What to do with browning bananas? It’s the question that never stops needing to be answered. The other day I was about to make a batch of my Yogurt Banana Bread with some over ripe bananas, but I decided to change it up last minute. I added little cocoa powder and a handful of chocolate chips to the batter, then scooped it into a muffin tin instead of a bread pan for easy portioning, and I got these tasty little Chocolate Banana Muffins. They’re the perfect not-too-sweet treat that I can keep in my freezer for days that I want a little something special to go with my morning coffee.
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Use Ripe Bananas for the Best Flavor
I know chocolate banana muffins sound delicious, but have patience and wait until you have some brown, over ripe bananas to make this recipe. Over ripe bananas are sweeter and their banana flavor is more intense, which is what you want for the banana flavor to really come through in the muffins. Plus, they’re easier to mash when they’re soft and super ripe. ;)
How to Freeze Chocolate Banana Muffins
I love the fact that these banana muffins are already in single-serving portions, which makes them really great for freezing and thawing as-needed (or “as-wanted”?). To freeze the muffins, make sure they cool completely to room temperature, then place them in a gallon-sized zip top freezer bag and transfer to the freezer. To thaw, you can either let them sit for 15-30 minutes at room temperature, or microwave for about 30 seconds until they’re warm and the chocolate chips are melted. They’re sooooo good with a cup of coffee!
Other Muffin Add-in Ideas
Muffins like this are kind of fun because you can really play around with the add-ins (in addition to, or in place of the chocolate chips). Peanut butter chips would be really good in these muffins, as would something like shredded coconut. Walnuts are a classic with banana bread, but almonds would probably taste really nice with this banana-chocolate combo, too.
Chocolate Banana Muffins
Servings 12Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2-3 bananas) ($0.42)
- 1 cup plain yogurt ($0.67)
- 2 large eggs ($0.46)
- 1/2 cup sugar ($0.40)
- 4 Tbsp melted butter ($0.52)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.30)
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour ($0.23)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ($0.21)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips ($0.70)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Mash the bananas well. You'll need one cup mashed bananas. If you have slightly less than one cup, you can use slightly more yogurt to make up for the banana. If you have slightly more than one cup, you can reduce the yogurt slightly to compensate for the extra banana.
- Add the mashed banana to a large mixing bowl along with the yogurt, eggs, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk the ingredients together well.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir just until they are combined. It's okay if the mixture is a little lumpy. Do not over stir. Finally, fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
- Divide the batter between the 12 wells of the muffin tin (it will fill each well up to the top). Transfer the muffin tin to the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes.
- After baking, remove the muffins from the tin and allow them to cool on a wire rack before serving.
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Equipment
- Muffin Pan
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Measuring Cups Spoons
Nutrition
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How to Make Chocolate Banana Muffins – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a muffin tin with paper liners. Mash 2-3 bananas well with a fork. You’ll need 1 cup mashed bananas. If you have slightly less banana, you can add a little extra yogurt to make up for it. If you have a little more than 1 cup banana, you can reduce the yogurt a little to compensate for the extra banana.
Add the mashed banana to a large mixing bowl along with 1 cup plain yogurt, 2 large eggs, ½ cup sugar, 4 Tbsp melted butter, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Whisk these ingredients together well.
In a separate bowl, stir together 1.5 cups all-purpose flour, ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, and ½ tsp salt. Stir until the dry ingredients are very well combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until everything is moistened. The mixture will be lumpy, but try not to over stir (the photo shows the mixture half stirred, check the next photo for the appearance of the fully stirred batter).
Finally, fold a ½ cup of chocolate chips into the batter, again taking care not to over stir.
Divide the batter between 12 wells of a muffin tin. The batter will fill each well all the way up to the top. Transfer the muffin tin to the preheated 350ºF oven.
Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Remove the baked muffins from the tin to cool before serving.
Enjoy!
This sounds amazing! Could you substitute the yogurt with cottage cheese? Will report back if I try it! Thanks :)
Hmmm. We haven’t tried it so I’m not certain! Let us know if you do try it! I would definitely blend the cottage cheese first to get a similar texture to the yogurt.
I just made 2 separate batches, one was the muffins and the other was a banana bread and they both have turned out amazing!!! I used the yogurt in the muffins and sour cream along with added chopped pecans in the bread. What a great, quick and easy recipe!
Thank you so much for always making things so simple!! Our daughter, her family and my hubby and I will enjoy these goodies!!!
So good!! Every single recipe I’ve tried (and I’ve made many) has never disappointed. I had to use gluten free flour (Bob’s 1 to 1) and it turned out wonderful. Thank you so much for all your recipes!
WOW!! One of the best banana breads I’ve ever made/eaten &, ya know, I’ve tried plenty of recipes looking for ‘that one’ to become the tried & true, make again one. This one is a keeper & delicious. I followed as is, the only sub was sour cream for the yogurt. I’d done this before with good results so felt OK with it. I did it loaf style in a 9X5. It took about 60 minutes in my oven & it popped right out of the loaf pan after a 10 minute rest. Fantastic taste & I think even better the next day.
Yummy muffins! Quick to put together recipe. Baked on parchment wrappers for nonstick unwrapping. Loved by both kids and adults in our house. Thanks for another great recipe!
I made these muffins and they have become one of my faves!!! So easy to make and not overly sweet !
These were great except for the 25% of each muffin that stuck to the paper wrappers. I followed the directions as written and it made 18 muffins! I sprinkled walnuts on a few and loved it. Silicone wrappers aren’t an option when I’m taking them to an event or sharing with others. Next time I’ll try this as a loaf I can slice in a greased/floured pan.
Hi, Molly! I’m sorry that happened! Batters that are high in sugar/low in fat (like this one) have a tendency to stick to paper liners. I would suggest spraying the insides of each liner lightly with pressurized cooking spray before adding the batter to ensure they all come out of the liners with ease next time. When baking as a loaf, increase the cooking time to 50 minutes. ~Marion :)
https://www.budgetbytes.com/yogurt-banana-bread/
Same thing happened to me. Followed the recipe to a T and used paper cupcake liners. Stuck to the liners bad.
That should be mentioned in the recipe.
Beth, how do you make your own parchment paper?
I made a vegan version by using vegan yogurt and omitting the eggs. They were still very good and moist. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!
Wonderful! In case others wonder about substitutions, I subbed 1 to 1 gluten free flour and sour cream for yogurt and they turned out great!
Wow. These are so good. Th only thing different I did was up the chocolate chips and since I didn’t have muffin liners I just sprayed a pan and baked right in the tin. They came out amazing! Definitely will be in my regular rotation of baking now. Thank you for the recipe!
Don’t have plain yogurt on hand but do have vanilla flavored. Can I add this and skip the vanilla extract?
It’s hard to say without trying how much of a difference it will make. Keep in mind, too, that the vanilla yogurt is probably also already sweetened, so that may also affect the overall sweetness of the muffin.
Great recipe! I love making banana bread but never thought to make it chocolate… and in muffin shape/size. Brilliant!
Hello I followed the recipe but the bottom of my muffins were soft and runny still. I put back in the oven but it didn’t help. Do you think it was because my bananas were very ripe? Muffins didn’t rise either but sunk in the middle when taken out of oven.. tasted nice though but texture wrong…
I don’t think it was because the bananas were too ripe. It might be that your oven is running lower than the set temperature. How long did you put them back into the oven for after taking them out the first time? They may have still needed more time. When baked goods are not completely cooked in the middle they will sink like that after they’re taken out of the oven.
I started this and realized I only had 1/3 greek yogurt, so I did 1/3 of oil and 1/3 of applesauce. Came out beautiful – just might do this in the future instead of all yogurt. What cooking is about tbh. Thanks for the recipe.
Love these and have made them many times!! Today I started making them and after mixing the yogurt and bananas I realized I was out of eggs. I wasn’t sure how to pivot but didn’t want to throw things out. I added about a tablespoon chia seeds and 1/4 milk to the wet ingredients and they turned out just fine!!! Definitely not exactly the same or perfect but still edible!
Best way to use up old bananas and get your chocolate fix. These muffins were so tasty and easy to throw together.
I’m not sure what I did, but I must have done something wrong. I had a couple issues. First, they just didn’t taste very chocolatey to me. I used milk chocolate chips because that’s what I had, maybe dark chocolate would have been better? Second, I baked them for 30 minutes & they were already a little over-done. This is the first recipe I didn’t have luck with.
These were so tasty and moist. And I loved the way this “big muffin” cooks up in the muffin tin–damn delicious and a nice rounded top. And thank you for all of you hard work and effort on this site. I have turned many people on to you and none of us have had a “meh” experience with your recipes. Of course, we all have our favs but they are always spot on with flavor and don’t disappoint. Appreciate you, your team and your talents:)
I made these last night and they turned out amazingly! So moist and flavorful, and such a quick, simple recipe!
This recipe makes super delicious muffins! My family devoured them all within a few hours, so I’ll definitely be making them again! My only reason for 4/5 stars is because the batter sticks terribly to the muffin tin liners, and the muffins are sort of torn apart when you try and take the liner off of them. Overall great recipe though!
I had this exact same problem with the batter sticking to the liners and came looking to see if anyone else had the same issue haha. I’m so glad I’m not alone!!
But I agree, the muffins themselves are delicious and super easy to throw together!
Just curious, I don’t usually have bananas on hand (usually just frozen ones for smoothies!). Is it possible to use apple sauce in place of bananas? Thank you!
Sometimes you can make that swap in recipes, but it’s hard to say how much it would affect the outcome of this without testing it first.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Just made them and these were some of the best cookies I have ever made!!
Love this! I stuck to the recipe with just one addition: 1 tsp espresso powder. Makes 12 generous muffins which are so good they might not last all day. Batter is thick so if you use large chips they don’t all fall to the bottom. It’s great to have another good way to use up ripe bananas.
I can’t get hold of a muffin tin as we are in the highest Covid tier, retail is closed and my local supermarkets don’t sell muffin tins! What is the temperature/baking time for a loaf tin? I can’t wait to try the recipe!
I would probably follow the baking instructions for my Yogurt Banana Bread, which this recipe was based upon. :)
Thank you Beth! :)
I don’t usually have plain yogurt on-hand. Is there something I can use in place of the yogurt? Thank you. Please stay well!
Unfortunately, I haven’t tested this recipe with any yogurt substitutes. Baking can be an exact science, so it’s too difficult to say how much a substitute would affect the outcome without testing it.
Sour cream should work!
I used sour cream and it worked out!
Is it better tasting with the plain yogurt…or does the sour cream go well too? Just curious if you liked the sour cream substitute?
To start off- I’m so glad to have found your website! Someone left a comment about how awesome it is on reddit, so glad I followed their comment here. All the recipes I have made so far turned out great – I made meal prep recipes, marinara sauce, balsamic mushrooms are to die for….:) so now to these scrumptious muffins- i made them multiple times and they are delicious, not to sweet, just right. I keep bananas in a separate bag to brown them for this recipe. One time I didn’t have regular flour on hand and used almond flour while also adding 1/2 cup of crumbled walnuts. The muffins turned out divine! The taste is so elegant, they are moist, just perfect taste wise. The problem I have is that they are a little crumbly, moist but crumbly. They are in a muffin liner so I eat them with a spoon, but of course I would like to eat it like a regular muffin without it falling apart. Could you recommend what should be done/added/subtracted to keep the taste but change the texture to be a little more firm. Thank you in advance and thank you for this comprehensive collection of recipes!
Your muffins are crumbly because you used almond flour. It is often used as a sub for all purpose flour but it doesn’t have the same chemical characteristics as “regular” flour so it usually needs additional binding agent (ie eggs) to help it stick together.
I should add I found this out through my own failed substitution to a recipe years ago so I can’t remember exactly how I fixed it. All I remember is everything I found online said “additional binding agents are needed when using almond flour”. Good luck!
These are my new favorite muffins! I did everything according to the recipe, except the baking time, and found them perfect. (Like many others, mine were done in 25 minutes.) Thanks, Beth!
Wow…. this muffin seems so beautiful and delicious
I used applesauce instead of butter in the batter. My muffin pan was super full and I was worried about overflow, but they were fine. I baked at 425 for the first 5 minutes to make the tops extra big.
These were so good! I didn’t have any yogurt but I did have a container of cottage cheese that I hadn’t planned on eating. I blended it up in my food processor until it was smooth and used that in place of the yogurt and they still came out good! I used half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour (if I was the only one eating it I would have used all whole wheat but I was hoping I could sneak some nutrition into my picky kids and they like lighter muffins). They were definetly denser than a standard muffin but since I like a heartier muffin so I won’t be tempted to eat like 4 of them :) This recipe is a keeper.
These were delicious. Your site has become a go-to for me. My family LOVES your recipes.
Only one word for these muffins-awesome. 👍 so easy to make.
My dad loved these muffins-even though he’s on a puréed diet. I love them as well. My only suggestion would be to spray the muffin tins an muffin papers just so it does not stick.
Tasted great. I agree with everyone that they aren’t too sweet, just right for a muffin. Mine also only needed about 25 minutes so check yours around then. I would add another 1/4 cup of chocolate chips or walnuts to it next time. I used 3 bananas and 1/3 cup of milk to substitute for the yogurt (missing)
I made a double batch and froze half and they are a wonderful quick breakfast! Using silicone muffin cups make for a clean removal!
Absolutely loved these! So moist and not overly sweet. Only needed 27 minutes to bake for me, happy I checked on them at 25 mins and didn’t let them go to 35!
I recently made your banana flax muffins and loved them so when I decided to give these a try, I sort of combined that recipe with this by subbing a 1/4 cup of flour with ground flax seed, omitted the sugar (probably could have used 2 tbsp though), and I added 1/2 cup walnuts, 1/4 cup chocolate chips, and a 1/4 cup of cacao nibs. They are delicious and so convenient for breakfast.
Wow!!!!
I am a celiac, and when I saw this recipe I had a feeling it would translate really well with gluten free flour. I subbed King Arthur’s 1:1 GF flour and the muffins came out absolutely spectacular. They are moist, delicious and hold together well.
This will be my new go-to recipe for overripe bananas, thank you :)
These were fantastic! Just chocolaty enough, and not overly sweet. I loved getting surprise bites of banana that I didn’t fully mush up. I ran out of AP flour, so half a cup of the flour was whole wheat. Mine were done a little sooner than 35 minutes; maybe 27 or 28.
Can I sub. sour cream for the yogurt? Thank you.
I haven’t tried that substitution, so I’m not sure how much it will affect the outcome. :)
I used Greek yogurt, which is so similar, and they turned out perfect! I would think sour cream would work fine.
These were so gooood! I think I will also add peanut butter chips along with the chocolate chips. Yummy!
Holy cow…
I had to make one substitution (no yogurt, subbed 3/4 cup of whole milk and a scant tablespoon of white vinegar) and they came out sooooooooooooooooooooooooo moist and delicious. I will absolutely be making these again.
I made these and they’re already gone in 4 days! They’re super good (not too sweet, but sweet enough to counter the bitterness of the cocoa powder and semisweet chocolate chips that I used). I made a few changes (used slightly more than 1 cup of banana, but reduced the yogurt. I also used some greek yogurt mixed with milk because I didn’t have regular yogurt to use). I also used vegetable oil instead of melted butter. There are a few things I’m going to change next time: increase the baking soda or powder a little to achieve a better lift, use silicon muffin liners (with a little cooking spray) to make them easier to eat, since they do stick to the paper ones, and make 13-14 instead of trying to fit all the batter into 12. Other than that, this is a really great base recipe. I’ll definitely be making it again.
I made these again- I used the same subs as my previous comment, used 1.5 tsp baking powder instead of 1 tsp, split the batter into 16 muffins, and used silicone muffin liners. The muffins came out great! They took 25 minutes to bake.
If I wanted to make this recipe in a loaf pan instead of individual muffins, what’s your recommendation for the cooking time? Thanks so much!
This is basically a variation of my Yogurt Banana Bread recipe, which is baked in a loaf pan for 60 minutes at 350, so that might give you a place to start. But if the pan is a different shape that can affect the baking time. :)
Perfect. Thank you!
I only had Greek yogurt, so I used that without thinning it. I baked them for 25 minutes, and they were definitely done (but 35 seems long for muffins–maybe because of where I live, although I don’t normally have to adapt Beth’s recipe times). I’ll try it next with regular and see if that changes. They were delicious!
I made these muffins 3 days ago and they are almost all gone. They are moist and delicious. Perfect with coffee in the afternoon. They are not too sweet which is very appreciated.
The only problem that I have is that they stick to the muffin paper a lot. It’s not a big deal, it’s just slowing us down while we are eating them.
I am from Canada (French part) and I love your website soooo much. I have been doing your recipes for a while and they all turned out amazing!
😂🙏🏻@ Slowing us down while eating them, I literally laughed for couple minutes but I know that feeling of a wrapper getting in the way.
These are not soy-free if they contain chocolate.
It depends on if the chocolate uses soy lecithin. Not sure if it’s available near you, but the Enjoy Life brand of chocolate chips is soy free, and there are some other brands as well.
Can i use milk instead pf yogurt?
I love chocolate raisin banana muffins. Instead of the chocolate chips or chunks I use Golden Seeded (seedless) raisins. I don’t use the yogurt but I do use 2 cups of flour and they still come out moist and yummy….so much so that several of my swimming buddies gobble them up. I have to admit that I use parchment cups so I have less of a mess. They do freeze well and you can half or double the recipe… I have done both.
For someone who is gluten intolerant (like my son’s wife) , I use gluten free flour but I need to add 1/4 cup for every 2 cups required.
Would you be able to use vanilla Greek yogurt in place of the plain?
I haven’t tried it, but the one thing you have to be aware of is that Greek yogurt has less moisture in it, so that might throw off the ratios in the batter.
Thank you for this!! I’m 8 months pregnant and craving chocolate HARD. This is perfect for a good hit of chocolate without being too sweet or feeling overly unhealthy. I made a batch yesterday and popped a bunch in my freezer for the sleep-deprived days to come :)
Can’t wait to make these! Question. Can they be made without the eggs?
The eggs serve multiple purposes here. They help with leavening and they provide structure to the muffin (so they don’t just deflate after rising). So if you leave the egg out you will probably run into some problems. You might be able to replace it with something, but I haven’t tested this with any egg replacers, so unfortunately I can’t offer a good substitution.
These were really good. Not too sweet, but just enough to feel indulgent. I replaced 1/2 cup of the flour with whole wheat, used mini chocolate chips, and used 3/4 cup of soymilk soured with apple cider vinegar for the yogurt. Looking forward to having them for breakfast all week, and stashing a few in the freezer.
ps, in the ingredients list you have “metled butter”.
These sound so yummy! Question—could I use apple sauce instead of sugar? If so, how much would you recommend I use? Thank you for all the wonderful recipes!
I think that would change the recipe quite a bit because the chemistry and moisture level of sugar and apple sauce are so different, so I’m not sure without testing it how it would affect not only the flavor, but the texture of the muffin.
I’ve just discovered that I may be lactose intolerant. Can I replace the yoghurt with more banana? Would you recommend something else?
I’d need to play around with it to know for sure. If you substitute all of the yogurt with banana you’ll be missing out on the fat from the yogurt and the acidity, which will affect the flavor, texture, and leavening. How much it will affect it, I’m not sure without testing.
Thanks for replying! I was able to buy some coconut milk yoghurt today. I’ll bake a test batch soon.
These are great! I used blended cottage cheese instead of yogurt because that’s what I had and cooked for about 8 minutes less than the directions and they turned out perfectly. Moist and flavorful.
I just pulled these muffins out of the oven and gobbled one down while it was still hot! It was soo good and chocolatey. My muffins turned out slightly crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.
I’m going to be that annoying person who made changes to the recipe, but I’m sharing because I made a couple healthier tweaks and the muffins turned out amazing! I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose, melted coconut oil instead of butter, and 1/3 cup of honey instead of the 1/2 cup of sugar. I also used mini chocolate chips instead of regular since I feel like they distribute throughout the batter a little better. Yum! I’ll be making these again for sure!
I love it when people share the changes they made to the recipes. :) Cooking is all about doing what works for you, and when you share what did (or didn’t) work it helps other people know what they might be able to try as well! Thanks for sharing!
Did you use regular or greek yogurt?
Regular. :)
These look delicious! I don’t have a 12 muffin tin, but I have six silicone muffin cups that I use on a pan to make muffins, and this looks like it’ll make a half recipe easily!
Question, though: I usually only have Greek yogurt around. Do you think diluting it by a third or quarter with milk would be a reasonable substitute?
You probably will want to dilute it a bit to make sure the liquid ratios stay the same, but I’m not sure how much. I’d probably need to test it to know for sure. :)
I was wondering the same thing because I only have greek yogurt either. I found this article and I’m planning to try this.
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5669-baking-with-greek-yogurt