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 recipe was amazing 100 percent would make it again
This recipe is simply divine! The husband and grandkiddies loved them. It’s a great recipe for the husband when he is no longer with canines. I added raspberries for a splash of flavour, to inspire the tastebuds. It was so moist
My daughters been begging for chocolate chip muffins. Thank you so much for the recipe. These were excellent. Will Definitely make again. Yummy..
Soooo good! I saw in the reviews to use milk chocolate chips instead and these came out amazing. I also used olive oil since vegetable and canola oils since they aren’t healthy oils. Came out great!
These would have been delicious I’m sure had I not forgotten to lower the temperature after 5 minutes. Is there a way to just bake them at a steady temperature? Thank you.
Hi Ida, the initial high burst of heat helps the muffins get that signature high muffin top. You could try baking them at 350 degrees the entire time, but we’re unsure of the exact bake time and the tops will not be as high.
I made the opposite mistake! I didn’t see the initial 5 minutes at 450 and just saw 350F and total 20 minutes, they were nearly there at 20 so I put them in a couple more minutes and it turned out good! It’s currently cooling so I haven’t tasted it yet but hope this helps!
I love chocolate, and this is chocolate, its a match made in HEAVEN
Hi – are the muffins supposed to taste sweet? I followed the recipe and didn’t substitute anything, but the muffins aren’t as sweet as I was expecting.
Hi Julia, You can use milk chocolate chips next time instead to sweeten the up a bit!
This recipe is great, easy to follow and the muffins were delicious. They didn’t take long to make and if you’re just starting out baking, this is an excellent recipe. I was worried about how they would turn out because most of the time, my baking doesn’t go as planned but honestly I’ll definitely be making this recipe again. I used milk, white, and dark chocolate chips to make triple chocolate chip muffins. You could easily tweak this recipe to include your favorite ingredients and substitute others as needed.
Can I substitute the milk for heavy whipping cream?
Hi Karri, Whole milk is best for the liquid, as heavy cream will be a bit too thick. Hope you enjoy the muffins!
Hi Sally
I heard that adding coffee makes the chocolate treats tastier I’d love to add it to your muffin recipe ,how much should I add without overpowering it?
Hi Briana, you could absolutely add a teaspoon of espresso powder to start and then adjust for more/less in future batches. Hope you enjoy the muffins!
I made this exactly as the recipe calls for! My kids and I love baking and we wanted to try chocolate muffins, so easy and soooo good! Thank you!!
This recipe is AMAZING. Im a gluten free baker, so I subbed buckwheat flour for the all purpose (140g = 1 cup), used Greek yogurt in place of Sour Cream, and used melted unsalted butter in place of vegetable oil. They turned out perfectly
I love this recipe! Instead of plain yogurt I used vanilla yogurt. And I did mini muffins cooked them on 425 for 5 mins then 350 for 11 mins. First time I cooked then 5 mins at 425 then 13 mins at 350 and I find it made them over cooked a bit thats why I reduced the cooking time even more.
This is a family favorite. I reduced the sugar to 3/4 of a cup, used half whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup grape seed oil and plain Greek yogurt.
I loved this recipe, very rich and moist, however a tad bitter, or too dark of a chocolate, what can I do to sweeten and lighten the flavor?
Hi Nat Ann, make sure you’re using natural cocoa powder. You can always use milk chocolate chips instead of semi sweet as well.
This has become a popular baked good in my home. Absolutely delicious! If you’re not a huge fan of a lot of chocolate, they taste amazing even without adding the chocolate chips. I highly recommend this recipe, it has such a good flavor and doesn’t lack anything.
These are delicious! I used corn oil instead of canola oil. Coconut sugar, instead of regular white sugar, and I use half-and-half gluten-free flour. Also added 1.5 teaspoons of decaf coffee for extra chocolate flavor and substituted mayonnaise for the sour cream because I was out of sour cream. Loved how moist and fluffy these muffins were!
I’ve been buying double chocolate muffins from Wegmans for years. I baked these this morning and they truly SURPASSSED Wegmans! Moist and so chocolatey! My family loves them!
I replaced whole milk with unsweetened Almond milk, Maple syrup instead of sugar and added 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts. This muffins turns out heavenly delicious. I will never buy chocolate muffins again. The muffin top is so gorgeous! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
This was such a hit! I replaced the sugar with monk fruit and the Cocoa with a children’s chocolate meal replacement and they were soooo good!
Hi, can I replace the granulated sugar with brown sugar? Thank you for the great recipe!❤️
Hi Cindy, you can use brown sugar, but the muffins will taste a little heavier.
My kids wanted chocolate muffins at Costco but I decided to make these for them instead. They smelled so good coming out of the oven that they could not even wait for them to cool before trying one. They decided that these were way better than the Costco muffins and in fact were the best muffins they have ever had. I have made other muffins from this website and my kids cannot stop comparing them to these. These win every time. We make these on a regular basis and no longer consider buying muffins. If you have not made these than you really should.
Can I omit the chocolate chips without changing anything else in the recipe? I need just a plain chocolate muffin recipe and this sounds delicious!
Hi Meg, You can, but the texture will be different without the chocolate chips!
Love these muffins…reduced the sugar to 100g and used 200g of chocolate chips and greek yoghurt. Work perfectly every time
Thank you for this recipe! I made it and it was delicious! I love how moist it is. I’m just wondering if I could use mini muffin tins instead of the regular ones. Thank you so much
Hi Micks, See the end of step 4: For mini muffins, bake 13-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.
Wow , great recipe, I followed the instructions. The only thing different I did was added extra chips because I like my chips and a little pecans and I also did not have enough sour cream, so I added vanilla Greek yogurt. They’re delicious nice and moist and chocolatey. Thank you very much read messages.
Tasty and rich
Love a muffin recipe without a mixer involved. This one is great. I’ve made it many times using avocado oil. Love cardamom as an addition, usually 2-3 teaspoons. I use two small Corningware ramekins unsprayed and unlined and that works great. On occasion when I’ve over baked these, 15-20 seconds in microwave works great.
outstanding recipe and came together so quickly! used 175 grams of chocolate chips and found that to be a sufficient amount that wasn’t too sweet. i also added 1 tsp of espresso powder which always ups the ante on chocolate flavor, and used rum and caramel extract instead of vanilla extract – thanks Sally for another stellar recipe! your site is my go to for fab baking goods 🙂
I’m want to try this recipe it sounds delicious. However I was wondering if I could add frozen berries to the batter? If so, do I need to do anything different to the recipe?
Hi Sue! You should be able to add frozen blueberries without any other changes.
16/04/2024 made these and OMG absolutely delicious so before I put my review on the dog was the tester actually no wait a minute we don’t have a dog lol confession time it was me I couldn’t wait to try one guilty as charged but it was worth it. Then I realised I had made a mistake with one of the ingredients and at this point I had given my neighbors some and I’m like omg I’ve probably poisoned the neighbors so what I had done was used buttermilk instead of sour cream so I’m frantically on google to see what affects it would have good or bad anyway it seems you can use buttermilk I’m like oh thank goodness for that lol but oh my goodness they were absolutely delicious and my neighbors thought so too this is now my go to recipe just got to remember next time to use the right ingredient lol thank you for sharing this recipe and I hope my comment made you giggle as it did me and my neighbors.