These Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins are moist and fluffy with dark chocolate chips and rolled oats baked right in. They are delicious, hearty and not too sweet with a hit of cinnamon which makes them perfect for a quick breakfast or snacking any time of day. I like to have muffins stashed away in the freezer for when I'm in need of a treat that still feels nourishing. Muffins are simple to make as it's just a matter of blending the wet ingredients, then blending the dry ingredients and then combining them until you get a thick batter. Do not over mix because a few small lumps are ok with "quick bread" recipes. If you love banana recipes, check out my very popular Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread and my Double Chocolate Banana Bread.
WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE
- Easy to make - you only need basic pantry ingredients to make these muffins so you can easily whip them up any day of the week for snacking, breakfasts and school lunches.
- Hearty banana oat muffins - these muffins are hearty and satisfying with rolled oats baked right in.
- Chocolate chip muffins - I like to use dark 70% bittersweet chocolate chips, but you can also use semisweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips.
- Moist banana muffins - this recipe makes moist and fluffy muffins with a soft texture and chewy oats.
INGREDIENTS FOR BANANA MUFFINS
Here are some notes on some of the key ingredients for this recipe. For a full list of ingredients, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- All purpose flour - simple AP flour is best for muffins and breads. Adding too much flour is the most common mistake and leads to tough and dry loaves. The most accurate way to measure flour is using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, spoon it into your measuring cup and use a knife to level it off.
- Brown sugar - I use all brown sugar for this recipe which adds a hint of molasses flavor and extra moisture. You can use light or dark brown sugar.
- Pure vanilla extract - vanilla is essential to enhance the flavor of the chocolate. Do not leave it out!
- Cinnamon - a bit of cinnamon adds warmth to give these muffins a cozy feel. I like the combination of cinnamon, oats and banana. It is optional, and you can leave it out if you prefer.
- Rolled oats - this recipe calls for old fashioned large flake rolled oats - not quick oats. Quick oats will absorb moisture much faster and will change the texture of these muffins.
- Eggs - two whole eggs will set the structure of these muffins to make them open-textured and bouncy.
- Yogurt - Yogurt adds rich dairy undertones and balances the sweetness with a hint of tartness. Use full fat yogurt for the best texture and flavor.
- Oil - Although I LOVE BUTTER, oil makes muffins ultra moist since it is liquid at room temperature.
- Bananas - make sure they are nicely spotted and very ripe, but I tend to avoid previously frozen bananas which lose their structure and exude a lot of water. This will affect the final texture of the muffins.
- Dark chocolate chips – any type of chocolate chips works in this recipe, but I prefer dark chocolate between 50 and 70% cocoa solids for the best taste and level of sweetness. These bittersweet chocolate callets are my favorite and very convenient.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS
This recipe is EASY! You start with the mashed bananas in a bowl and then add all of the remaining ingredients. Do not mix vigorously once the dry ingredients are added. In fact, if a few small lumps remain, that will be OK because they will blend themselves out as you pour the batter into the pan.
- STEP 1). Blend dry ingredients. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend evenly.
- STEP 2). Blend wet ingredients. Place mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl (or you can mash the bananas right in the bowl with a fork – you will need 240g of banana flesh which is about 2 medium bananas). Stir in both sugars. Add yogurt and whisk until combined. Whisk in eggs one at a time until smooth. Mix in oil.
- STEP 3). Add oats. Mix the oats into the wet ingredients to allow them to hydrate first.
- STEP 4). Add dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients all at once to the wet mixture with the chocolate chips and fold together gently with a spatula until just combined. Do not over-mix. A few small lumps are just fine.
- STEP 5). Bake. Divide batter evenly among muffins cups and bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly cracked at the surface and firm to the touch. A skewer inserted into the center should come out clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes, then transfer muffins individually to the rack to cool completely on the rack.
EXPERT BAKING TIPS
- Use very ripe bananas. Bananas are ready for cake/bread-making when they are well spotted.
- Avoid using frozen bananas if possible. I do not recommend using frozen bananas as they have a different flavor and release a lot of moisture which can sometimes make the cake a bit stodgy. Freezing bananas also breaks down their cell structure so that the crumb of the finished cake is not as fine and uniform... instead it will be a little more dense. Having said this, the recipe will still work with frozen bananas, it just doesn't produce the best results.
- Use dark chocolate chips with at least 55% cocoa solids. You can also use milk chocolate but since it has twice as much sugar as dark chocolate, the muffins will be sweeter.
RECIPE FAQ
Firstly - use a fresh oil! Do not use anything that's been opened for a long time and when you store oil, it should be in a cool dark place. Light and heat accelerate oxidation reactions that can make the flavor turn rancid. My oil of choice for baking is sunflower oil for its clean and neutral taste, but any other oil such as canola or safflower will do. You can even use olive oil, but keep in mind that it will add the taste of olive oil to the cake.
If yogurt is not available to you where you live, you can also make this recipe using an equal amount of sour cream. I have tested this and it worked well! Another suitable substitution is crème fraîche -- a type of fermented dairy product somewhere between yogurt and sour cream.
This recipe uses rolled oats, also called old-fashioned oats or large flake oats. The difference is the size. Rolled oats are literally rolled over by stainless steel drums to flatten them and help them cook faster. Quick oats are processed one step further by then chopping them up a bit so they cook in just a minute or two. They will absorb water more quickly. With rolled oats, you'll get more texture in these muffins. If you use quick oats then they will suck up more moisture so it will affect the final texture of the baked muffins.
It's not more fat! Moisture comes from liquid, not fat. So you can add more oil, but it will really just make the muffins more oily and more tender by shortening the texture. To ensure these stay moist, measure the flour correctly and do not over-mix the batter. Also, be sure not to over-bake them.
If your muffins baked up flat, it may be that your raising agents are no longer active, so be sure to use fresh baking soda and fresh baking powder. If your oven is running cool, then the muffins will not get that initial jump to puff up as soon as they get in the oven before the batter starts to expand outwards. Ensure you have your oven at the correct temperature because muffins bake hotter than cakes.
There are a few secrets to that nice domed muffin top. 1). Bake at a higher temperature to puff the batter right at the start, 2). Let the batter sit for 30 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate which will give the proteins more strength to hold the air in as they bake, 3). Use the fat setting on your oven to ensure even air circulation around each muffin (although I often bake these in conventional ovens with success).
Yes! Just place them in a resealable freezer bag and keep frozen for up to 3 months.
If you love muffins, check out these recipes!
THE BEST Double Chocolate Chip Muffins Double Chocolate Banana Muffins THE BEST Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins Small Batch Double Chocolate Banana Muffins The BEST Blueberry Muffin Recipe Small Batch Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins Moist Chocolate Fudge Swirl Banana Muffins Banana Blueberry Oat Muffins BEST Banana Oat Muffins Whole Wheat Chocolate Banana Muffins Chai Spice Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins Chocolate Swirl Pumpkin MuffinsMuffin time
Looking for more muffin recipes? Try these:
Baking with banana
These are more recipes to make with bananas:
Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup 215g all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 240ml mashed ripe banana from about 2 large bananas
- ⅔ cup 145g packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ¼ cup 30ml vegetable oil
- ½ cup 60ml full fat yogurt
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon 5ml pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup 75g regular rolled oats, plus extra for topping
- 1 cup 6oz/170g dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F and line 6 cups of a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon and salt until evenly blended.
- Mash the bananas with a fork on a flat surface (like a clean cutting board or a plate) until very smooth. Add it to a large mixing bowl. Add brown sugar and mix well. Add eggs and whisk until smooth. Add oil, yogurt, milk and vanilla and whisk until combined. Add oats and mix them in, then let the batter rest for 5 minutes to let the oats hydrate.
- Add dry ingredients all at once and fold it all in gently with a spatula until just combined. Do not over-mix. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups, filling them to the rim. Sprinkle oats on top and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F and bake for 15-20 longer until golden brown and slightly firm to the touch. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let muffins cool for 5 minutes before transferring individually to the rack to finish cooling.
Zara
I had done 2 times and my kids love it....thank you for the amazings recipi
christina.marsigliese
I'm so happy to hear this! Thank you Zara.
Gina Huerta
Hi!
Is it possible to swap 1/2-3/4cup of all purpose flour to whole wheat flour?
Thank you!
Gina
christina.marsigliese
Hi Gina, yes you can! Whole wheat flour absorbs more moisture though so the muffins could be drier. I would use just slightly less of if when you convert it. For example, if you choose to replace 3/4 cup of AP flour, the replace it with 2/3 cup of WW.
Kim Summers
Just made these muffins and they are very good but not amazing they are a little dry not as moist as I am used to. I followed the recipe to a t (spoon and level everything ) and did not over mix the ingredients. Should the heat remain at 400 for the full time is that part of the issue some recipes start at 425 and then turn down to 350? Just to be clear the taste is a 5 * its just that they are not super moist.
christina.marsigliese
Hi Kim, it could be that your oven runs hot. The higher temperature for a shorter time ensures tall muffin tops with golden crust and soft in the middle. If your oven runs hot, I suggest baking at 375 degrees instead.
Tracy
These healthy muffins were delicious! The quantities were spot on too - I used cups as a measure. Do give them a go.. you won’t regret it! They were all gone within 2 days! Thank you for sharing!
Tania
For being such a hearty muffin these were very moist! They were very easy to pull together and turned out delicious! I added an extra half teaspoon of cinnamon for a little extra flavour (since it’s one of my favourites) and it worked very well! Highly recommend for an easy, but delicious, muffin 🙂