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.
Mmm!!! I’ve made these muffins twice in as many weeks and they are delicious! So much more filling and tasty than the over-sweet muffins you buy at the bakery.
Made these tonight using spelt flour mmmmm so good! Thank you!
I found this recipe randomly when looking for things to do with my many sweet potatoes that I got from a farmer, and I know pumpkin and sweet potato can be used interchangeably so I fell in love with the idea of making it filled with oatmeal and maple syrup! They tasted delicious with the sweet potato mashed up instead, and I used regular flour instead of whole wheat since I did not have any. Great recipe, and I look forward to making it in the fall as well!
I was so excited to make these muffins but really thought they would have more flavor…. Not very pumpkin spice flavored.
I tripled the recipe (because that’s exactly two cans of pumpkin!), and made a few substitutions:
– I used only a cup of maple syrup instead of 1 1/2 cups; this was not sweet enough so I added a little more, plus some vegan chocolate chips.
-I made a flax egg with 6 tablespoons of ground flax, and 3/4 cup water
-I used gluten free all-purpose flour
-I used 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup canola oil (so it wouldn’t have too strong an olive flavor)
It turned out well and made 40 muffins!
Kate,
This recipe was fantastic! I switched it up a little bit by adding 1 Tbsp molasses to the batter and added pumpkin seeds on top. It makes the flavor a little richer and my son LOVED them. Getting healthy foods into a picky teenager is hard. I am happy to say we will be making this on again.
Next up – your carrot cake muffins!
I made this muffin recipe today with a few modifications: I replaced the pumpkin with applesauce, replaced the spices with 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom, and placed two slices of fresh plum in the bottom of each muffin cup before filling with batter. They were FANTASTIC. Crisp, chewy edge and soft, not-too-sweet middle. Thanks for sharing a great, easy-to-substitute muffin base.
I made these for my family as a healthy treat, and they Loved it! It made the whole house smell heavenly and they tasted amazing!! Thanks for the recipe:)
My daughters and I have made many of your recipes and love them all but recently have started to watch our weight. I am looking forward to making this recipe (pumpkin muffins) but am looking for the nutritional content, specifically the calories and fat content. Is there a place on your site for this info? I couldn’t seem to find any,
Thanks, Karoll
Is it possible to make these gluten free without completely messing up the recipe?
Hi Kate!
I would really like to bake those delicious mouthwatering muffins!
But could you please tell me the measurements in gram? The online conversions have different results…
It would be a great help, if you can tell me at least the measurements from the flour!
Thanks a lot :)
I look for recipes with coconut oil instead of butter and this one has fantastic flavor and texture! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Kate,
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. I’m over in the UK and wondered if the oven temperatures stated are for fan assisted ovens or not?
Thank you!
Hi Katy, my oven doesn’t have a fan.
Can I use a can of just pumpkin not purée?
I used 1 cup of pumpkin puree from a can.
I added 1/2 cup of mushed frozen blueberries and it turned out delicious. I also used Red mills 1 for 1 glutenfree flour and used rice milk instead of almond milk. They are the most moist gluten free muffins I have made yet. I will use this recipe again. Thank you.
Thank you for letting me know, Tabitha! Your muffins sound great!
Hi there,
How do I make pumpkin puree?
Kirst :)
I have made this recipe so many times! They turn out perfect and my daughter loves them for breakfast too!
I just made these and I can’t believe how amazing they turned out! Until now most of my healthy baking attemps were more or less a failure.. These little guys however are super fluffy, not too sweet and the warming spices are just right for rainy days. Thank you, I love it!
I’m excited to try out your zucchini bread which is gonna ne next :)
Cheers!
Made these and filled the house with Fall aromas. Loved them!
Added some dried cranberries and almonds.
Im new to your blog and have really enjoyed what we’ve made so far! We’ve done both the zucchini and banana bread recipes and have loved them! These are next on the list. Is white whole wheat flour a fine sub in this recipe for the pastry flour? Thanks for giving us a great and tasty start to our mornings!
Welcome to the blog, Helen! I’m glad you’re here. Yes, white whole wheat flour should work fine!
My toddler helps me make these and everyone loves them! We substituted the wheat flour for oat flour and they are still amazing. Thanks for the great recipe!
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know, Emily!
Just made a double batch for my kids in this hurricane day off from school! Made with cocoa eggs. Perfect with choc chips and pecans. Thank you!
Oops. Spell check. Chia eggs
Cocoa eggs sound delicious, though! ;) Glad you all enjoyed these!
Seriously delicious!!! I love that I can feel great about serving these to my family too. Thank you!
Yay, thanks Mariah!
What’s the nutritional value of these muffins, I made them and ate half the recipe….oops
Uhhhh, these are AMAZING! I love pumpkin baked goods in the fall, and this is just the “healthier” recipe I was looking for. So enjoying them with my coffee this week :) I froze them and take out a few at a time and they thaw perfectly! So moist and delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
I made this recipe but in my rush to finish this while my daughter was asleep I added an entire can of pumpkin purée, not 1 cup ;( no wonder it tastes bland!!! I’ll make the maple glaze and drizzle some on top, so disappointed!!
Hi. I am interested in making your pumpkin bread and/or muffins, and I was wondering about the pumpkin purée. Should the pumpkin be cooked first, or puréed raw? Thanks!
Although ingredients are healthy I found these muffins very heavy. Personally I wouldn’t make again
Great texture and flavor! I have given up baking since I started eating healthier, so it is nice to know there are still ways to bake delicious food that is not full of sugar/butter. I made this on the fly and didn’t have any allspice/ground ginger, but I think the flavor is still pretty good.
Yay! I too am a member of the ‘defrost home-made muffins for easy breakfast’ camp XD I pick one day during the month, make 3-4 batches of different flavored muffins, freeze them in bags, and defrost as needed on mornings when I’m too lazy to actually cook breakfast. I actually stumbled across your page looking for healthier muffin recipes, and it’s now one of my bookmarks. Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes…including this one, which will be included in tomorrow’s batch of mass muffin-making XD
I just made these muffins twice and they are wonderful! I am diabetic and eating one did not raise my blood glucose significantly. It is hard to find nice baked goods that diabetics can enjoy!
I did a couple of modifications to the recipe – I increased the oatmeal to 1/2 cup as I did not intend to sprinkle any on top. I doubled the cinnamon on the 2nd batch and will probably add even more on the next batch, I added a cube of ‘light’ cream cheese to the centre of each muffin (put in half of the batter, then cream cheese, then remainder of batter) I also added 5 or 6 pecans to the top of each muffin. They look and taste delicious! Thank you so much, Kate, I will be checking out the rest of your recipes and looking for your cookbook!
Excellent recipe! I made these yesterday, not too sweet just perfect!
I just made this recipe with honey and only one egg plus I used Kodiak cakes pancake waffle and baking mix the one with higher protein. I also could not find my muffin tin and ended up making in an 8 x 8 pan cutting them into squares when cooled. Needless to say they were delicious!! Thank you for making such a versatile recipe! This one is definitely a keeper
Thanks, Felicia! I’m glad the recipe worked well for you!
This recipe looks great! I can’t wait to try, but any tips for the leftover pumpkin puree in my 15 oz can? It usually has 1 3/4 cups of puree and your recipe just requires 1 cup.
Hope you love the muffins! Here are my other pumpkin recipes.
I just made these and CANNOT wait to take a bite!
Hooray! Hope they turned out perfect. :)
I didn’t know what size of pumpkin can – I have the larger can so am not sure if it would be only one half of the can.
This recipe just needs 1 cup puree.
Sorry but this recipe didn’t cut it for me. The muffins were so dense, not fluffy at all. The flavor was very bland. The pumpkin flavor didn’t stand out at all. I wanted to love them. I love pumpkin muffins and need a healthy alternative. But this one was not at all delicious. Not even worth the healthy calories.
These are delicious! I made a batch and froze half of them for easy breakfasts. I just defrost one overnight, pop it in the toaster oven for a few minutes, and top it with peanut butter. So yummy :)
I just made this recipe yesterday, on a rainy day, and they’re delicious. However, I tweaked it up a bit; I had pumpkin pie mix, so I added only 1/4 cup of honey instead, since the pumpkin is sweetened.
Thank you, Kaitlyn! I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins.
Just made these today but subbed 3/4 cup coconut sugar for the maple syrup/honey and flax eggs for the eggs. Sprinkled the top with oats, pepitas, cinnamon and a tiny bit more coconut sugar. SO GOOD. I’ve been searching for a good vegan pumpkin muffin and I’m happy to say I finally found one!
Thank you, Olivia! Your version sounds great!
This is great! I used whole grain flour I milled myself and went with an entire can of pumpkin puree. I also injected the middle with a sweetened cream cheese because I was looking for a way to use up my half-bar of cheese. Anyway, I love the muffin flavor and texture. Delicious!
Thanks, Niki! Your version sounds amazing!
These are delicious! I substituted 0-calorie pancake syrup for half the maple syrup, and added 1/3 cup of chopped pecans, plus a tiny pinch of brown sugar on top of each muffin.
I appreciate how well-written the recipe is — ingredients are in order, and you don’t have to dirty too many measures or bowls.
My only grumble is why have a recipe that only makes 10 muffins when every muffin tin has 12 holes?
The pumpkin pie spices are not very strong, so next time I might use rounded measures to pack a little more punch, and/or use cloves instead of allspice.
Thank you, Rachelle! I agree with the 10-muffin comment now that I think about it, but I would have had to turn all of the measurements into funny amounts to fill 12.
I made a version of these with cashew milk, chia eggs, earth balance instead of oil, and added a little bit of dark chocolate chips. The texture was dense (in a good way), soft and moist and they were great with coffee. However, the flavor was definitely not pumpkin-spicey so next time I would increase the cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. I also didn’t have any ginger so that may have contributed to the lack of spice as well. But honestly I think I could double or triple the spice. Mind you my husband and I mostly cook Indian food so we definitely like strong flavors!
Finally, I think I’ll swap out the maple syrup for regular brown sugar. The sweetness level was fine, but 1/2 c maple syrup is pretty expensive! It’s good to know that the maple syrup works though, since some vegans I bake for might not eat sugar. Overall thanks for a good recipe!
Thank you for your feedback, Jackie!
Your healthy pumpkin muffins are amazing! I made them today and brought to work getting rave reviews . Thanks for recipe . Calorie and nutritiinal info?
Thanks, Linda! I’m so glad you enjoyed them. I’m going to try to add nutrition info this weekend. It’s a big project!
Made with honey. Tasted like cardboard. Really delicious cardboard though!
Needs glaze or honey for dipping! Or add a little bit of sugar to recipe…
This is a wonderful recipe! I used honey and substituted a quarter cup more oatmeal for a quarter cup of the flour. I also mixed in dark chocolate chips and doubled the nutmeg (I really like to taste the nutmeg). They are so light and fluffy! I’m in love.
Hooray! Thanks, Charlotte!
I love your Healthy Pumpkin Muffins recipe! I found this recipe about a month ago and have made a fresh batch pretty much every week since! It’s our new favorite muffin recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Angie! That’s fantastic to hear!
LOVE, love love these muffins! The perfect muffin for fall. Followed the recipe to a T (other than adding in chocolate chips), they were super delicious-oh my goodness. When I came home from work, my boyfriend had a guilty look on his face – and confessed he had ate three! Will be making again and again and look forward to trying different mix-ins.
Thanks for the simple, easy to follow recipe!
Thank you, Emily! I’m so glad you found my recipe, and I appreciate your note!
Looks great. I was looking for a pumpkin recipe with less sugar and fat. Yours has so much less sugar than the ones I’ve seen. Going to try it later. Yum. Thanks :)
Just made them. I has some mango jam that strangely I didnt like too much so I used that in place of the maple syrup (the mango flavour was not strong) and I used flax eggs and used half whole wheat and white flour.
They were baked at exactly 24 mins and they are so fluffy I am shocked!!! They also are moist and have the perfect sweetness. My dad is watching his sugar and fat intake so I am sure he will enjoy these. Thanks so much!!!
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know!