These chocolate chunk muffins are tender and fluffy with perfectly domed bakery style tops!

* This post was updated in 2021 🙂

I had a potluck at work a few weeks ago and I decided to bring these muffins as my dish since they’re such an easy potluck food. They were a huge hit and a SUPER crowd pleasing dessert!

I ended up getting a lot of questions about how I made them and they couldn’t be any easier to make!

Chocolate chip muffins ingredients:

Chocolate chip muffins only need a handful of household staples! To make these muffins, you will need:

• flour
• baking powder and baking soda: a combination yields an extra tall, tender, and airy muffin!
• salt
• eggs
• granulated sugar and brown sugar: I like to use both sugars in my muffins. The granulated sugar will help give the muffins a crispy exterior, while the brown sugar creates an extra moist and flavorful muffin! You can use 100% granulated sugar or 100% brown sugar if you’d prefer
• butter
• buttermilk: the acidity in buttermilk helps the muffin rise higher and will give you a more tender muffin. If you don’t have any, you can either substitute it for an equal amount of regular milk, or make your own buttermilk at home!
• vanilla extract
• semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks: either one is fine!

How to get a bakery style muffin top:

When I was younger, I don’t think I ever had a full muffin. I used to always split them with my brother. He took the muffin bottom, and I took the top. I always remember wishing I had more muffin top, and I finally know how to get it!

If you’re on team muffin top, this’ll be especially great for you. The secret to a larger muffin top involves 3 steps.
(1) Put a healthy amount of baking powder and baking soda. Baking soda and powder help your muffins rise, and when combined with the acidity found in buttermilk, the muffins get extra fluffy and tender on the inside. You don’t want to add too much or your muffins may taste metallic. But you do need a good amount of each!
(2) Forget 3/4 of the way full! If you want more muffin top, fill your muffin cups to the very top with batter. Muffins are supposed to have a tall, domed top, so it’s fine (encouraged!) if they expand and overflow a bit.
(3) Start with a higher temperature oven. This helps your muffins expand more quickly when you first put them in to bake (thanks to the shock of the high heat). Lowering the heat later on is important to ensure the muffins bake on the inside without burning on the outside.

Muffin Add-Ins:

Want something other than chocolate chips? This muffin batter recipe can be customized for whatever addition you want!

For my muffins, I decided to add some semisweet, mini chocolate chips, but the base batter for this recipe is actually really good to keep on hand for all kinds of muffin making. You can also use this batter to make blueberry muffins, raisin muffins, plain muffins, you name it!

How to store muffins:

Muffins are best served fresh. These muffins do keep at room temperature for up to 3 days when kept in an airtight container. If you don’t plan on having your muffins within 3 days, I recommend freezing them for maximum freshness!

To freeze chocolate chip muffins, place baked and cooled muffins in a freezer bag. Push as much air out of the bag as possible and seal. Keep muffins frozen for up to 2 months.

To defrost the frozen muffins, leave out at room temperature for a few hours, or heat in a preheated 350°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until fully thawed. Whichever option you choose, I’d also warm the muffins a bit in the oven either way just to make them taste even fresher!

More muffin recipes for you!

• blueberry muffins
• carrot muffins
• banana muffins
• whole wheat blueberry muffins
• Bonus: what’s the difference between muffins and cupcakes?

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe

These chocolate chunk muffins are tender and fluffy with tall bakery style tops!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Bake Time 18 minutes

Total Time 28 minutes

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, light or dark * see notes
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 cup buttermilk ** see notes
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a 12 count muffin pan with paper liners, and set aside.
• In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine. Set aside while you work on the wet ingredients.
• In a separate large bowl, combine eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter, buttermilk, and vanilla. Whisk together until the eggs are broken up and all the ingredients are well combined.
• Add your dry ingredients into your wet mix. Gently mix everything together until you no longer see any dry portions of flour (the batter is supposed to be lumpy!). Take care not to over mix! Fold your chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks) into the batter.
• Evenly divide your muffin batter into the 12 muffin cups, filling each cup to the top. Bake your muffins for 10 minutes at 400°F. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and bake the muffins for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean and the tops are a light golden brown.
• Cool slightly before serving. Chocolate chip muffins are best enjoyed fresh and warm!

Video

Notes

* Both light or dark brown sugar work well in this recipe. If you don’t have either one on hand, feel free to substitute regular granulated sugar! The brown sugar just helps add extra moisture and flavor. But granulated sugar does just as well in a pinch.

** If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use an equal amount of regular milk instead. You can also easily make your own buttermilk at home with regular milk and acid. Buttermilk will yield a more fluffy and tender muffin!

Enjoy!