We caught our first cool fall breeze this week. Do you know what that means? It’s pumpkin muffin time.
I snapped some new photos of my favorite pumpkin muffin recipe as I satisfied my pumpkin craving. These pumpkin muffins are perfect for chilly fall mornings and afternoon snacks.
They’re healthier than most, since they’re made with whole wheat flour and oats, sweetened with real maple syrup or honey, and call for coconut oil or olive oil instead of butter. Believe it or not, this healthy pumpkin muffin recipe yields light and fluffy muffins.
These pumpkin muffins wouldn’t be complete without plenty of warming spices, including cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Most “pumpkin spice” flavor comes from the spice, not the pumpkin!
I love these muffins with a spread of almond butter, peanut butter or pecan butter on top. Nut butter adds some extra protein, which means that I’m not hungry before lunchtime. If you’re going pumpkin-crazy this time of year, enjoy your muffin with a homemade pumpkin chai latte.
These pumpkin treats have the magical power to convert “healthy muffin” skeptics into fans. Let’s make some!
The Best Pumpkin Muffins
Five reasons to love this pumpkin muffin recipe:
- These muffins are easy to make with basic ingredients. Only one bowl required!
- They’re made with 100% whole grains, yet they’re fluffy and delicious. No one will know the difference.
- They’re also naturally sweetened with maple syrup or honey, rather than loaded with refined sugar. The maple syrup (or honey) offers a touch of extra flavor, which I love.
- These muffins feature a few of your favorite warming spices so they taste like your favorite pumpkin latte.
- They freeze well for later, too. Just defrost individual muffins in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, or until gently warmed through. You don’t want to overdo it.
Healthy Pumpkin Muffin Notes & Tips
Change it up. Add nuts, chocolate chips or chopped fruit cranberries or crystallized ginger. See recipe notes for details.
Simplify the recipe. Substitute 2 teaspoons store-bought pumpkin spice blend for the individual spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice). Or, if your spice drawer is empty, simply use 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and call it good.
Craving a sweet topping? Liz topped these muffins with my maple glaze from my pumpkin scones recipe, which sounds marvelous.
This muffin recipe is special diet-friendly. You can easily adjust this recipe to make it vegan, dairy free, egg free and/or gluten free. See the recipe notes for details.
Watch How to Make Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
Baking Tips for Success
How to Measure Flour
How you measure your flour is important. Why? If you measure incorrectly, you could end up with up to 50 percent extra flour, which will make your muffins dense, dry and flavorless. Use the spoon and swoop method:
- Gently stir your flour to loosen any clumps.
- Spoon your flour into the measuring cup with a big spoon or a flour scoop. Do not scoop up the flour directly into the measuring cup.
- Level off the top of the cup with a knife. Repeat as necessary.
Use Baking Soda, Not Baking Powder
They are not the same thing. Both are leaveners that help your baked goods rise (baking powder contains some baking soda, but that’s a long story). For ideal results, always follow the recipe and measure carefully.
How to Stir Your Batter
This muffin batter is super simple to stir together by hand, and that’s how I recommend making these muffins. Why? Whipping your batter will make the flour’s gluten protein too strong, yielding tough muffins.
I know it can be tempting to use a stand mixer or hand mixer when it’s within reach. Please don’t! Follow the instructions below and you’ll end up with light, fluffy muffins.
More Pumpkin Treats & Fall Muffins
Craving more? You’re going to love these recipes:
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread (like these muffins, but in bread form)
- Pumpkin Pecan Scones with Maple Glaze
- Pumpkin Pancakes
- Perfect Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- Healthy Banana Muffins
- Healthy Apple Muffins
Please let me know how these pumpkin muffins turn out for you in the comments. I love hearing from you, and hope these pumpkin muffins become your new favorite.
P.s. That beautiful mug in the photos above and below? That’s handmade by my friend Margaret.
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 23 mins
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Category: Baked Good
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Easy, one bowl, healthier pumpkin muffins made with whole wheat grains and naturally sweetened! These pumpkin muffins are as light, fluffy and delicious as their coffee shop counterparts. Recipe yields 12 muffins.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil*
- ½ cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- ¼ cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon ground allspice or cloves)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour**
- ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats, plus more for sprinkling on top
- Optional: 2 teaspoons turbinado (raw) sugar for a sweet crunch
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius). If necessary, grease all 12 cups of your muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and didn’t require any grease).
- In a large bowl, beat the oil and maple syrup or honey together with a whisk. Add the eggs, and beat well. Add the pumpkin purée, milk, pumpkin spice blend, baking soda, vanilla extract and salt.
- Add the flour and oats to the bowl and mix with a large spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). If you’d like to add any additional mix-ins***, like nuts, chocolate or dried fruit, fold them in now.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with about a tablespoon of oats, followed by a light sprinkle of raw sugar and/or pumpkin spice blend if you’d like. Bake muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
- Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. These muffins are delicate until they cool down. You might need to run a butter knife along the outer edge of the muffins to loosen them from the pan.
- These muffins taste even better after they have rested for a couple of hours! They’ll keep at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. They keep well in the freezer in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months (just defrost individual muffins as needed).
Notes
Recipe adapted from my honey-sweetened pumpkin bread.
*Oil options: I love coconut oil here. I used unrefined coconut oil and can hardly taste it in the final product. Olive oil might lend an herbal note to the muffins, if you’re into that (I tested with California Olive Ranch’s “Everyday” variety and couldn’t even taste it). Vegetable oil has a neutral flavor but the average vegetable/canola oil is highly processed, so I recommend using cold-pressed sunflower oil or grapeseed oil if possible.
**Flour alternatives: White whole wheat flour works great, if you can find it. Whole wheat pastry flour yields extra light and fluffy muffins that are delicate until cooled. All-purpose flour and gluten-free all-purpose flour blends work as well.
**Change it up: You could really go crazy with add-ins here. After stirring in the flour and oats, gently fold in up to ¾ cup chocolate chips, chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts, and/or some chopped dried cranberries or crystallized ginger.
Serving suggestions: These muffins are great on their own, with a pat of butter, or spread with almond butter. They would also be fantastic with homemade pecan butter or coconut butter.
Make it egg free: Readers report that these muffins turn out well with flax eggs!
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup, flax eggs and non-dairy milk.
Make it dairy free: Simply use your non-dairy milk of choice.
Make it gluten free: Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose blend works well instead of the whole wheat flour. Or, use 2 ½ cups certified gluten-free oat flour instead.
Make it oat free: Simply omit the oats. No other changes necessary.
Make it lower in fat: I would argue that this bread contains a healthy amount of fat, but you can replace the oil with applesauce if you’re following a low-fat diet. Choosing olive oil instead of coconut oil will reduce the saturated fat content; total fat content will remain the same.
Update September 24, 2019: I removed white whole wheat flour as an option simply because I can’t find it in stores any more. I also upped the amount of spice from 1 ½ teaspoons to 2 teaspoons.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Smiley in Saskatchewan
Just took 36 of these delicious and fluffy muffins out of the oven. I used the EV olive oil option and find the olive oil scent overpowers the pumpkin spice a bit so will try the coconut oil next time, but there WILL be a next time!
★★★★★
KayBakes
I just made these with the extra roasted sugar pumpkin I had leftover from Thanksgiving. I accidentally added 2 TABLESPOONS of pumpkin pie spice, instead of the 2 TEASPOONS in the recipe! I tried to scoop out as much as possible before stirring it in and was able to remove maybe a tablespoon? Anyway, I recommend the extra pumpkin pie spice!!! So good!!! I also added semi sweet chocolate chips and baked them in a mini-muffin tin.
Carol
Great, moist recipe that’s not too sweet and uses less pumpkin than most recipes. I used greek yogurt, since my frozen pumpkin puree was watery. I also used vegetable oil (a little less, 2 1/4 ounces) and brown sugar instead of maple syrup. I also added 1/4C of walnuts (additional 210 calories). I am going to buy better quality vegetable oil and look for cold pressed.
★★★★★
James
I make this recipe a few times each month in the fall and winter. Everyone loves it. It always feels odd to me mixing salt and baking soda with the wet ingredients. Does it help with the moistness?
Kate
Hi James, I find as written this recipe works out really well. I’m glad you agree! It can help it react appropriately.
Liat
Question- firstly I love this recipe! Do you think I could substitute cooked and mashed sweet potatoes for the pumpkin purée?
Kate
Hi Liat, I’m not sure you will have the same result as the texture and water content is different. If you try it, let me know!
Liat
I love this recipe!
Question- do you think I could substitute the pumpkin for puréed / mashed sweet potatoes?
Carolyn
I just made these muffins with my niece, they turned out great! We used Einkorn flour, white and whole wheat blend. We didn’t have turbinato sugar so we used a sprinkle of brown sugar and oats on top. We added a half cup of mini chocolate chips to the batter. They turned out moist and fluffy! We had them for dessert tonight. I’m looking forward to having a few for breakfast tomorrow. Thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★
Kate
I’m glad it turned out! Thank you for sharing your combination, Carolyn.
Amy
I make these muffins exactly as the recipe states, using coconut oil and real maple syrup. I make two dozen at a time and keep them in the freezer. I’ve been having this muffin for breakfast every day for the past two years. They’re that good!
★★★★★
Nancy Hargis
Healthy and very good just like this!Has potential to adjust to some ingredients on hand when needed and particular preferences for spices and adding seeds and nuts. Will be a basic muffin go-to for me. Liked cocnut oil. Used WW sprouted spelt for all the flour.
Needed 25 minutes
I think it has potential to rise a little more than mine did – Rose anly a litte above the pan and pretty sure I did not over mix. I did scrimp a very little bit on the maple syrup just to reduce added sugar. ??
★★★★★
Adelaide Moseley
Can you use butter instead of oil? xx
Kate
Hi Adelaide, I recommend this recipe best as written.
M
Perfect the first time! Good rise, fluffy inside but slightly crunchy outside. Just sweet enough for a muffin but not too sweet, like a cake. This will be a regular for weekday breakfasts!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for your review, M!
Paula
Size of can of pumpkin? We can buy in two sizes. Thanks.
Kate
Hi! The can is roughly 15 ounces.
Carole C. from Calgary
Hi Kate, love your recipes. While chatting with my daughter while making a 2nd batch of your delicious blueberry muffins I forgot the coconut oil I’d melted in the microwave…result…still delicious & fluffy muffins! I am amazed!!!
★★★★★
Nicole
What would be the adjustment on time/temperature if I wanted to make 24 mini muffins?
Kate
Hi! Decrease the time to half. Be sure to keep an eye on them. I hope you love them!
Nancy Dufficy
Excellent muffins that really are quick! At high altitude too!
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful, Nancy! Thank you for your review.
Erin
I’ve made these at least a dozen times and while I like them, they are on the heavy/dense side despite minimal stirring once adding The Whole wheat flour. I wonder if whole wheat pastry flour might lighten them up a bit? I add pecans or walnuts to these for some protein.
★★★★
Kate
Sure, you could try that if you prefer.
Jules
These tasted terrible and I followed the recipe pretty disappointing, not very good at all I think it needs sugar instead of honey or maple syrup and all that olive oil doesn’t taste good! They were also very crumbly!
★
Kate
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love this recipe.
Mandi Courteau
These were amazing!!! Wow wow wow.
Adding this to my go-to recipes
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great to hear, Mandi! I appreciate your review.
Nadia
These are the best muffins I’ve ever had, I made 3 batches in 1 week! Only difference was I topped them with a few chocolate chips before baking. Kids and adults loved them equally, thanks for the amazing recipe!
★★★★★
Asia
Can i use almond flour?
Kate
Hi Asia, sorry to disappoint almond flour doesn’t work 1:1. You can try my Gluten-Free Banana Bread (Made with Almond Flour)
Danae
Great recipe. I have tried it with EVOO but was a bit heavy, still tasty. Today I switched to avocado oil and turned out amazing.
Donna
Helpful-thanks!
Lava
These are the best low sugar muffins I have ever made! I did 1/3 cup honey. Also one cup whole wheat flour and one cup oat flour (blended sprouted rolled oats). As a newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic,it can be frustrating to make low sugar food that tastes good. Especially when it comes to muffins! Thanks for this recipe!
★★★★★
Sue
My granddaughter had to make a healthy recipe for health class and she picked your Healthy Pumpkin Muffins. She has asked me to make them now for everybody. We love them!!! So far I have only used olive oil but have tried both honey and pure maple syrup as sweeteners. Both are equally good. I will be trying gluten free flour next…I already use Quaker Oats gluten free 1 minute oats. Great recipe!
★★★★★
Kate
Great to hear, Sue! I appreciate your feedback.
Sara
These muffins are moist, not overly sweet and have a nice texture. However, I found them a bit bland. I will make them again, but next time, I’ll double or triple the spice. I combined all of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl before adding them to the wet ingredients, in the traditional baking manner, to ensure more even distribution.
★★★★
Kate
I’m sorry to hear that! Were you using fresh spices? You can always increase the spice if you prefer more.
Rebecca B
We greatly enjoyed these muffins! I doubled the recipe, and used applesauce rather than oil(more because I didn’t have any on hand) and added chocolate chips(because kids…). These are moist and quite pumpkiny which I enjoyed. I think I would increase the pumpkin spice amount, and add pepitas and sugar on top!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Rebecca! I appreciate your review.
Jessica
I love this recipe. I’m a novice baker and these are so easy. I’ve made them about 6 times now. Can confirm flax eggs work just as well as regular ones. My only adjustment now is that I put equal parts flour and oats (approx 1c each for 12), as I like them “oatier.” They still hold together beautifully! I also use cupcake cases in my muffin tin, just because it’s easier to clean and the kids like the colorful wrappers. Thank you for such an easy, tasty recipe.
★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Jessica.
Kayla
These came out exactly like the pictures which I feel like never happens! So yummy and hearty!
I did 2 1/2 the recipe to use the whole can of pumpkin
★★★★
Kate
Great to hear, Kayla! I appreciate your review.
Kris
Can I swap the oils for apple butter instead? (:
Kate
I recommend this recipe best as written, sorry!
Willow
So delish and so easy! I added extra puree to make them more moist. Love ’em!
★★★★★
Kate
Great to hear, Willow! I appreciate your review.
Jenna
SOO GOOD! I have white whole wheat flour at my store I used, along with white chocolate chip mix ins. I swear these were so insanely delicious I already ate 3!
★★★★★
Kate
Great to hear, Jenna!
Jeanne Dinker
I made these a little while ago, and they are moist and delicious. However, they need more sweetness for me (I used honey, not maple syrup, is the syrup sweeter?). I wish I’d sprinkled the turbinado sugar on them before cooking. I so love pumpkin muffins but will use my old recipe next time ☹️ Still, these were very good muffins.
★★★
Kristine Bowie
These are terrific! Thank you. My kids love making these with me, and they eat them too!
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great to hear, Kristine! I appreciate your review.