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.
My family loves these muffins. I use pumpkin from my garden. Fantastic flavour.
I made these muffins before work this morning and they are absolutely delicious! I used flax eggs and coconut oil wow, the flavor is great and there is a richness to them. The hardest thing about this recipe was waiting for them to cool completely before digging in.
That’s great! Thank you for your review.
I’m gluten free so I used gluten free oats blended into flour for this and followed the recipe otherwise. Opted to add a few chocolate chips in them. These were delicious! Moist, tender, and the perfect amount of everything. Thanks for a great recipes!
These are delicious. I add chocolate chips to them. Have you ever substituted apple sauce for the oil or liquid stevia for half the maple syrup in order to reduce the calories? I am still learning substitutions and how to do them. Thanks.
I haven’t, sorry to disappoint!
Love these with frozen cranberries as an ‘add in’ and pepitas on top. We make a big batch and use them in kids’ lunches and as an after-ski snack. So good.
I have a pumpkin muffin recipe I love, but I was looking for one with honey instead of sugar. This one looks like a winner! Question though: has anyone tried this with the whole can of pumpkin puree instead of 1 cup? The other recipe I use calls for a cup but works great with one whole can. Just curious
Yes, if you double the recipe you use up 1 can of pumpkin. Love this recipe! I hate baking, but this was simple to make and not too much clean up.
Not too sweet and came out quite moist!
Thanks, Kate!
Lexi, this pumpkin muffin recipe is delicious. I only use the amount of pumpkin the recipe calls for and then I freeze the rest in a Ziploc bag to use later. The next time you plan to make pumpkin muffins you can put the frozen pumpkin in the fridge to defrost the night before.
These look amazing! I have spelt flour to use up, do you think that would work?
Hi Janine, I haven’t tried spelt flour with these so I can’t say for sure. I know others have used it in some of my other baking recipes with good results. If you try it, let me know!
Thanks I will!
I was wondering if I could use buckwheat flour for the muffins? I have to use gluten free flour but cannot use flours with rice flour in them.
Hi Aaron, Buckwheat acts differently in baking applications than whole wheat so I can’t say for sure if it would work. Gluten free flour works well or try oat flour.
Just made these so I could sneak some pumpkin into my 4 year old who hates pumpkin’s diet.
He hasn’t tried yet but my goodness, me and my fiancé have and they’re DELICIOUS. I’ll be making these regularly.
I made mine with wholemeal spelt flour and added in choc chips.
I love your recipes!
I tried the muffins. I cannot review the original recipe since I forgot the milk but my version turned out ok. My kids didn’t notice I forgot an ingredient. So I cal that a win!
I want to let readers know that another vegan egg substitute (which I used) is Aquafaba (the liquid in a can of chickpeas). I used 3 TBS of Aquafina for each egg needed. Usually I can get about 8 TBS of Aquafaba per can of beans.
Hi Kate, I wanted to make these pumpkin muffins for my grandchildren but since I saw reviews about baking soda I decided to do what I usually do I put Oats in food processor and pulse till powder then I added my flour, spices, 1 extra teaspoon of cinnamon baking soda and salt to processor and pulse them and then added to wet ingredients unfortunately I had no almond milk all I had was cream so that is what I used. I make in non stick mini muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes and they popped right out of tins the kids could not stop eating them. Everyone loved and said they were fluffy and delicious. My 10 year old grandson said they were good even without chocolate chips he loves them. Thanks much you brought happiness into our home with your recipe.
I could not get this recipe to work for me. It looks so good I persisted four times but each time the cooked dough was very gooey and seemed raw on the inside, even when I cooked it twice as long as recommended. So then I put in as much baking powder as baking soda and they have turned out perfectly ever since: moist, light and fluffy. perhaps just using baking powder would work the same but as they turned out perfectly I haven’t dared try. I always make a triple patch with a large can of pumpkin and usually double the oatmeal and spices and maybe put molasses in when I’m feeling like a gingerbread ish taste. As long as I put in both soda and baking powder it doesn’t seem to matter how I change the recipe it always turns out perfect.
Hi Joan, I’m sorry to hear that. But, I’m glad you have a something that works for you. Is the pumpkin you are using really wet?
These muffins are great! My kids and I have made them a few times now and they always turn out wonderful. I love the simple ingredients, and use of whole wheat flour as well. Thanks for this recipe!
I was doing some spring cleaning this week and saw a can of pumpkin that needed to be used. I am really enjoying these pumpkin muffins! I followed the main recipe pretty closely and was glad there were some variations. I used olive oil because I was low on coconut oil; mostly oat flour; almond milk; and added in chocolate chips and pecans. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes!
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Christina! Thank you for your review.
These came out wonderful, the only changes I made was using 1/3 cup of honey. My batter seemed a little dry so I will do 1/3 cup milk next time. The muffins didn’t come out as smoothly as usual, I think that is due to not enough liquid. Maybe that is because I used less honey? I don’t know. Overall they were very good and moist.
I, my hubby and my kids really enjoyed these. Here is the nutritional info, in case anyone else is watching their #s: Per muffin:
192 calories; 8.4 g fat; 215 mg sodium; 26.5 g carbs; 8.8 g sugar; 3.4 g protein.
Thanks, Kate, for all the great recipes you provide our family!
I made two recipes of these muffins. I used coconut oil & also added chopped pecans.
They are awesome!!! We loved them so much, so I took a dozen over to my son & twin toddler grandbabies. They eat super healthy & these muffins were a hit!– We served them up with some almond butter. BAM!! Thanks!
You’re welcome! I’m happy these are a hit with your grandkids, Michelle. Thanks for your review!
I’ve made these muffins twice and my husband I love them. They turned out great both times. I used whole wheat flour, 2% milk, & honey. I feel like I’m getting a yummy spice cake without a billion calories.
I tried making the muffins that called for apple sauce and chopped apple. They didn’t turn out. I cooked them for an extended period of time and the texture in the middle was still kind of sticky. I think I put in too much apple and cut it up too big. Can I grate it instead? Would that help?
Hi! I’m happy you enjoyed these ones, Claire. I’m sorry the apple ones didn’t work for you. Putting too much apple in and larger pieces would impact your results. I hope you try it and again and let me know what you think!
My family loves these muffins! We’ve made them several times and they disappear quickly. I love that they are a healthy snack that my 4.5 year old gobbles up! However I just discovered that although we’ve made them many times, each time we’ve used nearly twice the amount of pumpkin (oops) because we used the entire can!! The good news, is it turns out to be delicious! Lol
That’s wonderful, Holly! Thank you for sharing.
Love this recipe and make it a ton! Have you ever made it in a single loaf pan rather than as muffins? If so, does anything need to be changed? Thanks!
Hi! I recommend my Healthy Pumpkin Bread!. I hope you love it!
These muffins were super simple to make and so tasty. I’ll definitely be using this recipe regularly.
This is a perfect basic recipe to convert to AIP. Instead of the whole wheat flour, I used 1 cup Tigernut flour and 3/4 cup tapioca starch, with an additional 1/2 tsp of baking soda. I omitted the oats and turbinado sugar. Instead of chicken eggs, I used gelatine eggs. The pumpkin spice was 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp mace and 1 tsp ginger. The oil was coconut, as was the milk. They turned out great! Fooled some hard nosed foodies too! LOL
Had to bake at 350° for 30 minutes, to achieve the “clean toothpick”. Topped them with coconut amino frosting…..best birthday cake substitute. THANK YOU!
I have made this 5+ times for my kiddos with our pumpkins we grow in the garden. I cook the flesh and freeze the pumpkin in individual baggies until I’m ready to cook with it. My pumpkin is a lot wetter than the stuff from the can but it works perfectly in this recipe. The dozen is gone by the end of the day! Thank you!
I love that! Thank you for sharing, Chelsea.
Can you substitute syrup or honey for sugar if so how much would you put ? Thank you :)
Hi Tatiana, changing the sugar time may yield different results since it’s part of the liquid ingredients. Sorry to not be of more help!
These pumpkin muffins are so delicious! We’ve made them many times.
I’m glad that canned pumpkin is available year round because we just made these and it’s summer. We substitute flax “eggs” to make them egg free. Thank you Cookie and Kate!!
Great, Kira!
The muffins smelled great, but has no taste. I followed the recipe step by step. I realize they are “healthy” muffins but they had no concept of sweetness (I put maple syrup as part of the recipe). Overall, I would not make again unless I put at least double the syrup.
Hi Nat, I’m sorry you didn’t love these. I appreciate your feedback.
Do you have the nutrition value on these please
Hi Helen! All the nutritional information is below the notes in my recipes. You just need to click to expand.
I made a double batch of these but used aramanth and tapioca flour, 2 eggs and flaxseed replacement for the other 2, used mostly molasses and some maple syrup and added in semi sweet chips. I also made a crumble of oats, molasses, cinnamon and a bit of sugar to top them off. I really liked the results, froze a dozen of them and the others were my boys and my snack for the week! Yum!
I made these using ener-g egg replacement powder instead of eggs and they came out beautifully! Fluffy, moist, delicious
I made these this morning and they are delicious. Nice and moist and fluffy. I had the individual spices and also added nutmeg and used honey and coconut oil. I’ll be baking them again for sure!
I absolutely love these muffins I use gluten free flour and Maple syrup . My daughter in law added a cream cheese icing but I love them with the spices on top just before baking yummy !!
Made these using the maple syrup. Left oats completely out for less carbs. Loved them!
Thank you for your review, Susan! I appreciate it.
Love these muffins! I usually make a double batch with one can of pumpkin. For presentation points I sprinkle a few pumpkin seeds on top of each muffin before baking. They freeze well and are a staple in our house. .
I’m excited to try this recipe. Wondering if you could share some advice. I make a lot of healthy mini muffins for my kids and am looking to change things up a bit. I bought a 12 cavity Wilton bar/brownie pan and am hoping to make single serving size healthy breads and/or mini cakes in it. I’m wondering if you think I should use your pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffin recipe in that type of a pan. Or could they both work? Thanks in advance and looking forward to trying many of your healthy recipes!
Hi, I haven’t tried it and I’m not sure on the size of the pan. If it is just slightly smaller than the muffins, I think the muffins may be ok. They would just need some more time.
Hello Kate,
Greetings from Australia! Thank you for this recipe. We all loved it.
Cheers!
I have made this recipe as written a few times and it is delicious. I like to add pumpkin and hemp seeds.
I recently tried to modify the recipe to make the muffins under 10 g carbs as I’m trying out a new reduced carb diabetic diet to help with blood sugar control. I replaced 3/4 cup of ww flour with almond flour. I replaced the maple syrup with stevia plus 1 extra Tablespoon of oil plus water. The texture of the muffin was great and they come it at 9 g carbs but the stevia has a bit of a bitter aftertaste. Not sure if anyone has a better sweetener to recommend? Maybe next time I’ll add a bit of maple syrup with the stevia as a compromise.
Hi Kate,
I made these muffins today .. I did use olive oil instead of coconut oil and I used 2 egg whites instead of whole eggs plus I added 50 grams of chopped walnuts , the muffins came out sooooo good .. light and fluffy and not too sweet.. I’m definitely making them again
I’m OBSESSED with these muffins. I’ve made these and the banana ones four times in the last week. I used gluten free flour and my non gluten free friends love these as well.
I just made this very quickly and used Almond flour because that’s all I had on hand. They came out excellent! It only made 10 muffins and they weren’t big at all. Very happy with this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing it.
Hi! I couldn’t find it in the recipe, but how big a can of pumpkin puree should this use? Because it comes in both 400ml and 800ml cans, and I want to get the recipe right!
Hi Leslie, a can is roughly 15 ounces. You only need one cup. This conversion chart should help!
Hello,
I’m a 2nd grade teacher and love when I can bake & cook from scratch on the weekends; it helps me to feel balanced.
I just made these, along with your pumpkin chai latte, and they were a hit! My family loves muffins, and my 12 year old said they were the best muffins she’s ever had-I’m inclined to agree with her!
I used Pompeian Smooth extra virgin olive oil, Trader Joe’s pumpkin spice blend, Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milk (typically prefer Simply brand almond milk), and all-purpose flour (was out of whole wheat flour). They were exactly what I was craving.
I will be making another batch, along with your healthy banana and healthy blueberry muffins later today to get us ready for back to school!
Take Care,
Merrily
Thank you for sharing, Merrily! I’m glad you have found something that works for you.
These are so delicious!! Grandkids approved, too!!
Wonderful, Tina! Thank you for your review.
I just made this last night, and it wasn’t very sweet. Is there any way to substitute the honey for Splenda or another zero-calorie sweetener? Other than that, these were amazing! I’ll have to add less baking soda next time, too. <3
Hi Isle, changing the type of sweetener will impact the recipe result as baking is quite precise. Sorry to disappoint!
Delicious!! I tried a few different toppings. Oats, pecans, and chocolate chips. The chocolate chip ones are my favorites. These were sooo easy to make. I will definitely be making these again!!
That’s great, Emily! Thank you for your review.
Hi
Is it possible to use almond flour instead of whole wheat in the healthy pumpkin muffins? Would it be the same amount?
Hi Andrea, Unfortunately almond flour isn’t a great 1:1. You could try How to Make Oat Flour
Very good – using the recipe as posted. Delicate, not greasy and just sweet enough for a muffin. Today’s muffin recipes are all too often sweet as dessert cake, so this is a welcome change.
Another amazing recipe, thanks Kate! This was super easy to make and I love the healthy ingredients.
That’s great to hear, Chole! Thank you for your review.
Another amazing recipe, thanks Kate! This was easy to make and I love the healthy ingredients.
We LOVE these. Healthy and taste amazing so my husband will eat them. We add extra spice and cinnamon because we always do with pumpkin recipes. We bake them and keep them in the freezer and zap them in the micro in the morning to enjoy for breakfast. I will be saving this recipe for life!!
Hi Kate,
I made this recipe for the first time and the muffins were light and fluffy. But i had a strong after taste of the baking soda. It’s too strong for me. Is there anything i could do to counter it? Maybe could i use having powder instead? Thanks
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that. Make sure you are using fresh and the correct amount. Baking powder and baking soda aren’t interchangeable, sorry!