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.
My kids loved these muffins! I love how cost effective it is to make my own and add healthier ingredients. Could I use this same batter for copycat blueberry mini muffins?
These are amazing! I can’t wait for my kids to try them when they get home from school today. Big hit with me! They don’t have that chemical aftertaste like the store bought ones do – which is why we stopped buying them. I feel so much better about treating them with these. Thank you so much!!! I’ll be tripling the batch so I can freeze them. (I have 3 growing boys lol)
Yum! I just made these to see if they would be good enough to serve as my son’s morning birthday party “cupcakes”. They were delicious. I may even use a little less maple syrup in my next batch. I also added a few sprinkles on top to make them a little more festive for a birthday party. These are definitely a yummy treat.
These came delicious !!! Will def be in my rotation
Hi,
Thank you so much for this amazing receipe, my both kids loves it, it’s my go to recipe to make over weekend for school day breakfast. 😀. I have 2 queries
1) mine is cooked but is not getting that nice golden color on side like yours what Should I change to achieve that ? Or what am I doing wrong ? If you can help that would be great
2) next day it becomes bit sticky to touch, fine to eat and taste wise alsl the same what Should I do next time so it doest become bit sticky.
Thank you do much
My family loves these!
THESE ARE SO GOOD. LOVE LOVE LOVE making these because so many less ingredients that the storebought. I did buy the pan she uses and sprayed with avocado oil, and for the first time ever the bottom of my muffins weren’t falling apart. I only used 1/2 maple syrup and 1/2 cup choc chips (just to reduce sugar a bit) and they are just perfect.
Amy I did have a question. Do you think these would work with whole wheat flour? or how would I substitute it for regular flour? Thank you!
These are sooo yummy, they barely last in our house and are great for school snacks
My four year old is obsessed with Little Bites and I was looking for a recipe with less sugar/ingredients (and this has more protein!). However, I think these might be better than Little Bites! I’m definitely going to be using this recipe a lot.
I didn’t have mini chocolate chips on hand, but I will buy them for the future because they were a little hard to get out of the tin since all the chocolate chips fell to the bottom. I might try them with strawberries or sprinkles next!
These are delicious and my kids love them! The only note I would give to people preparing to make them is do NOT use mini muffin liners! I usually do just so they stay intact in my kids’ lunchbox but I think since this batter is so sticky due to the healthy ingredients (which I love!), it made the muffin stick to the liner and basically you only got one mouthful of actual muffin. 🙁 Stinks, but now I know for next time to just grease the muffin pan and pour in directly!
Made these today and they are delicious!! They truly are like chocolate chip Little Bites! I followed the recipe exactly and baked for 10 mins. I got 36 muffins out of one batch. Will definitely make again! Perfect for school lunch snacks.
Excited to eat these!! Was just wondering how much cocoa you would add to make these chocolate chocolate chip muffins. Thanks!!
I think you could reduce the flour to just under 1 cup and add 2 tbsp sifted cocoa powder. Enjoy!
Made this recipe as is and I couldn’t believe how incredibly moist, tasty and easy these were to make! My entire family loved them and I ate 5 muffins from the first batch! Yum.
Oh. My. Goodness!! Absolutely delicious! New favorite recipe, found it on TikTok and so happy I did, this page has helped me so much!!
I’m so glad!
These are great! I used wholewheat flour rather than all purpose but it didn’t take anything away from how good they are. I had to bake mine for about 20 minutes – but likely just because of our oven/differences in temp, etc. I also used regular sized chocolate chips – I couldn’t find mini ones. Thank you!