These bakery style Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins are soft and fluffy with the most amazing domed muffin tops! The pumpkin keeps them luscious and moist for days and mini chocolate chips ensure each bite is kissed with melty chocolate!
I’ve made these chocolate-loaded muffins over a dozen times in the last few months.
We love them. My neighbors love them. The feral sleepover crew that takes over my house on the weekends love them. 5/5 – You have GOT to try them! ★★★★★
The pumpkin isn’t detectable at all and instead serves the most important purpose. It keeps the muffins so soft and fudgy that they’re great for DAYS!
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make chocolate muffins any other way. They’re that good!
In this post you’ll find all my muffin baking tips, tricks, and techniques along with some speedy shortcut options and frequently asked questions.
There’s a whopping cup and a half of pumpkin in this recipe, leaving you with about 1/3 cup of pumpkin left in the can to stir into your favorite pumpkin spice latte, hot cocoa, or even to bake with, It’s fantastic added to banana bread, cornbread, and more.
Q: WHAT COCOA POWDER SHOULD I USE FOR CHOCOLATE MUFFINS?
For these muffins I either use Hershey’s Special Dark Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder or (for extra dark and intense oreo-like muffins) King Arthur Black Cocoa Powder.
You can also use a brand of regular unsweetened cocoa powder like Ghirardelli and they’ll still taste great but will be lighter in color and a wee bit less chocolate-y.
Some bakers like to bloom the chocolate when making baked goods. This enhances the chocolate flavor even more! To do this, you will skip adding the cocoa to the dry mixture and instead whisk it into the warm butter after it has melted.
Q: What Kind of Pumpkin Puree Can I Use?
Not all pumpkin purees are created equal. Organic pumpkin puree and homemade pumpkin puree tend to have a higher moisture content and can be a bit chaotic to bake with for this reason. I have had the best results with Target’s Good and Gather brand, Libby’s Pumpkin Puree, and Publix’s store brand.
Muffin Baking Tips and Tricks
Looking to make the muffins of your dreams? Here are my go-to tips and tricks for perfect muffins every time!
1. MEASURE WITH CARE
Measuring the flour, cocoa powder, and sugar in grams can save on time and yields the most accurate results. If you aren’t the proud owner of a digital kitchen scale, go ahead and put one on your wish list for your birthday or the holidays and use the fluff/spoon/scrape technique to measure the flour and cocoa powder.
2. REST THE BATTER
Resting the batter for 15 minutes gives the batter a extra time to rise and helps achieve those puffy domes on top of your muffins.
3. TWEAK THE TEMP
Before you assemble your ingredients, set your oven to 375℉ and allow it to preheat while you make the batter. Once the muffins go in the oven, close the door and adjust the temp to 350℉. This will give the muffins a few minutes of a warmer start time for extra lift. I love using this trick to give my muffins a little extra rise to them and, along with resting the batter, it yields perfect bakery-style mini muffin tops.
Though you can 100% use regular muffin liners, tall tulip-style parchment paper liners give the muffins extra room to puff upwards without spilling into the muffin next to it, allowing us to really load up the batter into each muffin cup. The fact that they look straight out of a fancy bakery is always a plus too!
If you don’t have taller bakery-style liners (I like to stock up when they’re on sale) you can DIY them using regular parchment paper via this easy tutorial.
Save on Time and Dishes Too!
In addition to measuring dry ingredients like flour, cocoa powder, and sugar by weight, you can also save on time and dishes by melting the butter in a medium pot on the stove, then removing from heat and adding the remaining wet ingredients.
- melt butter in a medium pot
- remove from heat
- whisk in pumpkin and sugar
- whisk in sour cream and vanilla
- whisk in eggs
- add flour/cocoa mixture and gently combine
- fold in the chocolate chips
I use a metal whisk and then switch to a bowl scraper or wooden spoon to gently fold in in the flour and chocolate chips.
Q: Can I make these Chocolate Muffins in Advance?
YES! These muffins will stay fresh and tender in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days.
You can also make the muffin batter the night before and let it rest in a covered mixing bowl overnight in the fridge. The next day simply scoop into lined muffin cups, bake, and enjoy!
Leftover muffins may also be frozen for later and defrosted in the fridge. Then simply warm them up in the microwave or wrap in foil to warm in the oven. Easy peasy!
Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
Ready to get baking? Print the recipe card below or use the “COOK MODE” toggle feature after the ingredients to keep your screen from going dark. I’m so excited for you to try these marvelous muffins!
Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
Equipment
- Bakery-Style Tulip Parchment Liners for extra-tall muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups canned pumpkin puree
- 113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ½ cup sour cream (124 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups unbleached all purpose flour (210 grams)
- ½ cup unsweetened special dark dutch-processed cocoa powder (42 grams) see notes
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- First preheat oven to 375℉.
- Next measure out all ingredients first for speedier muffin prep.
- Melt 1 stick of butter in a large bowl in the microwave or in a pot on the stove.
- Remove from heat and whisk in pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add sour cream, vanilla, and egg and whisk vigorously to incorporate.
- Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and mix.
- Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined and no flour bits remain. Batter will be thick and a little lumpy.
- Gently fold in chocolate chips.
- Cover bowl with a clean dish towel and rest batter for 15 minutes.
- Line muffin pan with 12 tulip-style parchment paper liners and add approx. ¼ cup batter per liner. These taller liners give them extra room rise upward. (If using regular liners, you can make approx. 17-18 muffins instead with 3 TBSP batter per muffin cup.)
- Place muffin pan on the center rack. Once oven door is closed, reduce the oven's temperature from 375℉ to 350℉ (another trick for fluffy tall muffins)
- Bake for 25-27 minutes. Mine were perfect after 26 minutes. (If making smaller muffins reduce bake time as needed and check at the 20-22 minute mark, adding any additional time needed.)
- Allow them to cool for a few minutes in the muffin tray, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Feel free to steal a warm one while you wait. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
More Marvelous Muffin Recipes
- NEW! Mini Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
- Banana Streusel Muffins (reader favorite!)
- Sweet Potato Cornbread Muffins
- Savory Cheddar Muffins with Basil and Scallions
If you get a chance to try these chocolate chip studded chocolate pumpkin muffins, let me know! You can leave me a comment here (LOVE checking those daily!) or tag @PEASandCRAYONS on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creations. I can’t wait to see what you whip up!
Questions & Reviews
Easy and forgiving recipe.
I didn’t have butter so substituted oil. Was 60 grams short on pumpkin, added more sour cream.
And I’m gluten free lol so I used gluten free flour but was again a few grams short so added extra cocoa.
They turned out perfect
I knew it worked great with oil but the sour cream hack and that it worked with GF flour is so amazing to know! I love when a baking recipe really does some heavy hitting and can take adjustments. These muffins are a fav of mine and I’m so glad you loved them too!
This recipe turned out so great that my family demolished them in one day!! The tips from the article were extremely helpful. I decided to bloom the cocoa powder and let the batter sit. 25 minutes was perfect for my muffins – they turned out so moist and rich and perfectly baked when I turned the temp to 350 after closing the oven door too. Thank you so much for the recipe!! Will be baking these often 🩷
You totally made my day, Elia! Thank you! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe. xoxo
Very moist and yummy! Brought them to my church potluck!
YAY! Thank you Macy!
I loved these muffins. Very easy recipe thanks.
Woot! I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins!