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.
These are simply delicious ! It has become a fall tradition for me. I keep doing them over and over again ! Very healthy & delicious.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. Just tried it today and my baby loves it!
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Julia.
For those wanting to know if you can substitute dry sweetener for the liquid sweetener: I have had success swapping the 1/2 cup maple syrup/honey for 1/2 cup packed brown sugar AND using an entire can of pumpkin (just slightly less than 2 cups) vice one cup to account for moisture.
I very much love these exactly as written–maple syrup or honey adds a nice depth to the flavor, and all of the iterations of this recipe (the banana, apple, blueberry, etc.) are my muffin go-to–but if you’re out and/or don’t want to use up a large amount of pricey maple syrup/honey, I suggest trying the above.
I have been making this recipe the last few years. I do add in chocolate chips, but aside from that it’s the authentic healthy recipe and my kids actually love it! The first time I made them for myself and the rest of the family insisted I shared…and now it’s a family favorite! We have them for breakfast, snack, and dessert! Thank you for sharing this fantastic, easy, healthy, and delicious recipe!
This recipe is fantastic! We have made it 3 times in the last 3 weeks. My kids love it! We added raisins and coconut. I just realized that we didn’t add milk this time, but it still turned out great. I omitted the salt after the first time as I could taste it too much,
I love it!
This recipe looks perfect! I’d like to bake them
as mini muffins though. Do you think I’d just halve the amount of cooking time? Thanks!
Hi! Yes, half the cooking time. You may need to adjust slightly so be sure to check on them so they don’t get over done. Enjoy!
Hola Kate!
Can I use oat flour? I am not sure if they sell that kind of flour here in Spain.
Gracias!
Jewel
Hi Jewel! Yes, oat flour should work. Be sure to look at my oat flour guide to make the needed adjustments. I hope you love them!
My muffins turned out bitter. I sifted the baking soda over the other ingredients so I know I didn’t have a soda clump. Any ideas what went wrong?
Were you using fresh baking soda and flour? If they are on the older side, it can result in a bitter taste sometimes.
The flour was fresh ground by me right before starting the recipe, but the baking soda may have been the culprit. I’m going to replace with some new right away. Thanks!
Hi I followed the recipe for vegan oil sugar free one but muffins initially puffed but then it sank and became dense
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that. It sounds like you may have left out too many ingredients as this one isn’t meant to be made sugar free. It requires the oil and the sugar to help in the baking process.
Hi, I am not a baker at all, most of the time, it is hard and tasteless, on top of that, I can’t seem to follow a recipe.
My husband and I love pumpkin and today I decided to try muffins. I found your recipe and the “miracle happened”, they came out perfect, tasty and all together amazing. I added some pecans to it.
Thank you so much for explaining very well how to go about making them spectacular!!!
Johanne
Hooray! I’m so glad this one worked so well for you, Johanne. I appreciate your comment.
Just made these today and they were great! I did make my usual muffin changes (1/4 cup applesauce and 2T maple syrup in place of sugar). I also read others’ comments about the low cooking temp so I baked at 375 for 19 minutes and they were perfect—moist and they rose well. They would be good with raisins or chocolate chips mixed in, or with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top.
Thank you, Courtney!
I love the recipe it was amazing and easy I ended up using half the amount of oil and just a little over a cup of honey and maple syrup they turned out really good!
So thank you for The recipe was great.
I still have a bowl full of mix left and I made 12 muffins last night.. so I am a little confused at the top of the recipe it says 12 muffins but then it says 36 maybe I read something wrong but I’d like to follow you and do more recipes in fact I’d love a cookbook wondering a little bit more about you this is the first time I’ve made a recipe or looked at your information-so and I found it very informative except for that fact that I had so much mixture left and I’ve already made 12 muffins-)
please help-And I also use paper liners so they would be easy to transport-)
Hi Jan, that is interesting! I’m not sure why you have so much batter left. Did you use mini muffin tins by chance?
I can’t wait to try this! I love your almond flour banana bread recipe. Do you have a recipe for almond flour pumpkin bread or muffins? Thank you!
Hi! I don’t have one, sorry. But I will add it to my request list!
I am making these this afternoon for a meal train.
What about substituting the oil for avocado oil? My coconut oil is refined & I’m not sure about how that will effect the flavor.
Thank you!
Hi! It should work just fine. Let me know!
I used the coconut oil but for the first time, after pouring it in the batter & it sit for a bit, it got clumpy. Didn’t have that problem before. Thinking it’s because the coconut oil was refined & a different brand. Oh well…..didn’t effect the taste! YUM
Oh my! So tasty – I swapped half the oil with applesauce and cut the maple syrup to a 1/3 cup, and they were still delicious!! Definitely adding to the recipe list.
I used spelt flour and canned pumpkin it turn out sooo good! Thanks for the recipe ❤️
Thank you, Sharon! I appreciate your review.
Hi Sharon, I was wondering if you used the same amount of spelt flour as the flour amount called for in the recipe or if you had to add more or less spelt flour. I want to make this for my daughter who digests spelt flour better than white or wheat flour. Much thanks, Elana
Made this with unsweetened cinnamon applesauce to replace oil, Purecane Baking sugar alternative in place of the liquid sweetener, and added 2Tbsp of almond milk to balance out the wet to dry ingredients.
Came to 94 calories total per muffin! Thank you for the inspiration! They are amazing!
Can I use instant oats instead of old fashioned oats?
Hi! Instant oat would likely cook up differently and not get you the same results. If you try it, let me know.
Hello! I have all the ingredients EXCEPT oats–should I just add a little extra flour to substitute for oats? How much flour should I add, 1/4 cup?
Hi Allison, you can just omit the oats. I hope you love them!
Love this recipe. I’ve made it dozens of times – exactly as is. Usually triple the recipe so that I have a stash in the freezer.
we had a lot of duck eggs this year so I used those instead. Also I had roasted my own pumpkins and pureed them (no oils or spices…just pumpkin) **I always have a ton of pumpkins so I roast them and freeze the puree in 1cup bags ready to use all year :)
I added chocolate chips and a handful or 2 of crasins :) The kids LOVED them!!!
Delicious! We added chocolate chips and my kids devoured them. So good!
I’m glad you loved them, Brittany!
I’ve made the muffins and your pumpkin bread twice – they are epic!!! So delicious – toddler, 4 yr old and hubby all loved !!!! Thank you.
I’m excited they were such a hit!
Absolutely love this recipe and cant wait to try out apples or other yumms next time! I fill my muffin cups with batter then they rise right up!
I’ve made these muffins or their loafy equivalent every Sunday since the first after Labour Day, and it is a ritual I look forward to each week. Thank you, Kate, for such a lovely blog with such wonderful recipes! Here are the modifications I’ve made with great results:
– 2x Bob’s Red Mill vegan egg replacer for eggs
– 1/3 cup applesauce in place of oil
– in addition to a scant tsp baking soda, I add a scant tsp baking powder for extra-good fluff
– rev up vanilla to 1 full tbsp (something I do with most recipes as a personal habit—although I’ll say it gets pricey!)
– as above, my interpretation of 1 tsp cinnamon is so heaping it might well be two!
– no milk, vegan or otherwise! I don’t really need the liquid with the vegan egg replacer (which is mixed with water) and the applesauce
And one more time, three cheers for Cookie and Kate! The quality of your recipes is matched only by the kindness and generosity of your commenters! I always find such great tips in the comments here. :)
Lots of love from Toronto, where we had snow four days ago and are now staring down a sunny 20-degree C Sunday! My muffins are cooling as we speak!
So so yummy!!! I used almond flour and put 4 eggs instead of 2 and got such amazing flavor and moisture!
This is the best pumpkin muffin recipe I’ve tried! I’ve made muffins using this recipe several times now and they always turns out well!
This recipe is fabulous! I’ve tried many healthier pumpkin muffin recipes and none have been as well balanced and perfectly textured as these. I used coconut oil melted on the stove. Since my pumpkin puree and milk were refrigerated I mixed them into the sauce pan while the oil was still pretty hot so that they would come up to temp and incorporate nicely with the honey and eggs. I added all the wet ingredients into my sauce pan. After weighing my AP flour, I whisked all my dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and then gently folded in the wet ingredients as to not over mix. My son begged me to add chocolate chips so I threw in 1/3 cup. Next time I’ll try a sprinkle of brown sugar and chopped nuts because the dark chocolate overpowered the delicious pumpkin spice flavor. They were moist, fluffy, and very well balanced! This is definitely a keeper! Thanks for the great recipes Kate
Bake these immediately! Your nose and your mouth will thank you!
My house smells like a hallmark movie PLUS they taste delicious. I didn’t wait for them to cool, just started shoving them in my mouth.
I like adding grated carrots in the mix at the end with dried cranberries, a truly healthy muffin.
I’m making these (for a 2nd time!) for my daughter who has Gestational Diabetes. They’re a Great “Not Sweet Treat”!! I use Lakanto Maple Syrup (sugar free) These are delicious! I will be making pumpkin bread (always using freshly baked pumpkin!) for Thanksgiving that All the family can enjoy! Thank you Kate!!
I have made this recipe 3 times and it turns out every time! I use Bobs Redmill egg replacement and measure for measure gluten free flour and they are so moist and delicious!
I love these muffins! I have chronic acute pancreatitis so I have to be careful with fat and refined sugar. I modify the recipe by replacing the oil with applesauce. I also add 2 mashed over ripe bananas to make them more moist. It’s a very easy recipe to follow and modify! I have probably made this recipe over 20x now – probably closer to 30x – I actually have it memorized! Lastly, I don’t mix anything until right before the flour. Then I add the flour, oatmeal, and mashed bananas on the mixed batter and mix together until blended and voila!! I seriously can’t get enough of these. Cookie and Kate is my go to for baking now.. the banana bread is also stellar! I share the muffins with my friends and neighbors and they always get rave reviews! I also shared the recipe with my nutritionist. Thank you for this awesome, easy to follow recipe! I have also added raisins and craisins (separately) but the banana is the winner over here.
We have made these muffins often. TodayI only had half of the amount of gluten-free flour, so I used course corn meal for the rest and added a little bit of extra milk. It’s now my new favorite way to prepare these muffins.
Thank you for sharing, BP! I’m happy they work for you.
I made these today, and they came out great! I like that they’re not too sweet. Also very easy. I added chopped pecans which I think was a nice touch. Thanks!
Edit: PSA for everyone to take the “store for up to 4 days” quite literally … today is day 4 and these started to grow mold.
These are so delicious! I make them with gluten-free flour and add choc chips and walnuts. I’ve been making a batch weekly since I found the recipe.
Thank you for the recipe. I confess I didn’t have pumpkin. Baked butternut squash (left over from another recipe) made a fine substitute.
The rest of the recipe I left the same except for leaving out the oatmeal which seems to make my muffins a bit dry.
(I’m not trying to re-do your great recipes, but just demonstrating that they are extremely versatile!)
Thanks again.
Love these muffins, especially the texture, is there a way to make the pumpkin flavor pop more? I used honey, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Maybe those addins overpowered the subtle flavor?
Hi! If you want more pumpkin flavor, I would add more pumpkin spice. Pumpkin itself doesn’t provide a lot of flavor and it’s with the combination of spice.
Can you tell me please, if I ADD IN pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds or chi seeds to a muffin recipe, DO I NEED TO ADD EXTRA LIQUID to the recipe?
Hi DD, I’m not sure without trying it myself. I know in some of my other muffin recipes, some types of add-ins work fine.
Hmmm…just not getting why this recipe is getting such rave reviews. Just not enough pumpkin flavor or spice for our liking. Liked that they weren’t too sweet, though. May try it again with more pumpkin pie spice. The oatmeal in the batter is fine but definitely don’t like the dry oatmeal sprinkle on top.
Hi Karen, I’m sorry you don’t love these. You can always add more pumpkin spice if you like. I appreciate your feedback.
Could flax meal be added to these? I love to sneak it in for extra fiber and nutrients
Hi Katie, I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. Sorry!
Would be great if you included weight of your ingredients (flour, oats).
Hi Kate, I appreciate your feedback.
I have a jumbo muffin tin that holds six muffins. Would it be possible to use this recipe in my big tin?
Hi Allie, it should work. You would likely need to increase the time, I’m just not sure by how much.
Super delicious! I made your oat flour to use as a flour substitute. They turned out great!
One of the best recipe! My family’s favourite. Thanks a lot. Happy Holidays
Thanks for the recipe. I was looking for a healthy breakfast muffin and this is perfect. Just one thing…325 degrees for 25 minutes and my muffins were like mush. I had to increase the oven temp to 400 degrees for an additional 15 minutes in order for them to bake.
I read that others had the same issue. It crossed my mind that elevation may have something to do with it. I have an oven thermometer so I know that my oven was at the right temp. Everything else was exactly the same as your recipe. I’m in Arizona where it is very dry right now and I’m at 3,300 feet elevation.
Thank you for reporting back, Carolyn! I appreciate you taking the time as I don’t have much elevation here in Kansas City. I know others will find this helpful.
Would be awesome for the recipes to contain grams as well! Thank you
Have these baking right now to have with our Thanksgiving morning coffee. They smell amazing!
I made this today for an after Thanksgiving pumpkin treat! I used egg whites instead of eggs, sugar free syrup, all purpose flour, and substituted applesauce for oil, and they are great! We can’t stop eating them! Which we’ll worry about tomorrow LOL. Thanks for a great recipe!
You’re welcome, Liz! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Amazing results! I did sub in 1/3 cup of molasses with the maple syrup, just to give it that ‘Christmas-y’ aroma. The addition of chopped candied ginger also took the spice flavours up a notch.Love all your recipes C+K!
Thank you for sharing, Jeanné!
I was home this weekend for Thanksgiving, so I decided to raid the kitchen and try out this recipe. I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin, but I wanted to try something healthy and tasty for my partner’s diabetes. I was concerned about the amount of flour covering up the flavor, so I added in an extra 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, a couple more spoons of pumpkin puree, and a couple shakes of the pumpkin spice blend. I also added in sliced almonds for that subtle crunch! Nothing too crazy, just a little boost. Other than that, I followed the recipe to a T with honey and almond milk as healthier alternatives to regular milk and maple syrup.
O. M. G! When I brought these muffin’s to my partner’s house for Thanksgiving, they DISAPPEARED! He even called me after I got home and asked if I would make another batch for them! Of course, I obliged because I love baking. I didn’t eat more than one, but they smelled amazing before, during, and after the oven, and the whole house had a warm, pumpkin-y aroma. Definitely will use this recipe again in the future!
These muffins turned out great! I added a maple cream cheese frosting wmade with just pure maple syrup and cream cheese for a healthier version of the pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting and they were so good!