Soft and moist Banana Muffins with melty chocolate chips are the ultimate treat. Banana chocolate chip muffins are a great way to use overripe bananas and a fresh spin on classic banana bread.
Chocolate chips make everything better! They add great moisture and a gooey chocolate chip is the equivalent of melty cheese in the dessert world. One look at our chocolate chip cookies and you’ll agree.
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Banana Muffins Recipe:
We’ve had so many questions about turning our chocolate chip banana bread into muffins so here you go – your guide to the best banana muffins! While we love banana bread, these muffins bake fast (25 minutes) and the flavor is just as good.
Can I Substitute the Chocolate Chips?
You can omit the chocolate if you prefer a basic banana muffin. The ripe bananas will still provide great banana flavor, moisture and natural sweetness. You can also substitute the chocolate chips with an equal amount of toasted chopped walnuts for banana nut muffins, or replace with raisins for banana raisin muffins.
Can I use Frozen Bananas?
If you have overripe bananas and aren’t ready to use them, toss them in a ziploc (peel on) and freeze them for later. Before adding frozen ripe bananas to the recipe, thaw completely at room temperature, or in the refrigerator overnight. Frozen bananas tend to release more moisture so peel and lightly pat dry with paper towels to remove excess liquid.
How to Make Banana Muffins:
- Preheat the oven and place liners in a 12-count muffin tin.
- Cream together butter and sugar then mix in lightly beaten eggs.
- Add mashed bananas and vanilla.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt then mix into batter. Fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips.
- Scoop batter into lined muffin tin, sprinkle with chocolate chips and bake.
The little bit of added chocolate on top makes these irresistible.
Pro Tips for Moist Banana Muffins
There are 3 key points for achieving moist and tender banana muffins:
- Use very ripe or overripe bananas. Underripe bananas will be difficult to mash and won’t incorporate into the batter well.
- Do not skimp on the butter. Since there is no other ‘liquid’ in this recipe, softened butter is needed for a soft and moist crumb.
- Don’t over-bake. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center after 25 minutes and continue baking only if you see wet batter on the toothpick.
More Muffin Recipes:
Enjoy our top-rated, made-from-scratch, bakery quality muffin recipes. I hope you find some new favorites here.
- Egg Muffins – perfect breakfast on the go
- Blueberry Muffins – with the best lemon glaze
- Mixed Berry Muffins – moist and studded with berries
- French Breakfast Muffins – rolled in cinnamon sugar
Banana Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, (8 Tbsp), softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten
- 3 bananas, very ripe, coarsely mashed with a fork
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, measured correctly
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚ F and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a mixing bowl, cream together 8 Tbsp softened butter with 2/3 cup sugar. Add 2 lightly beaten eggs.
- Add 3 mashed bananas and 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix until blended.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix the dry ingredients into wet ingredients until incorporated.
- Fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly into your 12-count muffin tin and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips evenly over the tops. Bake at 350˚F on the center rack for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a baking rack to cool to room temperature.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Please DO NOT throw away your overripe bananas because they are the secret ingredient for these moist and delicious banana muffins. The browner and spottier the peel, the better!
Q: What is YOUR favorite way to use overripe bananas?
I am a veteran baker, including professionally, for nearly 40 years, and this is one of the best muffin recipes I’ve ever tried! Not too sweet, fantastically moist and flavorful. I used perfectly ripe bananas (meaning, perfect for eating) instead of overripe ones as I have found that I don’t like the taste of overripe bananas in baked goods, and they work just fine, as long as they are smashed to a pulp. I used a bit more chocolate than called for, and used a combination of milk, semisweet, and white chocolate, and this combination worked great.
Hi, for Mini muffins, what will be the oven temperature & baking time? Thank you.
Hi Leslie, I haven’t tested it in different size pans to advise on the quantity of batter needed and baking time. Temperature should be the same but they will bake faster so keep an eye on them.
I baked these for 20 min and they were a tad too done for us. I usually bake my muffins for 16 minutes but the recipe said 25-30 minutes. Next time I’ll check them earlier. I think 25-30 minutes would have resulted in burnt muffins for us.
Hi Jessica, were you using convection oven settings? In that case, you would need to adjust the temperature or timing since convection bakes faster. Either that, or possibly your oven runs too hot? I suggest using an oven thermometer to monitor temperatures.
Hi Natasha, I have wanted for so long to email you but somehow I never make time but today I said I must write to tell you this recipe is the bomb, my husband loves this muffins, besides is so easy to make, thank you so much
Isabel
Hi Isabel! I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you for sharing.
Anyway I can use bread flour instead of AP flour and if I do will it make them taste differently
Hi Stacie. I do not recommend using bread flour, it has a higher protein content which results in a tougher, chewy, and dense structure.
It doesn’t get easier than a recipe with these few ingredients! Made them today. Yummy!
Omg I just made these and my husband loved them I added pecans and 1tsp cinnamon. thank you so much Natasha ❤️
You’re very welcome, Renee! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
These muffins are amazing! They are so easy to make and the bananas give them wonderful flavor. My son asks me to make them every week now.
That’s great, Carrie!
How would I convert 1 banana bread loaf into mini loaves?
This banana bread recipe is to die for!
Hi Anne! I’m glad you’re loving the recipe. I haven’t tested it in different size pans to advise on the quantity of batter needed and baking time. Temperature should be the same but they will bake faster so keep an eye on them.
I just made these muffins but I didn’t have chocolate chips so I put fresh blueberries in them and they are just delicious. Thanks so much for the very easy recipe with so much return in favour.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I made these exactly according to the recipe and I can’t imagine how they could be better. Adding cinnamon would change it a bit but the original recipe is amaaaazing!!!
I’m so glad you love this recipe, Vivian! That’s so great!
Amazing. Have been craving chocolate chip banana muffins for 2 straight months, definitely satisfied my craving. They are moist and decadent. I made 2 batches you can even sub out the chocolate chips for nuts. The only thing I will say that if you make your muffins bigger add on 5 minutes to the baking time. Definitely worth waiting the 2 months.
Thank you for giving this recipe a try! I’m really glad you loved it, thanks for the great review!
Well it’s Super Bowl LVIII and I made these today. Gotta say these banana muffins are a touchdown lol. I always follow recipes as written and then tweak if needed. However no tweaking required here, these turned out perfectly fluffy and so moist. BTW Natasha I just bought your hardcover cookbook and can’t wait to try the recipes. They look very yummy and quick & easy to make. Enjoy the game all! 🙂
Wow, thank you for your great comments and feecback. Appreciate it!
This is one of the best recipes for muffins and I have made many by now! Bravo and thank you, miss Natasha!
I’m so glad you loved it, Danica!
Can you do these in a mini muffin pan and if so how long would they bake?
Hi Janette! Some of my readers have made these in cupcake version. Mini cupcakes would work too but I haven’t personally tested it myself to provide the exact baking time. You should be able to keep temperature the same, just check them early on, likely around 10-12mins.
Natasha’s banana bread recipe is the absolute best. Today, I am baking muffins for the first time- they smell wonderful and just liike the loaf of banana bread. Absolute wonderfu, recipes for those of us that need a bit of hand-holding while baking.
Thank you for your great comments, Eloisa. I appreciate it! I hope you’ll love all of our recipes that you will try.
I think the bananas I used were on the larger side. I was able to make 14 muffins! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re very welcome, Katie!
10 star recipe! I followed the recipe to a tee and they were to die for! They were gone by the next day! I love baking and have tried quite a few Banana Bread recipes and this is now my top one! Thank you from Minnesota!
That sounds like a winner!! Hooray! I’m so thrilled to hear this recipe was a hit and has become your top choice, Kerry! Isn’t it the best when our baking efforts are well-rewarded? I just wish they didn’t disappear so quickly. Thank you for sharing your positive experience and review with me!
These muffins come out perfectly every time!
With a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, I haven’t found a recipe that tops this 🙂
Thank you for your great feedback. I’m so glad that you enjoyed our Banana Muffins recipe!