Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
Easy, healthy pumpkin muffins made with whole grains, natural sweetener (maple syrup) and real pumpkin! These muffins are fluffy and delicious.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
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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
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 healthy 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. You could use 2 ½ cups certified gluten-free oat flour instead or follow my recipe for almond flour-based pumpkin muffins.
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.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Has anyone successfully made these with almond flour/meal? Looking to lower the carb content.
Unfortunately, almond flour isn’t a great 1:1 substitute.
I have not made the recipe as of yet but I have also noticed that I can no longer find white whole wheat flour either! I was very frustrated last time I shopped. Looked online and a very expensive organic white whole wheat flour can be ordered but it is over $20 for a five pound bag! Have you been able to find out why this flour is suddenly not available? I’m a fan of your soup recipes, especially Chickpea Noodle.:) Thank you!1
I haven’t been able to find it recently, either! These muffins do work with whole wheat, though.
I’ve been making these muffins for about a year now. I use olive oil & maple syrup. I add walnuts,pumpkin seeds & raisins. When I want to eat one, I warm it up in my toaster oven. I eat one as a dessert or as a snack. I love them! They’re great for breakfast too. Thank you for the recipe.
I love your add-ins! Thanks for sharing, Janice!
I found your comment about white whole wheat flour interesting, as it has been a real treasure hunt for me to find it lately. For a while I was purchasing Kroger brand, because that was my only option. When that disappeared I started stalking Safeway, where there was still a slot on the shelf labeled white whole wheat flour. I was rewarded a few days ago with a restock of King Arthur.
Looking forward to baking these muffins. Anything and everything pumpkin. :)
Thanks for sharing, Lisa!
King Arthur Flour in Norwich VT has white whole wheat flour, and lots of other baking equipment/ingredients too!
Thank you for sharing, Kathy!
I started making these to my son since he was like two years old. He still loves them and he is now Six!!! He’s brother who’s three also loves them. They both ask me to make them all the time! And I don’t mind because I also love them! :) Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I love this! Thanks for sharing, Amarilys!
I made these with flax eggs, maple syrup, applesauce instead of oil and I had a cup of whole wheat pastry flour and 3/4 c whole wheat flour.. added vegan chocolate chips.. YUMOLA.. thank you! I am a whole food, plant-based eater and I added extra pumpkin spice.. and chocolate chips. I actually tasted the pumpkin and not a lot of sugar.
Thanks for sharing! I’m glad you loved them.
Your comment about white whole wheat flour caught my eye–do you have Trader Joes stores where you live? At least in California TJ is a reliable source of (quite inexpensive) bagged white whole wheat flour, and it is also offered by Gold Medal though I agree that product can be difficult to find. In my experience white whole wheat flour makes a smoother, less “grainy” bread than the traditional material–I eventually replaced all of the traditional whole wheat flour with the white version in artisan bread, corn bread, pizza dough, and whatever else comes to mind to bake, and I never missed the traditional material.
I’m glad you can find it! I haven’t been able to here in Kansas City. Thanks for your comment!
I wanted to love these – I really did. As much as I added spices these turned out really boring. No taste whatsoever. :-(
Hi Miranda, I’m sorry you didn’t love these! Sometimes the brand of pumpkin can vary and be less flavorful.
If I wanted to use real baked pie pumpkin would I use the same amount as the pie pumpkin?
Hi Carlyn! Are you meaning make your own puree? If that’s the case, using the same amount should work!
Is it possible to get the measurements in grams? I live in the UK! Thanks, Yvonne
Hi, Yvonne! Sorry, I don’t offer conversions. I know other readers have found myrecipes.com converter helpful in the past!
I made these using oat flour only instead. I forgot to put in the milk and used less maple syrup. Added mini chocolate chips.
The muffins were a little dense and not too sweet but the chocolate chips helped with that. My son really liked them! I’ll try them again with different flour combo and milk and a little more sweetener.
Thanks for sharing! I’m glad they still were edible!
These are in the oven now and I cannot wait to eat them for breakfast tomorrow! They smell amazing! Thank you.
Thanks for sharing, Lauren!
I am so glad that I decided to make a double batch because these are the tastiest pumpkin muffins ever. Thank you Kate.
You’re welcome, Kerstin!
We absolutely loved these soft muffins! I accidentally opened a can of pumpkin pie mix and decided to go ahead and use it and just cut the maple syrup and spice in half. They came out so amazing! Like beyond good!!!!
Love to hear they still turned out and you loved them, Denise!
These turned out so good! My 5 year old daughter helped make them. We used oat flour, and mixed in white chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. For our topping we used rolled oats, crushed walnuts, cinnamon, and some coconut sugar. I will for sure make them again!
You’re daughter helped make them! That’s adorable. I’m glad you both could enjoy the entire process. Thanks for your review, Amity!
Usually when I make recipes with Canned pumpkin, I put the contents of the can between a number of sheets of paper towel. Concentrates the flavor. Wondering if anyone did this and if so how it came out.
That sounds very interesting. Can’t say I’ve done that!
Yum!
So it’s fall, and we are inundated with pumpkin everything, but these muffins are really, really good :) The right balance of sweet and spicy. My diet has minimal added sugars, mostly natural sugars, and my partner eats sugar more liberally and we were BOTH satisfied! :-D
I add crystallized ginger, rolled outs, and walnut bits on top.
I really like the whole rolled oats in the recipe too for added texture. Oh, and we ran out of whole wheat flour so used about 50/50 between whole wheat flour and almond meal. They came out a little less fluffy because of that I think but still really great!
We also doubled the batch and put extra in a loaf tin, which worked really well.
Yes, I’d highly recommend this recipe and your blog in general. It’s about the fifth recipe of yours I’ve tried out and they’ve all been great! Thanks Kate!
Thank you for your recommendation of this recipe and blog, Alex. I appreciate your review!
I gave this muffin to my husband. He said, It doesn’t taste anything :))
I like it though the taste is very mild. Would love richer, full taste since all the strong and beautiful fall spices were used. Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you for your feedback! You can always increase your spice mix next time.
Moist and flavorful, wonderful!
Thank you, Jill!
I don’t like to waste food. What to do with the rest of the pumpkin purée?
I know one reader just added the extra in and baked the muffins longer. Or, you could make pumpkin overnight oats! Follow my overnight oats recipe, add the pumpkin and some pumpkin spice mix to your taste!
I made this recipe today and it was awesome! I used flax instead of eggs, added an extra 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and I also used 1 cup spelt flour and the rest whole wheat and they turned out great!
Great to hear, Jessica!
I added raw pumpkin seeds! Abt a 1/4 cup, so good!
Thanks for sharing, Victoria!
These are wonderful! I did use molasses as someone suggested, I used the entire can of pumpkin and 2tablespoons of spice mixture. I am going to make more today.
Thank you for sharing, Sharon!
Wow!!! These are so good! I subbed half the flour with almond flour and this recipe turned out amazing. This is my new fav muffin recipe for sure, and I also used your pumpkin spice recipe, which really made the muffins super tasty.
I’m glad they worked with the almond flour! Thanks for sharing, Heather.
Made these today and they are so delicious!
Thanks for your review, Meg!
I used this recipe yesterday and two of my son’s friends, who were visiting, loved them. I used plain yogurt instead of milk and added 1/3 cup sliced almonds and two tsps of dried orange rind (from my winter stay in AZ). I did not add the sugar or oatmeal to the top. I also think it depends on the honey that you use. Mine is from Mexico, that I obtained from a friend who lives there… has lots of flavor, unlike what you buy in the local store.I also used coconut oil and two tsps of vanilla.
Thank you for sharing your approach, Marie! I’m glad they loved them.
I made the muffins this weekend and they are so good! Moist. I love your baking recipes because they don’t taste so sugary. I used a whole can of pumpkin (15oz) because I wasn’t sure what I would do with the remaining pumpkin and baked the muffins a little longer.
I’m glad it worked with the extra pumpkin, Holly! I appreciate your review.
White whole wheat is readily available at grocery stores near me so I am wondering if it is a regional thing.
It could be!
just made these and they’re so delicious!! thanks so much!
You’re welcome! Thanks for your review, LG.
Delicious! Super easy recipe to follow. Can confirm: Flax eggs and whole wheat pastry flour work great!
Absolutely LOVED this recipe!!! I was looking for something healthier that my littles(almost 4 and almost 2) could help me bake. And this is the best pumpkin muffin recipe I have ever made! I ended adding closer to a cup of maple syrup, really by accident because of little hands and pouring too soon. I also added a whole can of pumpkin, and topped with cane sugar, again little hands helped so more cane sugar that I would’ve done, but they are learning. Could not be more happy with them! Love that they don’t have a ton of butter and sugar so I can give them as a later sweet treat/snack. Thank you!!!
You’re very welcome, Emily! I’m glad you and your little ones love this recipe.
Delicious muffins! Fantastic and easy to follow recipe. I will for sure make this recipe again.
My twist was adding toasted pine nuts, dried cranberries and topping it with coconut sugar. I really enjoyed the extra nuttiness the pine nuts delivered.
Thanks Kate.
I absolutely love your book, I’m working my way through all your recipes and only stop to do the recipes from your blog (which are also great), but sometimes I have to improvise with certain ingredients and I’m never sure if i’m doing the right thing. I’m here in Wiltshire in England and I was wondering whether you would do a UK version of your recipes with alternatives for us to use here?
Hi Mimi! Unfortunately, I don’t convert to metrics and don’t have plans to in the future. I know some readers have bought US measurements online since they use my recipes so much (what a great idea!) or have used myrecipes.com converter in the past.
Thanks for the reply, its not the measurements which are the issue but certain ingredients, for example what would the alternative be for whole wheat flour in the UK? Plus certain south american products “adobo” for example. Theres a few which I wont laden you with now but was hoping a UK version maybe in the future.
Regards
Mimi
I have been making pumpkin bread/muffins for over 20years and decided recently to try some new recipies. I have to say this is by far my favorite recipe! Absolutely moist and delicious. I added flax meal.
Thanks for sharing, Nancy! I’m happy you are loving these fall muffins.
This was a great recipe! I do have to say that when I read it, I didn’t think there was near enough pumpkin spice. I doubled the recipe and put 2 tablespoons of pumpkin spice in. I can definitely see where it would have been bland without adding in more spices, so for those that think it was bland I would recommend adding in more pumpkin spice.
Thank you for your feedback, Rose!
Hi Kate,
I made this recipe and ended up with so much batter that I had enough for 12 muffins and another loaf. I followed the recipe exactly, checked all the measurements, and do not understand how this happened.
Would you be able to figure this out?
The muffins were a bit bland, even though the texture was very good.
The pumpkin bread obviously needed longer time to bake.
Thank you.
Hi Ivana, how full did you fill your muffins? If you want more spice, you can always add more spice to the batter.
I filled the muffin pan to almost full. They were nice and puffy muffins. Still, there was a lot of batter left. Probably enough for another 12 muffins, but maybe filled less full.
I thought the measurements for the spices in your recipe were large enough, so I did not add more than you recommend.
Hi Ivana, that’s strange. I’m not sure. If you followed the method to measure flour correctly (not over packing it), it should have been exact.
Wow! These were fabulous. I have yet to try a recipe on this site that hasn’t immediately been added to my ‘keeper’ pile. Following some comments I decided to double the spices as some of my spices are really old. The spices really are the stars of the recipe, and since older spices can lose their potency, I’m guessing this might be why some readers found them ‘bland.’ They freeze really well too
Hi! I’ve made your banana muffins twice now, and they are delicious! I noticed the two recipes are very similar aside from having Banana’s in this one. If there are no Banana’s, will the pumpkin muffins turn out sweet enough?
Hi Lenana! I think these have a great balance. The syrup helps with the sweetness here.
We swapped the eggs for applesauce and topped them with Maple Butter! DELICIOUS! Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Kay!
I just make these muffins with my 2 years old and added some nuts and chocolate chips, he loves them! We will be making many more of these and trying out more of your recipes. Thank you!
PS. I love the small white plate in the last photo with the the cut up muffin with almond butter. Can I ask where you got it from?
Could you use coconut flour in replace?
Hi Sara, unfortunately coconut flour isn’t a great 1:1 replacement. It tends to soak up all the moisture and not really bind as well. If you want to make them gluten free, try a gluten free flour blend.
Thanks for this recipe! They are so good. On my second batch, I subbed applesauce for oil which made them a bit denser and moister and also a little sweeter, and I thought they benefited from that slight added sweetness. I also added walnuts because I love nuts in baked goods. I’ll be making these again and again.
Thanks for sharing what worked for you, Catherine!
I was halfway done with the recipe when I read the comments and saw a few people say they were bland. I added a half a cup of brown sugar to the batter, and then mixed some more brown sugar with cinnamon and sprinkled some on top before going in the oven and again after they’ve cooled. They’re a big hit in my family and I’ve already made them twice this week!
Just made these and they are delish! I used maple syrup and almond milk and added some chocolate chips. I like that they are not too sweet and have a nice, mild pumpkin spice flavor. Can’t wait to have one for breakfast tomorrow!
Wonderful, Lauren! Thanks for your review.
should have read the comments…you can usually tell by the batter how it will taste! Ah!! So bland and really thick batter. Too much flour. I dont know if they will turn out but i just wasted a bunch of ingredients…
Hi Noelle, I’m sorry you didn’t love it. You can always add more spice. How did you measure your flour? That can play an important role.
Delicious muffins!
This was the first recipe that I’ve made from your site.
My family really enjoyed them!
*I used a mix of coconut oil, 1T unsalted butter and a little extra virgin olive oil to equal 1/3 cup.
*1 cup sweet potato purée (I didn’t have pumpkin puree :)
*1 T. Pumpkin spice and 1 t. Cinnamon
as my spice combo.
*1/2 cup dried Cherries
*Sprinkled a pinch of brown sugar on the top of each muffin.
They turned out great!
Thank you for sharing your version, Mary!
This recipe is great! I’m confused about some of the reviews who said these muffins were bland. I did not find that to be the case at all. I can definitely taste the spices in this. I used sweet potato puree instead of pumpkin (what I had on hand). I also added half a banana to the mix because I was short on the purée ingredient. I used a tad more vanilla extract and added a dash of cardamom. These muffins are great as a little snack or for breakfast. Perhaps those people who found them bland were expecting them to be more on the sweet side ( a la Starbucks pumpkin muffin) … I don’t think that’s the intention with this recipe. These are not too sweet. Perfect!
I’m happy you loved them!
These delicious pumpkin muffins have completely satisfied my pumpkin cravings! I used honey and added some walnuts and they turned out super tasty with a little bit of a crunch. These are my new autumnal tradition!
These are really good! Of the ingredient options given, I used olive oil, maple syrup, and white whole wheat flour, and did 1.5x the spices because the batter tasted like it could handle it. These are a treat without feeling overindulgent. The white whole wheat flour has a milder flavor that works really well.
Thank you for sharing, Lilian! I’m happy you loved them.