Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.
I found these muffins on All Recipes back in December when I was looking for a way to use up some bananas that were past their prime. My kids aren’t enormously fond of plain banana muffins, so they really appreciate the chocolate chips in this recipe. I appreciate the fact that my children cheerfully eat these muffins, because that means my overripe bananas aren’t going to waste!
Like most muffins, these are very easy to make. First, turn your oven on to 350 F so that it’ll be hot when your muffins are ready to bake. Then combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Mix the chocolate chips into the dry ingredients. All Recipes says to fold them in at the end, but I prefer to add them now, as it means less mixing is necessary once the dry and wet ingredients are combined (that’s when you’re in danger of developing too much gluten, so I like to keep the mixing there to a minimum).
Whisk the oil, yogurt, egg, and vanilla together.
Mash several overripe bananas together to make 1 cup.
Incidentally, if you need to thaw frozen banana mush, letting the bag sit on top of a black grill in the sunshine works really well!
Combine the bananas and the yogurt/oil mixture. Again, the original recipe instructs you to fold the bananas in at the end, but this means more mixing and more gluten development.
Then gently fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients. Don’t over-stir this…if you do, your muffins will be tough. Having a few streaks of flour is totally fine. 
Grease your muffin pan, or line it with paper cups. When I grease mine, I set the muffin tin on my dishwasher door (so that overspray goes on the door, not on my counter or floor), spray the cups with nonstick spray, and then I use a pastry brush to make sure the spray is evenly distributed.
Spoon the batter into the greased muffin tins. The recipe says it makes 16 muffins, but I usually end up with a few more than that.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Like most muffins, these freeze fairly well, so I sometimes make very large batches to have on hand for quick breakfasts.
If you want a printable version of this recipe, visit All Recipes. I might have time later today to add a PDF for you, but I have to take one of my offspring out to a very early morning dentist appointment right now!
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins-makes 16
To make this a little healthier, I often sub 1/4 cup of yogurt for half the oil, use fewer chocolate chips, and use half whole wheat flour.
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1. Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add chocolate chips.
2. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Add bananas.
3. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
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I think this is the same recipe from Allrecipes that I have been using. I subbed low fat sour cream for the yogurt last time b/c that was all I had on hand and also subbed applesauce for the oil and it still came out great. I like your ideas for less mixing and will try that next time. I usually make them into mini muffins to use as a lunch box treat or snacks for afterschool.
What do your other children do, while one is at the dentist’s, or other appts for that matter?
Well, if my husband isn’t home, we all go! lol We all trekked down to the dental office this morning. There was a bench right outside the exam room, so that’s where we were officially supposed to hang out. The girls were very interested in watching Joshua’s tooth extraction, though, so they mostly hung out around the door and observed.
Our dentist is a friend and fellow church member, so he doesn’t mind if the kids watch him work.
Tooth extration – poor kid!
I really like your new graphics. Cute! Plus they stand out really well.
Aren’t they fun? I have two more to roll out later in the week, and I have a new header for this blog and my review blog too. Yay!
Whoa! I’ve been making Banana Muffins for a long time (via a recipe I go I don’t know where, but that everyone seems to love), and this recipe is super different – mine doesn’t use yogurt or vanilla, and definitely no chocolate chips. I will have to try this one!
I make a recipe a lot like this one, only I use apples instead of chocolate chips!
I counted 3 things I never knew or thought to do — add in chips with other dry ingredients, mush up those over ripe bananas and freeze in ziplocks, and spraying on the dishwasher door — pure genius!
i made some muffins (not this recipe though) and they come out spongy. do you know why? i want to try this recipe (chocolate and bananas are my daughter’s favorites) but don’t want them to be spongy and gross.
thanks. and thanks for this blog. it’s awesome
I love your blog and I will definetely try this recipe. I have been using another but similar recipe and the chocolate chips always are at the bottom of the muffins. I have tried coating them with flour before folding them in but it does not help. Do you have the same problem if you put the chocolate chips in with the dry ingredients or any other advice on how to prevent this?
You can also just freeze the bananas right in their skins – I just clip off the top and squeeze out the banana and you don’t really even need to mash them. Saves using a plastic bag
Ooh, poor kid, an extraction. Hope he got an extra muffin
i just ran 5 miles & looked at these, needless to say, my mouth is watering
(i’m starved)
I used to always freeze my over ripe bananas with the best intentions of making banana chocolate chip loaf but I never once used them
Once I threw one into a hot sauce pan thinking it was gravy till I started to smell awful ripe banana burning..
I have SO much excess bananas because my husband’s the pickiest banana eater on the planet.. he has to have it an EXACT ripeness, flavour, etc… Once he joked and told me to hurry up and run from the kitchen to the dining room to give him a banana he asked for because it might get too ripe while I walked over to him…….
Such a banana snob… I’ve just stopped buying bananas..
This sounds super yummy and just the treat I need to make this summer!
Oh I’ve been using this recipe for a while now too! I absolutely love how easy it is and it turns out wonderful each time. My daughter often asks if we can make muffins, meaning banana choc chip muffins!
Though I must say I substitute the oil with butter because I reckon it tastes WAY better with butter.
I usually whizz together the bananas and other wet ingredients in one step and add the choc chips to the wet ingredients because then it’s less likely to get flour lumps.
This recipe is very similar to my Whole Wheat Banana Choc Chip Muffins. You’ll find that your muffins rise better if you preheat your oven to 375, and then raise it to 400 when you put them in the oven. This ensures that the heat hits the baking powder at the beginning of the baking, which then ensures a higher rise. I would still bake them for about 18 minutes.
Hi Kristen:
I have been reading your blog forever but have yet to try your recipes. I’m new in the kitchen and each time you post up a new recipe, I vow to try it. I finally did with this one! The first batch came out okay…the second one came out much better…36 muffins total. I added some walnuts too and mmm, my husband has already eaten 3 and I just finished them. I took some pictures and posted them on my FB for others to try. Delish! Thanks so much.
mmmm something muffiny is filling the air in my house mmmm….ty Kristen once again.
Thanks for this great recipe and your wonderful baking tips. Nice website.
I made these with Greek Yogurt and they were EXCELLENT. Next time I will try them with applesauce instead of oil – Thanks!
Made these yesterday! They were great! The kids loved them. Wondering if you ever changed up what you put in them???? I have some ground up zaccuni and carrot I need to use up!
How did I miss this when you posted it?! (Just found it from a link on today’s post.) We *love* banana chocolate chip muffins at my house.
I use a home-grown recipe that uses part whole-wheat and also has wheat germ, which adds a slightly nutty flavor. A friend and I developed it when we were first experimenting with whole wheat, trying to add more of it to our (and our kids’) diets. My daughter won’t touch whole wheat bread, but she loves these muffins. (Shhhh…don’t tell her that there’s whole wheat in them!)
If you’re interested, here’s the recipe:
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Wheat Germ.
i am just going to have to hide bananas since i want to make these. no matter how many bananas i buy (3 bunches sometimes), we never have leftovers. my husband is a banana addict & my 18 mo old too! my husband is sooo predicatable for breakfast…toast w/ peanut butter & banana. & i am stuck on peanut butter, banana, nutella & whipped cream ( sometimes even on graham crackers….yum) haha!
I made these this week and loved them! I went to the healthier version with half whole wheat flour and half white, subbed yog for 1/2 of the oil and used cranberries (dried lightly sweetened) instead of chocolate chips and they came out nice and light and fluffy. I also appreciated your mixing methods. It did seem to make for a better consistency. These will now be a regular in our house since one one person likes the bananas ripe, everyone else is a green-tipper or a non-banana eater. Thanks again!
I can’t believe it took me so long to check out your blog. Katy at Non-Consumer mentioned you so often I should have guessed you were a worthwhile read!
It has been so long since I’ve made banana bread or anything using the mass amounts of brown bananas in my freezer that today, when I cleaned the freezer out, I counted 18 bananas! I have a double batch of these going now and will make more soon. They are sure to be a hit!
Approximately how many bananas do you need to make 1 c. mashed? I really want to try this recipe and I have some bananas browning on the counter now, just need to know how many I should save.
Thanks!
It usually seems like 3 make around a cup…but of course it depends on the size of the bananas!
Thank you!
As a Banana Addict this muffin recipe hits the spot! Love it, I’ve tried several others with no success, I wonder whether it is the baking soda that gives the lovely texture! Thanks