Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins are soft and sweet with a chocolate banana flavor, made with mashed ripe bananas, brown sugar, gluten free flour, and chocolate chips, ready in only 30 minutes!
Banana bread is a family favorite in this house, so I’m always looking for new ways to make it! Check out this Chocolate Banana Bread, Vegan Banana Muffins, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, and this classic Gluten Free Banana Bread!
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins are the perfect grab-and-go breakfast, and a great way to use up over-ripe bananas. I like to make these with chocolate chips, but you can also try walnuts, pecans, dried cranberries, or a combination of flavors. This is one of my favorite gluten free muffins recipes for when we’re traveling for the day and don’t have a lot of time to prep, too!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. Pick a cup-for-cup gluten free flour blend. The two most popular brands already contain xanthan gum, which keeps the muffins from falling apart.
You can also share this recipe with friends that aren’t gluten free and they can swap in regular flour, because it’s written using 1:1 gluten free flour.
Bananas. Over-ripe bananas are perfect for banana bread. You want brown spots on the peel and soft bananas, but you don’t want the brown on the inside.
Chocolate Chips. I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can also use dark chocolate chips. Also try other flavors, like white chocolate or butterscotch chips. You can also use mini chips if that’s what you have.
Butter. I usually use unsalted butter for baking. The amount of salt in unsalted butter can vary, so I like to add it myself later in the recipe to make sure I can control the amount.
Granulated Sugar. Use a mix of brown sugar and white granulated sugar. You can also use all white sugar for a sweeter recipe, or all brown sugar for a deeper flavor.
The brown sugar also contains more moisture, and helps keep muffins moist.
Baking Soda & Baking Powder. This is really important for the rise to make tall muffins. Make sure your baking powder says “double-acting”. If it doesn’t, you won’t get a great muffin top.
Spices. I use cinnamon and nutmeg. You can get creative here with most fall spice combos. Try pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, allspice, or whatever combination you’d like.
Salt. This balances out the sweetness in the recipe. I find that 1/2 teaspoon salt works well, but you can add more or less for your taste.
Egg. Eggs are a binding agent that helps hold everything together and adds a small amount of fat to keep the banana bread moist.
Vanilla. Added for flavor. You can also try almond extract to mix it up.
How to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Add muffin liners to a muffin tin and set aside. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together white sugar and butter. Then mix in brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and last the bananas.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients (except chocolate chips and additional 1 tbsp of flour).
- Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, then use a spatula to mix together until just combined.
- Coat the chocolate chips with the remaining flour, then gently fold chocolate chips into banana bread batter. Use an ice cream scoop to transfer batter from the mixing bowl to the muffin tin.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.
How to Ripen Bananas Quickly
If you don’t have overripe bananas, you can easily speed up the process yourself! These tips can help you make banana bread muffins anytime instead of waiting for ripe bananas.
- If you have a day or two, place the bananas in a paper bag (with an apple if you have it) and fold the top to close the bag. The paper bag traps ethylene gas and helps ripen the fruit faster.
- Bake the bananas in the oven at 400°F for 5 minutes, or until they’ve browned. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Poke the banana peels with a fork, then place in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds at a time. After about 2 minutes total, the bananas should be browned.
- Store them in a warm place, and keep them in a bunch. Bananas ripen faster when they’re kept together, and in a warm place in your kitchen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here’s a few tips on how to make sure you have moist banana muffins.
Don’t over-bake. Baking muffins for too long can dry them out. Watch your time closely, adding 5 minutes at a time until a toothpick comes out clean.
The temperature is too hot. If your oven is cooking at a hotter temperature than what is set, too much moisture will evaporate and the muffins will dry out. Use an oven thermometer to make sure the oven temperature is working correctly.
Measure ingredients. Use a butter knife to level the measure cups, and make sure you use the proper dry ingredient measuring cups for the flour and sugar. Adding too much flour can dry out the muffins.
You should need 2-3 bananas for 1 cup of mashed bananas. This can vary depending on how big your bananas are to start with. It’s a good idea to have a few extra, just in case.
You don’t need to refrigerate banana muffins, but if you’re going to keep them longer than 2-3 days then they should be refrigerated or frozen for longevity and quality.
Storage
Store banana muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. Line the container with paper towels to prevent the muffins from getting soggy from excess moisture.
Refrigerate leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to a week.
Freeze banana muffins in an airtight container for 3-4 months. I usually wrap the container in an extra layer of tinfoil to prevent freezer burn.
How to Make These Muffins Vegan or Dairy Free
- Swap the butter for vegetable oil.
- Swap the egg for 1/4 cup applesauce.
- Look for allergen-free chocolate chips, that don’t contain dairy.
- For vegan recipes, buy sugar that meets vegan standards.
More Gluten Free Muffin Recipes
Gluten Free Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
Recipe Variations
- For a crunch add nuts like walnuts, pecans, or almonds.
- Add an extra teaspoon vanilla extract for more flavor, or try almond extract, orange extract, or other flavors to mix it up!
- Use mini chocolate chips and make mini sized muffins, and reduce the baking time to 10-15 minutes.
- Add a handful of fresh blueberries or other fruits for some variation!
- Use a teaspoon cinnamon to dust the top of the muffins for presentation!
Cooking Tips
- Line the muffin tin with muffin cups to make it easier to clean, and the muffins won’t stick to the pan. If you don’t have paper liners, grease the muffin tin and lightly dust it with flour.
- Don’t over-mix. The trick to great muffins is to mix all ingredients until just combined. A few streaks of flour here and there is fine!
- Make sure to dust the chocolate chips in flour before adding to the muffin batter. This keeps them from sinking to the bottom while baking.
- This uses cup-for-cup gluten free flour, meaning the recipe for these gluten free muffins can be used with regular flour if you’re not gluten free.
- Use an ice cream scoop to transfer the muffin batter to the baking pan. This is faster, cleaner, and helps to make sure that each muffin is around the same size.
If you loved this recipe, be sure to leave a 5 Star review below, and tag me with a photo of your finished recipe on Instagram @Jacqui_DishingDelish!
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 cups overripe bananas, mashed (about 5-6 bananas)
- 2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour 1:1, +1 tablespoon flour for dusting chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Equipment
- 1 muffin pan
- 1 electric hand mixer or stand mixer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Add muffin liners to a muffin tin and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together white sugar and butter. Then mix in brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and last the bananas until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients (except chocolate chips and additional 1 tablespoon of flour). Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, then use a spatula to mix together until just combined.
- Coat the chocolate chips with the remaining flour, then gently fold chocolate chips into banana bread batter.
- Use an ice cream scoop to transfer batter to the muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
- Swap the butter for vegetable oil.
- Swap the egg for 1/4 cup applesauce.
- Look for allergen-free chocolate chips, that don’t contain dairy.
- For vegan recipes, buy sugar that meets vegan standards.
- Line the muffin tin with muffin cups to make it easier to clean, or grease the muffin tin and lightly dust it with flour.
- Don’t over-mix. The trick to great muffins is to mix all ingredients until just combined. A few streaks of flour here and there is fine!
- Dusting the chocolate chips in flour before adding to the muffin batter keeps them from sinking to the bottom while baking.
Nutrition
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