These moist, light, & fluffy bakery style Chocolate Chip Muffins are perfect for impressing overnight guests or just treating yourself. They’ve got sky-high sugared tops, lots of chocolate chips, and the BEST flavor and texture. Recipe includes a how-to video!
(Still) The Best Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe
When I first shared this recipe back in 2016, a google search for “chocolate chip muffins” generated roughly 1.2 million results. Today you’ll find that number is closer to 64 million. 🤯 Despite the stiff competition, I still firmly believe that I have the BEST chocolate chip muffin recipe out there…yes, better than 64 million other muffin recipes!
What makes these muffins so good? Well for starters, they’re huge–we’re talking jumbo, bakery style chocolate chip muffins! They’re also perfectly soft and fluffy (in contrast to the crisp biscotti I just shared), and of course, they’re chock full of chocolate chips. As a finishing touch, they’re sprinkled with coarse sugar, so not only are the tops slightly crisp, but they’re also kind of glittery. These muffins truly belong in a New York City bakery display, but luckily, you don’t have to plan a trip to NYC to try them.
Like my basic muffin recipe, this recipe uses a technique from The Kitchen Whisperer for nice, tall muffin tops. I use this technique in my banana muffins too, and so many of you have commented to let me know how well it works for you.
Let’s dive right into the details!
What You Need
Besides technique, these muffins use carefully selected ingredients to claim their title as the BEST. Here are a few of the game changers we’ll be using today:
- Butter + oil. I love to use this combination for a flavorful AND moist crumb. Don’t substitute one for the other–we need both!
- An extra egg white. What makes these muffins so light and fluffy? To get that bakery style chocolate chip muffin texture, we’re adding an additional egg white. Both your egg and egg white should be at room temperature for best results.
- Buttermilk. Buttermilk is the secret to moist muffins! These muffins begin their bake at a fairly high temperature, so it’s important that they have the right ingredients to prevent dryness. You could use my buttermilk substitute if you don’t have the real stuff on hand, but real buttermilk adds moisture and thickness that isn’t quite duplicated with a substitute. (And no, you do not need baking soda in this recipe just because we’re using buttermilk).
- Cornstarch. This is my secret ingredient for extra soft, tender muffins. Don’t skip it!
- Chocolate chips. I like to use a blend of mini and regular sized chocolate chips, and I always reserve a few for placing on the muffin tops just before baking.
- Coarse sugar. While you’ll use granulated sugar in the muffins, I recommend sprinkling coarse sugar on the tops. This is optional, but it really elevates the look and texture and makes these truly “bakery style” chocolate chip muffins!
SAM’S TIP: Don’t have jumbo muffin liners? You can make muffin liners out of parchment paper! Not only does this save you a trip to the store, but it also gives you that bakery-style look.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Whisk together the butter and oil and sugar. Add the egg and egg white, plus the vanilla. Stir this until it is very well combined, then add the buttermilk and stir well.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then carefully fold them into the wet ingredients.
- Pause when the ingredients are about halfway mixed and add in the chocolate chips. Continue folding until everything is just combined.
- Cover your bowl with a towel and let the batter rest for 15 minutes or up to one hour while your oven preheats
Resting the batter is optional, but doing so gives us fluffier chocolate chip muffins and taller muffin tops. If you’ve made my buttermilk pancakes, you know I like to allow that batter rest while the pan preheats for the same reason, the batter thickens and the results are fluffier!
Now comes the special technique for chocolate chip muffins that rise higher than any others! You’ll start your oven on a high temperature and then drop the temperature about a third of the way through baking–without opening the door! This little trick makes your muffin tops spring to life without burning (or drying out) your muffin bottoms. Pretty cool, right?
- Once batter has had time to rest, preheat your oven and line your muffin tin.
- Fill your muffin liners with batter, making sure to fill them almost to the top (leave about ⅛ inch)–but don’t let them overflow.
- Sprinkle each muffin with coarse sugar and bake at 425F for 8 minutes. Reduce the oven to 350F (don’t open the door!) and continue baking until they begin to turn golden brown. This can take anywhere from 7-15 minutes, so keep an eye on them!
- Remove the muffins from the pan and let them cool before enjoying.
SAM’S TIP: (Carefully) remove your chocolate chip muffins from the pan within 5-10 minutes of them coming out of the oven. If you leave them in their hot pan, the bottoms may become soggy.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’re using a varying temperature technique here, which plays a big role in helping the muffins rise. But another key step is resting your batter. The longer it rests, the thicker it will be, and thicker batter means taller muffins! I recommend letting your batter rest for at least 15 minutes, but if you can let it sit for about an hour or so, you’ll be rewarded with beautifully tall muffin tops!
Yes! They won’t need to bake as long though, so just keep a close eye on them.
Your chocolate chip muffins will stay fresh when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also freeze them!
If you try these, I’d love it if you commented to let me know how they stack up against the 64 million (and counting) other chocolate chip muffin recipes out there!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled at least 5 minutes
- ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil may substitute vegetable oil
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg white room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk room temperature preferred
- 1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 1 cup (175 g) chocolate chips I used a mix of mini and regular sized, but you can use either or a combination
- ⅓ cup (67 g) additional granulated sugar, coarse sugar preferred for topping
Recommended Equipment
- 6-count Jumbo Muffin Tin (see note for making 12 muffins)
Instructions
- Combine butter, oil, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk together.4 Tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- Add egg, egg white, and vanilla extract. Whisk together thoroughly, until all ingredients are well-combined, then stir in buttermilk until combined.1 large egg + 1 egg white, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ cup buttermilk
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, corn starch, and salt.1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons corn starch, ½ teaspoon table salt
- Fold dry ingredients into wet gently, taking care not to overmix. Once about half of the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the batter, add in chocolate chips and continue to fold in to batter until all ingredients are just combined.1 cup (175 g) chocolate chips
- Cover bowl with a dry towel and allow batter to sit while your oven preheats (see note).
- Preheat oven to 425F (215C) and line a 6-count jumbo muffin tin with paper liners.
- Once your oven has preheated (maybe give it a few extra minutes or check your oven thermometer, my oven often says it's reached temperature when it really hasn't yet!), portion batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each tin all the way to the top with batter (without overflowing).
- Sprinkle tops generously with additional sugar and place muffin tin in preheated oven.⅓ cup (67 g) additional granulated sugar, coarse sugar preferred
- Bake on 425F (218C) for 8 minutes and then, without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 350F (175C) and bake another 15 minutes, or until tops are just beginning to turn golden brown Note: if you are using a standard 12-count muffin tin rather than jumbo-sized, they will not need to bake as long, check your muffins after 7-8 minutes on 350F (177C)).
- Allow muffins to cool in the muffin tin for 5-10 minutes then carefully remove from muffin tin and enjoy!
Notes
Allowing the muffin batter to sit
This step is optional, but it helps the batter thicken and ultimately results in taller muffin tops. Allowing the batter to sit for up to 60 minutes also works and will yield even taller tops.Storing
Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Baked muffins may also be cooled and then frozen in an airtight container for several months.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Leanna M.
These were easy too make. I used a 12 muffin tin and they needed about 11 minutes to bake in the 350 setting. They tasted very delicious! I will definitly be using this recipe again.
Alexandra
These are so good. thanks for sharing them!😊
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you enjoyed them, Alexandra! 🥰
Mrs. H.
This recipe for Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Mega-muffins is perfect – I can’t find any area for improvement! I used 1 cup of Gherridelli 70% Chocolate Chips instead of a combo. Five others ate a muffin with me and we all agree that it is a flawless recipe yielding a delightfully satisfying muffin – the kind one dreams about!
Hallie
These are delicious!!
Jessica
Hi, this recipe does not indicate the type of chocolate chips. Should they be milk chocolate or semi sweet? Thank you.
Sam Merritt
Hi Jessica! Totally a personal preference but I prefer semisweet and that’s what I’d use. Enjoy!
Sarah
We absolutely love these! Truly a bakery style muffin at home.
Anna
This is the worst recipe I’ve tried for chocolate chip muffins, I’m so sorry. They are dense and the flavour is no good. We bake all the time and followed the instructions perfectly and they’re just awful. 🙁
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this happened, Anna! Did you make any substitutions? Did you over-mix or over-bake the muffins? They should be very flavorful, moist and light. 🙁
Anna
Hi Sam, no, we didn’t over mix or over bake, and no substitutions. Tried the recipe a second time in case mistakes were made but had the same outcome. Dense, no flavour, no fluff 🙁 Thankfully I found my old favourite muffin recipe and they turned out perfectly so my cravings were satisfied. But I was happy to try something new so thanks for sharing. Keep baking ❤️
Fernando
This is the third time I’m making these. I usually don’t change a proven recipe but this time I decided to add diastatic malt powder at around 0.5 % of flour weight. They’re in the oven now.
Bethany Ferguson
Delicious! My kids loved them. I did a 12 tin and we needed maybe 10 minutes on the 350 setting.
Sam
I’m so glad they were such a hit, Bethany! 🙂
Robin
Delicious muffins! Very chocolatey, rich and just the right texture. I used a 12-muffin tin and did need to increase the cooking time to 11 minutes when changing over the oven temp to 350. For storage, I split the muffins into 3 batches & placed in brown paper bags. So far, so good for freshness!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy the recipe worked out so nicely for you, Robin! Enjoy 😊
Jenni
can I make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate or even freeze until I need it? I need it this Friday but wanted to make ahead. thanks!
Sam
Hi Jenni! I would not recommend letting it sit that long in the refrigerator. I have not personally tried freezing it, but if you do try it, I would portion it into the muffin liners freeze it for several hours and then transfer the frozen batter into a container in the freezer. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
A
I followed the recipe exactly, made zero modifications, and these came out so dry. No one would eat them so I ended up tossing them. We were super bummed.
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this happened! The most likely causes of a dry muffin are over-mixing or over-baking. 🙁
Gwendoline
Hi! Ive tried this recipe twice and it turned out great!
Am just wondering, if i were to reduce the sugar by 50%, would that compromise the texture? Or perhaps it would compromise on the height of the muffin?
Also, i realised that there are some muffins which turned out well and some overflowed like lava in the oven despite being part of the same mixture. Should i let the mixture sit in the muffin cup prior to putting into the oven?
Sam
Hi Gwendoline! I haven’t tried reducing the sugar. It could dry the muffins out a little bit. As for some over-flowing and not others, some may have been over-filled. 🙁
Marine
I’ve just try this recipe and I used m’y Air Fryer to cook them. They were perfect. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Fyi: for the air fryer 320F ( 160C)for 10 to 15 minutes.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for the feedback, Marine! We are so happy you enjoyed them 🩷
Hollie
First time I made the recipe I did it in a 12 pan and they came out amazing! The second time I tried them with only 2/3 of a cup of sugar and they did come out just a tad big dryer so I’d recommend not doing less than maybe 3/4 cup of sugar.
TJlooker1
Excellent taste and texture. Please check out my pics at TJLooker1 on insta to see your great recipe in action:)