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.
I made these for breakfast this morning. Fall weather is finally moving in and I had a can of pumpking that’s been calling out to be used. Although pretty good, I found the flavor to be pretty mild. I don’t taste a lot of pumpkin or spice. Next time I’ll add extra spice and a little stevia as well. Very moist tho!
Pumpkin everything! I’m sorry you thought the flavor was mild. But yes, increase your favorite spice if you like more. I appreciate your feedback and review!
Made these today, I used organic all purpose flour, and I only had about 3/4 C of organic maple so I I filled the rest of cup with honey. Added some chopped walnuts and it turned out amazing!
Love love love your website!
Thanks for sharing, Kat!
Just wondering what size can of pumpkin purée is used in the recipe. I would hate to use the wrong size.
15oz can is the standard size in the US and use 1 cup for the recipe!
I decided to double the recipe as my kids go through muffins so fast. I wasn’t as organized as I should have been- I realized didn’t have nutmeg and allspice- so had to omit them, then I ran out of all purpose gluten free flour so created my own (luckily had some substitutions handy)…they still turned out awesome!
I’m glad you were able to make it work with what you had! Thank you, Paula!
Fantastic muffins. Great flavor, everyone loves them for breakfast on the go or for a night time snack
Thanks for sharing, Kim!
Can I use oat flour? Thanks :)
Use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose blend works well instead of the whole wheat flour to make them gluten free.
I don’t typically review recipes but these muffins were amazing! I couldn’t tell that these muffins were super healthy because they were so moist and tasty! will definitely make these again.
Thanks for sharing, Kellie!
Hi There! I have made this recipe about 5 times this month. It is my favorite easy pumpkin muffin. It is healthy and the kids love them too! I always want tondouble the recipe but a can of pumpkin is less than 2 cups of pumpkin. So, either open another can for just about 2 Tablespoons more and waste the rest, or only make one recipe and waste the rest of the can. BUT this evening I doubled the recipe and added Tablespoons applesauce to make up for the pumpkin. They turned out fine!
That’s a lot! But I love it! :) Thank you for sharing, Kelly.
Just made these muffins with the maple syrup option and they were yummy! A hit with the whole family!
Wonderful, Cindy! Thanks so much for the review.
Hi Kate! We made these today since we are in full blown pumpkin mode and wanted something on the healthier side to add to our growing collection of pumkpin treats. I roasted a couple sugar pumpkins and pureed the flesh so I had a lot of puree to use up. I used local honey and whole, raw milk in ours since I had a bunch to use and blended the oats up a bit for a little less texture. I also topped mine with pumpkin seeds before baking. They are absolutely wonderful!! Mine were still looking kind of underbaked after 25 min so I put them in for an additional 3 min and let them cool in the muffin tin. I believe the extra moisture in my fresh pumkpin puree caused the increase in bake time. Next time around I’ll try leaving out the 1/4 cup milk and baking for the recommended time at 350°F. Definitely a winning recipe for healthy breakfast muffins! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your method! I’m excited you love these.
I love these muffins so much! Can I also use this recipe to make pumpkin bread as opposed to muffins? I just love how your pumpkin muffin recipe includes oats! Thanks so much!
I actually have a healthy pumpkin bread recipe! Check it out: https://capital-fly.pro/2016/healthy-pumpkin-bread-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
What type of salt do you use for these, Kate? Tks!
Fine grain salt! I hope this helps.
Can you substitute the white whole wheat flour with almond flour? Thanks.
Unfortunately, almond flour doesn’t quick work the same. Sorry!
Awesome! I was looking for a sugar-free cupcake recipe for my daughter’s 1 year birthday in October, and thought pumpkin would be cool, and found this! Cannot WAIT to try it !!!
Let me know what you think, Jacklyn!
Hello, Cookie and Kate!
I really liked this recipe. I made it today with some adjustments. I used gluten-free flours and added chopped pecans and raisins. The flour combination I used was: 1 cup Bob’s 1-to-1 GF flour mix, 1/2 cup oat flour, and 1/4 cup coconut flour. Instead of putting the whole oats on top, I just folded in a half-cup of instant oats into the dry ingredients. I used whole cow’s milk, real eggs, and the maple syrup as called for. They are silky in their deliciousness, and they rose beautifully!!
Thank you, Wendy! I’m sure this will be helpful to other gluten free readers. I appreciate your review!
How would you make it with leftover oatmeal instead of uncooked oats? Thankful for a dairy free recipe that has eggs.
Hi Rebecca! I’m glad you liked this one. Unfortunately, I haven’t made it with cooked oatmeal before and I’m not sure that they would turn out. Very interesting thought!
I made it with cooked oatmeal and it was great – I just used a little less flour and a little more baking soda to counteract the density of the cooked oats.
Just finished…these muffins are simply delicious
Thanks a lot!
You’re welcome, Zita!
I just made two batches of these with spelt flour instead of wheat flour, mixing in apple pieces in the first batch and blueberries in the second. My kids absolutely loved them, it’s a good thing I made enough so I can pack some in their lunch boxes tomorrow.
Thank you, Julie!
I wanted to love these. I baked with coconut oil & maple syrup, I added some chocolate chips too. The texture is great, but I do not taste pumpkin, only the perfume of coconut oil. I wound up the pumpkin rather than the oil, and more spice.
I’m sorry you didn’t love these! Thank you for sharing, though.
I modified the recipe a bit. I omitted the milk and just used a 15oz can of pumpkin and 4 eggs. It turned out great. Toasting the jars really makes for a rich nutty flavor. I also just baked them in a Pyrex pan and made bars. They are fantastic!
Thank you for sharing your modification, Chelsea! I appreciate your review.
Hi, thanks for your recipe.
I did not have maple syrup but put in a little less than 1/2cup brown sugar. I made mini muffins and they are great. Not too sweet, but amazing. Thanks again. I also have made your zucchini bread recipe and love it.
Karen
a little less than
You’re welcome, Karen!
This recipe turned out great! And it was easy. I used sugar-free fake maple syrup, and almond milk. And I just had plain white flour instead of the wheat. Delicious. I might increase the spice amount slightly next time. And there will most definitely be a next time for this recipe!
Thanks for sharing, Rose!
Just made these for the 1st time and not only are they super easy, they taste great! They are so light and stored well overnight. I think I might spice it up a bit but that’s because I love the fall spices. I will be serving these at my B&B!
Thanks for sharing the C+K at your B&B! I appreciate it.
Turned out great. Wonderful.
Minor variation – Bumped up the pumpkin purée to 1.5 cups and folded in chocolate chips in the end.
Thank you for sharing!
Didn’t have enough whole wheat flour so I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup almond flour. Turned out amazing! The almond flour actually added a bit of moisture and crumbly texture which made it feel like it was made from white flour! I think I’ll try this flour combo again with some other muffins.
I’m glad it worked with almond flour for you!
Yum!! Can’t believe it’s healthy. So moist and so tasty! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Cassandra! I’m glad you liked it.
I’ve made these successfully many times, sometimes with variations, and just wanted to stop by to mention that I always start my muffins an oven preheated hot (425) and then turn down to 350 when I put them in. The initial heat-blast helps them rise, or so it seems.
Thanks for sharing!
I love this recipe and I have made your apple muffins, and I quite often make your banana muffins (pretty much my go-to whenever I have bananas on hand). I was wondering whether you ever tried making this with sweet potato? I was thinking of using purple yam/ube, but I was curious as to your opinion of whether they would need more or less of some of the ingredients above. I am not that knowledgeable when it comes to baking….
I have not made with sweet potato. Interesting though! I would need to try it to make sure it would work 1:1, but sweet potato puree should be pretty similar to pumpkin. Baking can be tricky!
I made them for Christmas brunch. I made them as mini-muffins, and used Kind Arther 1-to-1 gluten free flour in place of the flour. I was afraid they were going to be fragile, but they were not. I didn’t use muffin liners, but I greased and floured the tin and they came right out without breaking. They were delicious too – big hit with everyone. I will be making them again. Thank you!
Sorry for the typo – that should read King Arthur. I was too lazy to put my glasses on while typing.
I’m happy to hear they were just a hit, Patty!
These muffins are almost a staple in my house. I don’t use eggs or oil
( I substitute pumpkin, banana and/or applesauce) and they are delicious! Over the holiday, I added extra ginger powder, crystalized ginger and dark chocolate chips. SO YUMMY and people think they are a special treat.
Hi, could I use almond flour instead of whole wheat?
Unfortunately, I don’t think almond flour would work here. Sorry! I haven’t tried it, but typically almond flour isn’t a 1:1 substitute.
I could eat all of these muffins in one sitting! They are so good! As always, thanks for sharing!
Have you ever tried substituting almond flour for the white/wheat flour ? Would love to try making these but only have almond flour right now. Thanks ! Have tried other recipes if youra before and they are always so good!
Typically, almond flour doesn’t work as a 1:1 substitute. I haven’t tried it with this one, but I’m not sure it would work. Sorry! I’m happy you have enjoyed the other recipes.
so good!!! made with whole wheat flour and veg oil. didn’t have any more cinnamon and added more of the other spices by mistake — and it was amazing!
so i used ½ teaspoon ground ginger,1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice. thank you!
I’m happy you still were able to enjoy it, Danica. Thanks for your feedback and review!
I made these with buckwheat flour and regular flour, because I did not have whole wheat flour at the time. I used the majority as buckwheat probably 60%. I added a small amount very lightly sweetened maple syrup granola with pumpkin seeds. I also added a handful of raisins. I used honey, organic, raw. I also used the organic virgin coconut oil. They were delicious! Can’t wait to try the pumpkin pecan scones. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing, Tammy!
I followed the directions carefully and these were delicious! Used coconut oil. They were done after the minimum baking time. I have made the cranberry orange and blueberry muffin recipes as well and loved them all. For those used to sweet cake like muffins (like my mom!), these may not taste very sweet at first bite but they are so much better than those, satisfying but still light and fluffy and I love the maple syrup flavor.
Thank you, Sheila!
These are wonderful muffins! I’m not gonna lie — we’ve been making these every week recently (and freezing any leftovers to roll forward to the next week). I saw someone mentioned that using a whole can of pumpkin ruined the texture — we actually use the whole can every week (the first time was a mistake but after that, it’s been intentional :)) and increase the cooking time by about ten minutes. The muffins come out perfectly every time! Super simple, delicious, and packed with nutrients — how can you go wrong? Thank you for another perfect recipe!
I love that! Every week, something to look forward to. Thank you, Jennifer!
made these for my husband and he loved them! if i tried to make these into a savory muffin, would just leaving out the honey/maple do?
Picked up my pumpkin pure today and stoked to make these!!! Question Kate, what is that sauce on the muffins you show in the photo?? Am I missing it in the recipe bc it looks delicious!
I can’t wait to hear what you think! The sauce is just nut butter! 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 lunch time.
Delicious recipe! Thank you Kate. I used a blend of Kamut and Buckwheat flours and they turned out great. I also like raisins with my pumpkin muffins, so I added a handful too. My new go-to for pumpkin!
I have made these twice in the past week. The first time, I went with the basic recipe. The second time, I added in raisins and coconut and I put on a crumble topping. The plain muffins were yummy. I enjoyed them and would certainly make them again.
The muffins with the add ins were beyond yummy. The coconut gave them a decadent richness. The muffins themselves were extremely moist and fluffy. And the crumble topping was… well, crumble topping. :) I am one of those girls who’s gotta have my crumble!
Thanks, Deborah! I’m glad you are enjoying these muffins so much.
I’ve been making these muffins for the past year and they are delicious! My toddler’s favorite-she has one for breakfast. I make 2 dozen each month and freeze some to save for later. They’re absolutely divine plain or with some almond butter. I sub 1/2 spelt flour with whole wheat flour. Sometimes I add in cacao nibs. I’ve tried them with both maple syrup and honey, and I prefer these made with maple syrup. Thanks for the recipe!!
You’re welcome! Thanks for letting me know how much you both love them!
I made this recipe as directed and quite enjoy it. I like how simple it is to put together and as a quick sweet fix. I’ll definitely be making these again and trying out those pumpkin scones. Thanks for sharing. :)
You’re welcome, NeeNee.
So delicious. I substituted the milk with coconut milk and the coconut oil with melted butter. Turned out delicious and I really love how fluffy the muffin is. I topped the muffin with a little baking chocolate for my little girl so that I could trick her into eating a healthy wholemeal pumpkin muffin. ;) Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
Thanks for sharing, May! I’m glad you loved them with your variation.
Great muffins, definately added a little more of the spices. I accidentally added a whole can of the pumpkin puree but I added flax meal so it soaked up some of that. Mine ended up denser then the original I’d imagine but great muffins! Especially with a few dark chocolate chips on top
Thank you for sharing, Red! The flaxseed likely made them more dense, but I’m happy you enjoyed them.
Can I use canned pumpkin instead of pumpkin purée?
Canned pumpkin should still be in purée form. :) So, you should be good!
I love all of your recipes. We make your banana bread weekly but also enjoy your pumpkin and oatmeal blueberry muffins.
Also love the blackbean kale burrotos and bowls as well as the blackbean soup.
Just wish you would include nutritional info like calories, fat, etc
All wonderful recipes, Danielle! Thanks so much for your review.
I made these this morning and I really enjoyed them. I had to make some substitutions bc i didn’t realize I didn’t have everything after I had already set my heart on making them! (Brown sugar (1/3 cup) instead of honey; applesauce instead of oil; a mix of all-purpose flour & whole wheat flour)Even with these changes they were delicious. I ate it warm with some almond butter. Yum!
I’m glad you were able to make it work with what you had! I appreciate it, Megan.
Can these be made using mini muffin pan instead? If so, would they bake for a shorter period of time?? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I rarely bake haha
I haven’t tried it, but I believe it has worked well for others. I would suggest watching them at a lower time. I’m not sure exactly how long. You could always search the comments to see what others recommend.
I knew I would love this recipe just from the ingredients, plus the fact that you love dogs.
I used honey and coconut oil, whole wheat flour and had the spices in hand. Also added walnuts and chocolate chips.
Am anxious to try it again with different ingredients.
Dogs are pretty great! So it this recipe. Thanks for sharing, Chris.