Originally published in 2013, this chocolate chip muffin recipe has remained a reader favorite. 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.
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.
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 degrees, then for about 25 minutes at 350°F degrees. 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°F – 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. Or just need to satisfy a craving fast? Try my recipe for 1 chocolate chip muffin.
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) vegetable 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.
This is great! I made with 2% milk and FF Greek yogurt and it came out great! To those who are saying it’s too dry, I think you’re using too much flour. I fluff the flour first with wire risk and then gently spoon into measuring cup. Use knife to smooth off. Whatever you do, don’t pack the flour down. This results in even less flour than if you weigh it.
I followed the recipe as written and mine turned out dry. I also found out that my family does not care for cinnamon and nutmeg combined with chocolate .
Perhaps if some are finding they are “dry”…did you scoop and level OR did you weigh. I find weighing sooooo much more accurate in all baking. I only use measuring cups/spoons for cooking recipes, not for baking.
Sally, I made the chocolate chip and blueberry muffin tops. They were big hits with the family and friends! They came out with the big tops, were moist and delicious. Very easy recipes. I’m going to try a new flavor for the next batch. We have never been disappointed!!! Thank you.
Hi, Sally!
Made your Chocolate Chip Muffins today. It turned out perfect and will be one of my go to muffin recipes!
Thanks for sharing!
Ok how do I add banana s to this recipe!!
Hi Sally, we recommend following the banana nut muffin recipe in our Master Bakery-Style Muffin recipe, which is adapted from this basic muffin batter. You can add about 1 cup of chocolate chips to that batter.
HI – was wondering why do we need to use 80ml butter and 80ml oil? With the yoghurt or sour cream it should be moist enough? Can I just use all butter? Thanks.
Hi Trish, the oil is necessary for moist and tender muffin. Using all butter, we’re afraid, would make the muffins a bit dry and even rubbery tasting. For best results, we recommend sticking with the recipe as written. Hope you enjoy them!
Holy cow! Not only do these taste heavenly (and the texture is perfect!), but I have NEVER had a recipe come out with the perfect amount of batter. I always have some left, or not enough, but this recipe was perfect. No waste
Made these today with my daughter and they were delicious!
I made these exactly to recipe and they came out great! Great flavor and texture. Only issue I had was my muffins wouldn’t brown on top. They came out kinda pale; still tasted great though. Any ideas on how to get browning to happen?
Hi Eric, The tops brown when they rise up nice and tall. If desired, you can turn the oven temperature up for the last minute or two for a little browning.
You may need to check your oven temperature and recalibrate. I know my oven typically runs 15-25° cooler, so I adjust temperature accordingly. Once I figured that out, I stopped having any trouble with things not baking correctly .
Can I use regular salted stick butter?? & just leave out the salt ??
Hi Brooklyn, we recommend reducing salt to 1/4 tsp if using salted butter. Here’s more on salted vs unsalted butter in baking!
These turned out great thank you I am enjoying your recipes! I did them in a standard muffin tin in Australian measurements and it yielded 12 perfectly golden, crisp on the top moist on the inside with just the right amount of spice to give them more flavour than a basic choc chip muffin. The kids (and I) thoroughly enjoyed them. Thank you!
I tried this recipe and they came out flavorful but very heavy and dense. I made sure not to overmix and my baking powder and baking soda are both new. So I thought maybe it was because I didn’t weigh my flour and I’m adding too much. So I bought a food scale and made them again, this time weighing the flour. While I discovered I was adding too much flour, that wasn’t the problem. They still came out heavy. I don’t know what’s making them so dense but I can only eat like half a muffin when I make these. Any more and I feel too full. Maybe its the sour cream? I’m going to try this recipe once more without the sour cream and see if that makes a difference. I make lemon poppy and corn muffins all the time and they always come out light and fluffy. It’s definitely an ingredient in this recipe that’s weighing them down, and I think it’s the sour cream.
I’ve tried these twice because I thought maybe I overbaked them the first time, but both times they turned out a little dense and dry. The flavor is great, but they’re not as light and cake like as most bakery muffins. They’re still good, but I wouldn’t make them again.
I’m not sure that I did wrong but my muffins never got that golden brown on top, just stayed kind of a pasty pale colour but were cooked through. I followed the recipe to a T, thinking I didn’t put it on a high enough rack maybe? I put in centre. Also to me it tasted a little bland. I don’t know what it was missing unfortunately. Maybe ill try them when they’ve cooled down a bit maybe it will make them taste a little less bread y? 🙁 I’m definitely not a muffin maker I should stick to chocolate banana loaf as that always works out for me.
These are the best chocolate chip muffins I have ever baked. I followed the recipe as directed. The only difference was that I added a little flour to my chocolate chips to prevent from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. My kids are asking for more muffins lol I’m going to try the blueberry muffins next. Thank you for the recipe!
These muffins are delicious. I had some mini chocolate chips leftover from another baking so I used them as well as the larger ones. I love the extra chocolate flavor they imparted. We’re visiting a friend tomorrow so we will have the muffins with her coffee. She is looking forward to tasting them. Thanks, Sally, for another delicious recipe!
These muffins are the best I’ve come across. My whole family loves them
I made these for the first time today. Delicious! Pinned and added to the arsenal of weekend baking recipes.
These muffins are delicious! Didn’t put in the sour cream or yogurt and they came out perfect.
Beautiful and Tasty! My daughter and I made these together and they were the best homemade muffins I’ve ever had! Loved the fluffy, light texture. We used sour cream and it came out perfect!
Beautiful color, fluffy! I used yogurt. Thank you!
sally recipe nerver disappoint.. made this for work and everyone loved it.. i reaaly enjoyed it too.. thank you
I found these to be flavorful, but A little heavy and dense. A little too dense for breakfast. I wish they came out a little lighter and fluffier
Hi Matt,
Have you tried sifting the dry ingredients when you made these? I have found it made cakes a lot lighter compared to when I haven’t. Hope this helps 🙂
These muffins look just like the ones from the bakery, but they taste better! I’ll be making these regularly.
Honestly the best!! Kids live, live live all of the recipes! But chocolate chip muffins, the ultimate ❤️
I tried this recipe, the taste is totally there but I think I should have compensated with the time doing Jumbo muffins, probably another 8 to 10 minutes off the top time, darn it!
I hate that I didn’t think ahead =(
I’ll plan on giving it another go sometime soon!
The perfect chocolate chip muffin! Not too sweet, lots of chips, light, airy, delicious! I made minis and baked at 425 for five minutes as indicated, then only 10 minutes at 350 since they were smaller. Made 34 minis. Will definitely make again and again. Thanks, Sally!
I halved the recipe and got 9 delicious standard sized muffins. The chocolate chips were nicely distributed throughout the muffins. Room temperature ingredients and starting the baking at the higher temperature really makes a difference. Thanks for all the tips! Look forward to making this recipe again.
I wonder why the chocolate chips sunk at the bottoms of muffins… too much liquid…
To combat this you should coat your chocolate chips lightly on flour before putting them in the batter! It’s something I learned and has worked every time!
Would cocoa powder work too,do you think, instead of flour? Good suggestion.
This is my go-to chocolate chip muffin recipe. I’ve mixed it up a bit – no eggs (with flax egg), non-dairy milk, partial whole wheat flour etc, etc, and they all come out! The 425 to 350 change is a great tip to make the muffins puff up!
I have yet to have a recipe flop from sally’s baking addiction!
These are perfection. The only change I made was to use soy milk instead of milk. Left off the sugar crystals on top.
You were right about pulling out of the oven when light golden in color. Delicious! Thank you for this keeper recipe!
So tasty and the cinnamon and nutmeg give them that je ne sais qua which is lovely. I like a straight up vanilla flavored muffin too, but this one is unique. Thank you Sally
I found these muffins dry. Will never make them again.
Agreed. Dry and bland. My first time disappointed in Sally’s BA recipes 🙁
Same for me.I was disappointed in texture and flavour. Tops didn’t brown much. I didn’t have coarse sugar for the tops but it might have helped.
Perhaps you missed a step. If you follow the recipe 100% to a T these turn out perfectly and are very comparable to the ones I get at my local bakery. I’ve made these twice now and the recipe is far above any other I have ever tried. Did you measure your flour correctly – tpo much flour and that will cause a dry muffin.
This is my favorite muffin recipe. The most delicious & super moist muffins.