Double Chocolate Sourdough Muffins
Double chocolate sourdough muffins made with discard and your favorite chocolate chunks are the perfect breakfast for any occasion. Our recipe creates tender, moist muffins with a soft crumb in under half an hour, using only simple pantry-staple ingredients.
Why you will love our double chocolate sourdough muffins recipe
- They have both cocoa powder and chocolate chunks. This gives your muffins an extra-rich chocolate flavor!
- Double chocolate sourdough muffins are super easy to make. You only need a few ingredients, and they are ready in less than half an hour. For serious chocolate fans: after trying these muffins, explore our best sourdough muffin recipes for more easy discard baking inspiration.
- Our recipe is great for meal prep. You can make them in advance and store them at room temperature for a few days or freeze them to have your favorite breakfast muffin ready to go.
Ingredient notes
Sourdough discard: For our double chocolate sourdough muffins, you’ll need a sourdough starter. We only need the discard, so no need to feed your starter before you begin. Don’t worry if you don’t have one yet. You can learn how to make a sourdough starter from scratch with our simple guide. If you want to go all out, you could make a chocolate sourdough starter to give the muffins an extra-rich chocolate flavor.
Flour: No need for fancy bread flour; all-purpose flour works perfectly for this recipe. This recipe also works with gluten-free flour, but we haven’t tried this ourselves. Spelt flour is also a great optiion especially if you have a spelt sourdough starter hanging around in your kitchen.
Cocoa powder: To make these muffins, you want to use Dutch-processed cocoa powder. This type of cocoa powder adds an intense brown color and extra-rich chocolate flavor. You can use natural cocoa powder instead, but whichever type you use, make sure it is unsweetened.
Chocolate: You can use any chocolate you like to make these muffins, but we think that dark or white chocolate is best because they add more flavor and a pop of color to the muffins. You can also use ruby chocolate for a fun valentines day treat. One thing you should keep in mind is that chocolate, especially white chocolate, burns easily, so always use a chocolate that is suitable for baking.
Buttermilk: To give the muffins a fresh flavor, you can add buttermilk. Buttermilk also helps the baking powder to let the muffins rise properly. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute it with regular milk and a tablespoon of lemon juice, or use your favorite unsweetened plant-based milk instead.
Variations
Whole wheat: The nutty flavor of whole wheat flour is amazing with the richness of chocolate and cocoa powder. Replace half the flour with whole wheat flour and use your whole wheat sourdough starter to add extra flavor and nutrients to your double chocolate sourdough muffins.
Caramel: Can you ever go wrong with caramel and chocolate? Add 1/4 cup of caramel chips to the batter and drizzle some caramel flavor on top after baking.
Cherry: Add 1/2 cup of chopped cherries to make these muffins extra special for your Valentine. You can use both fresh or canned cherries, but don’t make the pieces too big.
How to make double chocolate sourdough muffins
When you make our double chocolate sourdough muffins, you always mix the wet and dry ingredients in a separate bowl. You do this to prevent overworking the batter while ensuring all ingredients are evenly distributed.
Next, you want to stir the wet ingredients into the dry mixture. Keep mixing until all the dry bits are gone. It doesn’t matter if there are a few lumps left; they will disappear while the muffins are in the oven.
Chop your favorite chocolate into small pieces or use chocolate chips. Add them to the batter right before you are ready to pop the muffins in the oven.
Gently stir in the chocolate, divide the batter over your lined muffin tin, and sprinkle a few pieces of chocolate over each muffin.
Bake them in the center of the oven for 20 minutes and transfer them to a wire rack to cool when they are done.
Toppings
We don’t think double chocolate sourdough muffins need any toppings, but if you want to make them extra special, adding a cream cheese topping, chocolate ganache, or a simple powdered sugar glaze are great options!
Our tips for the best double chocolate sourdough muffins
- Use a kitchen scale. Measuring your ingredients in grams gives you a more accurate result and makes sure you get the same results every time you make this recipe. Feel free to ask for help if you’re not used to using a kitchen scale.
- Never overwork the batter. You should stop mixing when everything is just combined. Overmixed batter gives you dry, rubbery muffins.
- Room temperature ingredients. This makes incorporating the ingredients a lot easier.
- Make your own muffin liners. This gives your muffins a bakery style look.
- Use a cookie scoop to divide the batter. We like to use a medium-sized cookie scoop to make sure every muffin is the same size.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. You can make sourdough discard recipes with an active starter, but the flavor is milder than when you use discard. You do add the same benefits, though.
Make sure not to overwork the batter and use fresh baking powder if you want the muffins to rise and have a light, crumbly texture.
Absolutely. You can replace the dairy with a plant-based variety and use vegan chocolate. For the egg, you can use your favorite egg replacement. We like to substitute 1/4 cup of applesauce for each egg.
Replacing half the buttermilk with strong coffee or adding 1 tablespoon of espresso powder enhances the chocolate flavor.
Storage
Leftover double chocolate sourdough muffins can be stored for about three to four days. Don’t place them in the fridge, though, because they will dry out faster. Simply wrap them in plastic wrap or put them in a bag and store them at room temperature.
These muffins can also be frozen. This is perfect if you want to make a large batch and freeze them for a snack or breakfast on the go. This also makes them perfect for meal prep! Let them thaw on your counter overnight and serve them with your favorite toppings or fruit.
More of our favorite sourdough muffin recipes
Double Chocolate Sourdough Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup chocolate chopped into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F (180 °C) and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients until you have a smooth mixture.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Add the chocolate and gently stir it into the batter.
- Divide the batter over your lined muffin tin and sprinkle some chocolate pieces on top of each muffin.
- Bake the muffins in the center of the oven for 22-25 minutes.
- Transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool completely before serving.
Omg I love these muffins! Great recipe.
The flavor is fantastic. But, mine came out like hockey pucks. Any suggestions? It was such a shame to have to throw them out. I used Ghiradelli semi sweet and 60% Cocao morsels. They tasted so damn good. Just very thick and heavy.