Easy Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe
These Easy Chocolate Chip Muffins are a perfect homemade treat featuring a tender, moist crumb loaded with semi-sweet chocolate chips. With a simple batter that rests before baking, these muffins bake up bakery-style, with a lightly crisp top and soft interior. Perfect for breakfast, snacks, or dessert, they are made with common pantry ingredients and can be customized with your choice of milk or oil.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 4 cups (480g) all-purpose flour (properly measured)
- 1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg (can also use cinnamon)
Wet Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk or 2% milk (can also use buttermilk)
- 1/2 cup (118ml) vegetable oil (can also use olive oil, avocado oil, canola oil)
- 4 Tbsp (57g) unsalted butter (melted & cooled)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Add-ins
- 2 cups (340g) semi-sweet chocolate chips (divided: 1 ½ cups mixed into batter, remaining for topping)
Instructions
- Measure Flour Accurately: Weigh the flour using a kitchen scale for best results. Without a scale, fluff the flour by whisking, then spoon into the measuring cup without packing and level with a knife.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg until well combined. Set aside.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: In a larger bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vegetable oil, melted and cooled butter, and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Combine Wet and Dry Mixtures: Gradually add the dry ingredients and 1 ½ cups of chocolate chips to the wet ingredients, stirring just until incorporated. The batter will be thick.
- Rest the Batter: Cover the bowl with a towel and let the batter rest for 15 minutes to hydrate the flour and improve texture. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425ºF (220ºC).
- Prepare Muffin Pan: Line a 12-cup muffin pan with 6 liners, filling every other cup for bakery-style muffins. Using a spoon or scoop, fill each liner with 6-8 heaping tablespoons of batter. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top, then optionally add sanding sugar for extra crunch.
- Bake Muffins: Place one muffin pan in the center of the oven and bake for 7 minutes at 425ºF (220ºC). Lower the temperature to 350ºF (175ºC) and continue baking for 12-16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan.
- Repeat Baking: Repeat the baking process with the remaining batter, raising the oven temperature back to 425ºF for the initial bake.
- Adjust Bake Times if Needed: Note that bake times are based on filling each muffin liner with at least ½ cup of batter. Smaller amounts may require shorter bake times.
Notes
- For best flour measurement, a kitchen scale is recommended to avoid dense muffins.
- You can substitute cinnamon for nutmeg according to taste preferences.
- Milk alternatives such as buttermilk work well for a tangier flavor and tender crumb.
- Oil can be interchanged with olive oil, avocado oil, or canola oil without affecting texture significantly.
- Allowing the batter to rest improves muffin texture and rise.
- Using only 6 muffin liners and spacing batter in every other cup creates bakery-style muffins with better airflow around each muffin.
- Monitor oven temperatures as gas ovens vary; position the muffin pan in the center rack for even baking.
- Sanding sugar on top adds a lovely crunch and sparkle to the finished muffins.
Keywords: chocolate chip muffins, easy muffins recipe, homemade muffins, bakery-style muffins, breakfast muffins
