These Chocolate Date Muffins are simple muffins sweetened with dates, with a soft and fluffy crumb, and made with no eggs and no dairy.
While the whole recipe is just below, don’t miss all my tips further down, including ingredient swaps, my cooking tips, and step-by-step shots!
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Chocolate Date Muffins
These Chocolate Date Muffins are simple muffins sweetened with dates, with a soft and fluffy crumb, and made with no eggs and no dairy.
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Servings: 12 muffins
Calories: 184.6 kcal
Ingredients
- 10.5 ounces Medjool Dates - pitted, equivalent to 1 1/2 cup (300g), or about 17 large Medjool dates (note 1)
- ¾ cup Water - warm (note 2)
- ¾ cup Almond Milk - warm (note 3)
- ⅓ cup Mild-Flavor Olive Oil - (note 4)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour - (note 5)
- ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ cup Coconut Sugar - (note 6) optional for more sweetness
- ½ cup Chocolate Chips - (note 7)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-hole muffin hole with paper cup. Lightly oil the paper cups with oil spray. Set aside.
- Pit the dates if they are not pitted. Weigh them for precision after they have been pitted. Discard the pit. Place the pitted dates in a high-speed blender.
- In a glass jug, add water and almond milk. Microwave for about 80 seconds, until hot.
- In the blender jug where you placed the dates, add the warm liquid mixture and olive oil. Most blender jugs can handle hot liquids. If yours can't, then soak the dates in a glass bowl with the warm liquid. Close the jug or cover the bowl with a plate, set it aside for 10 minutes to soften the dates.
- Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and coconut sugar if used.
- Blend the date mixture at high speed until smooth and creamy, and pour onto the dry ingredients. Add vanilla extract.
- Use a rubber spatula to gently stir and combine everything until smooth and consistent. If the batter looks too thick and dry, add a little more milk, one tablespoon at a time.
- Stir in the chocolate chips if used.
- Fill each muffin paper cup evenly with the batter and add a few more chocolate chips on top of each if you like.
- Bake the muffins on the center rack of the oven for 30-35 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it, meaning the muffins are baked, but still moist.
- Let it cool on a rack for 2 hours before eating.
Notes
Note 1: I haven’t tried the cake with other date varieties. It might work, but it’d bring a slightly different taste, texture, and sweetness. I highly recommend weighing the pitted dates for best results.
Note 2: If you like orange and chocolate, you can swap the water for warm orange juice.
Note 3: Any milk works for this recipe, like soy milk, coconut milk, or oat milk.
Note 4: Or any low-flavor oil like melted refined coconut oil or canola oil.
Note 5: You can also use whole wheat flour or white spelt flour. The cake doesn’t work with almond flour or oat flour. For a gluten-free version, use my gluten-free conversion guide.
Note 6: You can use any granulated sugar, like brown sugar, sugar, or skip it, if you don’t want added sugar in your muffins.
Note 7: Or finely chopped walnuts, pecans, or skip entirely.
Storage: Store the muffins in an airtight cake box in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 184.6kcal | Carbohydrates: 31.9g | Protein: 2.1g | Fat: 6.8g | Saturated Fat: 1.9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3.5g | Sodium: 121mg | Potassium: 193.2mg | Fiber: 2.5g | Sugar: 18.4g | Vitamin A: 26.4IU | Calcium: 49.4mg | Iron: 1.1mg | Magnesium: 25.7mg | Phosphorus: 48.9mg | Zinc: 0.3mg
Ingredients and Substitutions
This paragraph gives you all my tips about picking the right ingredients. For the full recipe with measurements, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post!Go to Full Recipe
You only need a few simple ingredients to make this recipe. Here’s how to pick and swap them.
- Medjool Dates – These provide the primary sweetness and moisture for the muffins, creating a naturally sweet and soft crumb. It’s best to weigh them after pitting for the most accurate results.
- Water – This helps soften the dates and forms part of the liquid base for the muffin batter. For a delicious twist, you can swap it for warm orange juice if you enjoy the chocolate-orange combination.
- Almond Milk – This contributes to the liquid content of the muffins, ensuring a moist texture. You can use other plant-based milks like soy milk, coconut milk, or oat milk.
- Light Olive Oil – This adds richness and moisture to the muffins, contributing to their tender texture. Other low-flavor oils, such as melted refined coconut oil or canola oil, also work well.
- Vanilla Extract – This enhances the overall flavor profile of the muffins, adding a warm and inviting aroma.
- All-Purpose Flour – This forms the main structure of the muffins, giving them a soft and fluffy consistency. You can also use whole wheat flour or white spelt flour for a slightly different texture. It won’t work with almond flour or oat flour without many other changes. For a gluten-free version, use my gluten-free conversion guide.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – This is responsible for the rich chocolate flavor in your muffins.
- Baking Soda – This reacts with the acidic components in the batter, helping the muffins rise and become light.
- Baking Powder – Another leavening agent, this works alongside baking soda to give the muffins their airy texture and good rise.
- Coconut Sugar – This provides additional sweetness to the muffins. It’s an optional ingredient, so you can skip it if you prefer a less sweet muffin with no added sugar. Any granulated sugar like brown sugar or regular sugar also works.
- Chocolate Chips – These add pockets of melted chocolate throughout the muffins for an extra touch of sweetness. You can also use finely chopped walnuts or pecans, or omit them entirely.
How to Make Chocolate Date Muffins
This recipe is super simple to make, here are pics of key steps to see the texture you need.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Combine the other ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour the date mixture on the dry ingredients and mix the batter until smooth.
Transfer the batter to a muffin tin and bake them for 30-35 minutes at 350°F (180°C).
Carine’s Baking Tips
Let me share a few more tips for a perfect date chocolate muffins.
- Weigh Dates – Not all Medjool dates are the same size, so weighing your pitted dates for precision is crucial for consistent results in your muffins.
- Warm Liquids – Using warm water and almond milk helps to soften the dates quickly, ensuring they blend into a smooth, creamy mixture for your batter.
- Blender – While most blender jugs can handle warm liquids, if yours can’t, soak the dates in a separate heat-safe bowl with the warm liquid before blending.
- Gentle Mix – When combining the wet and dry ingredients, use a rubber spatula and stir just until everything is incorporated and smooth. Overmixing can lead to tough muffins.
- Adjust Batter – If your batter appears too thick or dry after mixing, gradually add a tablespoon of milk at a time until it reaches a smooth, consistent texture. This can happen if your dates were particularly absorbent or if some liquid evaporated.
- Optional Sweetness – If you prefer less added sugar, feel free to skip the coconut sugar. The muffins will still taste good, just with a milder sweetness from the dates.
- Flavor Boost – Stir in chocolate chips or chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans to add extra texture and flavor to your muffins.
I didn’t see nutritional info. Is that available?
It appears just under the notes at the bottom of the recipe. enjoy the muffins.
Hi, can I use same measurements to make 24 mini muffins? Thanks
Usually, a 12 muffin recipes makes about 36 mini muffins, not 24, so you might need more baking pans to bake all the batter. But yes, they will bake well as mini muffins, they will bake faster I would guess around 18-22 minutes.
Hello,
You said 240 ml of water and 240 ml of milk but in US measures you wrote 3/4 cup. Isn’t 240 ml of such liquid 1 cup?
Could you please double-check. Thanks!
Yes! the US are correct, the metric conversion is run automatically and a glitch happens. It’s fixed now. Sorry about that.
I’ve made it today and they very delicious. I added only 20 grams of table sugar as I didn’t have brown or cocnut, and sweetness was perfecr for us. They came out just a little dry, but still very tasty. I will bake them a few minutes less next time or add tablespoon of milk to my batter – it did look a bit dry. All in all thank you for such delicious muffins. Looking forward to try your other recipies.
Thank you so much! I am so glad you take the time to share with me how it went. I agree on the sugar, no need to add much with the dates. If your batter look dry, it could be that the dates were less rich or a bit dry too. You can add a few extra, soak the in boiled water before so it increase moisture in the muffins. Thanks for baking my recipes. Carine.
Thank you so much for the quick response. I will make them tomorrow and let you know how it went. But judging the recipe I expect they are going to bo delicious.
I look forward to hear back from you!
I made this muffins,and they are absoluttely delicious! Thx for magic recipe!❤️
Thank you ! it makes me so happy.
Can I use almond flour?
No, they will never firm up.
I made these for the first time, and I’m very pleased with how they turned out! I give them a 5 out of 5, as they are a winning combination of both easy and delicious. Even though I made some modifications to the recipe, they still turned out well. First, even though I love Medjool dates, I didn’t have any of those, so I used a bag of Deglet Noor dates that I already had on hand. Second, I added a full scoop of vanilla protein powder to my dry ingredient mix. Finally, I did not add any coconut sugar or other sweetener to the recipe, as I wanted this to be more of a breakfast muffin and not a sweet treat. I let them bake for 30-32 minutes and then took them out to cool.
At first I was nervous because my muffins weren’t very tall (perhaps because I didn’t line my baking cups but just cooekd them right in the tray) and looked a bit dry (perhaps because I did add the extra protein powder). Desperate to know how they turned out, I couldn’t bear to wait the entire 2 hours for them to cool on a wire rack, so I tasted one after about 10-15 minutes. And it was delicious! I think this will make a great breakfast muffin, especially with a drizzle of nut butter to enhance its chocolate-y goodness. Definitely saving this recipe and keeping it in my permanent rotation. I didn’t know you could make such a tasty baked good without eggs or added sugar.
I am so glad you love them! Your muffin didn’t raise because you added protein powder. Adding protein powder to a muffin recipe can inhibit the effectiveness of baking powder because the protein molecules can absorb more liquid than flour, leaving less moisture available to activate the baking powder fully; the extra protein also strengthens the batter’s structure, making it less elastic and too heavy to rise properly when the remaining leavening gases are produced, resulting in a flatter, denser muffin.
Hello May I ask if using part of sourdough discard to replace part of purpose flour & milk? Thanks
I have never made a sourdough discard so I can’t tell unfortunately.
Wonderfully moist and the chips were melty and rich. Embarrassed to say I ate one right out of the oven and could not wait for the suggested two hour cooling period. I was able to follow this recipe to the letter. Filled exactly 12 large baking cups perfectly.
Thank you so much!
Hi! the recipe is great! they turned out perfect! by far the best muffin recipe I’ve tried. Can they be frozen or how long can they be stored in a fridge?
Thank you so much! Store the muffins in an airtight cake box in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Excellent recipe!! Delicious muffins!!So easy to make!!
Thank you so much!