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
Second time… First one i over cooked Buy still tasted great! This time I took them out at 21 min. Perfect!
Could I put creamcheese filling in the middle of the choc muffins?
Hi Sue, that sounds delicious! We haven’ tested it, but what we would try is adding the cream cheese layer and method from these muffins. Let us know if you give it a try!
This is a great recipe. The second time I made it, I added frozen dark cherries (quartered) and it added about 10 min at 350 to the cooking time. I had 14 muffins instead of 13. Delish
I think i might have found my new favorite muffin recipe but i havent made them yet but they look soooooooooooooooooooo great
I love your recipes & the videos. Even after years of baking I still question oh should I add chips now or later. Thank you
Came out perfectly! I used a mix of white and dark chocolate chips. My husband said they were even better than his fave muffins from our local bakery. Thank you for adding weights for the measurements too.
Hi! Can you use light sour cream in this recipe? It’s all I have on hand :/
Hi Amanda, that will work in a pinch, the muffins may not be a moist and rich though.
Have you tried this with butter or apple sauce swapped for the oil? This is what hubs wants instead of birthday cake, but we try to limit all vegetable oils…
Hi Amy, we don’t recommend butter — the cocoa powder is a very drying ingredient, so the butter will dry it out even more. Oil is your best bet for keeping a moist muffin. You could try applesauce in its place, but the muffins may not be a moist and soft.
This recipe is fantastic! The muffins were exactly like the pictures – everyone said they were the best they’d ever tried. Will make these again & again. The video was really helpful, as was adding English measures & oven temperatures. Thank you!
Clarification please. The recipe indicates 1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (41g) but the bottom notes show *Reprints of the book note the correct gram measurement for cocoa powder, which is 45g. Which measurement should I use for this recipe? thank you
Hi Diavan, use 41g cocoa powder in this recipe.
If you follow this recipe to a T, you won’t be disappointed!! Every step listed definitely affects the quality and flavor–and I loved them! Great taste and holds up super well 🙂
LOVE THIS RECIPE!!! I use white, semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips and it’s amazing! 4 chocolate flavors including the coca! My girls and husband inhale these. We really, really love chocolate. Always a prefect bake!
Dark chocolate chips is a great idea!! Definitely trying that out!
Can I just add lesser sugar? Will it affect the texture?
Hi Karis! Sugar is used for moisture and texture in baked goods as well as taste. You can certainly try reducing the sugar, but the resulting texture will be different than intended.
These muffins were amazing! I woke up this morning craving chocolate muffins and these were exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t have semi-sweet morsels so I used a combination of milk chocolate and dark chocolate morsels. Yum! Also, my neighbor gave us some duck eggs that we used. They have a slightly bigger yolk so I had a little extra fat in there, but they are oh so yummy. Thank you for the great recipe!
These were so delicious! The ooey gooey chocolate fix that I needed!
These are delicious! I am curious do you prefer the double or triple chocolate muffins? I noticed there are other differences between recipes besides the added chocolate.
It was excellent like a store bought one.
Crispy on the top and super soft inside.loved it . I swapped the all purpose flour with wheat flour. Loved your fail proof recipe. Thank you so much for sharing.
Fabulous recipe that has become a family favourite. The first time I made these muffins I used the European grams and ml measures because that is how I have always baked and they were fabulous. The next time I baked them I used the cup measuring, I have two sets that I seldom use so thought why not. Absolute game changer for me – they went from fabulous to absolutely gorgeous, mouthwatering, moist and the list goes on. Cup measuring is now the only way I bake and I don’t think I will go back to metric weighing plus it is so much quicker.
I did make a batch of these muffins at the weekend as a thank you gift for my neighbours but decided to pimp them up. When cooled I cut off the top and set aside, made a slight hollow in the muffin and put a teaspoon of cherry conserve (cherry jam) and then a tablespoon of Chantilly whipped cream on top. I then cut the top in half to create 2 semi circles and stuck them into the cream like wings – my ‘Black Forest’ muffins where amazing but without Sally’s recipe I would never have attempted them. Will definitely post pictures of the next batch.
AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!!
Made 2 batches today and both turned about PERFECT. No adjustments at all!! I used gluten free flour and it was PERFECT. Follow the recipe exactly and you will prevail. SALLY’S RECIPES ARE SUCCESSFUL YET AGAIN!
This is the best muffin recipe! Tasty, moist and so easy to make. I added espresso powder and used espresso chips. I made big muffins as well as mini and they always turn out great. Took them to work and to the police station. They were a big hit
can you clarify the amount of flour? as in your recipe is 2cups but 250g? as sugar is 1cup and 200g, thanks
Hi Luci! We’re happy to help. The amounts of flour (2 cups (250g)) and sugar (1 cup (200g)) are correct as written. Sugar is denser than flour and will weigh more than an equal amount of flour. Hope this is helpful!
Any suggestions on how to make this dairy free? Specifically the milk, butter and sour cream. Eggs are fine in my diet, but no dairy. The only substitution I’m iffy on is vegan sour cream.
The vegan butter and non-dairy milk I’m sure won’t affect the flavor.
Would a vegan vanilla yogurt be a good substitution for the sour cream?
Hi Corey, we haven’t tested this recipe with dairy free substitutes, but let us know how it goes! A vegan yogurt would be a good bet in place of the sour cream.
I typically substitute whole milk with full fat coconut milk. There are some good vegan sour cream and I substitute butter using applesauce. Hope this helps. I bake ALOT by the way.
Great recipe, er I took ‘fill the liners all the way to the top’ a little literally and overfilled my liners. So don’t do that. Tasted great though!
Muffins are delicious and super easy to make!
First time I’ve ever made muffins that popped up like bakery ones!
The second time I made these, instead of making two extra muffins I made a tray of muffin tops. No regrets.
I love this recipe. The muffins are so moist and taste delicious. My husband who does not like chocolate ate like 5 out of the oven. I made them in a mini muffins pan for the kids snacks. I bake them in a 350 oven for 13 minutes. I took pictures but couldn’t post it here but mines rise perfectly.
Can you bake it in a small muffin pan?
For mini muffins, bake 13-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.
These are really great muffins. Has anyone tried this recipe to make chocolate dessert bread?
Hi Susan, you can use this recipe in a 9×5 loaf pan for a double chocolate quick bread. Same temperature, but we’re unsure of the exact bake time. Keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness. Enjoy!
Thanks for the great recipe! These are excellent muffins! I’ve made them several times and they’ve been delicious. For some reason mine usually don’t rise evenly and come out looking a little funky. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?
Hi Dan, we’re so glad you enjoy these muffins! A few things — make sure your baking soda is fresh. We find it starts to lose its strength after about 3 months. Also, ovens can have hot spots, which may be causing the muffins to rise unevenly. You can try rotating your pan half way through bake time to try to promote more even baking. Hope this helps!
I left mine in for 35 minutes and they turned out good maybe like tiny bit dry but moist. My oven doesn’t work probably so 35 minutes was like 25. Love this recipe.
I don’t have large eggs I only have the regular ones but I only have 2 would that work?
Hi Elizabeth, a large whole egg weighs about 57g (or 50g out of the shell), so you’ll need about 100g of eggs total for this recipe.
The 2 eggs I had came out to 116 grams
Would the muffins turn out alright if I substitute the sour cream for cream cheese?
Hi Jessica, we don’t recommend that swap. Yogurt would be the best substitute for sour cream!