Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
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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
Equipment
- 6-count Jumbo Muffin Tin (see note for making 12 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
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
This recipe is awesome!! I’m gonna try blueberry next!! I got wonderful feedback on these muffins. Thanks for the chips and the mixing tips!!
We’re so happy you like the muffins, Angie! Thanks for coming back to leave a review ❤
Hi is it possible to make these in a cupcake tin? Or do I have to get a muffin tin pan? If so kindly instruct on the baking time 🙏 thank you.
I’ve made your cupcakes, cakes,cookies, bars and even pasta. They’ve all turned out so well.
Hi Hansini! A cupcake and muffin tin should be the same thing. Your current pan should work just fine. 🙂
Hi! I love this muffin recipe!
Any way to make them as mini muffins too? Know how the cooking temp and time needs to be changed by any chance?
Hi Nicole! We haven’t made them mini, but you can try following the baking instructions on our mini cinnamon muffins. Let us know how they turn out for you 🙂
I’m not sure what I did, but somehow only ended up with 4 jumbo muffins. Oi
O wow! Your pan must be much larger than mine. I hope you still loved them. 🙂
Can I put rasberry in this muffin resipy?how much would I put and would I have to cook them longer
Hi Lily! You can add raspberries here. I would eyeball it, maybe 1-2 cups. It shouldn’t change the bake time. 🙂
I LOVE this recipe!!! I’ve tried it three times now at high elevation (7220 ft) and they still turn out perfect every time! I bake them in the regular sized muffin tins and follow the directions as you have them. Thank you so much for this recipe; it is greatly appreciated by my friends and family alike!
That’s wonderful, Holly! Thanks so much for letting us know how they turned out for you at that elevation–we appreciate it! Enjoy ❤
Wow! These are so good. My daughter requests them over and over.
That’s wonderful, Kelly! Thanks so much for using our recipe 😊
These muffins are fabulous! I made 6 jumbo muffins and found I had to bake them a little longer. I started out and 425 and then dropped to 350. Do you ever find you have to bake them longer? Thanks for all the wonderful recipes you share!!
Hi Patty! It could just be a difference in ovens. We’re so happy you liked them! Enjoy 😊
Did you use dark muffin pans at 425? I’m wondering if I need to lower my over temp.
Hi Lisa! If you are using a dark pan, you can reduce the baking temperatures by 25 degrees. Hope that helps! 😊
I’ve tried so many muffin recipes over the years, and this is by far the best! They have a perfect crispy top, and the muffin is tender and moist. These are going to be a regular in our house!
We love hearing that, Kathy! Thanks so much for trying our recipe and coming back to leave a comment. We really appreciate it!
A friend asked me to make her some chocolate chip muffins so naturally I immediately looked up your recipe. (Thank you for always posting recipes that are delicious and reliable). They came out amazing and looked just like your pictures in the pictures. I made 12 muffins, 4 mins on 425 and 14 mins on 350 🙂 Can’t wait to try your blueberry muffin recipe
next!
I’m so happy to hear this, Laura! Thank you so much for trying my recipe, I really appreciate it! I hope you love the blueberry ones just as much! 🙂
Hi! Thank you for this. I read the article that you included as well. Can we make the batter and let it sit overnight, rather than just for an hour?
Hi Alison! We wouldn’t recommend it. They most likely wouldn’t rise properly and may turn out dry.
Emily, this recipe makes PERFECT chocolate chip muffins. Jumbo and just like you get from the bakery (or even better!) My husband and grandson helped make them (my grandson did the sugar on top!!) and they were delicious. I will be looking for more of your recipes!
We’re so happy you loved them, Alison! Sounds like they were a wonderful family activity as well. Enjoy 😊
Hello,I have never ever in my life posted a comment but I had to for these muffins…. they were sooo good! Amazing! So moist! The higher temperature in the beginig really did
make them rise a lot better:)
I was wondering,could I make these into a cake? Without the chocolete chips,just the basic batter?
Thank you so much!
We’re so happy you loved them so much, Moni! Since this recipe was designed for muffins, we suggest you try our vanilla cake, white cake, or chocolate chip sheet cake instead.
Unfortunately these didn’t work out so great for me. I followed the recipe and baking instructions to the- letter but muffins came out dark on top and undercooked in the middle. I even use an oven thermometer! I did eventually manage to cook the middles by turning the oven down and adding foil to stop tops getting even darker. The texture inside was nice and fluffy but we found them far too sweet for our taste. It was a but of a faff getting them cooked through and I wondered if they would have worked at 175c/350f but for the full cooking time.
Hi Louise! If the oven temperature was accurate I’m actually wondering if the sugar could’ve accidentally been mis-measured, or even accidentally added twice? This could alter the consistency, making it difficult for them to cook through in the center while making them dark on top and too sweet. I haven’t had this issue otherwise baking on the time and temp indicated so I don’t think that would be the issue.
I was looking forward to serving these muffins to my family as they look incredible in the picture, however, worst muffins I ever made. Followed the recipe and tops sunk, turned more brown on top before finish bake inside and very sweet. I normally never write a review but felt a waste of money purchasing the ingredients. Will go back to purchasing from bakery.
Hi Susan! I’m so sorry this happened. A few things that can cause your muffins to sink would be a bad leavener (baking powder in this case), your oven temperature could be off (higher or lower here), the batter may have accidentally been over-mixed, or the muffin liners may not have quite been filled up enough. I hope these tips will help so you don’t have to buy them from the bakery. 🙂
Unfortunately these didn’t work out so great for me. I followed the recipe and baking instructions to the letter but muffins came out dark on top and undercooked in the middle. I even use an oven thermometer! I did eventually manage to cook the middles by turning the oven down and adding foil to stop tops getting even darker. The texture inside was nice and fluffy but we found them far too sweet for our taste. It was a but of a faff getting them cooked through and I wondered if they would have worked at 175c/350f but for the full cooking time.
That’s very frustrating, Louise, and I’m sorry to hear it 🙁 I haven’t ever experienced this before nor has anyone else reported it so I am honestly not sure what the issue may have been.
I just had to tell you that this is one of my all time favorite recipes. I get so many people raving about these. I am grateful you took time to make this blog and share your recipe because your helping out a hope fully some day soon to be bakery owner. these muffins are on my top list of items!
Hi Ashley! Thanks so much for commenting. We’re so glad you love this recipe–it’s one of our favorites too! Happy baking! ❤️
Hi Sam, it’s a rainy windy evening here in Nova Scotia Canada as remnants of tropical storm Ida passes through. My daughter and I decided to bake these muffins…so so yummy as three of us sample one muffin still warm with melty chocolate! It’s a keeper for sure! Love when your videos pop up on Facebook. :))
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Doris! Stay safe! 🙂