except I substituted sour cream with a little water for the buttermilk and made 6 jumbo muffins. I started them at 425 for 5 min and then turned them down and cooked the rest of the way for a total of 27 minutes. OUTSTANDING , easy and quick!!! Why try other recipes when these are so exceptional
Just made these and I think my search for double choc muffins ends here! These are exactly what I’ve been looking for, like the ones I used to buy in a bakery near my place, just that they’re not selling it anymore. Thank you. ??
Just to double check, is the ¾ tsp salt used correct? I found that I could taste the salt in a bite of the muffin. I did whisk all the dry ingredients well.
Also, any tips to prevent the muffin not sticking to the paper liner?
It is 3/4 tsp salt Hana, but always feel free to tweak my recipes to suit your taste. And sometimes, with salt, you can taste it in spots if it hasn’t been thoroughly mixed in. And when you use a coarse salt, for instance, the flavor can be more spotty. As for the cupcake liners, you can buy brown parchment paper ones that are made to be non stick, and they really do release well.
Yes, that’s what I meant, I can taste the salt in spots. Will remember to mix it well the next time. The salt and sweetness to me is just perfect! Thank u for the tips, will look for the parchment paper u mentioned. Thank u again for sharing this. 🙂
These are the ones I use, here.
WHOA…. I just made these and they are showy, huge, with extraordinarily tall domed caps, and just beautiful! I used extra dark/black cocoa and they look so sinfully rich. I got 13 tall muffins and so I obviously ate the odd man out right away!
Thank you once again for another outstanding recipe!
You did the right thing Pam, that 13th muffin had to go!
These were delicious! I made 24 regular size muffins out of these and they took 17-18 minutes to cook. So yummy!
Hi Sue- do you know how many grams you use per cup of flour? Mine didn’t rise up nicely ( new baking soda and powder) so I’m guessing I used less flour than you did. I typically use 130 grams per cup. I haven’t tasted them yet, but my family says they were delicious, even if they didn’t look as pretty as yours.
Hey Penny, I generally say 125 grams per cup, but like everybody else, every cup of flour I measure out will be a little bit different. I know from all my recipe testing that cookies and muffins are among the most sensitive of all ~ little differences like type of muffin pan, oven temp, etc, make real differences in how they turn out. We recently did this recipe again for a video and they didn’t rise as high in my home oven as they did in our tests. It’s par for the course, I’m afraid.