Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
These are the BEST pumpkin chocolate chip muffins! They bake with tall muffin tops but with a soft and moist texture. Each bite is met with melty chocolate chips and warm pumpkin flavor.
One Bowl Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
These muffins are perfect in every way, even when it comes to making them! This is a super easy pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe because they’re ready in under an hour and everything is mixed together in one bowl!
The batter starts with all of the wet ingredients. This includes:
- Pumpkin Puree – This pumpkin muffin recipe uses an whole can! So no awkward leftovers, even though the extras always go to my dog so she might be a little disappointed in this recipe.
- Granulated and Light Brown Sugar – Using a mix of regular and light brown sugar adds the perfect amount of moisture and sweetness to these muffins.
- Oil – Combining pumpkin with oil creates a super moist texture! These muffins are incredibly tender and soft. I use vegetable oil, but olive oil or avocado oil can also be used.
- Eggs – Adding extra richness and bounce to these muffins.
- Vanilla – Just a tiny bit to help bring out the pumpkin flavor even more.
- Sour Cream – I love using sour cream in my muffin recipes. It adds the right amount of richness and density that makes these muffins taste bakery-worthy.
Once all of these ingredients are whisked together, the baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt are mixed in separate from the flour. This is just to ensure they’re evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
Then the flour is mixed in followed by the chocolate chips. The batter should appear not too thin but not too thick – almost like pudding.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Baking Tips
This recipe is VERY quick and easy, so you only need a couple tips to ensure they turn out just right:
- Pumpkin Puree – Make sure to use pumpkin puree (100% pumpkin) and NOT pumpkin pie filling. These two cans look very similar, so it’s very easy to mix them up.
- Flour – When measuring the flour, gently spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off with a flat edge. Never scoop directly into the flour as this packs the flour down into the cup, leading to extra flour in the batter. And no one wants a dry muffin!
- Mixing – When the flour is added to the batter, be careful not to over mix. This is why the chocolate chips are added when the flour is halfway mixed. The less mixing that happens with the flour, the more tender the muffin.
- Filling – Don’t be afraid to fill each muffin all the way to the top and then some. These heaping cups of batter will lead to perfectly domed muffin tops.
Pumpkin Pie Spice for Pumpkin Muffins
This recipe is marked as optional, only because I’m personally not a fan of spices and chocolate together. I just want straight pumpkin and chocolate!
But if you prefer the flavor, adding it in will elevate that pumpkin even more. If you don’t have this specific blend, you can also use:
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins FAQs
If you’d like to substitute the vegetable oil with a different oil, I suggest olive oil. It will add a very slight flavor, but it pairs well with the pumpkin and chocolate.
I believe this recipe could work well with a cup for cup gluten free baking flour substitute. Otherwise, I have a gluten free pumpkin muffin recipe that’s just as delicious! Just add in some chocolate chips and skip the cinnamon sugar coating.
I haven’t tested it, but if I were to try to make these vegan I would substitute the eggs with a bit more pumpkin (1/2 cup) and the sour cream with a unsweetened vegan yogurt or vegan sour cream.
Sure! Just make sure to fill the muffins the same, so the batch might only make about 10 muffins instead of 12.
Semisweet chocolate chips are traditional to these muffins, but dark chocolate chips would also be delicious. You can also use mini chips or chocolate chunks – it’s whichever you prefer or have on hand!
Store the pumpkin muffins in an airtight container at room temperature and they will keep for a couple days. Any longer, and they will need to be stored in the refrigerator where they can keep for about a week. If chilling, I suggest reheating in the microwave for about 10 seconds before eating.
For more pumpkin dessert recipes, check out my:
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- No Bake Pumpkin Cookie Pie
- Chewy Pumpkin Cookies
Make sure to tag me @butternutbakery on Instagram and comment below if you make these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. To pin this recipe and save it for later, you can use the button on the recipe card or on any of the photos above. Happy baking!
Watch how to make these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
Description
These pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are SO moist and loaded with melty chocolate chips! They bake with the most perfect rounded muffin tops and are so quick and easy to whip up.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- 1 15oz can pumpkin puree (I like Libby’s)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (105g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup (112g) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (63g) sour cream
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice* (optional)
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups (265g) all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cup (225g) semisweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping
Instructions
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease the surface of a muffin tin (not inside the cavities, but just around the top rim of each). Fill with 12 paper liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, brown sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream.
- Once smooth, whisk in the baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice (if using), and salt.
- Add in the flour and whisk until it’s about halfway incorporated.
- Dump in the chocolate chips and use a rubber spatula to fold and fully combine the batter.
- Divide the batter between the 12 liners, filling each all the way to the top and then some. I like to use a large ice cream or cookie scooper to make this process a little easier.
- Top each muffin with a tiny handful of extra chocolate chips.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the muffins to rest for 5 minutes, then carefully release and transfer to a cooling rack.
- The muffins are best when they’re slightly warm so dig in!
Notes
PUMPKIN PIE SPICE – I’m personally not a big fan of warm spices mixed with chocolate, so I left this as an optional ingredient. If you don’t have this specific spice blend you can also use – 3/4 tsp cinnamon + 1/4 tsp ginger + 1/8 tsp cloves + 1/8 tsp nutmeg.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Meet Jenna
I’m the creator, baker, and photographer behind Butternut Bakery. Here I share desserts for every diet because I believe everyone should have a chance to indulge!
I’ve made these three times already this fall. Such a hit with my 8 year old, it’s her favorite breakfast/snack! This comes out really moist as well. It’s a keeper for me!
I couldn’t stop saying “oh my gosh” with every bite I took with this muffin recipe. So moist, so delicious, fluffy, and not overly sweet. I subbed vegetable oil with coconut oil but other than that followed the recipe step by step. If I could rate this a 10 out of 5 I would. Amazing, thanks for this recipe!
Husband who hates most things vegetable liked these!!! Very moist 10/10 and a great way to get some more plants into your diet
Followed your recipe with the pumpkin spice. Delicious!
My family loved these muffins! I left out the pumpkin spice and used mini chocolate chips because that’s all I had. The muffins came out so moist, so tender. I really thought they would overflow when I used all the batter, but they just formed the perfect muffin top! This is my first time making one of your recipes. Definitely not my last. Thank you!
Genuinely amazing. Pumpkin chocolate treats were a favorite of mine when I was little, but as I grew older, I could never find something that replicated the taste I remember. These muffins were exactly it, and im asked to make them all the time lol
Delicious fall treat! Very moist with a perfect texture. Thanks for sharing
I made these & they are delicious…..so moist….going to make another batch right now! Thank you for sharing the recipe
Delicious and perfectly moist! I found them lacking slightly in salt, and sprinkled more over the tops to cut some of the sweetness
Emilee – that’s funny, you sound just like me. I’m the only one in a family of 4 that LOVES pumpkin. Kids like but not as much as I do. And, as much as I like pumpkin, I do NOT care for pumpkin pie.