Triple Chocolate Muffins

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These Triple Chocolate Muffins are fluffy, moist, and have a smooth chocolatey flavor! The base chocolate muffin has chocolate chips folded into the batter, then is dipped chocolate ganache for a deliciously chocolatey treat. With just a few simple ingredients and a little love, this easy recipe makes the BEST chocolate muffins ever.

For more muffin recipes, try my brownie muffins, chocolate chip muffins and chocolate chunk banana muffins!

triple chocolate muffins on a silver serving plate.

I love a homemade bakery style muffin that’s not only delicious but easy to make. These triple chocolate muffins are just that – full of rich chocolate flavor, a moist and tender crumb, and those sky high muffin tops that everyone loves!

The texture of these muffins is akin to your a super moist chocolate cake but is so fluffy, you’ll feel like it’s a chocolate cupcake or like a breakfast version of a hot chocolate mug cake. So, essentially, it’s chocolate cake – but make it breakfast! The top of the muffin is dunked in a chocolate ganache that just adds a layer of decadence that I just adore. Kinda like those olympic village muffins, but better.

The perfect muffin.

Oh and for the cake version – make my triple chocolate cake!

Happy baking!

Key Ingredients
Key Ingredients
How to make Chocolate Muffins
Pro Tips for Bakery style Muffins
Recipe FAQs
More Chocolate Recipes
Triple Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe

Key Ingredients

triple chocolate muffins on a white surface in front of a container of flour.

Key Ingredients

Quality Dark Chocolate – I don’t recommend using chocolate chips for the ganache. I like to use Ghiradelli 70% chocolate bars for the ganache.

Brown Sugar – for moisture and a more complex flavor, brown sugar is key!

Vegetable oil – any mild flavored oil works here including canola oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, lightly flavored olive oil etc. I add oil to this recipe for extra moist muffins that melt in your mouth! It gives the best results and the perfect texture every time.

Unsalted Butter and Vegetable Oil – melted butter comes into play for flavor. Oil gives these muffins a luscious texture while the butter adds flavor.

Hot Coffee - no, this doesn’t make the muffins taste like coffee. Coffee actually deepens the chocolate flavor, giving these moist triple chocolate muffins an extra boost!

Large Eggs – eggs hold everything together but also add a nice bit of air to help these baked muffins rise nicely in the oven.

Sour Cream – sour cream helps to smooth out the bitterness of the chocolate. You can also use full fat greek yogurt here if you don’t have any sour cream.

Vanilla Extract – for a little extra flavor 🙂

Espresso Powder – this is an optional ingredient but really adds a nice depth of flavor that deepens and enhances the chocolatey taste. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend giving it a go!

Dutch process unsweetened cocoa – dutch process cocoa powder is my favorite kind of cocoa powder to use in chocolate recipes because of the intense chocolate flavor.

Dark Chocolate Chips – we’re folding some into the batter and sprinkling the rest on top prior to baking. Feel free to add extra chocolate chips on top for the ultimate chocolate muffin recipe. I used mini chocolate chips but feel free to use dark chocolate chunks or whatever you have on hand.

Baking powder and Baking Soda – these leavening agents allow the muffins to rise in the oven.

Heavy Cream – this is for the chocolate ganache topping!

How to make Chocolate Muffins

dry ingredients whisked together in a bowl.

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl combine all purpose flour or cake flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Give it a good whisk and set aside.

Step 2: In a separate bowl, add all of your wet ingredients and whisk together – vegetable oil, melted butter, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Whisk together for 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy.

triple chocolate muffin batter whisked together in a bowl.

Step 3: Add half of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix together.

hot coffee being poured into the muffin batter.

Step 4: Then pour in the hot coffee and mix until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just combined.

chocolate muffin batter whisked together in a bowl.

Step 5: Fold in a cup of chocolate chips and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow the muffin batter to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Step 6: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray your standard 12-cup muffin pan with oil. Add muffin liners to every other muffin cup and fill with 1/3 cup of batter (fill to the top but don’t overflow). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick poked in the center of the muffin comes out with just a few crumbs. Allow them to cool in the muffin pan for 5 muffins, then remove and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack.

heavy cream and chocolate mixed together in a large bowl to make the chocolate ganache topping.

Step 7: Add heavy cream to a large bowl. Warm in the microwave for a minute, then add the dark chocolate.

Step 8: Whisk gently until the chocolate is fully melted. (if the chocolate doesn’t melt completely, heat in the microwave in increments of 15 seconds until the chocolate is fully melted). Once the muffins have cooled, dip the tops of the muffins in to the melted chocolate, then top with additional chocolate chips and flaky sea salt.

Pro Tips for Bakery style Muffins

Let the muffin batter rest! Don’t skip this step, its what makes these muffins super moist and lets them rise sky high in the oven. Totally worth the wait, I promise!
To prevent dry muffins, be sure not to overbake. Bake just until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
For tender chocolate muffins, be sure to mix the batter until it’s just combined and there are no visible patches of flour. Don’t overmix the batter, this will result in tough dry muffins.
Use room temperature ingredients. This helps the batter comes together smoothly. You’ll want your buttermilk, eggs, and sour cream to all be at room temperature. Leave them out for 30 minutes prior to baking for best results.
I recommend baking one pan of muffins at a time. This allows for the tops of the muffins to get nice and high.
If you have a kitchen scale, ditch the measuring cup and measure out the ingredients in grams (exact measurements are provided in the recipe card). This ensures the most consistent bake every time. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, fluff up your flour prior to scooping it out to prevent adding too much flour to the batter.
Do not open the oven door while baking! Temperature control is key to getting fluffy muffins. Keep the oven door close until the muffins are done!

a chocolate muffin cut in half on a silver plate.

Recipe FAQs

Can chocolate muffins be frozen?

Yes! Once the muffins have cooled completely, you can freeze these muffins in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.

Should I let my muffin batter rest?

Yes! Allowing the batter to allows the flour to hydrate, giving these homemade muffins their moist texture. I recommend at least an hour but you can let the batter sit in the refrigerator overnight.