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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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
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I must have done something wrong, though not sure what. My muffins came out with a spongy texture & were very greasy – butter soaked through the muffin tins. Maybe I beat the eggs too long? I double checked and used 1 stick of butter. Maybe I measured the flour wrong? I spooned it into the measuring cup. I even had a couple extra muffins (14). Anyways, the taste is great, but I’m not a fan of the texture.
Hi Amber! I’m sorry they didn’t turn out well. Was the butter too soft? Overmixing after adding flour can make muffins spongy/rubbery. Make sure your oven is fully preheated prior to baking as well.
Ur recipes are easy and delicious Tks for all your help my husband Tks u to
Thank you so much, Georgianne!
I hope you love it, Amanda.
Can I substitute the white sugar for more healthier one?
Hi Amanda, it would depend on the substitution you would use. I haven’t tried a sugar substitute to advise. If you happen to try another option, I’d love to know how you like it.
I’m gonna try and use Organic Whole Brown Sugar Muscovado
These are the best muffins ever and I am not a muffin lover. From now on this recipe will be our family tradition in Christmas, thank you, Natasha!
Oh yay that’s awesome! Thanks a lot for your great feedback, Jasmine.
My family loves these and I have made them four time in the recent weeks. We are traveling soon and would love to make mini muffins for the plane. How long wod you bake mini muffins for? Thank you
Glad to hear that you all love this recipe! I haven’t made them in mini version. Just check them early on, likely around 10-12mins.
I only have 2 bananas. What can I substitute?
Hi Loraine. You can reduce the number of servings at the top of the recipe card to 8 muffins. It will give you the ingredient amounts to make this with only 2 bananas which will yield 8 muffins.
Had some bananas that were getting very ripe. Found your recipe and made the muffins since I had all of the ingredients in my pantry. Very easy and tasty muffins. Thank you for the recipe.
I’m so happy you found this recipe, Lisa! Thanks for sharing.
This is one of my favorite recipes. It has a perfect balance of sweetness and lightness.
I’m so glad to hear you found a favorite on my blog, Valerie.
Hi Natasha! ✨First of all… I love you and your recipes! Thank you for sharing 💕 Now my question, can I just double the recipe to make 24?
Hi Ella, you sure can! I recommend clicking “Jump to recipe” at the top of the post, it will take you to our printable recipe where you’ll have the option to change the number of servings. Hover over the number of servings highlighted in red and slide it to how many servings you would like to make. I hope that helps!
These muffins are fantastic, just like all your recipes. You ate so talented. I was wondering if I could substitute almond flour instead of regular flour. Also do I add any tapioca with the
almond flour. This way my granddaughter could enjoy your recipe as much as I do.
Thanks so much for your help.
You’re so nice! Thank you for that compliment, Mona! I haven’t tried using the almond floor yet so I can’t advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes.
Not enough details for cooking this recipe with frozen bananas. My liquid mixture was way too hard even though I thawed the bananas.
Hi there! The most common reason for that is not having enough moisture, likely from using too much flour. Be sure to measure correctly, I have a tutorial on How to Measure Ingredients (Wet and Dry) here.
Also- if your bananas were mashed and frozen you’ll need to verify you’re using the correct amount. It’s roughly 1 and 1/2 cups of mashed banana for 3 bananas but it can very.
How long would the cooking time be for jumbo muffins? Love your recipes 💜
Hi Lauren! I would start checking at 35mins and add additional time as needed.
Everyone in my family loves your recipe mam. Im thankful i have found your recipe..
I’m so happy to hear that, Maria!
I JUST made these (they’re literally still hot) and followed the recipe exactly.
I have to say they are the best I have ever made. So moist and full of flavor. I couldn’t wait for the cool down period because the smell was driving me crazy. I’m about to eat the second one already.
Someone please stop me. Totally addictive.
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 😋
Recipe looks amazing. But Can I melt the butter instead of being softened??
Hi there! That’s fine but make sure to let melted butter cool slightly so it’s not very hot. Adding hot melted butter can “cook” eggs prematurely or degrade leaveners.
Delicious and easy recipe! Very moist and easy to add additions if you want: chocolate chips/blueberries/etc.
Can I use whole wheat flour instead of APF?
You can, but it will be more dense. Whole wheat absorbs more water too so you use a little less or add more liquid if needed.
These were absolutely delicious and so moist. Will be a good to recipe in our family. Thank you, blessings ya’ll 🌻from Texas
I’m happy you enjoyed these muffins, Linda! Thank you for your great review. Blessings to you and yours.
Would it be possible to use oil instead of butter? If so, how much oil?
Hi Sarah! Some of my readers have made it with oil in place of butter, using a 1:1 ratio.