Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffins

These gluten free chocolate chip muffins are light, fluffy and taste like they’re fresh from a bakery! They’re dairy free, made from scratch in just one bowl and perfect for a mid-afternoon snack!

These gluten free chocolate chip muffins truly tick all of the boxes. They’re fluffy, buttery, with a beautifully domed top and studded with chocolate chips.

They’e also dairy free, made in one bowl and can even be made refined sugar free! And trust me, you cannot even tell these are gluten free! The flavor and texture are both identical to a classic muffin.

They have a rich flavor from brown sugar and vanilla, plus a slight nutty flavor from blanched almond flour, which also works to keep them really moist.

Somehow almond flour also makes muffins have a bit of a buttery flavor, so if you opt to use coconut oil instead of butter, you’ll still get that rich flavor!

Thanks to the eggs and generous amount of baking powder, these muffins are very light, fluffy and not at all dense. The yogurt and apple sauce keep them very moist without weighing down the batter. Try my protein muffins next!

Key ingredients

EGGS. Two eggs help make these muffins super tall and fluffy and bind all ingredients together.

SUGAR. I used light brown sugar because it adds more of a rich flavor than white sugar, but really any kind of granulated sugar will work here!

BUTTER & APPLE SAUCE. A bit of butter and apple sauce help add a lot of moisture to these gluten free muffins.

GREEK YOGURT. I love using greek yogurt in baking because it adds moisture and the high protein content gives a fluffy texture.

MILK. I used almond milk because that’s what I have on hand, but any kind of milk, either dairy or non-dairy will work here.

FLOUR. A mix of gluten free all purpose flour and almond flour create a fluffy and traditional muffin texture. If you want a nut free version, you can sub the almond flour for an additional 1/2 cup of the gluten free all purpose flour.

I like buying my flours from Thrive Market to save money!

BAKING POWDER. A generous serving of baking powder helps these muffins rise nice and tall.

How to make gluten free chocolate chip muffins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tray with 12 liners and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients until smooth.

If you’re using coconut oil over butter, it really helps to use all room temperature ingredients so they don’t cause the coconut oil to harden.

Add in all dry ingredients aside from the chocolate and whisk until smooth.

As far as the all purpose flour goes, I like Bob’s Red Mill. If you use another blend, just make sure it has xanthan gum. The batter will be fairly thick.

Fold in the chocolate chips. Scoop the batter into the lined muffin tray and fill to the top. Filling to the top helps ensure those big round muffin tops!

Top each with a few additional chocolate chips. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tray and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

Tips for round muffin tops

Keep the batter thick. The batter for these gluten free chocolate chip muffins should be quite thick. This will help the tops stay nice and round. When you scoop the batter into the muffin tray, it should hold it shape and stay rounded on top and not spread out.

Fill the muffins to the top. Most recipes will tell you to fill cupcakes/muffins about 3/4 of the way up, but with this recipe, you want to fill it all the way to the brim.

Start at a higher temperature. One trick that I like to use with muffins is to bake at a higher temperature for about 5 minutes, then lower to 350 for the remaining time.

For this recipe, I would suggest baking at 400 Fahrenheit for 5 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 and bake an additional 15 or so minutes.

This allows the muffins to rise quickly as soon as they hit the oven. As always, avoid opening the oven while baking! This will lower the temperature and can cause a recipe to sink or deflate.

How to store and freeze

Store these gluten free chocolate chip muffins are room temperature in a sealed container. I like to microwave them for a few seconds before eating if they’ve been sitting around for a bit. They should keep for about 3 days.

You can also freeze these! Just let them cool completely, then transfer to a freezer safe bag. Freeze for up to 2 months, then reheat in the oven until warm through the center.

Can I make them vegan or dairy free?

You can sub the two eggs for two flax eggs or more apple sauce (3 tbsp per egg) but the muffins will not rise as well and the texture won’t be quite as fluffy.

You can make these muffins dairy free by using a dairy free greek yogurt and dairy free butter like Earth Balance!

How do I keep chocolate chips from sinking?

Because the batter is so thick, you shouldn’t have any issues with the chocolate chips sinking, so you don’t need to do anything special with this recipe!

Some recipes will have you toss the chocolate chips with flour before adding to the batter, but I don’t think that’s necessary here.

More snack recipes you’ll love!

• Gluten Free Zucchini Muffins
• Blueberry Muffins
• Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Chocolate Banana Muffins

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