These Strawberry Chocolate Muffins are made out of fresh strawberries and full of chocolate flavour. There is both unsweetened cocoa powder and chocolate chips in this recipe, and it is topped off with extra granulated sugar to give it that bakery-style taste and look. The hint of sweetness from the strawberries mixed with the chocolate flavour is what really puts this recipe over the top.
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Why you will LOVE this recipe
- Sinfully good strawberry + chocolate combination.
- Simple, everyday pantry ingredients used.
- No chill time and no mixers required.
- Rises and tastes like bakery-style muffins.
- Both cocoa powder and chocolate chips used = chocolate galore!
Substituting Fresh for Frozen Strawberries
Frozen berries are often used when fresh ones are out of season, to expensive, unavailable, or you just have a ton of berries that’s taking up space in your freezer! Although fresh strawberries are the most ideal for this recipe, you may use frozen berries. After slicing, you will have to toss the thawed strawberries in a bowl of flour before adding into your mixture. This will soak up any access water the berries contain due to being frozen and thawing. This step is essential. If you place frozen berries straight onto the muffins, it will change the consistency and outcome.
Key Ingredients
Full recipe and ingredients are in the recipe card below. Feel free to scroll through this section to view what ingredients we’re using in detail!
- Strawberries: Fresh, sliced strawberries. The section above discusses using frozen berries instead. Feel free to substitute for raspberries.
- Cocoa powder: Good quality cocoa powder is important. Unsweetened cocoa powder is the best for baking, and it helps balance the sugars out. The cocoa powder I use has been my holy grail for recipes since day one. It’s affordable and high quality, and I recommend it to all.
- Baking soda & Baking powder: Two leavening agents that are used to help the muffins rise in the oven. They work together to give the bakery-style rise. One cannot be substituted for another.
- White sugar: Mainly used for sweetening. The bond between sugar and water locks in moisture so the muffins remains nice and soft.
- Oil: Sunflower seed oil was used in this recipe, but feel free to use vegetable, canola, or even coconut.
- Yogurt: The acidity from the plain yogurt reacts with baking soda to encourage leavening and balances everything out. You may use kefir or sour cream instead as well.
- Milk: I used 3.25% whole milk at room temperature, but any kind works. Substitute with water if need be.
- Eggs: Provides structure, leavening, and flavour to all baked goods. Having eggs at room temperature maximizes baking results and helps mix into the batter better.
- Vanilla: A simple vanilla extract is used for this. There’s a difference between vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste so be careful!
- All purpose flour: Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, spoon gently into a measuring cup. Scrap any excess off, and make sure the top of the cup of flour is flat before adding it into the bowl.
- Chocolate chips: Any kind works, or even chopped chocolate if you’re feeling up for it. My favourite chocolate chips are these ones.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a regular sized muffin tin with twelve liners.
Step 2: Into a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and unsweetened cocoa powder. These are all the dry ingredients for this recipe. Feel free to add a pinch of salt.
Step 3: Grab a larger bowl and whisk together eggs, white sugar, vanilla, oil, yogurt, and milk. Make sure everything is very well combined. These are all the wet ingredients.
Step 4: Take the dry ingredients and slowly fold them into the wet. Eventually you will get a smooth batter. Do not overmix!
Step 5: Divide the batter evenly between the twelve liners. It should go nearly to the top. I recommend using an ice cream scoop, but two spoons work just as well for the next step. See video for reference.
Step 6: Take your strawberries and slice thin. I had approximately 3 slices per muffin on top. Thick strawberry slices will not work as they will sink and the muffins will not rise properly, so thin slices is critical.
Step 7: Add the strawberries and chocolate chips generously on top. Take some extra white sugar on a spoon and sprinkle as well. This will ensure you receive that crispy muffin top that every good bakery has.
Step 8: Bake the muffins for 21-25 minutes. Keep a close eye on them after 19 minutes. Once they’re ready, do not remove immediately from the oven. Instead, crack the oven door open slightly and allow the hot air to slowly escape for the next 5-10 minutes. If you remove the muffins immediately, the hot-to-room temperature air change will make them drop.
Step 9: When the time is up, remove from the oven and set to cool or serve warm.
Step 10: Enjoy!
Video Recipe for Strawberry Chocolate Muffins
Please note that I recently recreated this recipe to photograph for the blog, so the muffins in the video have a deeper brown due to different cocoa powders being used!
Strawberry Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 3/4 cups white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1/3 cup natural, greek yogurt, or kefir room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk room temperature
- 1/2 cup oil
- 36 sliced strawberries fresh
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and unsweetened cocoa powder. Set aside.1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- In another bowl, add eggs, sugar, vanilla, oil, milk, and yogurt, and whisk until well combined.1 3/4 cups white sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup natural, greek yogurt, or kefir, 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup milk
- Slowly add in dry ingredients until a smooth batter forms. Do not overmix.
- Divide evenly between 12 muffin liners using spoons or an ice cream scooper.
- Top off with a handful of strawberry slices and chocolate chips.36 sliced strawberries, 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Sprinkle additional white sugar on top to give it that 'crispy' bakery style effect (optional).
- Bake for 21-25 minutes. Once a toothpick comes out clean and you know they are ready, gently open your oven for 5 minutes to allow the heat to leave. If you take them out of the oven right away they will drop significantly.
- Remove from oven and serve warm. Enjoy!
FAQ
Why is there so much sugar?
I know, 1 + 3/4 cups of sugar may sound like a lot to you. Definitely the most I’ve ever used for muffins. Sugar adds more than just sweetness to the recipe. Due to the large amount of wet ingredients used, sugar helps retain moisture in the muffins. It also helps balance the natural cocoa powder. I promise it doesn’t taste crazy sweet!
Can I use sweetened cocoa powder or hot chocolate mix (like Nesquick?)
I wouldn’t recommend it. Natural unsweetened cocoa powder carries different ingredients than processed sweetened cocoa. It also brings so much more flavour to the muffins. Plus, this recipe already contains enough sugar to balance it all.
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