Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Muffins

These oat flour chocolate chip muffins are made without any refined flour or sugar for a healthier option packed with plenty of chocolate!

Hello, friends!  How’s life?  Potty training land *knock on wood” has had two days of zero accident (and I know I’m jinxing my damn self as I write this), so why not celebrate with some healthier chocolate chip muffins? 

Of all the seemingly millions of muffins I’ve made using oat flour (honey, banana, blueberry, pumpkin), I can’t believe I’ve never made any with chocolate chips until now that it is! I think these muffins are all-around versatile, a great sweet snack or dessert, but have we been eating them for breakfast? Uh, yes, we have on a few occasions.  What can I say? I’m a sucker for chocolate for breakfast, especially with peanut butter!

These are definitely the sweetest muffins I’ve made in a long while, though.  I know some of you don’t like things that are “too sweet.” I don’t think there is such a thing, but you could reduce the sweetness a bit by using dark chocolate chips if you and your family like dark chocolate! I had a Costco bag of chocolate chips staring me down that I turned into these muffins! Or you could also just use fewer chocolate chips as well. 

Speaking of chocolate chips, don’t skip the section below to make sure all your chocolate chips don’t sink to the bottom. 

How to Make Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is your standard quick bread recipe.  Mix the wet ingredients, mix the dry ingredients, combine, and mix in your add-ins.  Now, here is the thing I learned early on about oat flour, particularly oat flour muffins. They dry out easily if you don’t add enough liquid to the batter.  Oats are SUPER absorbant, especially when heated, so they suck up that moisture fast while they bake.  If you don’t have enough moisture in the batter, then the muffins will be dry, which I’ve learned bothers some people (namely Mr. Hungry.)

Unfortunately, the thinner batter doesn’t hold the chocolate chips well, and they sink to the bottom after you mix them in.  Don’t worry, I have a fix for that.  First, make sure you let the batter sit a full 5-10 minutes ( to give the oats time to absorb the liquid) and mix up the chocolate chips in it again before placing in the oven.  Second, add half the chocolate chips to the bowl and then sprinkle the rest on the top of each muffin hole after you fill the muffin holes.  You can gently swirl with a knife or fork to incorporate. 

Or you can use mini chocolate chips. I’m guessing that wouldn’t be such an issue with lighter chocolate chips. Or you can reduce the amount of almond milk, but be warned. They will be drier than you may like. 

Another little tip, I use a large measuring cup to measure out my oat flour and mix the dry ingredients directly in the measuring cup.

Let’s talk ingredients:

Oat Flour – do not substitute. See a tutorial on how to make it here.

Baking soda – do not omit.

Baking Powder – do not omit.

Salt – do not omit.

Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk – sub any nondairy or dairy milk, water would also work. 

Maple Syrup – feel free to utilize other liquid sweeteners like honey or brown rice syrup.  However, if you sub out dry sweeteners like coconut sugar, the muffins will be drier. 

Eggs –  flax eggs will likely work in this recipe, but I haven’t tried it.

Vanilla extract – you can omit, but they won’t taste or smell as good!

Chocolate chips – do not omit, kidding, kind of not kidding. You can utilize dark chocolate, semi-sweet, or for a really sweet muffin, use milk chocolate.  You can increase or decrease the amount. Just see my note about the chocolate chips sinking to the bottom above!

Enjoy, and let me know if you try these! I highly suggest potty training week for mamas out there. It’s a great treat for everyone involved (Lord knows I needed some treats!) These would also make great breastfeeding treat – chocolate plus oats = a winning combination!