Healthier Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

These healthier double chocolate banana muffins are loaded with mashed bananas and dark chocolate chips for a whole bunch of delicious goodness. A short ingredient list and easy instructions make them quick and simple to assemble.

I love, love, LOVE chocolate and banana together. You don’t want to know how many times in my life I’ve made this One Bowl Chocolate Banana Bread.

Sneak them into a lunch box as a surprise or make them for a special breakfast or weekend brunch. Thanks to all the banana in them they are incredibly moist and keep well for a few days. If you want to make them ahead, they can easily go into the freezer to save them for later.

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is an overview of the ingredients in the recipe (great to use as a visual grocery list at the store!). Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.

Ingredient notes

• Bananas: Please use overripe bananas for these muffins! A lot of the flavor and sweetness comes from this very soft and sweet fruit, so the muffins will not taste the same if your bananas aren’t overripe.
• Flour: All-purpose, whole wheat or white whole wheat flour all work here. If using whole wheat or white whole wheat, add 1-2 extra tablespoons of milk.
• Oil: I used canola oil, feel free to use any neutral vegetable oil suitable for cooking and baking you have. Melted coconut oil also works great, and so does melted butter!
• Milk: Any milk you like can work here. Cow’s milk or plant-based doesn’t matter. This is a great recipe to make dairy-free with something like almond milk and dairy-free dark chocolate chunks.
• Chocolate: I love using dark chocolate chunks (I just chop up a bar), but feel free to use milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips instead!

How to make Chocolate Banana Muffins

Start by lining your muffin pan and preheating your oven!

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. I use a whisk to make sure the baking powder and baking soda are evenly distributed.

2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Then add the remaining wet ingredients and mix well.

3. Next, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Now you’ll want to fold the two together, but only just until combined.

You mustn’t overmix this batter, and please use a spatula or wooden spoon for this step. Do not combine the wet and dry ingredients using a whisk!

4. Now just fold in the chocolate chunks, divide the batter between the lined muffin cups and bake!

I added some extra chocolate chunks and banana slices on top of the muffins, but that’s just for looks 😉 I also sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top of the muffins once they cooled down, and that wasn’t just for looks – it’s really tasty, too!

Recipe tips

Do not overmix

The most important part of any muffin recipe is to not overmix the wet and dry ingredients.

If you overmix them, the gluten in the flour develops into long strands, which gives baked goods a chewy texture. That’s great in pizza dough, but not so great in muffins!

So if you want a nicely domed, light muffin – mix the wet and dry ingredients until you JUST can’t make out dry flour patches anymore.

Banana ripeness

It’s OK if they’re not all the way black (bananas NEVER last that long in our house), but don’t use ones that are just ripe/still green, because they won’t sweeten the muffins enough.

Cooling

Leave them in the pan for the first 5 minutes after baking, so they can cool down a bit and firm up before you touch them.

But then get them out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. Why? Because the heat will collect at the bottom of the muffin pan cavities, and make the muffins “sweat”.

That moisture will give your muffins the elusive “soggy bottom” – something you definitely want to avoid!

Storage tips

Counter: The muffins keep well for a few of days if you store them in an airtight container. They will get dry over time, but thanks to initially being very moist they are still very delicious even after three or four days.

Freezer: You can easily freeze them for up to three months, too. I would advice to freeze them in freezer containers, making sure they don’t touch so you can just grab however many you need to defrost at a time.

More baking ideas

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Recipe first published on 03/14/2017. Republished with new photos, video and better text on 02/22/2021.