What to do with browning bananas? It’s the question that never stops needing to be answered. The other day I was about to make a batch of my Yogurt Banana Bread with some over ripe bananas, but I decided to change it up last minute. I added little cocoa powder and a handful of chocolate chips to the batter, then scooped it into a muffin tin instead of a bread pan for easy portioning, and I got these tasty little Chocolate Banana Muffins. They’re the perfect not-too-sweet treat that I can keep in my freezer for days that I want a little something special to go with my morning coffee.
Use Ripe Bananas for the Best Flavor
I know chocolate banana muffins sound delicious, but have patience and wait until you have some brown, over ripe bananas to make this recipe. Over ripe bananas are sweeter and their banana flavor is more intense, which is what you want for the banana flavor to really come through in the muffins. Plus, they’re easier to mash when they’re soft and super ripe. ;)
How to Freeze Chocolate Banana Muffins
I love the fact that these banana muffins are already in single-serving portions, which makes them really great for freezing and thawing as-needed (or “as-wanted”?). To freeze the muffins, make sure they cool completely to room temperature, then place them in a gallon-sized zip top freezer bag and transfer to the freezer. To thaw, you can either let them sit for 15-30 minutes at room temperature, or microwave for about 30 seconds until they’re warm and the chocolate chips are melted. They’re sooooo good with a cup of coffee!
Other Muffin Add-in Ideas
Muffins like this are kind of fun because you can really play around with the add-ins (in addition to, or in place of the chocolate chips). Peanut butter chips would be really good in these muffins, as would something like shredded coconut. Walnuts are a classic with banana bread, but almonds would probably taste really nice with this banana-chocolate combo, too.
Chocolate Banana Muffins
Servings 12Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2-3 bananas) ($0.42)
- 1 cup plain yogurt ($0.67)
- 2 large eggs ($0.46)
- 1/2 cup sugar ($0.40)
- 4 Tbsp melted butter ($0.52)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.30)
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour ($0.23)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ($0.21)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips ($0.70)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Mash the bananas well. You'll need one cup mashed bananas. If you have slightly less than one cup, you can use slightly more yogurt to make up for the banana. If you have slightly more than one cup, you can reduce the yogurt slightly to compensate for the extra banana.
- Add the mashed banana to a large mixing bowl along with the yogurt, eggs, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk the ingredients together well.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir just until they are combined. It's okay if the mixture is a little lumpy. Do not over stir. Finally, fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
- Divide the batter between the 12 wells of the muffin tin (it will fill each well up to the top). Transfer the muffin tin to the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes.
- After baking, remove the muffins from the tin and allow them to cool on a wire rack before serving.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Chocolate Banana Muffins – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a muffin tin with paper liners. Mash 2-3 bananas well with a fork. You’ll need 1 cup mashed bananas. If you have slightly less banana, you can add a little extra yogurt to make up for it. If you have a little more than 1 cup banana, you can reduce the yogurt a little to compensate for the extra banana.
Add the mashed banana to a large mixing bowl along with 1 cup plain yogurt, 2 large eggs, ½ cup sugar, 4 Tbsp melted butter, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Whisk these ingredients together well.
In a separate bowl, stir together 1.5 cups all-purpose flour, ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, and ½ tsp salt. Stir until the dry ingredients are very well combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until everything is moistened. The mixture will be lumpy, but try not to over stir (the photo shows the mixture half stirred, check the next photo for the appearance of the fully stirred batter).
Finally, fold a ½ cup of chocolate chips into the batter, again taking care not to over stir.
Divide the batter between 12 wells of a muffin tin. The batter will fill each well all the way up to the top. Transfer the muffin tin to the preheated 350ºF oven.
Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Remove the baked muffins from the tin to cool before serving.
Enjoy!
Wonderful! In case others wonder about substitutions, I subbed 1 to 1 gluten free flour and sour cream for yogurt and they turned out great!
Wow. These are so good. Th only thing different I did was up the chocolate chips and since I didn’t have muffin liners I just sprayed a pan and baked right in the tin. They came out amazing! Definitely will be in my regular rotation of baking now. Thank you for the recipe!
Don’t have plain yogurt on hand but do have vanilla flavored. Can I add this and skip the vanilla extract?Â
It’s hard to say without trying how much of a difference it will make. Keep in mind, too, that the vanilla yogurt is probably also already sweetened, so that may also affect the overall sweetness of the muffin.
Great recipe! I love making banana bread but never thought to make it chocolate… and in muffin shape/size. Brilliant!