Soft and moist Banana Muffins with melty chocolate chips are the ultimate treat and are a great way to use overripe bananas. These banana chocolate chip muffins take less than 30 minutes to whip up, so they are perfect for meal prep, sharing with neighbors and coworkers, and a quick recipe to bake with kids.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
Helpful Reader Review
“My kiddos loved how these turned out. I loved making these for us all. The easiest most delicious and moist muffins. I’ve made this 4 times already and came here to make it for the 5th time. I can tell this is going to be a repeat recipe for me so I better memorize now.“ – Fayeza ★★★★★
Banana Muffins Video
Watch me turn those brown, overripe bananas into the best banana bread muffins with chocolate chips. See how easy this recipe truly is, and then let’s get baking!
Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
If you’re staring at a few browning, speckled bananas on the counter, please don’t toss them! Those ripe bananas add the perfect natural sweetness to this banana muffin recipe. The browner the better, in fact! Once they are smashed up and baked into muffins, you’ll never see how brown they started anyway.
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 classic banana bread, these muffins bake fast (25 minutes), and are irresistible with melted chocolate morsels.
Banana Muffin Ingredients
Whip up these banana muffins with just a few pantry staples, like flour and sugar. You’ll need 30 minutes and a muffin pan for the single-serving-sized treats.
- Dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar
- Wet ingredients – unsalted butter (to control the sodium level), eggs, and vanilla
- Ripe Bananas – 3 medium-sized bananas (about 1 cup) mashed up. Browned bananas work best since they have the most natural sugar. If they aren’t quite ripe, see my tips below on how to ripen them quickly.
- Chocolate Chips – we prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use any kind you prefer. You can omit if you’d prefer, or also substitute the chocolate chips with an equal amount of toasted chopped pecans or walnuts to make banana nut muffins, or replace them with raisins for banana raisin muffins.
Pro Tip:
To ripen bananas in 24 hours, place the bunch into a brown bag, close it, and store it on the counter for 24 hours. You can also bake almost-ripe bananas in the oven at 250°F for 15-20 minutes.
Can I use Frozen Bananas in Banana Bread Muffins?
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
Our easy Banana Muffins recipe comes together in just a few minutes and has that irresistible banana flavor and a moist, spongy crumb.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F 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 the batter. Fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips.
- Scoop batter into your lined muffin tin (a trigger-release ice cream scoop makes it easy), sprinkle with chocolate chips, and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Natasha’s Tips for The Best Banana Muffins
There are 3 “secrets” or key points for achieving tender and moist 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. Watch our video on how to soften butter in 5 minutes.
- Don’t over-bake. If you’re wondering how long to bake banana muffins, 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.
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!
What is YOUR favorite way to use overripe bananas?
Banana Muffins
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 the 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.
Notes
- Room Temperature: Cooled muffins keep well on the counter in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: Place cooled muffins in an airtight freezer container for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter or in the fridge.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Muffin Recipes
Enjoy our top-rated, made-from-scratch, bakery-quality muffin recipes. I hope you find some new favorites here.
- Egg Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Mixed Berry Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- French Breakfast Muffins
- English Muffins
- Cinnamon Muffins
- Apple Muffins
- Cottage Cheese Egg Bites
These muffins are just what I was looking to make. Thank you for this recipe – making this morning.
Perfect! You are so welcome, Dawn. I’m glad that you found this recipe.
Hey Natasha, I tried these beautiful muffins and they turned out awesome in the first go. Moist yum and everything one would want it to be. Thanks for sharing all.
Hi Beverly, you are very welcome. Thank you for sharing your great feedback and review with us!
Sooooo delicious! Easy to prepare, so soft, good tips and I like it very much with a cup of milk 🙂 Thank You Natasha! This is my new favourite way to use overriped bananas.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
wow looks so delicious, i would love to make it… i hope you can also make a cheese muffins =D
I hope this becomes your new favorite! Thanks for your suggestion.
Hello! I have already mashed and froze the bananas so it’s hard for me to tell what 3 bananas are. Can you please tell me approximately what the measurement is for 3 bananas. Thank you!
Hi Shandre, it is about 2 cups of mashed bananas.
If I wanted to make this into banana bread instead of muffins how long do I bake it! Thanks!
Hi Pat, have you tried our banana bread recipe?
Baked these banana muffins yesterday and my daughters loved it. 😍 Thank you for sharing your recipes. Your chocolate chip cookies is also one of their favorites. 😊
Much love from the Philippines. 🇵🇭
That is so heartwarming, Cai. Thank you for sharing that with us and for giving this recipe a great review. We appreciate it!
I love this recipe. I have made these muffins a few times and they come out wonderful. My daughter doesn’t really like bananas but these muffins are a hit every time.
I’m so glad you’re all enjoying this recipe!
Delicious. Substituted chocolate chips for sea salt carmel chips. Added nutmeg and sprinkled the tops with turbinado cane sugar. Makes the perfect sweet treat.
Yum! That’s a great idea! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
This recipe produced perfect banana chocolate chip muffins banked for 25 minutes…score!
Glad you enjoyed it, Angela!
Great recipe. Used chopped walnuts instead of chocolate chips for a great breakfast muffin
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I LOVE this recipe, along with many others from Natasha! I always double the recipe because we just can’t get enough!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi Natasha. Can I substitute the butter with oil?
Hi Mumbi, I haven’t tried that yet to advise but I imagine that would work. Let us know how it goes if you try the recipe!
I made them this morning with oil instead of butter and they turned out fantastic
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Thank you will definitely try, butter is a little pricy where I am from
Thank you will definitely try it, butter is pricey where I am from
THANK YOU will do 🙂
Delicious muffins! My family loved it 😋thank you Natasha : )
I’m glad your family enjoyed this recipe Rosy. Thanks for your good review!
Tried this recipe today and it was perfect. I added 1tsp cinnamon & 1/4 tsp nutmeg to the dry ingredients 🙂 the smell while baking was divine. It’s great with a cup of maple chai tea.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that, Andrea!
Delicious and easy!! Shared this recipe with my family right after baking these… mmm
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Cayla!
do you have a good way to store the muffins for a few days
Hi Mary, Yes, you may store it with a plastic wrap or foil or an airtight container to keep it from drying. We hadn’t stored this for longer than 2 days but it should work for a few days.
Tried the muffin recipe today, they are really good! I substituted half of the butter for 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, and split the 3/4 cup chocolate chips with toasted chopped walnuts. So it was a banana nut chocolate muffin. They turned out great and were plenty moist despite swapping out half the butter. I did that to save on the calories a bit. Thanks Natasha!
Hi Rits, you are very welcome! Thanks for sharing that with us, that’s very useful info for those who would like to do that too.
Lovely muffins. I let the batter sit overnight in the fridge for the gluten to work….then 425 for 8 minutes and turned down to 350 for the last 9 minutes. This gives them the high dome tops we love.
Thanks for your good feedback and for sharing some tips with us., Joanne!
Hey Natasha! I tried out your banana muffin recipe today because my bananas at home very seriously over ripped and it was delicious! I did add cinnamon powder & mixed spices to it just because I love them personally with banana. Thank you for this beautiful recipe.
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
These were delicious. I used 2/3 cup walnuts/pecans instead of chocolate chips. I used my large Pampered Chef scoop and got 17 muffins. Done perfect at 25 minutes.
Perfect! Thanks for sharing that with us, Cam.