Let me begin with a disclaimer – I don’t eat chocolate regularly for breakfast (I save that for dessert), and I’m not suggesting you should either. However, there are days that call for a bit of chocolate at the start – a lazy Saturday morning, or a special birthday breakfast.
When those occasions arise, these chocolate-banana muffins are much healthier than any you’d find at a coffee shop. Sweetened with honey and ripe bananas, the muffins stay moist for several days and are equally tasty at room temperature or slightly warm. This is one recipe to double and freeze half the muffins for later – you’ll be happy to have these stashed in your freezer!
Yield:
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PinIngredients
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
- 6 Tbsp mini semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 12-cup standard muffin pan with baking cups; spray baking cups lightly with cooking spray. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine buttermilk, egg, honey, coconut oil, vanilla, and banana in a medium bowl; add to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Fold in 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips.
- Fill each baking cup 2/3 full of batter; sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips evenly over muffins (1/2 tsp per muffin). Bake for 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let muffins cool in pan on a wire rack for 2 minutes before removing from pan to serve or cool completely. Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days, or individually wrap muffins in plastic wrap and freeze in a large freezer bag.
Nutrition
- Calories: 160
- Carbohydrates: 28
61 comments
Sugar-free chocolate muffins? You bet I’m having these for breakfast! 🙂
I would love these muffins for breakfast! ..or a stashed in my freezer to share with my loved ones 😉
Oh my gosh. These are beautiful! The most gorgeous pictures of chocolate muffins ever. And these look healthy enough for breakfast. 🙂
And I love that you used honey and bananas to sweeten them. Awesome post!
I love the chocolate banana combo! These are definitely virtuous..
I’m betting I could find A LOT of excuses to eat these for breakfast! Delicious! I love the dark chocolate muffins in the blue papers, too. So pretty!
How pretty, and I like that you use natural sweeteners! I don’t mind having chocolate for breakfast any time 🙂
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having chocolate for breakfast, especially when it looks like these, Laura! I adore the addition of banana! Yummm…
One does not necessarily need a special occasion, or a lazy Saturday morning to enjoy chocolate, right? My internet service was out all morning, which is an ideal excuse for chocolate enjoyment! I can’t tell you how much I need these delicious-looking muffins right now! (Eek…no coffee yet!) 😀
I would be THRILLED to have these in my freezer but I know they would just go for breakfast although I can think of all kinds of reasons to make an everyday breakfast a special occasion and pull out these yummy treats 🙂
These look so full of chocolatey goodness! That deep dark chocolate is my fav. I love the liners you used – it looks very Tiffany-blue or Caribbean-esque 🙂 hehe
A great way to start my day…And a great way to end it!
I love the ingredients – I could see these as mini’s at a party too!
Any excuse to have chocolate for breakfast is a good one Laura. That’s good that they last a while. That’s the only thing I don’t like about muffins – they aren’t usually any good the next day.
Chocolate and banana muffins are the best and I’ll eat chocolate anytime 🙂 I like your blue polk-a-dot muffin liners, great photos!
I think that muffins for breakfast are quite legitimate. In Italy, (at least in the North where I lived), they only eat sweet things in the morning. It took a bit of getting used to but it works well. It gives you a hit of carbs and sugar to get you going. Then you can be good for the rest of the day.
Beautiful colours – I eat chocolate for breakfast more often than I care to admit, so these are right up my alley 🙂
These muffins are abso-freakin-lutely gawdgusss!
Um…by the way, I loooove starting my day with chocolate! :/
I’ve never tried chocolate muffins, but with the ingredients you’ve added I can imagine how moist and delicious these are! I could eat chocolate any time of the day!
There are no rules for us adults at home! We can eat what we want, when we want it! LOL! I have rules for my kids – no chocolate anything for breakfast…but I secretly sneak in chocolate behind the counter when the kids aren’t looking! Ahhhh…the joys of being a grown-up! These muffins are perfect behind-the-counter-away-from-the-kids breakfast! 🙂
Heck I say enjoy chocolate whenever you want, we only live once, enjoy it! Hubby is a chocolate addict, these muffins would be a perfect way to get him to eat some bananas:-) Your muffins look amazing, Hugs, Terra
Exquisite and addictive! They look perfect.
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh yes, I’m all for starting the day with a little chocolate treat!
Now this is a recipe you would get up at 4am for!! 😀
I’m not above eating chocolate for breakfast. These look amazing. Chocolate and banana are one of my favorite combos. Yum!
These muffins are perfect! They sound like a great way to get a Saturday morning started!
It seems I have ripe banana much too often that are in need of a recipe. My family would be very pleased with they scrumptious chocolate delights!
We’re all for chocolate at breakfast time in this house! Your muffins look phenomenal!
I could never fault you for eating chocolate for breakfast Laura! These muffins look perfect for any morning!
You’re on a roll with the choc desserts! And this one with banana..mmm good!
Gorgeous cupcake liners with the teal + dark choc. Beautiful combo!
I’m all for chocolate for breakfast, especially if it comes in the form of a sugar free moist banana muffin. Love them Laura!
Hope you’ll link them to this month #chocolateparty as well
I would love to wake up to one of these tomorrow morning! yum!
Choc for breakfast sounds quite justifiable in my book 😉 Great recipe Laura!
I do eat sweet breakfast quite often, what can I say, I’m not the best with avoiding sweets. Usually that are fruits, but occasional muffin appear as well 😀
Between the chocolate pound cakes and these cupcakes…you have been doing some delicious baking in your house lately.
These look lovely. I’ve really tried to love banana and chocolate together but it’s never worked for me. I like bananas and I like chocolate but not touching each other. 🙂
Laura:
Everything that you make is to die for…And your chocolate creations are no exception. I think I’ll go to bed and dream about these heavenly muffins.
Actually I want to eat these for breakfast! I am usually a savory breakfast person, but when sweet breakfast looks really good like this, I’d be more than happy to eat a couple of these muffins with a cup of good coffee. I always love brown and blue color like this. You know how to seduce us!
You know I have no problem having chocolate for breakfast every morning!
I have half a dozen ripe bananas on my kitchen counter and I’ve been trying to figure out what to make with them. Lovely muffins and yes, I’d eat these for breakfast, then dessert. 🙂
I don’t think I’d need any freezer for mine, they all be gone before lunch time already 🙂
These are lovely! Chocolate and banana is by far one of my favorite combinations. I love that you sweetened these with honey. I would love to enjoy one of these with my morning coffee!
These are gorgeous! I like a little chocolate with my breakfast sometimes. It’s a treat!
Oh my goodness, I’ve had so many banana chocolate chip muffins in my day, but never one that has a chocolate base! What an awesome idea.
I really shouldn’t read your blog pre dinner. I am bitting a chocolate now since I can’t have that muffin!
Chocolate and banana is a match made in dessert haven 😀
These might get made this week! You know how I love muffins, and I have buttermilk and bananas that both need to get used up!
When my now-husband and I were first getting to know each other in Amsterdam, there was a bakery near my apartment that made the.best.chocolate.muffins. We used to go there often and share one (they were enormous). Now I can make them for him at home – what a surprise – he will love it!
I am with you – a little chocolate once in a while for breakfast won’t hurt you. I love the deep rich color of these muffins. I bet right out of the oven was pure perfection.
I think I definitely need to be more daring and add chocolate to my breakfast ideas sometimes. Love the blues with the dark chocolate together-so pretty:)
Laura, these muffins are just too tempting! Chocolate and banana together is always a winning combination. Your photos are so pretty, too!
I made these after seeing them on Averie’s pinterest, and I think I’m the first comment that’s actually made them! I only changed one thing, because I don’t like honey; I used molasses instead, and it made them super delicious. I made muffins A LOT (like 3 times a week), and these are one of the better recipes I’ve tried, and it was a healthier one, too! Thanks!!
Hi Kimberly, so glad you enjoyed the muffins! Using molasses sounds like a great idea. 🙂
I made these today. They are a very good muffin and I really like the idea of them being healthier than others! I did use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour in place of that much of the regular flour in an attempt to make it a little bit better for you. LOL I had just a tiny bit less than 1/3 cup of honey left but it worked out just fine like that. And then I had a tbs less of bananas than I needed so I put in unsweetened applesauce in it’s place. LOL (You do what you gotta do when in a pinch) I think they are perfect though! And will replace my son’s store bought Friday morning muffin breakfast for sure. He got to taste test them with me before he went to bed tonight and he approved of them. 😉
Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Hi Melissa, so glad you and your son like the muffins. A perfect Friday breakfast! 🙂 I should try the whole wheat substitution next time, thanks for the suggestion!
Your welcome. I was so excited that they came out so well. Usually the words healthy and muffin don’t work out so well for us. The good news got better when the other two boys got to have one this morning. They all loved them!
Thanks again.
I made these today. Delish!!! Loved them. A great balance of flavors. We had them for dessert tonight after dinner.
Great to hear, so glad you liked them! 🙂
My 5-yr-old daughter and I just made these- her choice- delicious!! We changed the white flour to 1/2 sprouted wheat, 3/4 pastry wheat and subbed coconut oil for the vegetable oil. These are going to go quickly ; )
Thank you!!
Hmm…maybe I shouldn’t admit to having chocolate for breakfast on a regular basis. I wouldn’t feel too bad about eating these healthier muffins! They look fantastic. I love your photos and the styling too, especially those adorable blue liners.
I now officially have chocolate and banana on the brain! I love the deep rich color of these, Laura.
I wanted to come back to say that I used pureed strawberries instead of bananas just because I had a ton of them. It worked out just as well! I replaced most of the white flour with wheat this time because I had been baking a lot and didn’t have near enough white. Haha! But that made up for the runnyness of the strawberries so it worked out fine. I was worried about it not being sweet enough since the strawberries aren’t as sweet tasting as a banana. But that wasn’t so. It still tasted great. I also just put all the chocolate chips inside the batter because putting some on the top proved to be a lot more messy with the kids. lol Thanks for the easily adaptable recipe! 😉