These sky-high chocolate chip muffins are moist and fluffy, packed full of chocolate chips and are so quick and easy to make!
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Muffins are a great last-minute, quick and easy bake and that’s why I love making them! I’ve tried a few flavour combinations so far, such as my Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins, Blueberry Nut Muffins, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Hummingbird Muffins and Lemon Coconut Muffins.
Today however I’ve decided to share my version of a classic – my chocolate chip muffins!
Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe
These chocolate chip muffins are so moist, light and super chocolatey – all the things a great chocolate chip muffin should be!
They rise up tall and proud and are full to the brim with chocolate chips. They come together in no time at all with just two bowls, a whisk and a spatula.
So, what ingredients do you need to make these mega muffins?
Chocolate Chip Muffins Ingredients
The full list of ingredients can be found in my recipe card at the bottom of this post, but here’s a summary:
- Plain flour for structure
- Baking powder
- Bicarbonate of soda both these raising agents help the muffins rise up nice and tall!
- Salt to enhance the flavours
- Caster sugar
- Light brown sugar both sugars help with sweetness, whilst the light brown sugar adds extra moisture to the muffins
- Melted butter for a buttery flavour
- Large eggs for structure
- Vanilla extract for flavour
- Sunflower or vegetable oil
- Buttermilk both the oil and buttermilk add even more moisture to the muffins. (Don’t have buttermilk? See my instructions for DIY buttermilk below!)
- Chocolate chips and lots of them, to get plenty of chocolate flavour in every bite!
How to make buttermilk from scratch
Measure out the same amount of full-fat or semi-skimmed milk and add a tablespoon of either lemon juice or white wine vinegar. Stir briefly and set aside for around 10 minutes. The milk will slightly thicken and that’s it – you’ve made buttermilk!
I recommend buttermilk for the most moist muffins! However, you can skip this step if you prefer and just use regular milk.
How to make chocolate chip muffins from scratch
My recipe card at the bottom of this post contains step-by-step photos and full instructions, but to summarise:
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan
- Place your muffin cases/liners in your 12-hole muffin tray and set aside. If you don’t have muffin cases or prefer not to use them, simply spray each muffin hole with non-stick cake pan spray and set aside
- Add the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and both sugars to your large mixing bowl. Whisk together until just combined and set the bowl aside
- Add the melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, oil and buttermilk to your medium bowl. Whisk together until just combined
- Pour the wet mixture into the large bowl of dry ingredients and fold together gently with a spatula or wooden spoon until just combined. Try not to over mix here as this will make your muffins heavy, dense and dry
- Add the chocolate chips and gently fold them into the muffin batter
- Fill each muffin case about 3/4 full of muffin mixture. This recipe makes 15 muffins so you will bake them in two batches.
- Place into your preheated oven and set a timer for 5 minutes
- After 5 minutes of baking, reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/160°C fan and continue baking for a further 12-15 minutes (I’ll explain more about why we do this further down this post!)
- Once baked, remove from the oven and place the muffin tray onto a wire cooling rack
- After 5 minutes, remove the muffins from the tray and place them onto the wire rack to finish cooling completely. Done!
Tips for making the best homemade chocolate chip muffins
- To ensure all of your ingredients incorporate together smoothly, make sure you use room temperature ingredients. Just take your chilled ingredients out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you need them!
- Overmixing of the muffin batter can easily make your muffins dry and dense. You can mix your dry ingredients thoroughly, and your wet ingredients, but once you add them together gently fold them together until just combined for the best muffin texture
- Wondering why we start with an initial high oven temperature before reducing it after five minutes? This little trick gives the muffins an extra kick to rise up nice and tall at first. Reducing the temperature for the remaining baking time allows the muffins to bake through evenly without over-browning!
Chocolate Chip Muffins FAQs
What is the secret to moist muffins?
It’s all in the method of mixing and the ingredients used. As discussed above, mixing the ingredients until just combined helps prevent dry muffins. As for the ingredients, light brown sugar, melted butter, oil and buttermilk all combine together to create wonderfully moist chocolate chip muffins!
Why do muffins turn out dry?
Over-mixing the batter, baking on too high a temperature or baking the muffins for too long can all lead to dry muffins. I highly recommend using an oven thermometer (so cheap and a must for bakers I think!) to ensure they are baking at the right temperature and setting a timer to ensure you don’t leave them in the oven too long!
How can I tell when muffins are done?
Simply insert a cake skewer or cocktail stick into the centre of the muffins and check that it comes out clean. If it contains any wet mixture, place them back into the oven for a few more minutes before checking again.
What makes muffins light and fluffy?
I use both baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in my muffin recipes to help them rise as tall as possible. This then gives the muffins a lighter, fluffier texture inside. Also (without meaning to sound like a broken record!), over mixing the muffin batter can make the muffins dense so mix only until no pockets of flour remain to create fluffy muffins!
Which oil is best for muffins?
I recommend using a mild flavoured oil like vegetable or sunflower oil. Using a stronger flavoured oil such as olive oil might well affect the overall flavour of the muffins.
Can I use melted butter instead of oil in muffins?
You can, although oil helps a lot with the moisture of the muffins so they will be a little drier without oil.
Should I store muffins in the fridge?
No as this will dry your muffins out more quickly. Keep muffins stored at room temperature in an airtight container. They are best eaten on the day but will keep for up to 4 days.
Can I freeze muffins?
Absolutely, muffins freeze brilliantly! Simply place the muffins in an airtight container, or wrap individually in film before freezing. They will defrost quite quickly but you can give them a little head start by giving them a short burst in the microwave. They keep well in the freezer for around 3 months.
To summarise, these chocolate chip muffins are:
- Packed full to the brim with chocolate chips
- So quick and easy to make with just two bowls, a whisk and a spatula
- Bakery-style muffins with tall muffin tops
- So moist by using ingredients such as oil, buttermilk and light brown sugar
- Freezable for a great quick snack
If you try this recipe I’d love to see! You can show me by tagging me @bakerjoblog or using #bakerjoblog!
Other muffin recipes to try:
- Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Hummingbird Muffins
- Lemon Coconut Muffins
- Blueberry Nut Muffins
Other cake recipes to try:
- Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake
- White Chocolate Blondies
- Nutella Brownies
- Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- Carrot Loaf Cake
- Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
- Peanut Butter Brownies
- Chocolate Coconut Cake
- Chewy Homemade Brownies
- Carrot Cake Swiss Roll
- Gingerbread Latte Cake
- Banoffee Brownies
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Equipment
- 12 hole muffin tray
- Spatula or wooden spoon
- 1 large and 1 medium mixing bowl
- 15 muffin cases/liners or non-stick cake pan spray
Ingredients
- 300 g plain flour
- 2 + 1/2 tsp baking powder level
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda level
- 1/2 tsp salt level
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 50 g melted butter
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 60 ml sunflower or vegetable oil
- 200 ml buttermilk room temperature
- 300 g chocolate chips milk or dark (sweet or semi-sweet)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220°C/200°C fan.
- Place your muffin cases/liners in your 12-hole muffin pan, or if not using cases, spray the muffin holes with non-stick cake pan spray. Set aside.
- To your large mixing bowl add the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, caster sugar and light brown sugar. Whisk until well combined and set aside.
- To your medium mixing bowl add the melted butter, large eggs, vanilla extract, sunflower oil and buttermilk. Whisk until well combined.
- Pour this wet mixture into the large bowl of dry ingredients and using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold together until no pockets of flour remain. Be careful not to overmix at this stage to avoid dense, heavy muffins.
- Add the chocolate chips and gently fold into the muffin batter. The batter will be quite thick.
- Fill each muffin case/hole 3/4 full with muffin batter.
- Place into your preheated oven and set a timer for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/160°C fan and continue baking for 12-15 more minutes.
- To check if the muffins are done, insert a cake skewer or cocktail stick into the centre of the muffins and check if it comes out clean. If it contains any wet mixture, place the muffins back in for a few more minutes before checking again.
- Once baked remove from the oven and place the tray onto a wire cooling rack. After 5 minutes, remove the muffins and place them onto the wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
- Best eaten within around 4 days. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- * You can substitute plain flour for self-raising flour, but reduce the baking powder to 2 tsp.
Great recipe. My first attempt at muffins and they turned out really good. My family loved them so I think I’ll be making them often. Thanks Jo!
Author
They’re so easy, right? Really happy your first muffin attempt was a success!
Bake these today. Didn’t rise evenly and i have got oven thermometer. Texture was good with a bit of crunchy top. Not too sweet just right.
Great for kids to bake.
Author
Hi Sim,
Glad you enjoyed the flavour and texture!