This Chocolate Muffin Recipe is a tried-and-true, bakery-style favorite. Learn how to make moist, rich, and flavorful muffins every time.
My Favorite Chocolate Muffin Recipe
Growing up, we didn’t get a Costco membership (even with 9 people in our family!) until I was about to graduate high school. Once we did, I finally discovered the “magic” of Costco’s double chocolate muffins. If you’d asked me as a senior in high school what my favorite dessert was, I wouldn’t have even hesitated to tell you: “Costco chocolate muffins!”
So, while these aren’t the typical healthy (ish) muffins you’ll find on my site, I’m so excited to finally share a bakery-style, moist and delicious, double chocolate muffin recipe with you all. I’ve been slowly tweaking and working at this recipe for a few months and never got it up in time for the holiday season, so bear with me as I share these amidst all the healthy meals/treats you’re probably hoping to find this January. Or make these healthy-ish chocolate banana muffins in the meantime!
How To Make Chocolate Muffin Recipe
- Mix dry: Sift flour, cocoa, baking agents, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Mix wet: Beat eggs and sugars until thick, then slowly add oil, butter, sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla.
- Combine: Add dry to wet and mix until just combined. Overmixing can make the muffins dense.
- Bake: Fill greased tins and bake until a toothpick comes out clean or with moist crumbs.
Tips For Making This Chocolate Muffins Recipe
- Use good-quality cocoa powder: The better the cocoa powder you use, the better these muffins turn out! While natural cocoa powder is okay in these muffins, I recommend using Dutch-process cocoa to give you the most flavorful and moist muffins. This is my absolute favorite cocoa powder.
- High-quality chocolate: Again, the better the chocolate, the better the flavor! I love Ghirardelli® or Guittard® chips or chopping a good chocolate bar.
- Spoon and level flour measurement: If you pack in too much flour, you’ll get denser/drier muffins. Here’s a great video showing how to properly measure flour for this recipe.
- Don’t overbake: Again to avoid dry muffins, you’ll want to make sure you don’t overbake these muffins — they can go from perfectly moist and fudgy to dry and less flavorful in just a few minutes.
Quick Tip
What is the difference between natural and Dutch-process cocoa? Cocoa si acidic and bitter with a very strong and concentrated chocolate flavor and almost no sweetness– very similar to 100% chocolate. Dutch-process cocoa powder has been processed with an alkaline solution to counter the natural acidity. This makes the flavor less acidic, milder, and more chocolatey and creates a darker and more red color.
Chocolate Muffin Recipe FAQs
These chocolate muffins get their rich flavor from a full cup of cocoa powder. The chocolate chips are optional. You can leave them out with no other changes.
While it’s best to follow the recipe, here are a few tested swaps:
–Greek yogurt: Full-fat Greek yogurt works in place of sour cream. I love using Greek Gods® Honey Vanilla.
–Buttermilk: Make your own by combining 3/4 cup milk with 2 teaspoons vinegar or lemon juice. Let sit 5 minutes, then use as directed.
–Cocoa powder: Both natural and Dutch-process work. Dutch-process gives the best flavor, but natural works well too.
Storage
Freezing And Storing Chocolate Muffins
Once completely cooled, store the muffins in an airtight container or bag at room temp. Chocolate Muffins are best used within 2-3 days.
To Freeze/Thaw:
- Cool muffins completely before wrapping and freezing.
- To freeze: Wrap completely in plastic wrap and then place in large freezer bags.
- To thaw: Set out at room temperature, or heat frozen muffins in the microwave.
More Baked Goods:
Desserts
Zucchini Bread Recipe
Muffins And Quick Breads
Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
Desserts
Lemon Bread Recipe
Chocolate Muffin Recipe
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder see note 1
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1-1/4 cups chocolate chips
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup sour cream or full-fat Greek yogurt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk see note 2
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease with cooking spray and flour a 12-cup muffin pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour (make sure to spoon and level your measurement so you don’t pack in too much flour), both kinds of cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir together, then add in the mini and regular chocolate chips. Stir to coat the chips in the dry ingredients. This keeps them from sinking to the bottom.
- In another large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the eggs at medium-high speed. You can also use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Slowly add in granulated sugar and then brown sugar while continuing to beat. Beat until the mixture is pale and thickened, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly pour in oil while beating, then melted and cooled butter until completely combined. Beat in sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla extract until incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold until just combined. You don’t want to overmix or you’ll end up with dense muffins.
- Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tin. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
- Bake for 15–21 minutes and be sure to watch carefully. As soon as a toothpick comes out clean or with moist crumbs, they are done baking.
- Remove and allow to cool in the pan for 5–8 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. I am planning to make it tomorrow. Just wonder if I can substitute the vegetable oil with coconut oil in this recipe?
I haven’t personally tried, but I think it would be okay
Mine tasted too much like dark chocolate. They were kind of bitter. How would you fix that?
What cocoa powder did you use?
Hi! These look delicious! How do I make these dairy free? Can I substitute the Greek yogurt butter and buttermilk with something else? Thank you
I’m sorry I haven’t ever tried making these chocolate muffins dairy free so I really couldn’t give a good suggestion especially with how heavily they do rely on dairy 🙁
My family loves this recipe.Ive been looking for a new recipe.Just made them
I’m soo happy to hear this! Thanks for your comment! 🙂
Hi, these look absolutely delicious and I’d like to make them tomorrow for a little party 🙂
I have one question about the cocoa powder: Do you mean 1/2 cup unsweetend cocoa powder and 1/2 cup sweetened cocoa powder (like the kind you’d use to make hot chocolate) or 1 cup unsweetened? I live in Europe so I’m not that familiar with American terms for cocoa powder – I simply have sweetend and unsweetened 🙂
1 cup unsweetened! 🙂 I recommend Dutch process for these muffins if you are able to find that!
How would I modify to make mini muffins? These sound great. Thanks
Hey Veronica, I haven’t actually ever made this into mini muffins so I can’t say for sure. My recommendation would be to bake for 12 to 14 minutes (400 degrees F) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean/with moist crumbs.
I made these for breakfast and my son was in heaven. He ate 4 in one sitting. I had to make the butter milk with lemon juice but they turned out amazing! So moist and tasty! I think they are better than Costco, not as dense. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
This seriously made my day! I’m so happy to hear you guys enjoyed these! My boys can seriously eat 4 in a sitting too, haha. Thank you so much for your comment Elizabeth! 🙂
Just checking before I make these tomorrow – for the cocoa powder, we use a dark cocoa powder (like Hershey’s Special dark) & a regular cocoa powder (like natural Hershey’s ), or use 1 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder instead? Thank you. I am a little confused!
Totally correct! 🙂 I prefer the 1 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder in these muffins but if you can’t access it, I’ve found mixing the two (dark and natural) is the next best thing!
I am a muffin junkie. I love all kinds of muffins. This recipe is now in my 5-star collection! One word for these: INCREDIBLE! I used paper muffin cups in my tins and after cooling thoroughly, they came out perfectly. I also got 24 beautiful muffins from this recipe. I kept some, froze some and gave some to family members. Thanks for a delicious recipe!
Yay!! I am SO thrilled to hear that and so happy it made it to the 5-star collection 🙂 Thank you so much for the comment Maryellen!
Well, your “tweaking and working” was very successful. They smelled absolutely delicious while baking and taste fantastic!
Yay!!! So happy to hear that! 🙂 Thanks for reporting back Lynn!