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.
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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 the flavor is just as good.
Banana Muffins Video
Watch me turn those brown, mushy 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 Muffin Recipe
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.
Since chocolate chips make everything better, we’ve tossed a few into the batter. 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.
Ingredients for Banana Muffins
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
- Wet ingredients – unsalted butter (to control the sodium level), sugar, eggs, and vanilla
- Ripe Bananas – 3 medium-sized bananas (about 1 cup) mashed up. Brown is best since it has the most natural sugar. Here’s how to determine if they are past ripe. If they aren’t quite ripe, see our 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 for 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 and store on the counter for 24 hours. You can also try to 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 batter. Fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips.
- Scoop batter into your lined muffin tin, sprinkle with chocolate chips, and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Pro Tips for Moist Banana Muffins
There are 3 key points for achieving moist and tender muffin:
- 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.
Make-Ahead
Cooled muffins keep well on the counter in an airtight container for up to 5 days. They keep even longer in the freezer. Make a double batch so you’ll always have muffins on hand!
- Freezing: Place cooled muffins in an airtight freezer container for up to 3 months.
- To Reheat: Thaw on the counter or in the fridge.
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?
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
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 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
Nutrition Per Serving
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I added the muffins for 20mins and they were almost burnt. I think 25mins or more is too much
🙁
Hi Giselle! They shouldn’t burn with that baking time. Are you using a convection oven or setting? If so, it bakes faster and would need adjusting time/temp. The instructions are for a conventional oven on regular bake mode.
Every oven bakes differently so there could be some adjusting needed but not drastically.
The type of pan used can also affect the baking time since different materials distribute heat differently. Did you use a standard size cupcake pan? I would also recommend using an Internal oven thermometer (Amazon affiliate link) to ensure your oven is calibrated and heating correctly. I hope that helps.
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!