Sourdough Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients You'll Need and Why

A few things make these muffins special: a mix of both dark and milk chocolate in the batter, a big hit of vanilla for a sweeter taste, yogurt for a tender texture, and oil instead of butter for muffins that are anything but dry. You won't miss butter here as it's definitely not needed for flavour. These are our notes from recipe testing and you can find the full recipe card below with complete measurements and instructions.

• Natural cocoa: these muffins are leavened mostly with baking soda (what makes them rise while baking) and won't work with Dutch process cocoa. If you're not sure which is which, check the ingredients - Dutched cocoa will always list an acidity regulator in the ingredient list.
• Sugar: we've tested these with all white, a mix of brown and white, and all brown sugar all with good results. If you like a deeper flavour you can replace some of the sugar with brown sugar.
• Flour: for the best results, use all-purpose white flour. Cake flour makes these a little too delicate. You can substitute up to 50% of the flour with whole wheat if preferred. We haven't tried making these gluten-free.
• Discard: this can be active starter or sourdough discard that's been in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Keep in mind that the older the discard the stronger the taste will come through in the muffins.
• Yogurt: full-fat yogurt will make for the best muffins, but you can use a reduced-fat type or even soy yogurt. Sour cream can be substituted for the yogurt.
• Oil: any type of light-tasting oil that's liquid at room temperature can be used. Melted butter is fine in a pinch but it does make the texture of the muffins a little more dry and dense.
• Chocolate: we like these with a mix of chopped milk and dark chocolate rather than chocolate chips, but they're also excellent with chocolate chips. There is quite a bit of chocolate in these muffins but it can be reduced if you prefer.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Muffins

These are very easy to make, with one bowl for the dry ingredients and another for the wet. Just be sure not to over-bake, which will dry the muffins right out. It's not as easy to do a toothpick test here - the chocolate pieces make it tricky - but when the top of the muffin feels just firm to the touch, they're ready.

Step 1: whisk the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then add the chocolate chunks and stir to combine. We recommend sifting the ingredients in to avoid any lumps of cocoa powder or baking soda.

Step 2: whisk the wet ingredients in another bowl, then add to the flour mixture and stir to just combine. A few streaks of flour are fine. Over-mixing will lead to tough muffins so stir with a light hand in a folding motion.

Step 3: divide the batter equally into lined muffin cups. For a little something extra, press a small square of chocolate into the middle of each muffin before baking.

Step 4: bake for 5 minutes at the higher temperature before reducing and baking for another 15 minutes or so. If using the toothpick test, be sure to poke in several different places so that you're not getting melted chocolate and thinking the muffins aren't baked.

Expert Tips for the Best Muffins

• Use room temperature ingredients: for the best muffins, use yogurt, milk, and eggs that are at room temperature. This isn't a hard and fast rule for this recipe, because they will still turn out with cold ingredients, they just won't be quite as good.
• Fill the cups: this recipe will make enough batter to fill 12 standard muffin cups right to the top before baking. The muffins will rise into a nice tall dome without spilling over the edges when baking.
• Don't skip the hot bake: the muffins won't get the same rise and dome if they're baked at a steady temperature the whole time. For the best texture, be sure to bake at the high temperature for the first 5 minutes. It makes such a difference in muffin recipes that use eggs!
• Chill overnight: if you'd like to give the muffins a long ferment, mix the dough as instructed and then chill in the fridge, tightly covered, for up to 12 hours before baking as usual. The batter will be a little stiff when cold. If you do this be sure to let the muffins cool fully before serving because like sourdough bread, the texture can be a little strange before cooling (chewy!).
• Try without cocoa: if you want something a little less chocolate-filled, try our sourdough chocolate chip muffins, which are similar to these but don't use cocoa in the muffin batter.

More Sourdough Discard Recipes

If you make this Sourdough Chocolate Muffins recipe or any other sourdough recipes on the Baked Collective, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more baking, follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.