Gluten-Free Chocolate Muffins, Also Naturally Dairy-Free!

Name: Gluten-Free Chocolate Muffins
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 13 min
Total time: 38 min
Ingredients: 258 grams gluten-free flour (please click through for appropriate blends); 185 grams sugar; 10 grams baking powder; 6 grams baking soda; 3 grams salt; 70 grams cocoa powder; 245 grams brewed coffee (hot); 2 eggs (cold); 75 grams canola oil (or other neutral tasting oil); 4 grams vanilla extract; 50 grams pecans (chopped); 100 grams chocolate chips (use an allergen-free chocolate, like Enjoy Life)

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Yum, I love chocolate muffins as a quick snack or as a breakfast on-the-go. This recipe is perfect for beginner bakers, or those new to gluten-free baking. It's an easy one-bowl recipe that requires few ingredients, with customizable ad-ins, and that is naturally dairy-free without having to use vegan milk or butter! These gluten-free chocolate muffins will also stay moist for up to 3 days and they freeze-thaw perfectly. You can bake several batches and stock your freezer, for a quick chocolate treat whenever the craving hits.

a white plate with a gluten-free chocolate muffins cut in half, with a moist crumb where gooey chocolate chips are melting.

Chocolate is my absolute favorite flavor to bake dairy-free. It's already so rich, and when it's bloomed with hot coffee, really adds a lot of flavor and moisture that doesn't make us miss dairy.

If you're looking for a sweeter treat, you can use my gluten-free chocolate cupcake recipe instead.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions
Variations
Equipment
Storage
Top tip
FAQ
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Gluten-Free Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients

As always, your choice of gluten-free flour matters. It's crucial to choose a gluten-free flour with a good balance of starches, proteins and hydrocolloids. Please take a look at my DIY gluten-free all-purpose blend recipe, which is what I use for my cottage bakery. There are also several suggestions in the recipe for appropriate commercial blends.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

There's only one trick to this recipe, and it's to bloom the cocoa powder into hot coffee. This activates deep, rich flavors in the chocolate. It's important to let that coffee-chocolate mixture cool slightly once activated so it doesn't bake the eggs in the batter. Let's get to it stepwise!

Mix all the dry ingredients together, well except for the cocoa powder.
Add the eggs, oil and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients.
Mix well, set aside.
Add cocoa powder to the hot coffee, and let cool 10 minutes, until it's warm to the touch.
Pour the cocoa-coffee mixture to the muffin batter and mix well.
Add your desired extras, I love chocolate chips and pecans.
Mix until the batter is thick and homogeneous. Muffin batter should be much thicker than cupcake batter. Let it rest 10 minutes for the batter to absorb moisture.
Divide equally into a lined muffin tray.
Bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes. Look at those risen muffin tops!

a gallery of 9 steps corresponding to the recipe's steps and showing how to bloom cocoa powder, to make rich gluten-free chocolate muffins.

Hint: don't overbake, or it will dry the muffins. I find that even if 13 minutes seems to be on the low end of baking, the muffins continue to bake and evaporate moisture in the cooling phase.

Substitutions

The allergens in this recipe with my suggested ad-ins are: eggs, tree nuts. Choose your chocolate chips wisely, as most of them also contain milk and soy. My favorite brand is called Enjoy Life, and is allergen-free.

Egg-free - you could try a flax egg, though I have not tried myself. If you're looking for an egg-free chocolate treat, you can try this gluten-free vegan chocolate cake instead.
Nut-free - just replace the pecans with your choice of ad-ins, like cranberries or additional chocolate chips.

Variations

You can customize the recipe with ad-ins.

Sweeter - mix white and milk chocolate chips, yum!
Darker - try black cocoa powder (which tastes similar to Oreos) and dark chocolate chips!

Equipment

You'll need a muffin tray, a bowl and a mixing utensil like a spatula or whisk.

a muffin tray with baked gluten-free chocolate muffins, with walnuts and chocolate chips sprinkled on.

Storage

These gluten-free chocolate muffins are shelf stable at room temperature for up to 3 days. I store mine on the countertop under a tea towel. Freeze extras wrapped in plastic, in an airtight container for up to a month, and thaw at room temperature when ready to eat.

Top tip

I always recommend using an oven thermometer to calibrate your oven. This recipe was designed for 350F and will be negatively impacted by a poorly calibrated oven. My own oven runs hot and my bakes have drastically improved since I figured that out!

FAQ

Why are my gluten-free muffins crumbly?

If you follow this recipe, they won't be! Crumbly muffins are a sign of an underhydrated batter, or a lack of proper binders. Just know that every individual gluten-free flour has a specific ability to absorb water; for example oat flour can absorb a lot of water while rice flour not as much. I strongly recommend using one of my recommended gluten-free flour blends, since I've performed those experiments already.

Why should I let my gluten-free batter rest?

A short resting phase long enough to allow gluten-free flours to absorb moisture, but short enough that the baking powder doesn't fully react outside of the oven, is best. It will allow the batter to thicken and will also reduce possible grittiness that's often associated with gluten-free baking. You can read more about resting gluten-free batter here.

Looking for other muffin recipes? Try these!