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) avocado oil or vegetable oil or 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) avocado oil or vegetable oil or 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.
Debbie Lastowski
UNBELIEVABLE recipe! These muffins actually taste like store bought. Thank you so much for sharing your talent.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Debbie! 🙂
Mirela
Made 12 of these muffins and they turned great!
Thank you for all the detailed instructions!
I’ve reduced the sugar to half and substitued some of the oil with butter. They turnednout exactly as I wanted.
Thank you for all your hard work!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Mirela! 🙂
Daisy
Can I use regular milk instead of buttermilk?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Daisy! You really need buttermilk here for best results. If you don’t have that on hand, you can make our buttermilk substitute with your milk 😊
Caroline
It was so easy to make and totally worth every bit!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you liked them, Caroline! 🩷
Theresa
I don’t have cornstarch, what happens if I skip this ingredient? I need to make these today and won;t have time to pick up some, but also don’t want to waste the ingredients if they won’t tune out. Thanks!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Theresa! You can just substitute flour for the cornstarch 😊
Rebecca
These turned out great. The flavor and texture was perfect. I’m not sure that letting the batter sit was totally necessary but I haven’t tried it without letting it sit so I’m not sure. I was making them on a lazy Sunday so we could wait to let it sit. I think I would also add the chocolate chips in after letting it sit next time, the chips settled to the bottom of the muffins and I think that might have been the reason why. But all in all, I will definitely be making these or trying some of her other muffin recipes in the future.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Rebecca! 🙂
Kayla
Good recipe! I used 1/2 cup of sugar instead of a full cup and it was still plenty sweet. Could have probably used less than this as well.
Cindy
Hi, can I substitute the AP flour + cornstarch with cake flour?
Sam
Hi Cindy! You should be fine to just replace the flour with the cake flour. 🙂
Grace
If I made these into mini muffins, what would be the time and temp changes i need to make for them to turn out well? Also, loved that the measurements were under each instruction <3
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Grace! We haven’t tried it, but we think you could follow the baking instructions for baking mini muffins from our cinnamon muffins. They should be pretty similar, but you can check them a minute early just to be safe. 🙂
Brittney
Do not make batter the night before and store in the fridge. I did this and baked them the next morning. Muffins were like corn bread. Chocolate chips sank. Muffin was crispy but greasy on inside.
Last time I made these with dairy free butter and they were light and fluffy and like an actual muffin.
Lauren
I love how the amount of each ingredient is shown also in the steps
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy it’s helpful, Lauren! 🩷
Anne McLean
I couldn’t agree more, Lauren! Why hasn’t someone thought of this sooner? This is so helpful.
Heather Peragine
If I wanted to make these chocolate chocolate chip muffins and add cocoa powder, would I need to adjust the flour or anything else? Thanks!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Heather! We’d suggest our double chocolate muffins instead 😊
Kary
Hi Sam. In your note, you said you could let the muffin batter set up for taller tops. Are you letting it set up in the bowl or are you putting the batter in the muffin tins and letting them sit?
Sam
Hi Kary! You can let it rest in either place. I usually just do it in the batter. 🙂
Jennifer
I want to make these muffins, but I have a question? my baking powder (and I believe most baking powders) has cornstarch in it. Do I need to add the cornstarch as well? can I double the baking powder instead? Suggestions please…
Sam
Hi Jennifer! I would not double the baking powder here. Your results will be less than desirable. It’s best to add the baking powder and the cornstarch. 🙂
Angie
I followed directions and they turned out great! Best chocolate chip muffins ever!! They freeze well too. Don’t skip the extra chocolate chips and coarse sugar on top, as it really adds to the great recipe!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Angie! Thanks for the review 🩷
Nicole
Rare to find a recipe that actually looks like the photos and has all of the small details (like not opening the door for temperature change). These came out amazing. Thank you
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you liked the recipe, Nicole! Thanks for the review 🥰
kira
What purpose does the cornstarch serve?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kira! It creates a soft, tender texture. We actually talk about this in the post 😊
Julie Adams
Yummy!