This chocolate chip muffin recipe has remained a reader favorite since I first published it many years ago. These bakery-style chocolate chip muffins are BIG in size, flavor, and texture. They’re deliciously soft and moist with a crackly muffin top. Cinnamon spiced and loaded with chocolate chips, you’ll never turn to another muffin recipe again.
I originally published this recipe in 2013 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more success tips.
Today’s homemade chocolate chip muffins rival any from a bakery. They’re large and in charge, bursting with flavor, and are topped with a sweet sparkly sugar crunch. Like an acceptable version of chocolate chip cookies for breakfast! It’s a variation from my master bakery-style muffin recipe.
One reader, Jennifer, commented: “This is the recipe I’ve been looking for! The muffins are light and moist, not too dense or heavy. I think this is the best muffin recipe on Sally’s site! I’ve made both jumbo and regular size muffins… Thank you for this wonderful recipe! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Sabrina, commented: “Me and my family loved this recipe, best muffins I’ve ever made. I wasn’t too sure about the cinnamon at first and was going to skip it, but I did end up adding half of it in the end and they came out perfect. Really loved the kick it gave. ★★★★★”
Video Tutorial
Ingredients in Chocolate Chip Muffins
Besides flavor and texture, you’ll appreciate the simple ingredient list. You only need a few basic ingredients to make absolutely awesome chocolate chip muffins. Each ingredient is important and transforms boring muffins into bakery-style chocolate chip muffins!
- Flour: Flour is the foundation of these chocolate chip muffins muffins; we need a thick batter to hold all of the chocolate chips.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: A lot of leavener is required to create a significant rise against all of the wet ingredients.
- Cinnamon & Nutmeg: Cinnamon is a muffin’s favorite spice. You only need a small pinch of nutmeg, too. I promise you that nutmeg is what most chocolate chip muffin recipes are missing. You’ll never go back!
- Vanilla Extract & Salt: Both are used for flavor.
- Eggs: Eggs add moisture and bind everything together.
- Sour Cream or Plain Yogurt: Just like I do with chocolate covered strawberry muffins, I began adding a touch of sour cream to this batter. It helps keep the muffins extra moist and I highly recommend it!
- Sugar: Use granulated sugar to sweeten these muffins.
- Oil: Oil produces a moist, tender muffin. These days I combine a little melted butter and oil. See my recipe note.
- Milk: Milk adds plenty of moisture and lightens up the crumb.
- Chocolate Chips: These wouldn’t be chocolate chip muffins without chocolate chips! I always keep a large stash on hand for these muffins and chocolate chip cookies.
- Coarse Sprinkling Sugar: My secret ingredient used for sparkle and crunch on top. I like Sugar in the Raw or you can use white sparkling sugar sprinkles, usually found with the sprinkles in the baking aisle.
How to Make Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
This chocolate chip muffin recipe couldn’t be easier. The batter comes together in minutes, so it’s a wonderful recipe for busy mornings.
Mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately by hand, then combine them. The batter will be thick, which is ideal for holding muffin add-ins like fruit, nuts, or chocolate chips. Muffin batter is much thicker than cupcake batter because muffins are more dense. The thicker the batter, the less likely the add-ins will sink to the bottom.
- Tip: Make sure the eggs, sour cream, and milk are at room temperature, which incorporates them quicker and easier with other ingredients. I recommend taking these ingredients out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before starting.
Divide the batter in your muffin pan and fill each all the way to the top. You can make this recipe as 6 large muffins (shown), 14-15 standard size muffins, or 40 mini muffins. Top with a sprinkle of coarse sugar for a truly authentic bakery-style muffin!
Don’t Over-mix.
When combining the wet and dry ingredients, don’t over mix. This is very important to ensure soft and fluffy chocolate chip muffins. You’ll be tempted to keep on mixing because this batter is so thick, but it only takes about 20 strokes to mix it all together. You might notice a few lumps in the batter, but that’s normal. Remember, don’t overmix!
The Secret Trick for Tall Muffin Tops
Fill your muffin tins all the way to the top. If using a giant muffin tin, your batter will fill 6 large tins to the brim, as shown above. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F, then for about 25 minutes at 350°F. This initial high oven temperature lifts the muffin top up quickly and creates a tall crust, which is why filling the muffin tins to the top is imperative.
Most muffins bake between 350°–375°F for the entire time. Setting the oven to 425°F initially and then lowering the temperature after 5 minutes guarantees muffins with tall, sugar-crusted, crackly tops. I do this in all my muffin recipes.
See my Master Bakery-Style Muffin Recipe for more flavor options and ideas.
More Favorite Muffin Recipes
- Blueberry Muffins
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Banana Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Banana Muffins
Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 jumbo muffins or 15 standard muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Big, bakery style muffins stuffed with chocolate chips and topped with a sprinkle of sugar. This recipe is written to yield 6 jumbo muffins. For standard size or mini muffins, see notes at the bottom of the recipe. Baking times differ.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
- 1/3 cup (5 Tablespoons; 71g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/3 cup (80ml) oil (vegetable oil, melted coconut oil or avocado oil)*
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80g) sour cream or yogurt, at room temperature*
- 1 cup (240ml) milk, at room temperature*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (270g) semi-sweet chocolate chips*
- optional: coarse sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Generously grease a jumbo 6-count muffin pan with butter or nonstick spray (nonstick spray recommended) or line with muffin liners. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the melted butter, oil, sugar, and eggs together until combined. Then whisk in the sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Mixture will be pale yellow. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon until completely combined. Use a whisk to rid any large lumps of flour, if needed. Avoid overmixing. The batter will be thick. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide batter between each muffin cup, filling all the way to the top. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (for added crunch, recommended!). Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for 25-26 minutes until the tops are lightly golden brown and centers are set. Stick a toothpick in the center of a muffin to test for doneness. If it comes out clean, the muffins are done.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before serving.
- Cover leftover muffins and store at room temperature for 5 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week. Muffins freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 6-count Jumbo Muffin Pan | Jumbo Muffin Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula or Wooden Spoon | White Sparkling Sugar
- Oil: Vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil work best in this recipe.
- Sour Cream/Yogurt: I recommend full fat sour cream or full fat or low fat plain yogurt. I don’t recommend fat-free for either.
- Milk: I like to use buttermilk or whole milk in this recipe because either add wonderful moisture and flavor. You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy, but the lower fat milk you use, the less flavorful and moist your muffins will taste.
- Chocolate Chips: I love using a mix of regular size and mini size chocolate chips for varying chocolate texture. You can also use chocolate chunks or milk chocolate chips.
- Standard Size Muffins or Mini Muffins: For standard size muffins baked in a 12-count muffin pan, reduce baking time to about 20 total minutes: 5 initial minutes at 425°F and 15 minutes at 350°F. Yields 14-15 standard size muffins. For about 40 mini muffins, bake for 11-13 minutes at 350°F the entire time.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read for more about the importance of room temperature ingredients.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Do you know how many calories are per muffin?
They were delicious by the way. Not too sweet. The course sugar on top was a nice addition.
Hi Ally, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I calculated the total calories from my mixture which I made slightly different in that I used coconut oil and 150g Old Gold 70% Cocoa chunks. It came out at 4600 Calories (19,246 Kj) divided by how many muffins you make. I made 7 jumbo ones so about 658 Calories, 78g carbs (of which 37.6g is sugar), 10g protein, 33.4g fat (of which 23.3g is saturated) per muffin. Hope that helps. By the way, I’m not much of a baker but these came out absolutely perfect. Taste great, raised well, easy to make, moist to eat…just as good or if not better than the very popular retail muffin cafe known to us all with the added bonus that you know exactly what’s in them. IE – No preservatives, artificial flavours/sweeteners or anything else that’s required for extended shelf life. They are irresistible!!
Today was Dad’s day to make breakfast for the four kiddos (so Mom could go to the gym) so I made these quickly this morning. Super duper easy peasy to make, I had enough batter for 14 total. I sprinkled a generous helping of Sugar in the Raw on top. These muffins came out super amazing. They were crispy and slightly brown on top and soft and fluffy on the inside as the muffin top bursted outside of the top of the cupcake liner. This recipe is a keeper, there’s nothing else out there like it.
I’ve made so many of your recipes and they have turned out great. these muffins are my families absolute favourite they are perfect every time. do you think I could make these with zucchini? I know you have a recipe for zucchini muffins but I was wondering if I could make them more ‘bakery style’ like these ones. 🙂
Hi Emily! Since zucchini is such a wet ingredient, it would take some testing to put it into this specific batter, but what you could do is use the zucchini muffins batter and bake it in a jumbo muffin tin. You can follow the baking times and directions from these bakery-style muffins as a guide and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
The best muffin recipe I’ve ever tried! Very easy to follow, quick and the muffins rose perfectly. I’ve also tried the blueberry ones and can strongly recommend them as well. Also the spices make a huge difference, they really add to the flavor without overpowering anything. I absolutely love it:)
Julie, you have used blueberries instead of chocolate chips? Thanks!
Hi Rosi, here is our recipe for jumbo blueberry muffins. Hope you enjoy it!
Love this recipe. Already made it twice. Also love the giant blueberry muffin recipe. Now, if I can just find a giant cappuccino chocolate chip recipe, I’d be all set!
I tried this recipe today and my family loves them. I kept half of the muffins identical to the recipe and the other half I put in sweetened shredded coconut. Instead of 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, I used 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup coconut. They are absolutely sublime! Thanks for the recipe. It is going to be my go to when I need muffins.
These are delicious. One of the best muffins I’ve ever had!
I’m terrible at making muffins. When they do technically turn out well, I’m disappointed by how puny they are. Well this recipe is AMAZING. Followed it to a T and the muffins are perfect. Impressive size, perfectly done. And delicious of course. Highly recommend. Thank you!
perfection
This recipe is AMAZING! Some of the best muffins I have ever tasted. I decided to add mashed banana and chopped strawberries along with the chocolate chips…such a good combo! They are especially delicious heated up in the microwave for 20 or so seconds. Wow, I am definitely saving this recipe!!!
Can I make the batter ahead of time? I would like to prepare it and cook it in 2 days
Hi Jess, we don’t recommend it. The leaveners are activated once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, so it’s best to bake the batter right away or the rise and texture will be compromised. Hope this helps!
Hi there, I love this bakery style recipe but I’m wanting to use blueberry’s instead of chocolate chips how can I make the swap here? Thank you so much for your time!!!
Hi Lindsey, here is our jumbo blueberry muffins recipe instead!
I’m 13 and about to try this recipe for my family. We do not have jumbo bakery sized muffin tins. Will normal 12 count tins work?
You bet! See recipe Notes for details.
My 8 year old son helped me make a batch of these, we all loved them so much. Honestly they get better the longer they sit
Loved everything about this recipe except the amount of cinnamon- feels like that’s the main flavor of the muffins. Next time I’d probably use 1/4 of a teaspoon instead of a full teaspoon.
hi! My name is Nico! i am 12 years old, and I am doing these muffins for a school marketplace. The only problem is that my school is sugar-free, so I tried coconut sugar and sugar-free chocolate chips, but my muffins keep coming out a pasty texture. Do you have any other recommendations?
Hi Nico, thank you for trying these muffins! We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes.
OMG. These are easily the best muffins I have ever made. I followed directions exactly (except I had no nutmeg nor coarse sugar – both optional) for the large sized muffins.
My ONLY note would be, personally I would cut down on the amount of chocolate chips. These muffins are BIG and it got really filling near the end. A bit fewer chips might be the answer. But otherwise, I loved these. Simple, tasty, moist.
Do you ever use a muffin paper in the tin ?
Hi Janice, yes, you can absolutely use a muffin liner here if you prefer.
These muffins are everything promised. I made them according to the recipe (I used the melted coconut oil) & they are wonderful! I have been baking GF bread for a friend & would like to bake these for her as well. Can you provide any guidance?
Hi ab, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flours, but some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup). If you try it, let us know how it goes! Here are all of my gluten free recipes if you’re interested.
These reminded me more of scones than muffins. Way too dense.
Best Muffins Ever. Soft, moist, flavourful, with a nice crust on top. Sally is the best.
Is it possible to only use oil and not use any butter in this recipe? Butter is very expense where I live right now in South America.
Hi Katherine, for best results, we’d recommend using the combination of butter and oil in the written recipe. By using all oil, you’ll lose quite a bit of flavor. If you do use all oil, you can use 2/3 cup total.
You can tell she knows what she’s doing because she says to start the first 5 minutes a 425 for maximum peaking
I HEART THIS RECIPE
Daughter “demanded” chocolate chip muffins, so I found this recipe. So easy and delicious!
Question: if I want to add walnuts, should I reduce chocolate chips by the same amount I add?
Hi Maxwell, We would keep the total amount of add-ins to 1 and 1/2 cups, so you could do 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup chopped nuts, or something similar. Enjoy!
I used this recipe as a base for my “mocha muffins” (coffee and choc chip) i subtituted 80mls of milk for espresso and omitted the vanilla so the coffee flavour could shine through, really happy with the end result
Yes, I made these! I wanted to make muffins for my book club and didn’t start baking until the night before the meeting. I had no blueberries but I had chocolate chips, so I searched for a chocolate chip muffin recipe. This will be my go-to from now on. This one’s a winner!
Can you sub blueberries for chocolate chips?
Hi Kim, here is our jumbo chocolate chip muffin recipe instead!
This is an awesome Muffin recipe! I WISH I could send a photo of how pretty they came out. I used Chobani Greek Vanilla yogurt and these muffins are so lite and airy …. everyone loved them. Sally Baking Recipes are one of the few baking sites I follow bc of her attention to detail, well written instructions and consistant excellent results! Def a keeper!
How much calories in one muffin?
Hi Hiba, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Best chocolate chip muffins EVER! My son will devour them all so I have to hide a few! lol
Seriously great muffin recipe!
Hello Sally! A long time ago I lived in Alabama and I loved to learn about the American Culture. I was searching a recipe like that, and finely I found yours! My muffins are baking right now! Thank you so much. Hugs from Brazil
Hope you love them, Amanda!
I tried the Chocolate Chip muffins this morning and they are so good! I will definitely make these again. Great with a cup of coffee.