Moist tender Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins that taste as good as store bought, but have a little extra nutrition? Sign. Me. Up. These muffins are seriously delicious and are a must-make if you have fans of Little Bites in your house!
Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins
Every time I go to our local big box store, I always walk by a giant stack of Little Bites muffin boxes. And while I almost never have the urge to do copycat recipes, this one stuck with me—because I just knew I could make an equally tender little muffin that the kids would love.
And with the inclusion of yogurt and a little less sugar, and a super simple method, these are exactly the kind of homemade snack that makes me excited. (Especially since I love to snack on these too!)
My three kids all adore these muffins. They’re a great preschool snack, after school snack, or snack to go with lunch and are one of my all-time most popular kids muffin recipes.
(Know that you can swap in blueberries for the chocolate chips if your kids prefer blueberry mini muffins, or check out my Sprinkle Muffins.)
Table of Contents
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Ingredients You Need
Here’s a look at what you’ll need to make this recipe so you know what to pick up at the store and have on hand for baking.
- All purpose flour: I use regular all-purpose flour here to ensure that the muffins are light and fluffy after baking.
- Baking powder and baking soda: A combination of both of these ensures that the muffins are tender and rise properly.
- Maple syrup: You can use maple syrup, honey, or granulated sugar to sweeten these muffins just a smidge for the kids.
- Plain Greek yogurt: I love baking with yogurt and like the consistency of the muffins using Greek yogurt. If you only have regular style yogurt, that is totally fine. You’ll just want to add a smidge more flour. See the Notes at the end of the recipe for the details.
- Eggs: Large eggs help to hold the ingredients together and bake tender muffins.
- Unsalted butter: I prefer to bake with unsalted butter so that I can control the amount of added salt.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract adds that classic vanilla flavor that pairs so well with chocolate chips.
- Chocolate chips: I prefer to use mini chocolate chips in these mini muffins, but regular size ones will work too.
TIP: See the Notes at the bottom of the recipe for allergy variations to make these without eggs, dairy, and gluten.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here’s the general process for making this recipe so you know what to expect. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full how-to on the timing and amounts.
- Stir together the wet ingredients.
- Stir together the dry ingredients, then mix in the wet. Add the chocolate chips.
- Divide among a greased mini muffin pan.
- Bake! These muffins bake quickly, so set that timer and avoid over baking for the best results.
Use a small knife to help transfer the cooked muffins to a wire rack to cool fully. (Note that I do not recommend using paper cupcake liners with these as they will likely stick. Nonstick spray is a better option.)
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store them, once cooled, in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. They hold well for up to 5 in the fridge, but you may want to warm them briefly to serve from the fridge as they firm up when cold.
They have less sugar, twice as much protein, and you have the ability to control more of the ingredients.
We usually have them for breakfast or snack with cut up fruit, though they’d also work with a smoothie, a cheese stick, and a smoothie—among other lunch snacks.
How to Store
- Once cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Warm slightly to serve from the fridge as they will firm up when cold.
- You can also freeze the muffins in a freezer bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in 15 second increments in the microwave.
Best Tips for Success
- I like using whole milk Greek yogurt in this recipe. You can use regular style yogurt if you prefer. If using regular yogurt, add 2 tablespoons additional flour to ensure that the muffin batter isn’t too runny.
- You can use an equal amount of sugar instead of maple syrup if that’s what you have.
- Dairy-free: Use a nondairy Greek style yogurt like the plant-based options from Siggis and a neutral oil like canola in place of the butter.
- Egg-free: Omit the eggs. Add ½ cup milk and use ¾ teaspoon baking soda.
- Gluten-free: Use cup for cup style of gluten-free all purpose flour like the one from King Arthur Flour.
- Note that I do not recommend using paper cupcake liners with these as they will likely stick. Nonstick spray is a better option.)
Related Recipes
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe if you try it, so please rate and leave a comment below!
Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins (Little Bites Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk plain Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup maple syrup (or sugar)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (melted and slightly cooled)
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In another bowl, stir together the yogurt, maple syrup, eggs, butter, and vanilla.
- Gently stir the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Divide batter among the prepared muffin tin, filling about to the edge. (You'll use about 1 ½ tablespoon in each mini muffin cup.)
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly. Do not over bake.
- Remove from oven, and let cool in the pan for 2 minutes. Run a paring knife around the edges to loosen, if needed, then carefully transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool fully.
Video
Notes
- Once cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Warm slightly to serve from the fridge as they will firm up when cold.
- You can also freeze the muffins in a freezer bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in 15 second increments in the microwave.
- I like using whole milk Greek yogurt in this recipe. You can use regular style yogurt if you prefer, just add 2 tablespoons additional all-purpose flour to ensure that the batter isn’t too runny.
- I prefer mini chocolate chips since they are more evenly distributed through the muffins but you can use regular ones if you prefer. If you use regular size chocolate chips, I would use 1 cup.
- Dairy-free: Use a nondairy Greek style yogurt like the plant-based options from Siggis and a neutral oil like canola in place of the butter.
- Egg-free: Omit the eggs. Add ½ cup milk and use ¾ teaspoon baking soda.
- Gluten-free: Use cup for cup gluten-free all purpose flour.
Nutrition
This post was first published April 2021.
I’m new to baking I have a Pyrex® Measuring Cup – Clear I put the 2x recipe im very confused when it says “0.67 cup of sugar” “0.5 cup unsalted butter” and “1.5 cup mini chocolate chips” my cup doesn’t say these measurements I tried converting it says to do 2/3 sugar & 1/2 unsalted butter but as you know my cup has these measurements duplicated so which line should I fill it up to? Help please.
For dry measurements, you’ll want to be using measuring cups meant for dry ingredients. A glass measuring cup is for liquids.
I’m new to baking I have a Pyrex® Measuring Cup – Clear I put the 2x recipe im very confused when it says “0.67 cup of sugar” “0.5 cup unsalted butter” and “1.5 cup mini chocolate chips” my cup doesn’t say these measurements I tried converting it says to do 2/3 sugar & 1/2 unsalted butter but as you know my cup has these measurements duplicated so which line should I fill it up to? Help please.
Hi! I made your chocolate muffins with the 1 egg adjustment and it worked out great! I know you added an egg replacement for this recipe but if I still wanted to incorporate 1 egg in the recipe would you recommend adding 1/4 cup of milk? And how much baking soda?
Picky eater approved!! My kids are 6 and 8 and devoured these in 2 days (hubby helped with that too).
Love everything about this recipe! They came out light and fluffy, and just the perfect golden brown. But alllllll my chocolate chips (mini) sunk to the bottom and weren’t distributed throughout the muffin. Advice?
You can toss them in flour next time before adding to the batter or sprinkle them on top.
The muffins turned out really nice! I had to add 1/2c extra of flour. I can’t figure out where I went wrong lol I didn’t use maple syrup, I did sugar, so i can’t figure out why it was so wet. The muffins came out of my silicon pans perfectly. Thanks for the healthier recipe!
Delicious!
Could you make these into a loaf? If so, what are the changes and bake time! TIA
For a 9×5 inch loaf pan, I’d do 350 degrees F for about 50 minutes or until baked through in the middle when tested with a cake tester.
These muffins were moist and my three-year-old enjoyed them. I would halve the amount of chocolate next time though, as it was way too much for these mini muffins.
Yum! So soft and delicious. My toddler loved making them with me.
We love this recipe! I have twin 1 year olds and a 3 year old. They don’t last more than 48 hours in our home. Especially between my husband and I sneaking muffins too.
I substitute the maple syrup for brown sugar and just add a splash of milk to get a less thick consistency. They are super moist and have just the right amount of sweetness.
We love these muffins in my house and make them every other week! I usually double the batch.
My issue is with the muffins sticking to the pan, even if I use nonstick spray. I find that using parchment mini muffin liners helps, but then the muffins don’t have the ever so slightly crispy outside. Any remedy for this? Thanks!
What kind of nonstick spray (specifically) are you using?
Canola oil spray – do you have a recommendation for something else?
Try Pam Baking Spray. Not the “cooking” spray, they have specific “Baking Spray”. Its like butter and flour. It’s my go to for baking when I don’t want to manually butter and flour a pan, or for things that have little nooks.
I know this recipe is several years old so I’m not sure if you’ll get this. But do you know if I can use cake flour instead of all purpose flour? And then if I use whole milk vanilla Greek yogurt, should I omit the vanilla?
Cake flour should work fine, though it might need an extra two minutes to bake through. And yes, I’d do that if using vanilla.
Love these muffins a weekly staple in our house!
Is the nutritional information based on 12 muffins or 24 mini muffins?
Glad you enjoy them! The serving size is 2 mini muffins and that is what the nutritional info is based on. 🙂
I make these muffins every week for my two little boys! They don’t last long around here!
Can I use fat free greek yogurt?
Sure