A simple recipe for moist, soft peanut butter muffins (loaded with chocolate chips!). These muffins are simple to make, no mixer required.
Hey peanut butter/chocolate addicts, this one’s for you.
For those of you who love soft and fluffy baked goods infused with peanut butter flavor, punctuated with melty pops of milk chocolate (or semisweet, I don’t discriminate). For those of you who have obsessed with me over classics like my peanut butter blossoms or peanut butter bars, and those of you who won’t even think about making my flourless peanut butter cookies without a healthy scoop of chocolate chips tossed into the mix. You’re going to love these peanut butter muffins.
And while technically they may be better categorized with desserts rather than with breakfast, I’ve definitely been enjoying these for breakfast recently. Muffins are breakfast food, right? No matter how much peanut butter and chocolate they contain?
Right.
What You Need and Notes on Substitutes:
- Flour. I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour.
- Sugar. I use a blend of granulated and light brown sugar for the best flavor.
- Peanut butter. I recommend using a traditional peanut butter and not a natural variety (where the oil separates on top).
- Oil. Any neutral cooking oil will work, canola and vegetable are my preference.
- Buttermilk. Even though we’re not using baking soda (which, if you remember from my buttermilk substitute, is often paired with buttermilk), I still like to use buttermilk for added moisture and a richer flavor. If you don’t have it you may substitute regular whole milk.
- Vanilla extract. For flavor.
- Eggs. Two large or extra large.
- Baking powder. To help the muffins rise nicely.
- Salt. For flavor.
- Chocolate chips. I used semisweet chips here, but when I have them I prefer milk chocolate. While I’m typically a dark-chocolate fan, milk chocolate and peanut butter are one of my favorite flavor combos.
This recipe makes 18 peanut butter muffins. I tried to scale the ingredients down to make an even dozen, but the muffins didn’t work out too well and a lot of awkward measurements were needed. If you don’t want to make 18, you can cut the recipe in half.
If you only have one muffin tin, bake one batch of muffins and cover the remaining batter while the first batch bakes. Let the first batch cool for at least 20 minutes before baking your remaining batter.
Tips:
- I didn’t have any muffin liners on hand when I made these peanut butter muffins, so I made my own using parchment paper. Here is my tutorial I recently shared on how to make your own muffin liners. Alternatively you can grease and flour the cavities of your muffin tin.
- Don’t over-mix the muffin batter, or your muffins will be dense and dry. Mix gently by hand, using a spoon or spatula.
- Add the chocolate chips once the flour mixture is halfway incorporated. This helps keep the batter from becoming over-mixed, which might happen if you stir the chips in once the batter is already combined completely.
- Take care to not over-bake your muffins or they will be dense, dry, and crumbly.
Enjoy!
More Recipes You Might Like:
Peanut Butter Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups creamy peanut butter (250g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar firmly packed (100g)
- ½ cup vegetable or canola oil (118ml)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk (236ml¹)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips (340g), I used semisweet because that’s what I had on hand, but milk chocolate goes best with peanut butter!
- Additional granulated sugar for sprinkling on top optional
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line muffin tin with paper liners (out of paper liners? See my tutorial on how to make the muffin liners seen in the photos above).
- Combine peanut butter sugar, oil, and peanut butter and stir well to combine. Beat in eggs, then stir in milk and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Gently combine wet and dry ingredients with spatula.
- Stir in chocolate chips when dry ingredients are halfway combined (don't over-mix the batter or muffins will be dense and dry).
- Divide batter into muffin liners, filling each cavity ¾ the way full (keep in mind this recipe makes 18 muffins, so you will need two tins. If you only have one, bake the first batch and cover the remaining batter until the first batch has baked and mostly cooled). If desired, sprinkle muffins with additional granulated sugar.
- Bake on 375F (190C) for 20-22 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (avoid chocolate chips) or with moist crumbs. Do not over-bake or they will be dry.
Notes
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.
This recipe was originally published in June of 2014, has since been updated to include new photos, an improved recipe, and a video.
Lynne
I often have trouble with muffin recipes, but I’ve made this recipe multiple times & it’s turned out wonderfully every time! I love that these muffins aren’t quite as rich & dessert-like as completely chocolate muffins, but the peanut butter element really draws everything together & makes them fudgier & more cohesive than a simple chocolate chip muffin.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for your review, Lynne! Sounds like these muffins were just what you were looking for 🙂
Jillian
Just made these today. I halved the recipe and combined semisweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Didn’t have buttermilk so I mixed milk and vinegar. Incredible PB smell and flavor. My oven runs hot so the muffins got a bit more color, though I’m not mad at it. I didn’t use liners so the bottoms were a nice golden brown color. Love the slight crunch of the edges when I ate one that’s still warm. I might try milk chocolate with the PB chips next time, and also decrease the total amount of chips.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Jillian! 🙂
Sbakes7120
I almost didn’t make these because of one reviewer who said they didn’t have enough peanut butter flavor. Boy am I glad I didn’t listen to them! The peanut butter flavor was amazing as was the texture and appearance. They looked just like the photo. Oftentimes, my muffins turn out flat. Not these. They were perfect in every way. FYI: I was short on chocolate chips, so I used 3/4 cup regular sized semi-sweet chips and 3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chips. I was afraid the minis would melt away but they held their shape just fine. Delish!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you decided to make our recipe! Thanks so much for your review–enjoy the muffins 😊
Marion MacDonald
So tasty…I used a combination of Reese’s pb chips and milk chocolate chips inside the muffin.
Rubal Jain
Hi, great recipe! Can we use butter instead of oil?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Rubal! We’re so happy you like this recipe. 😊 We use oil in this recipe for a light and fluffy muffin texture. You could substitute cooled & melted butter, but your muffins will probably be more dense.
Nina
Hello Sam! I’m looking for a tahini chocolate chip muffin, and wonder if I could use tahini instead of peanut butter in this recipe. I may experiment, but I’m wondering if you have suggestions about substituting tahini for peanut butter. Thank you! Still swooning over your world-class banana muffins.
Sam
Hi Nina! I honestly don’t bake or cook with tahini very often so I’m truly not sure how it would work. I am very curious, though, as this sounds quite tasty, so if you do experiment i would love it if you’d let me know how it turns out for you!
Nina
Success! Batter tasted a little odd because the tahini flavor seemed to register after the rest of the ingredients. But after baking, these are lovely. I used slightly more tahini and slightly less oil, because the tahini had a thinner consistency than peanut butter. Also I like to reduce the sugar in muffin recipes. Definitely had that edgy tahini taste. (People who don’t like halvah *really* won’t like these muffins!) I’ll see if I can email you a photo.
Sam
Thank you so much for the feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Nina
And another tahini update! Made another batch, this time with honey instead of the sugars (honey really complements tahini), plus I substituted toasted sesame oil for some of the oil. Veering a little far from your excellent original, but it makes the muffins taste more like tahini muffins and less like peanut butter muffins with tahini substituted.
Sam
It’s so great to hear you had success! Sometimes it can be fun to play with a recipe. 🙂
Rebecca
Thanks for another fine muffin recipe!
Sue
If I decide to not include chocolate chips, do I need to make any other adjustments to the recipe/cook time/cook temperature?
Sam
No other adjustments needed. Enjoy! 🙂