Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Loaded with banana flavor and the perfect amount of chocolate chips.
Texture: Delightfully fluffy, moist, and tender.
Ease: Ready in 30 minutes from start to finish!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: The perfect way to use up overripe bananas.
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These banana chocolate chip muffins are tall, fluffy, and exceptionally moist, with a tender crumb and plenty of melty chocolate in every bite.
What makes this version special is the test-kitchen precision: the right (albeit surprising!) flour choice, a butter-and-oil combo, and a mixing method that prevents dense or claggy muffins — so they bake up reliably every time.
The most craveworthy grab-and-go breakfast, afternoon snack for the kids, or anytime you need to use up overripe bananas, stat.
Reader Love
these muffins are sooooo good! definitely my go-to recipe, I’ve made them several times and they always get devoured up so quickly 🙂
–
Sprinkle of Science
Why This Recipe Works
- Bread flour creates structure. Its higher protein helps the muffins rise taller and fluffier. No dense or claggy muffins, here!
- Butter + oil gives the best texture. Butter adds flavor; oil keeps the muffins moist and tender for days.
- Very ripe bananas matter. The extra sugar and moisture improve both flavor and texture.
- Gentle mixing prevents density. Overmixing develops too much gluten and leads to dense, rubbery, or heavy muffins.
- Proper oven temperature = lift. Baking at a higher heat sets the structure before collapse.
Ingredient Notes
- Bread flour – Provides extra structure for tall, bakery-style muffins. All-purpose flour works too, but they won’t rise as high.
- Baking powder and baking soda – A mix of both provides the perfect lift and evening browning.
- Ground cinnamon and nutmeg – To add a delicious warm spice to the muffins. These are optional.
- Bananas – Soft, very speckled bananas are key for best texture, sweetness, and banana flavor. You’ll need 3 large bananas.
- White sugar and light brown sugar – For sweetness and moisture.
- Butter and oil – For flavor and a moist tender crumb that stays soft for days. Any neutral oil that’s liquid at room temperature will work.
- Eggs – To bind the batter and support structure for tall, tender muffins.
- Salt & Vanilla – For flavor. Don’t skip either.
- Chocolate chips – I prefer semisweet for balance. Mini chocolate chips will work well, too!
- Coarse sugar – Something like turbinado sugar, for a sparkly garnish and added crunch, if desired.
How to Make Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Step-by-Step)
- Prep the oven and pan. Preheat oven to 425°F. The higher temperature creates taller muffins. Line a muffin tin with paper liners (don’t skip these, they are essential for tall, well shaped muffins).
- Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices if using.
- Mash the bananas. I like to use a potato masher, but you can also use a fork.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Whisk bananas, sugars, melted butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
- Gently fold together. Add dry ingredients to wet and fold just until combined.
- Add chocolate chips. Fold in gently to avoid overmixing.
- Fill the muffin cups. Fill nearly to the top for taller muffins.
- Bake. Bake 14-15 minutes, until the tops are domed and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
- Cool. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a rack. The muffins will develop better banana flavor the longer they sit.
Tips for Tall, Fluffy, and Moist Muffins
- Use very ripe bananas — look for heavy brown spotting. It’s truly worth waiting till they’re ripe before baking.
- Measure flour correctly to avoid dry, dense muffins.
- Do not overmix once flour is added — streaks are okay.
- Fill muffin cups almost full for bakery-style height.
- For added height, use two muffin tins and fill every other cavity with batter. This allows more space and airflow for taller muffin tops.
Check out all my tips for baking tall muffins here.
Variations & Substitutions
- Nuts: Swap half or all of the chocolate chips for toasted walnuts or pecans.
- Chips: Feel free to use milk chocolate, white chocolate, or even butterscotch or peanut butter chips.
- Espresso: Add 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder for the perfect morning pick-me-up.
- Dairy-free: Replace the butter with additional oil (2T) and use a dairy-free chocolate chip.
- Gluten-free: Replace the bread flour with a gluten free flour blend plus 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum.
Storage & Freezing Instructions
Room temperature: Store in an airtight container up to 3 days.
Freezer: Freeze up to 3 months; thaw overnight or microwave briefly.
FAQs
Can I use frozen bananas?
Yes! Frozen overripe bananas work great. Thaw completely and drain any excess liquid before using.
Can I make these jumbo or mini?
Yes. Adjust the bake time. Mini muffins will need about 9 minutes, jumbo muffins will need about 20 minutes.
Does an overnight rest of the batter work for this recipe?
The baking soda in the batter will lose strength the longer it sits before being baked, so you’ll likely lose a little browning of the muffins as they bake.
Do I need to adjust this recipe for high altitude?
Reduce baking powder to 2 teaspoons. You may need to adjust more or less depending on your altitude.
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (205 grams) bread flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder*
- 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
- 1 1/2 cups (354 grams) mashed, very ripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)**
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) vegetable or canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
- Coarse sugar, for garnish if desired
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Position an oven rack to the middle or upper middle position. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices (if using).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the bananas, sugars, butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla until well combined. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir until just barely combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Divide evenly among the muffin tin cups, filling each 3/4 full for large muffins. You can also make about 15 smaller muffins by filling the cavities of two pans just 2/3 full. Sprinkle each with a generous amount of coarse sugar for a crunchy shiny topping, if desired.
- Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 14 to 15 minutes. Let cool in muffin pan for 5 to 10 minutes before removing to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Recipe Notes
More Banana Recipes:
Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
added 2/4 tsp of espresso powder in addition to the cinnamon & nutmeg, perfecttttt!!!!!
I omitted the cinnamon and added some apple slices in some of them.
The recipe said 1 tbsp of baking powder while the notes talked about teaspoons, so I used a teaspoon and they turned out normal, so I guess it was a mistake.
They tasted good but could be better/more my thing — especially compared to your Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins (which I made without the espresso, so they’re both banana chocolate chip muffins to me) 😂
I baked this yesterday (29/11/2014) in an 8 inch round cake pan. It came out great. I didn’t add salt because I used salted butter. I’ll make it again this Christmas and will add salt this time around even with the salted butter. Thanks for the recipe 😘
Can I bake in a bread pan? If so, would the bake time be the same?
We haven’t tried that, but I bet you could! The bake time would be something you’ll have to experiment with. Let us know how it goes!
These are seriously the best banana chocolate chip muffins ever. I completely ripened my bananas in the oven at 350 for 8 minutes until they were black—and they were perfeeect! So moist and sweet. I followed the recipe exactly and included the spices. And oh my goodness. This is going into my rotation of baked goods. Even my husband said they were the best muffins he ever had. So light and fluffy and moist!!
This recipe is amazing! Muffins come out tender, fluffy, moist and oh so delicious! I usually make half of my batch with nuts (for my husband) and half with chocolate chips (for myself). I’ve used this recipe multiple times and it hasn’t failed me yet.
I topped these with the peanut butter frosting recipe you have (used 1/4 of recipe ingredients, no salt needed). Have you frozen the muffin and warmed up for future eating?
Hi MJ! That sounds delicious! Yes – check out the pink tip box (above the recipe) for Tessa’s instructions on how to freeze and reheat muffins 🙂