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!
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 rubber 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 Rubber 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.
Keywords: double chocolate muffins
These muffins are always perfect! My family and coworkers love them and often make special requests. I follow the recipe closely with one change; I use nonfat Greek yogurt because it’s what I always have on hand.
★★★★★
Are these temps for fan ovens or should I reduce them?
Hi Lisa! We always recommend conventional settings for baking (not convection/fan). The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
Oh my goodness! These muffins were delish! The whole family loved them!! I’ve already made the recipe twice, and I hope to make it again soon!
★★★★★
I have made this recipe many times for family, work, or events and they are always a favorite. Amazing recipe!
Fantastic. Tried many others and these are perfect. Used mini chips on the top to give a little extra texture. Made these 2 days in a row since my family ate all of them on night one!
★★★★★
that’s actually exactly what I did Sydney! I made them twice in a row because they were gone in a second!
This was probably the only recipe I’ve tried from this site that was just absolutely terrible. I followed everything to a T and they were dry, dense, and bland. Do NOT leave them in the oven while it cools to 350; your muffins will be dry as a bone after the allotted ~15 mins. It’s missing something for sweetness. I couldn’t tell what. Brown sugar? No idea. I get that these are muffins, not cupcakes, but to spend the time and money to make 2x the recipe, only to chuck the whole thing because I’m embarrassed to present them to an Easter Sunday School class was sort of frustrating.
★★
Most muffin recipes have you start out with the oven at a higher temp, and then lower it for the rest of the bake. You did something wrong.
I thought these were perfect!! My 10 year-old and I made them as mini muffins and the family agrees that this recipe is a make-again for sure.
★★★★★
the muffins tasted amazing but it needed some sugar. Personally, I like them sweet
Hi Luna, did you omit the sugar by chance? The recipe calls for 1 cup of granulated sugar.
Very good recipe, easy to follow and my muffins came out just as they should! They are definitely delicious however for me personally, I tend to enjoy a sweeter muffin.
★★★★
Hi and thank you so much for such lovely recipes!
I would like to know if it is possible to prepare the batter the previous day and bake the following day.
Thanks a lot ☺️
Hi Avilion, 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!
Great recipe, and adaptable. I used gf flour, oat milk, and crushed Cadbury eggs. Delicious!
★★★★★
Can I bake these in a loaf pan? I made them as muffins and they were terrific!
Hi Cinny, So glad you enjoyed these muffins! 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!
delicious would definitely make again
★★★★★
Every bite tasted like we were being transported to a different world full of fluffy clouds. The majestic flavors of chocolate were better than any Willy Wonka candy bar. Thank you, Sally!
★★★★★
So good!!!
Forgot to give the five stars for this yummy recipe!!
★★★★★
I just threw everything together (still separated dry from wet) and used my air fryer! 325 for 12 minutes!!! Delicious! Next time I’ll try it with the Greek yogurt and add chia and flax seeds for a healthier version but mmmmm!!! Son and Dad Approved too!
★★★★★
I made these muffins and they tasted nice, but one issue I had was that the bottoms were quite soggy/wet and broke apart when pulling the lining away. They seemed too moist for me. I think a few more minutes in the oven would have helped but I’m not sure if I should have done something else.
★★★★
These are the beat chocolate muffins I have ever made. Followed the recipe exactly, they turned out to be for me, a cross between a muffin and a brownie, they’re quite dense, but absolutely delicious. I then decided to make a little bit of chocolate buttercream and spread it on top with some chocolate decorations, even more decadent. I will definitely use this recipe again, so simple, yet so effective!
★★★★★
High altitude baker here. Great recipe! I did a few changes for altitude and my particular oven:
Added 3 tablespoons extra flour.
My oven is a mini convection type and so I turned it only to 325 (mini muffins) and watched like a hawk. They were perfectly done at about 10 minutes.
I didn’t have sour cream but I did have Indian style whole milk yogurt so used that.
The texture and flavor are great! My family loves them.
★★★★★
I have 3 picky teens and a grade-schooler, but one thing they all love is chocolate muffins. Unfortunately the price at the stores has gone up at the same time their appetites have grown, and I can easy spend $15-$20 a week on muffins.
Enter your recipe, which I tried for the first time today. It was so simple, and I followed it exactly as written… These muffins came out AMAZING. Even my husband, who only eats chocolate muffins every 6 months or so, ate TWO for breakfast. I ended up with an even dozen, and there are only two left… I only got a bite of one so far! One of the boys made a point to stop gaming long enough to tell me they are better than the store muffins. “10/10 I’ll eat them again!”
These will definitely stay on the weekly rotation. Thank you for sharing your amazing recipe!
★★★★★
So glad they were a hit for your family, Ruby!
Wow! Sally’s recipes never disappoint!! Her chocolate chip scones is my go to and this is my new go to muffin for my chocoholic family! Used coconut sugar, full fat Greek yogurt, unsweetened coconut milk (boxed), Ghirardelli 60% cocoa, chips & mini chips, added about a tsp espresso powder to milk, subbed 1/2 tsp raspberry extract for the half tsp of vanilla extract, cranked a smidge of pink Himalayan sea salt on top and shortened baking time by 3-4 minutes due to my oven. So delicious with great crumb and texture!
★★★★★
I might not follow all the instructions well, but my muffins are still good! It taste super chocolate and not sweet, maybe need to add more sugar for more sweetness. The texture is not too dense. I would make it my regular recipe. Thank you!
★★★★★
These muffins are great! the recipe is flexable, i had to subsitute an egg for apple sauce and they still tasted great 🙂
they make alot of muffins too, ill definitely be making this again 😀
★★★★★
This was a great recipe. These muffins were high with a delicious chocolate taste and very moist.
★★★★★
Made it dairy free and it’s amazing!
Used 1 1/2 c flour- kept all the other measurements the same. Used non-dairy almond yogurt, almond milk & dairy free dark chocolate chips.
I love this recipe..ive made it twice in 2 days..definitely my go to recipe..this is going into my recipe book to pass onto my grandkids..thank you so much..
★★★★★
These were SO amazing!!! Came out perfectly. I cut the time back 2 minutes bc I know all ovens vary and I’m glad I did bc they had just finished baking. My daughter LOVES double choc chip muffins but I’ve never made them before.. this will be my go-to recipe for years and years. Thank you Sally!
★★★★★
another great muffin recipe by sally. I had to use nonfat greek yogurt and nonfat milk but I think the recipe is forgiving. I only had 1 cup of chocolate chips so I cut all ingredients in half and made 7 muffins. Sally, I am wondering can I turn this into a loaf cake? I know I read somewhere in one of your recipes that one can turn muffins into loaf cake. Details please and thank you.
★★★★★
Hi Annie, so glad you loved these muffins! 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!
These are absolutely delicious. Best chocolate chip muffin I’ve ever had. Light with good chocolate flavor, a thin crispy top and mellllllty chocolate chips. I could eat the whole batch.
★★★★★
I used light sour cream and 2% milk because that was what I had on hand. They were so delicious. I shared the recipe with my mom, and she’s making them this weekend for a small friend gathering. I plan on making them again with regular sour cream and whole milk to see how much of a difference it makes. This is definitely a recipe to keep tho!
★★★★★
Use what you have. I made a few substitutions. I used French vanilla Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, 2% milk instead of whole milk, canola oil instead of vegetable oil and subbed in 1/4 cup of oat flour instead of using all AP. I also used half semi-sweet chips and half white-choc chips. My muffins turned out very well. I made them yesterday but they are not dry at all today. They are a bit sweet, but a good treat. I’ll likely freeze some of them today.
★★★★
I am so glad you posted your results! With so much baking lately I only have white chocolate chips and I was questioning making them. But sounds like yours came out delicious!