Learn how to make the perfect pumpkin chocolate chip muffins completely from scratch. These are a moist and perfectly spiced fall treat, with just the right touch of chocolate. Recipe includes a how-to video!
A New Fall Muffin Recipe
Today I’m sharing a super moist and fall-spiced muffin recipe. Not only do my boys love them, but my nephews also gave their stamp of approval (which I take very seriously!).
Moist and tender with tall, bakery-style muffin tops, they come together so quickly and easily, and the taste is just unparalleled (and I have a whole flock of toddlers who can vouch for this 😂). I can’t wait for you to try them!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Comes together easily by hand in just a few minutes. There is no mixer needed for today’s recipe; in fact, please don’t use one! Mixing by hand ensures we don’t over-mix the batter (#1 way to ruin a muffin is to over-mix it!)
- Perfect for fall! I already have a few other pumpkin muffins, including pumpkin cream cheese muffins, but this chocolate sprinkled version has my heart right now 🧡
- Incredibly moist and tender.
- Gorgeous tall muffin tops, thanks to my special baking technique first used in my banana muffin recipe. We’ll start with our ovens at a high temperature to encourage a nice rise, then reduce the temperature (without opening the door) so the muffins can finish cooking without over-baking. It works like a charm!
Ingredients
What makes these muffins so moist and flavorful? A few carefully selected ingredients!
- Canned pumpkin puree. You can find this in the baking aisle of most grocery stores. Make sure you are using 100% pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling, since they look very similar and are often sold right next to each other.
- Cooking oil. Sure, butter is nice, but for a muffin that stays moist, use a neutral cooking oil. Avocado, canola, or vegetable oil will work well here (I use avocado).
- Sour cream. A key ingredient for making tender muffins with a moist texture (and plenty of flavor), this ingredient is just as important here as it is in my chocolate muffins and blueberry muffins. Full-fat, plain Greek yogurt would also work.
- Pumpkin spice. The thing about pumpkin is that it actually has a fairly mild flavo ron its own. Most of what you think is pumpkin flavor actually comes from pumpkin spice, which is just a cozy blend of Fall flavors like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and more. You can find this (or “pumpkin pie spice”) in the spice aisle, or just scour your spice drawer and make your own blend using my homemade pumpkin spice recipe.
- Chocolate chips. I tend to reach for semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips when making these muffins, but really any kind will work, including white or milk chocolate.
SAM’S TIP: Set your eggs out ahead of time so they have time to come to room temperature; this will help you combine your batter easier so you don’t end up over-mixing. If you forget, you can always follow my trick on how to quickly bring eggs to room temperature.
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 Them
- Combine the wet ingredients with a whisk until nice and smooth. Give them a nice vigorous mix, you want the batter to be well combined!
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then fold them into the wet ingredients until mostly combined. Be careful not to over-mix at this point.
- Add the chocolate chips and gently fold them in until distributed. Note I said gently! Don’t use your whisk here, just a spatula and a gentle hand.
- Divide the batter into a lined muffin tin. It will seem like a lot of batter–don’t be afraid to overfill these! Feel free to sprinkle the tops of your muffins with extra chocolate chips or coarse sugar, if you like.
- Bake for 9 minutes, then reduce the temperature and bake for another 12 minutes or until done. I like to use a toothpick to check for doneness. We use two baking temps here (a technique also used in my chocolate chip muffins and sourdough blueberry muffins) to help the muffins get a nice rise, but not overcook in the centers.
- Let cool for a few minutes in the muffin tin, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. If you leave the muffins in the tin to cool completely, the muffin liners and bottoms will become quite wet and greasy.
SAM’S TIP: While we want to vigorously mix our wet ingredients, we want to be much more gentle when adding the dry ingredients. Over-mixing muffin batter (or pancake batter!) can create a dense, rubbery, dry texture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, these freeze quite well. I recommend wrapping individual muffins in plastic wrap and foil before storing in an airtight container. To thaw, unwrap them and let them sit at room temperature or microwave until softened.
I tried the recipe with butter instead of oil (as well as with a blend of the two), and the oil version just came out on top every time. Oil adds a lot of moisture (butter makes the muffins more dry once they are completely cool), and while butter usually adds a lovely flavor, you don’t notice or miss that in this recipe since we have so much other flavor from the pumpkin, spices, chocolate chips and vanilla.
All that to say I recommend sticking with the recipe!
I recently compiled all of my pumpkin recipes into one post, if you find yourself craving even more after this recipe 🍁
Enjoy!
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
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Servings: 12 muffins
Calories: 369kcal
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Instructions
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Preheat oven to 425F (220C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin puree, oil, sugars, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract and whisk vigorously until smooth and thoroughly combined.
1 ¼ cups (300 g) pumpkin puree, ½ cup (118 ml) avocado oil, ⅔ cup (133 g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (60 g) sour cream, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
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In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
1 ¾ cups (220 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¾ teaspoons baking soda, ½ teaspoon table salt
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until mostly combined. Add chocolate chips and continue to stir until batter is uniform and chips are well distributed through the batter (do not overmix).
1 ½ cups (255 g) chocolate chips
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Evenly divide batter into prepared muffin tin, sprinkle tops with additional chocolate chips, if desired.
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Transfer to center rack of 425F (220C) preheated oven and bake for 9 minutes then, without opening the oven door, reduce oven temperature to 350F and continue to bake another 12 minutes or until muffins are cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
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Allow muffins to cool in the tin for 5-8 minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Muffins may also be wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 369kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 250mg | Potassium: 104mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 4093IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 104mg | Iron: 2mg
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.