If you’re looking for a quick, easy, and delicious baked treat, my buttery chocolate chunk banana muffins are exactly what you need. My banana muffin recipe is full of gooey chunks of bittersweet chocolate and sour cream ensures they stay soft and moist. In less than an hour, you’ll have fresh-baked muffins that look like they came straight from a bakery. You don’t even need a mixer, just fold the ingredients together, and the batter is ready in 20 minutes.
Reasons To Make My Tasty Chocolate Banana Muffins
This chocolate banana recipe is for anyone who loves the combination of banana and chocolate as much as I do!
- Great Flavor: The combination of sweet ripe banana, bittersweet chocolate, butter, and tangy sour cream ensures these muffins taste amazing and have a tender texture. Some muffin recipes use oil, but I love the taste of butter. I use plenty of chocolate so you get the chocolate taste in every single bite.
- Great Texture. Using the muffin method (combining the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients) to make these muffins ensures the muffins stay soft and don’t turn out rubbery or tough.
- Easy to Make. These muffins are made by hand. They’re so easy to make, these muffins make a great weekend baking project with the kids.
Another great thing about these muffins is that they keep fresh for a few days, so you’ll have an easy breakfast or on-the-go snack ready to enjoy throughout the week. For an alternative try my chocolate chip pumpkin muffins.
Why Use Chocolate Chunks Instead of Chocolate Chips
So, chocolate chunks huh? Why not use chocolate chips? Well, I prefer chunks because I like the way they stay melty and gooey in the muffins after baking. This makes the texture wonderfully soft throughout the muffins. Chocolate chips will work in this recipe, but they hold their shape and in my opinion, don’t stay as soft as the chocolate chunks.
Key Ingredients for Banana Chocolate Muffins
These delicious banana muffins are full of great flavor. Here are key ingredients you will need.
- Ripe Bananas: Ripe bananas are sweeter and have more of that banana flavor than green bananas or bananas with just a few brown spots. Don't use green bananas, they won't have as much flavor. Ripe bananas are easier to mash and incorporate with the other ingredients. Use bananas that have a lot brown spot or are brown.
- Bittersweet Chocolate: I use good-quality 60% bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into chunks. I wouldn’t go any higher than 60% otherwise the dark chocolate flavor will be too bitter against the sweetness of the muffin. If you have semi-sweet chocolate, that will work too. I like Ghirardelli bars because they're easy to chop. Scharfenberger chocolate is also a good chocolate to use.
- Granulated Sugar and Light Brown Sugar: As I've discussed before sugar adds sweetness and moisture. But I love the combination of white and brown sugar in this muffin. The little bit of brown sugar adds a slight caramel note without overwhelming the flavor of the bananas.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda provides the rise for the muffins. Without it or enough, you won't get the soft texture or beautiful dome top. It may seem like a lot of baking soda for 12 muffins, but bananas are mildly acidic and when you add brown sugar and sour cream there are enough acidic ingredients to react with the baking soda.
Full ingredients, measurements, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to Make These Chocolate Chunk Banana Muffins
Step 1: Melt the butter over medium-low heat and then cool until barely warm.
Step 2: Whisk the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl
Step 3: Place the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
Step 4: Add the eggs and vanilla to the sugar mixture, whisking until the mixture is creamy.
Step 5: Mash the bananas with a fork, then whisk them by hand to make them smoother.
Step 6: Fold the mashed banana into the batter.
Step 7: Whisk in the melted butter, then whisk in the sour cream.
Step 8: Toss the chocolate chunks in the flour mixture to coat.
Step 9: Fold in the dry ingredients and chocolate chips until well combined.
Step 10: The batter should be thick and slightly lumpy.
Step 11: Divide the batter between a 12-cup muffin pan lined with paper liners. Dot a few extra pieces of chocolate chunks on top of each one.
Step 12: Bake the muffins first at 400°F, then reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake till done.
Step 13: Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then finish cooling them on a wire cooling rack.
Serving Suggestions for These Chocolate Banana Muffins
These banana muffins are good all by themselves, especially while still warm, but I like to eat them with a schmear of salted butter. For something extra special serve them with my homemade honey butter.
Tips for Successfully Making Banana Muffins
These muffins truly are easy to make and they're the perfect recipe for the beginning baker, but here are my tips for successfully executing this recipe:
- Use room temperature eggs and sour cream. Room temperature ingredients blend more evenly and create a better emulsion. Room temperature is 65-68F. Take the eggs out about 60 minutes before baking and the sour cream 30 minutes before.
- Use a kitchen scale. Weighing the flour ensures deliciously consistent results. Weighing the sugar directly into the bowl means you have fewer dirty dishes.
- Use a silicone spatula. When combining wet and dry ingredients, use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, not a whisk or electric mixer.
- Don’t skip the sour cream: Adding sour cream gives the muffins extra tenderness and moistness
If you make these chocolate chunk banana muffins please leave a rating and a comment below.
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Moist Chocolate Chunk Banana Muffins
Equipment
- Instant-read thermometer
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter melted
- 1-3/4 cup (220 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1-1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped into chunks
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 (100 grams) large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 cups (227 grams) mashed bananas about 3 medium bananas
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) full-fat sour cream room temperature
Instructions
Make the Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Add paper liners to a 12-cup muffin pan.
- Melt the butter over medium-low heat and cool until it is barely warm, about 90 degrees F. Crack the eggs into a small bowl.
- Place the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and whisk for 30 seconds to combine. Add the chocolate chunks to the flour mixture.
- Place the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Use your fingers to break up any brown sugar clumps. Add the eggs and vanilla. Whisk for 1 minute until the mixture is creamy and lighter in color.
- Place the bananas in a medium bowl and mash them with a fork or potato smasher. Then, whisk them to make them creamy. Add the bananas to the batter and whisk until fully incorporated.
- Add the melted butter and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Next add the sour cream and let the batter sit for 10 minutes.
- Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the batter and fold it with a silicone spatula until incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and fold just until all the flour is mixed in. Scrape the bottom to ensure you don't miss any flour. The batter should be lumpy. Be careful not to overmix.
Bake the Muffins
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Bake the muffins at 400°F for 5 minutes and then without opening the oven door reduce the temperature to 350°F (180°C). Bake the muffins for another 15-17 minutes until the internal temperature registers at 195-200°F using an instant-read thermometer or a toothpick inserted in the top of the muffin comes out clean (meaning no batter is sticking to it) and the tops of the muffins are spring back when lightly pressed with your index finger..
- Remove the muffins from the oven and cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then move the muffins to a wire cooling rack. Let the muffins cool for another 5 minutes before eating.
Store the Muffins
- Room Temperature: Cool the muffins to room temp and place them in an airtight container. Store the muffins for up to 3 days.Refrigerator: Store the muffins in an airtight container for up to 7 days. Bring them to room temperature before eating, or warm slightly in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.
Joanne Lowe says
Just thought I’d let you know that there’s an error in this recipe. In the instructions it mentions ginger but in photo of ingredients and in the amounts needed there is none shown. Have a great day!
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Joanne
Thank you for letting me know. I made that correction.
Laurie says
This recipe is fantastic! I really appreciate your precision in measurements and instructions. I followed the recipe exactly, and the results were dynamite. These muffins had excellent flavor and were incredibly soft and moist. I will use this recipe from now on. Thank you very much, and I'm really looking forward to making more of your recipes!
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Laurie
Thank you for trying my recipe and writing such a wonderful review. I'm so glad you like them and beyond excited that you plan to try other recipes.YAY!