Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe • 5★

Published December 4, 2024

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.

Overripe bananas find another happy home nestled in these super-moist, chocolatey muffins. These muffins teeter between breakfast and dessert thanks to the addition of semisweet chocolate chips. For an extra special treat, warm halved muffins in a skillet with a pat of butter and sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt. A swipe of cream cheese wouldn’t hurt either. Freeze overripe bananas peeled in order to make baking with them even easier. Let them thaw first and then stir any liquid back in before measuring the mash.

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1 ½ cups/192 grams all-purpose flour

½ cup/47 grams Dutch-processed cocoa powder

¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

½ packed cup/110 grams dark brown sugar

½ cup/100 grams granulated sugar

½ cup grapeseed or vegetable oil

3 very ripe medium bananas, mashed (about 1 ½ cups)

¼ cup sour cream

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

⅓ cup/58 grams semisweet chocolate chips

Step 1Heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Step 2In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Step 3In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, oil, bananas, sour cream and vanilla extract.

In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, oil, bananas, sour cream and vanilla extract.

Step 4Then add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips and, using a flexible spatula, fold them into the wet ingredients by gently scooping some of the mixture from the bottom and folding it over the dry ingredients on top. Rotate the bowl and repeat until no streaks are visible. Do not overmix.

Then add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips and, using a flexible spatula, fold them into the wet ingredients by gently scooping some of the mixture from the bottom and folding it over the dry ingredients on top. Rotate the bowl and repeat until no streaks are visible. Do not overmix.

Step 5Divide the batter evenly among the liners. Adjust the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. (Make sure you’ve got moist crumbs instead of melted chocolate on the toothpick.) Let muffins cool slightly in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Divide the batter evenly among the liners. Adjust the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. (Make sure you’ve got moist crumbs instead of melted chocolate on the toothpick.) Let muffins cool slightly in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Step 6Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days or store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one month. To reheat, wrap frozen muffins in foil and bake at 350 degrees until warm, about 10 minutes.

Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days or store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one month. To reheat, wrap frozen muffins in foil and bake at 350 degrees until warm, about 10 minutes.

They should have highlighted the need to turn down the oven as soon as you put the muffins in the oven in the recipe summary above. *

Note to any future bakers of these- Preheat the oven 450 degrees, then turn down to 350 as soon as the muffins go in the oven. * The initial blast of heat helps these rise higher. (ATK's recipe for British currant scones does the same thing, fantastic scone recipe for anyone seeing a good one).

It should be like this: in butter, the 20% (average) is water. I use metrics (I'm italian), 1 cup oil should be 192g, the corresponding butter should be 231g. Please NYT Cooking, please, give us metrics for all ingredients! Thank you!

@Chiara, Milano NYTs has added an automatic conversion to Metric measurements. Just click on the little ruler icon next to “Ingredients”.

I didn't have enough banana so made up the volume difference with peanut butter. it turned out pretty good but wish the PB was more noticeable. Would probably use peanut butter chips next time.

I made these with no added sugar, and they turned out great!

Delicious! Used gluten free flour, added toasted walnuts and used scant 1 cup only of maple sugar. Will make again.

Source: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026065-chocolate-banana-muffins