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
PrintDouble 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.
IF I WANT TO FREEZE THEM, HOW DO I NEED TO PACK THEM SO THAT THEY DO NOT GET DRY ?
THANKS
Hi B, we recommend wrapping them individually in plastic wrap and sealing them in a large air tight container or sturdy zip lock gallon bag. You can read more on freezing baked goods in this post!
How can convert this to sugar free? Would erythritol be a good substitute? How about a substitute for flour? Which would work better coconut flour or almond flour? Thank you in advance
Hi Abby, We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Both coconut flour and almond flour are very different from all-purpose flour and absorb wet ingredients differently. We’re unsure of the results they would produce, so we recommend sticking to all-purpose flour here. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your response! BTW all the muffins I have tried from your recipes the the variations of the Bakery Style jumbo muffins are all hits. This double chocolate chip and the triple chocolate chipe recipes are the favorites
Hi,if I don’t have any sour cream or yogurt can I still make this recipe?
In a pinch, mashed banana could work as a substitution.
This is a really good recipe! Unfortunately I didn’t spray my muffin tin, so when the muffins puffed up, the muffin top stuck to the pan but I managed to yank most of them out intact! So new bakers be careful don’t make the same mistake I did… Other than my mistake, this recipe is GREAT! Delicious, moist, I used a mix of milk chocolate chips and semi sweet and they came out just great. Thank you for this great recipe!
hello what can i replace with vegetable oil. can i use olive oil?
Vegetable or canola oil are best because of their neutral taste, but olive oil would work in a pinch. The taste may be slightly different than intended.
I don’t know what’s going on with my oven but somehow they needed 10 minutes more for me. They were almost runny still when I wanted to get them out at the stated time.. But then they were absolutely delicious! I used plain coconut yogurt instead of sour cream because that’s all I had but they taste wonderful! Yum yum yum 😉
I have celiac disease and only realized this after making (and loving) these muffins two times. When I realized that I couldn’t eat wheat flour anymore, I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to make these muffins anymore (I just really love muffins). Good news! I now use King Arthur’s Gluten-Free Flour with this recipe (same amount of flour), and I actually love them more! The texture of the flour makes them uniquely delicious.
Also, I use 3/4 cup of whipping cream with a large splash of vinegar (let sit for a few minutes) instead of actual sour cream, and it works just fine.
My chosen chocolates are Ghiradelli 60% chocolate chips and 100% cocoa powder. If I’ve gotta go through extra steps to be able to eat muffins, then I think I can use fancy chocolate!
Oh, and I convect my muffins, so I lower both baking temps by 25 degrees and it works well. I just have to keep in mind that melted chocolate can trick me into thinking that the muffins don’t pass the toothpick test.
Thank you for trying it with gluten free flour! It’s a new diet in our household, so I’m glad it works the same!
Hi Sally! These muffins were incredibly good. I love so many of your recipes. One issue I had is that they sunk in the middle after cooling. Any idea why that may have happened? They still taste delicious but I wondered why. Thanks!
Hi Nabeela, sinking in the middle usually means the baked good is slightly undercooked. An additional minute or two in the oven should help for next time!
These were excellent! Followed recipe except used 2% milk. They were moist and delicious but formed balls on top instead of a perfect dome. What caused this?
I have tried several other chocolate muffin recipes and this one is by far the best!! I used to crave Costco’s chocolate muffins, but now I crave these. They are dense, chocolatey, and full flavor. Won’t be using any other recipe for chocolate muffins in the future. Thanks, Sally!
Great recipe! Made the muffins for my boyfriend and he got amazed.
I added bits of strawberries on top before baking the muffins and it’s really good with them!
Hi do you know how I’d be able to add cream cheese to these muffins? Can’t wait to give them a go!!!
Hi Francesca, 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!
I did it… and they worked out very well following your recommendation. I added the cream cheese into the centre as per your recipe and then added a couple of dollops on the top and did a marble effect. Great results. Thank you!!!!
Hi Sally, I like this recipe. I have a question though, what can I substitute in place of eggs?
Thanks
Hi Sam, we haven’t tested any egg substitutes in these muffins but let us know what you try!
This recipe looks so delicious! Can you make this recipe in a mini chocolate muffin tin? If so, what would be the cooking time?
Hi Gretchelle, sure can! For mini muffins, bake at 350 degrees (the entire time) for about 12-14 minutes, give or take. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Great recipe, muffins turned out brilliantly. I used plain coconut “yoghurt” and soya milk to make them dairy free and they’re lovely
Wonderful recipe. I usually make tweaks to reduce the sugar. I used 1/2 the sugar and 1/2 the chocolate chips and subbed 1/2 cup flour with almond flour and used Greek yoghurt. Came out perfectly for my needs.
Made this recipe following directions exact, no subbing adding or changing anything. Put in my 8oz ramikins with liners for jumbo xl muffins. Made 6. So good.
what if you don’t have sour cream or yogurt
Hi Lori, You can try using buttermilk to replace both the sour cream AND milk, but the muffins taste a little spongy that way. It’s best to stick to the recipe but let us know if you give it a try!
No idea what i did wrong, but i got the dryest of dry muffins. will have to try again!
Hi Ash, thank you so much for giving these muffins a try! Often dry muffins are caused by simply over-baking. An easy fix for next time! Also, how did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
loved this recipe simple and scrumptious, will definitely make again. Also what can I substitute with the sour cream or yogurt? all in all i give this a 10/10
Hi Bianca, 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 (or yogurt) and whole milk.
I made this recipe with my two youngest granddaughters last night. I tweaked it a little and they are amazing. I added an additional 1/2 cup of milk and one (3.4 oz) pkg of chocolate pudding. I use a jumbo muffin pan. This is a great recipe. Thank you for sharing.
I would like to add raspberries to make chocolate raspberry muffins… any suggestions .
Hi Marilyn, Here are our Jumbo Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins. See the recipe notes if you wish to make them standard size.
I would like to make chocolate muffins with raspberries inside.
Will it work if I add raspberries to the batter? Do I need to alter the recipe?
Incredibly easy to put together and quick baking. We don’t buy boxes anymore! Wish I could show a picture!
This is now definitely my go-to recipe for chocolate muffins! When I made these last night, I realized that I only had nonfat milk in the fridge . . . so I used 1/4 c nonfat milk and 1/4 half & half that I had for my coffee. Worked perfectly! These are hands-down the most moist muffins – better than anything I have ever had at a bakery.
Hi Sally!!!
3 days ago I was looking for a good muffin recipe and I run into your wonderful web site. As chocolate-addicted those double chock muffins stroke my attention, I made then and they are incredibly delicious!!!! I was a little bit afraid about the amount of chocolate chips so I put only 230 g,next time I wil try with 300g and also I will try with brown sugar to make them more wet inside. I want to thank you for your wonderful recipes. I will visit this web site more often.
Greetings from Italy!
Carla
Finding a great recipe online is not easy! I found this recipe when my daughter asked me to make some chocolate muffins. I searched Google and found this recipe with a high rating. I read the comments after finding the recipe and decided to give it a try. I followed the recipe exactly as presented. No deviations. The muffins were not dry at all. Moist and chocolatey. Exactly what I was hoping for. I will be adding this to my recipe book, for sure. As for the negative reviews left by previous commenters that claimed they were dry, or not salty enough or not chocolatey enough, I had no issues with my attempt at this recipe. I did use Hersheys Cocoa. Never skimp. Use brands that you know are good. Five stars easily on this recipe.
Hello, can I use 2% milk and hope for a decent outcome? Thank you, Teresa
Hi Teresa, 2% milk will work in a pinch. Enjoy!
My daughter, who is 11, made these all by herself. They turned out great! I would have dissolved a packet of instant espresso into a tablespoon of hot water wanted added it to the recipe to help the chocolate along, but other than that, they were very yummy!
Thankyou for all the tips, they turned out very lovely. Very moist and gorgeous.
Muffins are scrumptious, I doubled the recipe and used dark chocolate and semi-chocolate morsels. You are correct, they are especially good still warm so I can enjoy the gooey chocolate chips. Yummy!
How would I adapt this for mini muffins? Thanks!
Hi Micky, For mini muffins, bake 13-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.
Hi! What happened to the Triple Chocolate Muffin recipe? It was amazing!
Hi Nic! We were no longer satisfied with the outcome of that older recipe, so we unpublished it. We still have it, so send us an email and we can forward it to you. sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com