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Chocolate Banana Muffins

Yumna Jawad

Updated Jun 27, 2026

5 from 66 votes

Homemade chocolate banana muffins with Greek yogurt and real banana for natural sweetness. Freezer-friendly and great for school lunches or breakfast.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Servings 12 servings

Comments

77

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This chocolate banana muffins recipe is the one that gets my kids actually excited, more than a plain banana muffin ever does, probably because the chocolate makes it feel like something they’re getting away with for breakfast. I usually double the batch since it disappears within a day or two anyway, and the extras freeze well enough that I pull one out the night before for lunchboxes. That’s pretty much the whole reason these stay in my freezer year-round.

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I don’t use any butter or oil in this chocolate banana muffins recipe, not even a tablespoon, and that still kind of surprises me every time I make a batch. Greek yogurt does all the moisture work instead, and once I tried it that way, I never went back to oil. I let the ripe bananas carry the sweetness so the cocoa powder actually gets to taste like chocolate instead of getting lost behind it.

Chocolate Banana Muffins Ingredients

• Bananas: Use bananas that are heavily spotted or even a little black on the peel, since the riper they are, the more natural sweetness and moisture they bring to the batter. Mash them well with a fork or whisk so there aren’t big chunks left, since those won’t break down once they’re in the oven. If your bananas are on the smaller side, use an extra one so you still end up with the amount of mashed banana the recipe calls for.
• Chocolate: Cocoa powder and chocolate chips both go into this batter. Use natural unsweetened cocoa powder rather than Dutch-process, since Dutch-process is alkalized and won’t react the same way with the baking soda. For the chips, semisweet is the standard here, but dark chocolate chips work fine if you want it a little less sweet. Save a few extra chips to press into the tops of the muffins right before they go in the oven.
• Dry ingredients: Flour, baking powder (aluminum-free), baking soda, and salt. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup rather than scooping straight from the bag, or you’ll end up with more flour than the recipe needs and a denser muffin.
• Wet ingredients: Whole milk Greek yogurt, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. There’s no butter or oil here, so the yogurt is doing most of the moisture work. Whole milk Greek yogurt gives you the most moisture; 2% or nonfat will still work, just slightly less moist. Light brown sugar is called for, but dark brown sugar works in its place; you’ll just get a deeper color and a stronger molasses taste.

How to Make Chocolate Banana Muffins

These step photos show how this banana chocolate chip muffin recipe comes together from one bowl to the next. For exact amounts and the full method, jump down to the chocolate banana muffin recipe below.

1. Mash the Bananas

Once the bananas are broken down with a fork, add the yogurt, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla right on top in the same bowl. Whisk everything together until it’s smooth, and the brown sugar is fully worked in.

2. Combine the Dry Ingredients

Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt mixture right on top of the wet ingredients in the same bowl you started with.

3. Stir the Batter Together

Use a spatula to bring the wet and dry ingredients together, scraping down the sides as you go so nothing gets left dry at the bottom. Once you don’t see streaks of flour or cocoa anymore, the batter is ready for the chocolate chips.

4. Fold in the Chocolate Chips

Add the chips in a couple of batches and stir just enough to spread them through the batter evenly. The less you mix at this point, the better the muffins hold their texture once baked.

5. Fill the Muffin Tin

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin tin cups, filling each one most of the way up since this batter doesn’t rise a ton higher than where it starts. A few extra chocolate chips pressed onto the tops before baking give every muffin some visible chocolate.

6. Bake the Muffins

The tops will dome slightly and crack a little down the center as they bake; that’s normal here since there’s no butter weighing the batter down. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs, not wet batter. Let the muffins sit in the tin for a few minutes before moving them to cool the rest of the way, since they’re delicate while warm.

Full Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe

Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe

Author: Yumna Jawad

5 from 66 votes

Easy chocolate banana muffins made with ripe bananas, Greek yogurt, and cocoa powder, no butter or oil needed. A simple one-bowl breakfast, snack, or treat.

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Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Servings12 servings

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ ½ cup cocoa powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 3 large ripe bananas about 1 ½ cups
• ▢ ½ cup Whole Milk Greek yogurt
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ ½ cup light brown sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ½ cup chocolate chips plus more for topping

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• In another large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the yogurt, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla, and whisk until well combined.
• Add the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
• Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins and sprinkle some extra chocolate chips on top. Bake for 28–30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Allow them to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the muffin tin.

Equipment

• Cupcake and Muffin Pan/Tin
• Mixing Bowl Set

Notes

My Top Tip: Once the dry ingredients go into the banana mixture, stir only until you stop seeing streaks of flour and cocoa. This batter doesn’t have any butter or oil to soften it, so overmixing makes the muffins noticeably tougher than they should be.

Storage: Store the chocolate banana muffins in an airtight container. They’ll last at room temperature for 1–2 days, or in the fridge for up to a week.

Freezing: Let the chocolate banana muffins cool completely, then wrap them in foil or plastic wrap and place them in freezer-safe bags. They’ll last in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature.

 

This recipe has been updated in May 2026, but if you like the original version, you can still find it here:
3 medium ripe bananas mashed
½ cup 2% Greek yogurt
1 large egg
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup chocolate chips divided
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350ºF and prepare a muffin tin with muffin liners.
In a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients together until well combined: ripe bananas, honey, vanilla, egg, oil, and Greek yogurt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the same bowl: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined, without over-mixing. Fold in half of the chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins, and top the muffins with the remaining chocolate chips.
Bake for 23–27 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin, Calories: 174kcal, Carbohydrates: 34g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Trans Fat: 0.002g, Cholesterol: 17mg, Sodium: 188mg, Potassium: 241mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 18g, Vitamin A: 45IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 53mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.

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Recipe Variations

• Add nuts: Fold in ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans with the chocolate chips for extra heartiness and crunch.
• Make bakery-style muffins: Bake at 425ºF for the first 5 minutes to get a tall, bakery-style muffin top. Then, continue baking at 350˚F until finished.
• Swirl in peanut butter. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of peanut butter on top of the batter once it’s in the muffin cups, then drag a toothpick through to swirl it in before baking.
• Use chopped chocolate instead of chips. Swap the ½ cup of chocolate chips for ½ cup of chopped dark chocolate for bigger pockets of melted chocolate throughout.
• Boost the chocolate flavor. Whisk ½ teaspoon of espresso powder into the dry ingredients. It won’t make these taste like coffee, it just makes the cocoa taste more chocolatey.

Recipe Tips

1. Fill the muffin cups with an ice cream scooper. It’s easy to scoop the batter this way, and the muffins end up being uniform in shape and size!
2. Don’t fill the muffin cups all the way to the top. Each cup should be about ¾ full, so the muffins can rise without overflowing.
3. Don’t leave the muffins in the pan for too long. If you do, the steam inside won’t be able to escape, which can make the bottoms soggy. Take them out after 10 minutes and cool completely on a wire rack.

Troubleshooting

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