Soft and moist Banana Muffins with melty chocolate chips are the ultimate treat and are a great way to use overripe bananas. These banana chocolate chip muffins take less than 30 minutes to whip up, so they are perfect for meal prep, sharing with neighbors and coworkers, and a quick recipe to bake with kids.
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We’ve had so many questions about turning our chocolate chip banana bread into muffins so here you go – your guide to the best banana muffins! While we love classic banana bread, these muffins bake fast (25 minutes) and the flavor is just as good.
Banana Muffins Video
Watch me turn those brown, mushy bananas into the best banana bread muffins with chocolate chips. See how easy this recipe truly is, and then let’s get baking!
Easy Banana Muffin Recipe
If you’re staring at a few browning, speckled bananas on the counter, please don’t toss them! Those ripe bananas add the perfect natural sweetness to this banana muffin recipe. The browner the better, in fact! Once they are smashed up and baked into muffins, you’ll never see how brown they started anyway.
Since chocolate chips make everything better, we’ve tossed a few into the batter. They add great moisture and a gooey chocolate chip is the equivalent of melty cheese in the dessert world. One look at our chocolate chip cookies and you’ll agree.
Ingredients for Banana Muffins
Whip up these banana muffins with just a few pantry staples, like flour and sugar. You’ll need 30 minutes and a muffin pan for the single-serving-sized treats.
- Dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt
- Wet ingredients – unsalted butter (to control the sodium level), sugar, eggs, and vanilla
- Ripe Bananas – 3 medium-sized bananas (about 1 cup) mashed up. Brown is best since it has the most natural sugar. Here’s how to determine if they are past ripe. If they aren’t quite ripe, see our tips below on how to ripen them quickly.
- Chocolate Chips – we prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use any kind you prefer. You can omit if you’d prefer, or also substitute the chocolate chips with an equal amount of toasted chopped pecans or walnuts for banana nut muffins, or replace them with raisins for banana raisin muffins.
Pro Tip:
To ripen bananas in 24 hours, place the bunch into a brown bag, close and store on the counter for 24 hours. You can also try to bake almost-ripe bananas in the oven at 250°F for 15-20 minutes.
Can I use Frozen Bananas in Banana Bread Muffins?
If you have overripe bananas and aren’t ready to use them, toss them in a ziploc (peel on) and freeze them for later. Before adding frozen ripe bananas to the recipe, thaw completely at room temperature, or in the refrigerator overnight. Frozen bananas tend to release more moisture so peel and lightly pat dry with paper towels to remove excess liquid.
How to Make Banana Muffins
Our easy Banana Muffins recipe comes together in just a few minutes and has that irresistible banana flavor and a moist, spongy crumb.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and place liners in a 12-count muffin tin.
- Cream together butter and sugar then mix in lightly beaten eggs.
- Add mashed bananas and vanilla.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt then mix into batter. Fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips.
- Scoop batter into your lined muffin tin, sprinkle with chocolate chips, and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Pro Tips for Moist Banana Muffins
There are 3 key points for achieving moist and tender muffin:
- Use very ripe or overripe bananas. Underripe bananas will be difficult to mash and won’t incorporate into the batter well.
- Do not skimp on the butter. Since there is no other ‘liquid’ in this recipe, softened butter is needed for a soft and moist crumb. Watch our video on how to soften butter in 5 minutes.
- Don’t over-bake. If you’re wondering how long to bake banana muffins, test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center after 25 minutes and continue baking only if you see wet batter on the toothpick.
Make-Ahead
Cooled muffins keep well on the counter in an airtight container for up to 5 days. They keep even longer in the freezer. Make a double batch so you’ll always have muffins on hand!
- Freezing: Place cooled muffins in an airtight freezer container for up to 3 months.
- To Reheat: Thaw on the counter or in the fridge.
Please DO NOT throw away your overripe bananas because they are the secret ingredient for these moist and delicious banana muffins. The browner and spottier the peel, the better!
What is YOUR favorite way to use overripe bananas?
More Muffin Recipes
Enjoy our top-rated, made-from-scratch, bakery-quality muffin recipes. I hope you find some new favorites here.
- Egg Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Mixed Berry Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- French Breakfast Muffins
- English Muffins
- Cinnamon Muffins
Banana Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, (8 Tbsp), softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten
- 3 bananas, very ripe, coarsely mashed with a fork
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, measured correctly
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚ F and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a mixing bowl, cream together 8 Tbsp softened butter with 2/3 cup sugar. Add 2 lightly beaten eggs.
- Add 3 mashed bananas and 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix until blended.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until incorporated.
- Fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly into your 12-count muffin tin and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips evenly over the tops. Bake at 350˚F on the center rack for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a baking rack to cool to room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Ive made many banana muffins using different recipes and Natashas is THE BEST! Soft, fluffy, full of flavor! Im so happy I found this recipe and continue to use it for my family.
This has been my go to banana muffin recipe for so long! I always have bananas that go brown so I toss them in the freezer as is . When I’m ready to bake, I run them under warm water for a few seconds, peel and use in this incredible recipe.
I often decrease sugar or sometimes omit it for my kids. Today I used a bit of maple syrup.
Always Delicious!! Thank you!!
I only leave a review when I absolutely love something. This is an upgrade in my opinion of a basic banana bread loaf. I love how each individual muffin is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The chocolate melts perfectly and it’s not overly sweet, which I love.
Hi Maria. Thabk you so much for sharing. I’m so glad to hear you loved the recipe!
This are the best banana chocolate chip muffins I have ever made. So many who have eaten them ask for the recipe and I just direct them to Natasha’s kitchen. So many good recipes on this site.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Brooke, and for sharing this with your friends.
Hello Natasha! I have made these muffins several times and it’s the best recipe ever! The muffins are moist and delicious!!! Can you tell me if I use the same temperature and minutes if I decide to make banana bread instead of muffins?
Hi Jacqueline, I’m so happy you loved it. Please reference my Banana bread recipe.
I’m new to the site and have only tried the banana muffins and the tres leches recipe, but oh boy did they not disappoint! the entire kitchen was smelling heavenly and i was too impatient to wait for the muffins to cool down! we devoured them right away. thank you once again for such an amazing recipe! so easy and so delicious. can’t wait to try more recipes from your site.
Hi Katie! I’m so glad you found my blog. The banana muffins and tres leches are both some of my personal favorites! Thank you for sharing your experience.
Seriously—how do you do it?! I mean it! I don’t understand how anyone could say your recipes don’t work or that something didn’t turn out right, because I have never had a single failure following your recipes. Not once!
From desserts to appetizers to mains—every single thing I’ve tried has turned out amazing. Your guidance and tips are spot on every time. I even bought your cookbook (which I love, of course), but I have to say… you should definitely consider including some of your website-only recipes in there too!
I’m honestly at the point where if you have a recipe for something, I won’t even bother looking anywhere else. You’re the absolute best—thank you for making cooking such a joy!
P.S. If you ever feel like adding a cornbread recipe, I’d be so excited to try it—I know it would be amazing!
Thank you so much, Leonora. That is so sweet. Cornbread is definitely on my list. I hope to have one soon!
I made this recipe twice in a row, using gluten free flour the second time. I had to add about 3 more minutes to the baking time for the gluten free ones and they turned out FABULOUS!
The BEST banana muffin recipe!! Comes out of the paper liners easily!! Moist SMS delicious! Tool to work and my peers loved them!!
At what temperature in how long do I cook the muffin recipe with six large muffins instead?
Hi Nicki, I haven’t tested baking it that way to say for sure. I would double check it using the toothpick test.
Thank you… I was worried so I decided to just make 12 muffins instead. I have another recipe question. I have made these before and my family enjoys them. But they are always so greasy on the wrapper and at times difficult to take off.
What did I do wrong? Thank you for your help
Hi Nicki! It could be the quality of the wrapper or letting them sit too long in the pan to cool.
Bake 5 min at 425 then drop to 350 for 18 min. I do it all the time
I enjoyed the recipe, just wished wish the ingredient list, and instructions directly followed eachother, it was a pain to have to go back and fourth so many time’s while trying to make recipe. 😂 but did enjoy. Would enjoy with a dash of cinnamon too! 😉 Thank you for a fun recipe 😋 yummy 😋 🤗
Hi Deanna! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe. Did you scroll down to the bottom of the post and use the recipe card? The ingredients and instructions are right there so you wouldn’t need to do much scrolling. You can also click on the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page for a short cut to the recipe card.
They didnt rise at all… calls for no baking powder but soda… i wonder if thats why?
Hi Hannah! The baking soda reacts with the acidity from the banana to activate and make them rise so we do not use baking powder. Did you bake them right away and fully preheat your oven? Usually this is the reason why they don’t rise. I like to use an internal oven thermometer (amazon affiliate link) to ensure my oven has reached the right temperature before baking.
Simple and delicious! I will use this recipe for the rest of my life, they are that good. Thank you for sharing!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Amanda!
Hi Natasha👋
Can I use this recipe to make cookies? Would I have to change any of the ingredients?
Hi Jane! I haven’t tested that to provide those instructions.