This Is Why Chocolate Chips Keep Sinking In Your Baked Goods — And The Easy Fix That Stops It

Chocolate chips are an excellent ingredient to add to a whole host of baked goods. They elevate a moist and decadent batch of muffins, quick breads, pancakes, and brownies, adding both sweetness and chocolatey flavor. However, we do have one major gripe with these chips: They always sink to the bottom of the treat. The reason for this is simple gravity. Chips are heavy, so they can't be supported by the weight of the batter, especially if it's thin.

However, there is an easy trick that you can employ to save your recipe. Coat the chocolate chips in flour before adding them to the batter. Although this won't solve the weight issue, the flour will create friction on the outside of the chips and slow the sinking process. You don't need to use a ton of flour for this hack, either — just a ¼ teaspoon of it per cup of chips. Otherwise, if you add too much flour, you could end up with raw, dusty pockets in your dough — another muffin mistake worth avoiding. 

Besides resorting to flour, there are other methods that you can use to stop the sink. Mini chips won't sink as much as regular-sized morsels because they aren't as heavy. Even better, swap chips for chopped baking chocolate; since the chopped shards aren't as dense, you won't have to worry about them falling to the bottom of your pan. Instead, they'll melt right into the batter — albeit not giving you the cinematic effect of perfectly shaped chips inside pancakes or your favorite fudgy brownie recipe.

Another trick that you can try, which has also been used to prevent berries from sinking in muffins, is to put a bit of chipless batter on the bottom of your baking vessel, then add your chip-containing batter on top. This should give you a buffer if your chips do sink as your muffins bake. Alternatively, hold off on the chocolate until after baking — though this will only work for certain recipes, like pancakes or waffles, rather than those where the chocolate adds flavor and moisture to the interior of the treat.