Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Published March 5, 2025
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 35 minutes, plus cooling
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 ¼ cups/120 grams quick-cooking or plain instant oats (see Tip)
1 cup/133 grams all-purpose flour
⅔ cup/160 grams packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine salt
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 ¼ cups/300 grams whole milk
4 tablespoons/57 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, room temperature
⅔ cup/128 grams chocolate chips
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
37 grams carbs; 45 milligrams cholesterol; 243 calories; 2 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 9 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 196 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein; 21 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
- Step 2
Whisk the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cardamom in a large bowl. Whisk the milk, butter and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently until no traces of flour remain. Gently stir in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
- Step 3
Use the ⅓-cup measuring cup to scoop the batter into the muffin cups. They’ll be nearly full.
- Step 4
Bake until browned around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes.
- Step 5
Cool in the muffin tin until room temperature. You can eat the muffins warm, but they’ll be a bit gummy before they cool. Muffins will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days and can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw completely before reheating in a toaster oven.
Quick-cooking oats are slightly flatter and cut smaller than old-fashioned oats, and instant oats are even smaller and thinner. If you have only old-fashioned (rolled) oats, pulse them into tiny bits to replicate the lighter texture that quick-cooking oats deliver.
Private Notes
Comments
A little scary to make these with no comments at the time, but they came out well. I didn't have whole milk so used 1 cup oat and 1/4 cup heavy cream. I added cinnamon and used more cardamom than called for. Batter is very liquidy, but they cook well and stay moist even when cooking in tin. I have eaten five.
The way to avoid a thin batter and chips that sink to the bottom is to let the oats sit in the milk for 15 minutes. The oats expand and soften, yielding a thick, oatmeal-like mixture. You then combine this with the wet and dry ingredients, resulting in a tender, fluffy, slightly nubby muffin with wonderful cardamom aroma. My muffins needed only 15 minutes in the oven; don't overbake or they'll be dry.
Made this recipe today and they were pretty good. I did not have any cardamom, so subbed a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. The oats give a wholesome texture but I think some chopped nuts would have given a nice contrast. I liked the tip of using the 1/3 cup measure to scoop the batter - came out exact! They don’t rise a lot, so it’s okay that the tins are quite full. The batter is quite liquid, so don’t be alarmed about that!
Cut 1/3 of the sugar out (so used 2/3 of what the recipe calls for) and took advice from one of the comments to let oatmeal soak first, and then bake for 15 min only. Recipe still works — sweet enough from the chocolate chips but the muffin itself is not too sweet! Very nice!
Thanks go other posters for alerting to too-wet batter! I cut the liquid to 1 cup (reducing by 1/4 cup) and the batter was the perfect texture. The chocolate chips (I used mini CC) were evenly distributed, not sinking. I doubled the cardamom and it still wasn't enough for my taste. Would double it again to 1 tsp and/or add additional spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, mace). Overall, with my mods, a solid recipe!
These came out beautifully for me and were delicious! (In my oven they only needed 17-18 min so check early) I used mini chocolate chips (smaller amount than called for) and didn’t have any issue with them sinking. If you like a less sweet muffin, I cut the brown sugar by half and still found them plenty sweet (was also able to sub half whole wheat flour and use 1% milk with no ill effects). The cardamom flavor was just right to me - definitely noticeable without being overwhelming.