These moist Avocado Chocolate Chip Muffins with Pistachio Crunch are a delicious, healthier addition to any morning! Replacing the butter with avocado reduces calories, fat, and cholesterol in each bite, and the pistachios give them a lovely crunch that will make you look forward to breakfast again!
We sure do eat a lot of brown food.
Mostly in the winter, though! Pre-January, at least. Turkeys and roasts and cookies and cakes. So brown. So dull to look at, but damn it all if they aren’t some of the most delicious meals of the year.
Now that it’s the new year, our natural inclination is to try to eat better to counteract holiday overindulgence.
Isn’t it? I know I’m trying to!
This page includes step by step instructions, as well as tips and notes. If you’d like to skip all that, feel free to scroll down to the full, printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
When you think of fresh, healthy food, what color comes to mind?
Say it with me now – GREEN. The color of “go”, goodness, and health. Every guru and doctor will tell you that you can never eat too much green food, so there’s gotta be something to it.
As much as I avoid salads, I do love to work the green stuff into our lives in other ways. Kale smoothies, spinach frittatas, broccoli and green beans with our dinner protein, and avocado in anything I can think of.
Hence – these muffins. Avocado & pistachios, teaming up to bring some color to an otherwise dreary January. Woo woo!
In a world of breakfast foods, I tend to lean towards the sweet stuff. Not as much in the last year or so, since I think my taste buds are in the middle of their newest 10-year change, but I’ll still devour a plate of pancakes with a side of bacon or a super salty fried egg.
Yet, when I make a random stop at Dunkin’ Donuts, a muffin is generally mandatory with my coffee. And if it’s not pumpkin season, it’s of the chocolate chip variety.
A muffin is basically the cupcake’s ugly stepsister, and I mean that very nicely since they have their own look that makes them enticing. Cupcakes come all wrapped in pretty paper liners, and get to wear those gorgeous crowns of frosting and sprinkles and so on. Muffins are forced into a more pauperish sugar/streusel look, baked in a tin and pulled out with no lovely dress to wear to the ball.
Think Cinderella…pre-Fairy Godmother.
But Cinderella was still herself before and after the ball gown and glass slipper. Much like a muffin – just as sweet inside, even without the icing and pomp and sprinkles.
Muffins: providing dessert for breakfast since the 19th century.
These avocado chocolate chip muffins are much better for your diet! The avocado replaces the butter in the actual muffin (the pistachio crunch streusel still has a bit,) meaning the calories and cholesterol drop to more sensible-for-breakfast levels. The good fats in the avo will make your heart (and your belly) much happier than butterfat, meaning you can even dump a few extra chocolate chips in the batter for an extra chocolatey bite or two.
You know how much I love butter, but I loved these as a change of pace!
And since I had to make them 3 times to get them right, it’s a good thing I did. Finding the right balance of avocado to chocolate the streusel was the easy part – trying to dress them in pretty paper liners was my downfall.
To make these avocado chocolate chip muffins come out 100% perfect, you’ll need:
Silicone Cupcake Liners – Using silicone liners in this recipe is very important to avoid sticking! With no oil from the butter being replaced in the recipe, the baked muffins will have a hard time releasing from paper liners, and you will lose quite a bit of muffin in the process.
A great Muffin Tin – I will admit that I’m still looking for a perfectly shaped muffin to for my cupcakes – but this one works very well for muffins. Just make sure you grease the heck out of it with this recipe!
Baking Spray with Flour – No matter what brand you pick up, get a spray with a touch of flour in it. It’s specially forumlated for baking, so you shouldn’t taste any cooking spray residue.
OR a Homemade Version – If you’re not interested in any chemicals that might be coming out of those cans, this homemade cake release from my friend Olivia will knock your socks off! I’ve made and used it in the past and it works like a charm for anything and everything!
More delicious muffin recipes to try!
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Avocado Chocolate Chip Muffins with Pistachio Crunch
Ingredients
Pistachio Crunch
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar packed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup pistachios chopped
Avocado Chocolate Chip Muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large ripe avocado mashed
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
Pistachio Crunch:
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers, then toss with the chopped pistachios. Set aside.
Muffins:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a standard muffin tin with baking spray, or line in with 12 silicone liners (SEE NOTES) and spray them well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add avocado to a large bowl (or into a stand mixer) and beat until smooth. Add sugar and mix until well combined.
- Add the egg and beat until completely combined. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and yogurt and mix well.
- Add half of the flour mixture into the batter and mix until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour, mixing until just blended. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter among each liner. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the batter.
- Bake for 21-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool 3-5 minutes before removing to a rack to cool.
Cleo @ Journey to the Garden says
I’d never thought of it before but avocados must be delicious in muffins! I’ll certainly have to try this!
Erica says
I’m such a fan now! It’s definitely a different sort of texture, but a welcome one. I hope you love them!
Sheila says
This is absolutely brilliant and it made me think about the possibilities of using avocado. Will surely try this.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Erica says
It’s crazy how versatile avocados are, Sheila! Thanks for stopping by – let me know what you think when you try them!