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 love this recipe!! Super easy with basic, healthy ingredients. Can’t wait to make more of your recipes!
-Side note, this was probably just user error on my part, but I filled my cups to the top like the instructions said and they totally overflowed in the oven haha! So I’ll probably do 1/2 or 3/4 full next time!
These are so perfect and delicious for my kiddos! We did sprinkles instead of chocolate chips and they love them! Thank you!
These are the best chocolate chip muffins I have made with my toddler. They are moist, fluffy, and perfectly sweet. My daughter is allergic to eggs, so I substituted the two eggs with Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer, and they turned out so well. I’m definitely saving this recipe as my go to muffin recipe.
Thank you so much!
Any idea how much/what kind of protein powder to put in these for extra nutrition for my toddler?
I would look for a plain unsweetened one and add no more than 1/4 cup or you risk messing up the consistency. You can also simply serve another food alongside them to offer another option that may be easier.
I added 1/4 cup of unflavored protein powder (as suggested by Amy) to this recipe and somehow (imo) they turned out even fluffier and better than without! The brand of protein powder I used, if it makes any diff, is Gainful. I picked it up at my local Target. My family and I love these muffins and I continue to make them again and again 🙂
Do you have to add more liquid or change anything to use sugar instead of maple syrup?
You might want to add 1 tbsp milk but otherwise it should work similarly.
Could you do blueberries instead of chocolate chips?
Sure. With mini muffins, it works a little better to use smaller wild blueberries which are sold frozen
I made these with homemade buttermilk (whole milk + apple cider vinegar), and they were welcomed with delight by my 19 month old.
I just made these with my toddler. They are super easy and even more delicious than I expected! Thank you Amy. Another family favorite!
Too eggy and not very “muffin texture” but I’m sure the grandkids will eat them
I just made these with my granddaughter, I love that the recipe is easy enough for her to follow. These baked up nice and fluffy, with a bit of crunch on the bottom, which we loved. They taste great, and it’s hard to believe there is no sugar! They were just sweet enough. Will be my new go-to breakfast and snack muffin recipe!
When you swap out eggs your said add milk and baking soda? Do I add 3/4 teaspoon baking soda on top of the 1/3 teaspoon the recipe calls for?
3/4 tsp total
Delicious and extremely tasty texture! Also was easy enough that my 23 month old could do most of the adding/mixing (until she got distracted by the chocolate chips that’s is)! 10/10 would repeat this recipe.
Soooo good! They’re really filling so be careful if you keep coming back for more. It did make more than 24 for me, more like 36. I made half of them with sprinkles which my kids liked better than the chocolate chips.
I did the same exact thing you did and my 3 plus hubs and I gobbled all 37 up in one day😆.
These are delicious
How can I make this sugar free without compromising the yumminess? We are having to cut out sugar for my daughter due to a recent diagnosis.
There’s no chocolate that I know of without sugar so it may be easiest to look at another recipe.
Lily’s makes sugar free chocolate chips Maybe not minis but you could chop up the regular sized ones
Can I use Vanilla flavoured Greek yogurt?
Sure, just omit the vanilla extract