These decadent double chocolate banana muffins are moist, tender, and full of rich chocolate flavor from cocoa powder and melted chocolate pieces.
Made in one bowl and on your breakfast table in 30 minutes, these easy chocolate banana muffins are made from basic pantry ingredients and ripe, spotted bananas.
This recipe is a delicious chocolate version of fluffy banana muffins, perfect for a sweet breakfast, brunch, snack, or dessert!
While baking them on a weekend morning will have your house smelling like a chocolate factory, they also store well, freeze well, and reheat like they were made fresh.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Pantry staples - you likely already have everything you need for these chocolate banana muffins in your pantry (plus those bananas going ripe on your counter). Don't have liners? Make your own muffin liners!
Rich chocolate flavor - thanks to dutch-processed cocoa powder, the chocolate muffins are deep in flavor. The addition of chocolate chunks adds melty pockets of chocolate in every bite!
One bowl - this muffin recipe creates very few dishes and you don't need any special equipment!
Ingredients
- Cocoa powder. This recipe uses dutch-processed cocoa powder for its deep, rich chocolate flavor. Hershey's special dark cocoa powder can be found in most grocery stores.
- Sour cream. This adds moisture and flavor to the banana muffins. A full-fat version should be used.
- Canola oil. Any neutral oil like vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, or sunflower oil will work in the recipe.
- Bananas. Ripe, spotted bananas add the best flavor, texture, and structure to the muffins. Let them get brown!
- Chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate bars (chopped), chocolate chunks, or chocolate chips can be used. I prefer bars or chunks!
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Use greek yogurt in place of sour cream.
- Add your favorite chopped nuts to the batter! Walnuts, almonds, or pecans pair nicely.
- Use white chocolate chips or peanut butter chocolate chips for a fun flavor variation.
- Add a swirl of peanut butter into the tops of the muffins. Heat ¼ cup creamy peanut butter in the microwave, then swirl 1 teaspoon into the top of each muffin.
- Make the muffins in a mini muffin tin and reduce the bake time.
- Make the muffins in a 6-hole jumbo muffin tin and increase the bake time.
How to Make This Recipe
One: Mash the bananas, keeping them slightly chunky.
Two: Whisk together the wet ingredients until smooth.
Three: Add the sour cream and banana and whisk again.
Four: Sift in the dry ingredients, add the chocolate, and fold it in by hand.
Hot tip! Once the dry ingredients have been incorporated, stop mixing! It's ok if a few chunks of flour remain. Over mixing muffins leads to dense, rubbery muffins.
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Five: Top the muffin batter with extra chunks of chocolate.
Six: Bake until tall and fluffy, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Expert Tips
- The more ripe the banana, the stronger the banana flavor. Use brown, spotted bananas!
- Sift or whisk the dry ingredients together. Cocoa powder tends to clump, so this helps it evenly distribute in the batter.
- Don't over-measure the flour. Use a digital scale or the fluff, scoop, and level method.
- Fold in the dry ingredients by hand, careful not to over mix the batter.
- Fill the muffin liners to the top. All batter will be distributed between 12 muffin wells.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. It will be an equal swap for dutch-processed cocoa powder, but the muffins will be lighter in color and less rich in chocolate flavor.
This is likely because the flour was over-measured, or the muffins were over baked. I suggest using a digital scale for accuracy. Remove the muffins from the oven when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
Any neutral oil can be used so it doesn't add any extra flavor to the muffins (i.e. olive oil). Canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, or sunflower oil are all good options.
Storage
Store the muffins covered at room temperature for 3-4 days. Reheat in a 350℉ oven for 5 minutes, or 15-30 seconds in the microwave.
To freeze the chocolate banana muffins, wrap each individually in plastic wrap, then add them to a sealed container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Unwrap completely and thaw at room temperature.
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What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
- If you'd like to make the recipe in a different pan, use the pan size converter.
Did you make this recipe? Share it with us! Tag @thecozyplum on Instagram & Facebook and leave a star rating ⭐️ below!
📖Recipe
Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
Equipment
- 12 hole muffin tin
- Cupcake liners (optional)
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup dutch processed cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large bananas very ripe
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream room temperature
- ¾ cup chocolate chips, chunks, or chopped chocolate semi-sweet
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉ and line muffin tins with cupcake liners, if using.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in the chocolate chips and give it a toss, then set aside.1½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup dutch processed cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Mash the bananas, breaking them down, but leaving them slightly chunky.2 large bananas
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, vanilla, and canola oil vigorously for about 30 seconds. Add the bananas and mix, then fold in the sour cream until it comes together.1 large egg, ¾ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup canola oil, 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together using a rubber spatula or large wooden spoon. Once halfway mixed, add in the chocolate and finish mixing until just combined.¾ cup chocolate chips, chunks, or chopped chocolate
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin liners, filling each liner the whole way so they're mounded up. Toss a few extra chocolate chips on top of each muffin.
- Bake for 14 - 17 minutes. Test the center with a toothpick - it should come out clean with no wet batter.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Johanny
These are the best muffins I’ve ever made! They came out so moist and so delicious! I’m making two batches next time! My kids and parents loved them! I would recommend to everyone to make them!
Emily
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve made these. Forget banana bread, guys. These are IT for those old bananas!
The Cozy Plum
HA! Love this, now I want to go make some!
Shelby
Currently stuffing my face with already my second muffin from this batch. So yummy! My batch only produced exactly 12 muffins so no muffin tops for me 🙁
The Cozy Plum
Wahoo!! Must have filled those liners up more than I do if you didn't get the muffin tops 😉 An even 12 is nicer to me, anyway! Thanks for making!
Susan
So delish. I am a huge chocolate fan and these hit the spot. So easy too. They were made and cleaned up (and one eaten) well before my babies woke up from their naps. Thanks, Callan!
PETER M ROWE
what do you substitute with if you forgo the bananas?
The Cozy Plum
Hi Pete! If you don't want to use bananas, you could use 3/4 cup applesauce or butternut squash/pumpkin puree. You could also do 1 cup shredded zucchini!
If you don't have these, I probably wouldn't make them. The fruit/veg hold a pretty high amount of liquid so it would be too much to tinker with in terms of adding more liquid without doing an actual recipe test! If you try it, let me know how it goes!
Lynne Immell
These sound wonderfully decadent to splurge on during CORONA but not with a Corona?
The Cozy Plum
They absolutely are! And I'm all for a real Corona with the Corona 😉