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!
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.