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) 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) 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.
Sara
These are the best and I mean that with every bone in my body!! They are so light and fluffy. I’ve been searching FOREVER for a good muffin recipe. Trying to get my kids off the store bought ones that have unnecessary ingredients. I made these in mini muffin pans 425 for 6 minutes 350 for 5-6 minutes. This one is going in the books. Thank you!!!
Sam
Thank YOU for trying my recipe, Sara! I’m so happy to hear everyone enjoyed so much!
Colleen
I added frozen blueberries and used sliced almonds instead of pecans. It is sooo tasty!
Jenn B
Absolutely delicious! Just made these in test of muffins I need to make for a holiday teacher appreciation breakfast next week and they were perfect for what I was looking for! I used my own buttermilk after making butter (was hoping to find a recipe with buttermilk in it!). I used a regular muffin tin and parchment muffin liners. Using the large cookie scoop, it yielded 10 regular muffins for me and I needed to baked 8 minutes at 425° and then 12 minutes at 350°. Thank you!
Jen
Amazing height, cracked tops!
Anna
This was so good! Baked it in loaf pans as I don’t own muffin tins yet, but they turned out so good. My buttermilk was diy (milk+vinegar), and also used dark chocolate Chipits ‘cause it’s what we had available. Will definitely bake these again. Thank you!
Cheryl
Ido a lot of baking myself, but I would like to know why YOU add cornstarch to your muffin batter. Thank-you!! ❤️😊❤️
Sam
Hi Cheryl! The cornstarch helps give the muffins their great texture. 🙂
Kristen
These were yummy and had a great texture! I was careful with measuring, mixing, letting it sit, and baking just long enough. It only made 5 muffins, tho, with tins filled 2/3 full. 🤷🏻♀️ No worries, I’ll just double it next time. Keeper recipe!
JENNIFER JONES
Delicious! I made sure not to overbake them and not to overmix them and they turned out perfect.
Beatie
These turned out so good!! Loved them. Definitely keeping this recipe to use again.
Kate
I tried two other recipes for chocolate chip muffins before this one and this was definitely our favourite! Everyone loved the coarse sugar sprinkled on top.
I made mine in a 12-hole tin and got 8 from the recipe. Like someone else commented, I still needed 15 – 20 minutes of baking once the oven dial had been turned down even with the smaller size, but they turned out moist, light and fluffy, just as promised and I’ll definitely be making them again. I’m going to try your blueberry ones next!
Glenda
I made 12 muffins and had to bake for about 20 minutes at 350
Kain
Hi! Could you provide a link to the muffin liners you use for this?
Sam
Hi Kain! Do you mean the parchment paper liner you see in one of the pictures? I actually have a post on how to make parchment paper liners. The plain liners I just get from my local grocery store. 🙂
Ma
I live the banana muffin recipe but this one U don’t know what happened 🙁 I followed directions completely yet these were too dry and dense .
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear that happened! The most likely cause of dry dense muffins is over-baking or over-mixing. 🙁
Jessica
These are by far the best muffins I have made at home. They definitely taste like they are from a bakery! I make a double batch each week for my kids to have for breakfast
Jessica Sheely
I tried this recipe and followed it exactly. Did not over-mix, used a 12 cup tin and reduced cooking time (checked at 8 min on 350* setting and they were not done, so added another 2 min). The muffins were very dense and dry. I do not know what could have happened. I am going to replace my baking powder (I checked it after the fact and it is in date and activated w/vinegar). Not sure what else could have been an issue.
Sam
Hi Jessica! The two culprits of a dense dry muffin are over-mixing or over-baking. Did you use the toothpick test to check for doneness?
Amy L Wittman
I’ve made these twice now, following the recipe exactly, with the exception of berries for chocolate chips. I even used the same tins referenced above and let the batter rest for an hour. Both time, it only yielded 5 muffins, and those weren’t even filled to the top. Can’t figure out why. Plus the cook time was several minutes longer. I can only think that the tin is too jumbo, maybe? Anyhoo, they ARE delicious and 5 muffins works for me.
Sam
I’m so glad you ultimately enjoyed them, Amy! It sounds like your muffin tin may just be a bit bigger than mine. 🙂