These double chocolate muffins have been our favorite chocolate muffin recipe for over a decade. I love them so much that I published the easy recipe in my 1st cookbook back in 2014! (We now add even more chocolate chips and a touch of vanilla for extra flavor, as you’ll see in the recipe below.) The muffins are incredibly rich, mega chocolate-y, and loaded with chocolate chips in every single bite. Sour cream helps guarantee a soft and moist muffin that has a denser texture than chocolate cupcakes.
Not pointing fingers or anything but chocolate sweet rolls, you’re kind of high maintenance for the morning. (Worth the hype and effort for sure though.) Here’s something easier that satisfies your chocolate craving and doesn’t require a ton of effort, time, or patience. Ha!
One reader, Teck, commented: “It’s truly a superb recipe. Moist and full of flavor. Easy to follow. Voted the best muffin by my family. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Paulina, commented: “They turned out just perfect and looked so good, you’d think I bought them. This will definitely be my go-to chocolate muffin recipe from now on! ★★★★★”
Double Chocolate Muffins Details
- Flavor: Chocolate. Seriously, that’s all you really need to know! This chocolate muffin recipe comes together with cocoa powder and chocolate chips. In recent years, I began adding vanilla extract to the batter for a touch of extra flavor. You can certainly leave it out if you’d like (and as mentioned above, the cookbook recipe doesn’t include it).
- Texture: Unlike chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cake, these muffins don’t really have a sponge-like texture. And that’s mostly because we aren’t adding hot water to the batter. They’re more like a bakery-style muffin with a tighter crumb and satisfying bite.
- Ease: Besides the deep chocolate flavor, what you’ll love most about this double chocolate chip muffin recipe is its ease. The recipe uses common baking ingredients, doesn’t require a mixer, and is super straightforward like this pumpkin muffins recipe—2 cups of this, 1 cup of that, and whole eggs. (No separating needed.)
Key Ingredients in Double Chocolate Muffins
The full written recipe is below, but let’s walk through some key ingredients so you understand their importance. This is always helpful when looking for substitution options.
- Cocoa Powder: Use unsweetened natural cocoa powder. You could get away use dutch process cocoa powder, but the muffins may not rise as much. For best taste and texture, stick with natural. Most of the flavor comes from the cocoa powder, so choose a good one! I’ve baked with many over the years and I always go back to Hershey’s.
- Sour Cream: If you were to skip the sour cream and replace it with milk, the chocolate muffins would be thin, flat, and wet. Just like it does in chocolate covered strawberry muffins, sour cream lifts the crumb and keeps the muffins moist. You can replace it with plain yogurt and I often do—in fact, that’s how the recipe is written in the book!
- Oil: We usually use creamed butter and sugar in muffin recipes like blueberry muffins. However, cocoa powder is a very drying ingredient so it’s best paired with oil to keep the muffins moist. If you replace it with melted butter, the muffins will dry out. You won’t miss the flavor of butter because chocolate overpowers it.
By the way, if you enjoy banana + chocolate together, you’ll love these chocolate banana muffins—they’re whole wheat, too!
Expect a thick and sticky batter.
Avoid Overmixing & Use Room Temperature Ingredients
Really all you’re doing here is whisking the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients together in another bowl. The dry ingredients include the sugar and chocolate chips. This way you’re only mixing the ingredients together once—dry + wet instead of dry + wet + mixing in the chocolate chips. Make sense?
- The reason why you’ll mix the chocolate chips into the dry ingredients is to avoid over-mixing the final batter. Over-mixing muffin batter can lead to a tough, dense baked good. While these chocolate muffins are certainly denser than our soft and spongy chocolate cupcakes, they aren’t heavy as bricks.
- What will also help you avoid overmixing is using room temperature ingredients. Bring the eggs, milk, and sour cream to room temperature before starting. As a shortcut, place the eggs in a glass of warm water for 10 minutes and—honestly this is what I do—microwave the sour cream and milk for 10-15 seconds to take the chill off.
Tip: You won’t regret eating one warm out of the oven. Those melty chips!
Double Chocolate Muffins Recipe Video
Double Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 21 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes (includes slight cooling)
- Yield: 12-14 muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These double chocolate muffins are incredibly rich, mega chocolate-y, and loaded with chocolate chips in every single bite. Sour cream helps guarantee a soft and moist muffin that has a denser texture than chocolate cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 3/4 cups (315g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (185g) full fat sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners. This recipe yields about 14 muffins, so prepare a second muffin pan in the same manner or bake in batches and reserve leftover batter at room temperature for when the first batch is done.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the eggs, sour cream, oil, milk, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon until completely combined. (Batter is quite thick, so I recommend a spatula or spoon over a whisk.) Avoid overmixing. The batter will be thick and sticky.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 15-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20-21 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake 13-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.)
- Cool muffins for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack until ready to eat.
- Cover leftover muffins and store at room temperature for 5 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then heat up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Jumbo Muffins: If you’d like to make about 6 jumbo muffins instead of standard size, follow the recipe through step 3 using a greased jumbo 6-count muffin pan. Spoon batter into the liners, filling all the way to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Sour Cream: Use full fat sour cream. In a pinch, you can replace it with plain yogurt. (Full fat Greek style or regular yogurt would be best.)
- Oil: For best taste and texture, use vegetable oil. In a pinch, you can replace with canola oil or olive oil. The muffins can taste greasy with melted coconut oil, but if you try it, it’s imperative the other ingredients are room temperature so the coconut oil doesn’t solidify as you mix the batter together.
- Milk: Whole milk is best. 2%, 1%, or nondairy milk work in a pinch. Do not use nonfat milk. Don’t use buttermilk. (You could use buttermilk if replacing both the sour cream AND milk, but the muffins taste a little spongy that way. Best to use sour cream and whole milk.)
- Recipe excerpted from Sally’s Baking Addiction. This version includes more chocolate chips and the addition of vanilla extract for a little extra flavor. The cookbook version also uses plain yogurt, but you can use sour cream as noted here.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This turned out great! We loved them, it made 19 glorius muffins lol
I needed a chocolate muffin recipe and this was perfect. Plenty of chocolate flavor and the muffins domed beautifully.
I really like the texture but wanted a more intense chocolate flavor. Would I be able to switch out some of the flour for cocoa powder? I was thinking maybe 3/4 cup of cocoa. If I increase the cocoa to 3/4 cup, what adjustment should I make to the flour? Or any other ingredients?
Hi Sima, we would give these triple chocolate muffins a try – they’re even more rich!
I tried one of your blueberry muffin recipes (without the crumb topping) and they were so that I can’t wait to try these. However, I have a large quantity of black cocoa that I need to use. It is dutched cocoa. Is there any way I can substitute for natural cocoa (along with other modifications?). I realize they might not be as tasty but I don’t want to throw it away.
Hi Lisa, you could get away use dutch process cocoa powder, but the muffins may not rise as much. See the list of key ingredients in the post for details.
These are yummy and look gorgeous!
One of those desserts that delight your family and friends.
These are delicious. For the extra 2, I filled mini muffin pan (12) and adjusted the baking time.
This recipe is amazing!!!
VERY HAPPY WITH THIS RECIPE! Everything was measured appropriately. Recommendations were solid. Muffins tasted great! I’ve decided that muffins are my favorite thing to make because they’re easy & pretty forgiving.
I made mini muffins & with my oven/pan, I needed to bake for 12 mins. I was able to make about 20 muffins but there were a few that I was a little too generous so I could have stretched it to a full 24. I also swapped out veg oil for olive & it did add to the richness so next time I would use a lighter oil like veg. Other than that, these were super easy to bake & yummy! I really appreciated her tips for bringing ingredients to room temp. I’m not one to think that far ahead, haha, so it helped to know there are options in a pinch.
I’m looking forward to making these for my daughter’s 2nd party. I don’t quiet need to times the recipe by 2 but would I be able to times it by an extra half. If that makes sense. Thank you!
Hi Emma, yes, you can 1.5x the recipe. Hope they’re a hit!
Delicious muffins. I followed the recipe exactly as written and they turned out amazing, great taste and texture.
Delicious! I didn’t have whole milk so looked online and mixed heavy cream and water 50-50. Used larger muffin pan. Definitely 14 if smaller because I had to make an extra one.
These muffins are SO good! I made them exactly as written, and they turned out perfect! They’re moist, and full of chocolatey goodness… I will definitely be making these regularly. Thank you Sally! Your recipes never disappoint!
Where are the nutrition facts? How many calories per muffin??
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
My kids couldn’t resist these muffins! I have to keep an eye out so they don’t get eaten within the hour of me making them! Thank you for a great recipe.
We love these muffins! I use Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate chips in my recipe.
This is the easiest & most logical mixing method I’ve seen. Delicious muffins YUM!
Question (I checked recipe notes and FAQ) but is it possible to convert these muffins into a cake?
Hi Gabrielle, you could use this muffin batter to make a 9×5-inch loaf cake. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Recipe was great. Easy to follow and delicious muffins
Saw a few reviews about them being dry so I baked mine at 350 for about 17 minutes. They are perfectly moist and delicious. Will definitely make this recipe again. It’s also easy! Thank you
Taste just like Costco muffins! Every recipe I’ve tried from Sally is the best!
Great recipe! My girlfriend is a choc-o-holic so I gave this a try. I used dark chocolate chips. They were awesome!
Followed this recipe to a tee and muffins collapsed
Very yummy! I just baked this for the first time. It was in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350°. When I tested with a toothpick, it was very hard to tell if it was cooked in the middle or if the toothpick was just picking up the gooey chocolate. Next time I will just bake probably 16 to 18 minutes.
Just baked these and so divine. Never knew it would be so easy. Fool proof recipe
i had diarrhea for days. will bake again.
This recipe is fabulous! I just made these muffins this afternoon and they are beyond good!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe, it is quickly going to be in my rotation of muffins!
This worked beautifully with Skim Milk and light sour cream.
Have had a favorite recipe for years but decided to try this one. Only change was to add buttermilk in place of milk. A new keeper for sure! Delicious
Looks wonderful. For chocolate lovers. Very good ingredients and instructions
Could add chocolate chips, optional 1/2 cup use Great recipe
so easy and yummy! definetely a make again!
Best double chocolate chip muffins ever! I love the fact that they can be made jumbo just like Costco or Sam’s club ones. I use to be so tempted to buy them from Costco or Sam’s club but not anymore. These have all real ingredients that aren’t harmful like the store bought ones. I love that they look and taste like a bakery style muffin and they aren’t difficult to make. I am so happy I found this recipe…. So far I’ve made these 3 times. I don’t have to substitute anything. I do the recipe exactly how you wrote it and it’s perfect. I was a bit weirded out by the sour cream in the recipe but it works. So yummy.. You can’t even taste it! Thank you for such a wonderful recipe.