These super soft pumpkin crumb cake muffins are topped with pumpkin spice crumbs and finished with sweet maple icing. They’re a reader favorite and after baking one batch, you’ll understand why!
I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since added new photos and more success tips.
Let’s be honest: the crumbs are the best part of crumb cake.
At least, that’s what I thought… until I created these. Underneath the crumbly pumpkin spice topping is an irresistible pumpkin muffin—soft, moist, and full of fall flavor. And when you add the maple icing? Forget about any other breakfast food (unless you’re making a batch of these baked pumpkin donuts!).
Readers’ Favorite Pumpkin Muffins
Like clockwork, September rolls around and we all go crazy for these pumpkin crumb cake muffins. They’re the perfect combination of everything we love about fall. Their ease and flavor also help us transition into the chillier months.
Here’s why you’ll love them:
- The batter is based off of my pumpkin bread—it’s SO good
- Easy to make and no mixer required
- Ready in less than one hour
- Soft and moist thanks to power ingredients like pumpkin, oil, eggs, and milk
- Topped with pumpkin spice crumbs + maple icing (you could also leave them plain and you’ll basically have my regular pumpkin muffins)
- Delicious as a breakfast, snack, or dessert
- Packed with warm and cozy fall spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves
How to Make Pumpkin Crumb Cake Muffins
Instead of using my iced pumpkin coffee cake recipe as the base, I turned to my pumpkin bread. I LOVE using that bread recipe to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. All you do here is take out the chocolate chips, reduce the sugar, and use milk instead of orange juice. Though you could definitely use orange juice if you’d like! (Orange juice provides incredible flavor to the bread, trust me on that one.)
Made with basic ingredients, these pumpkin muffins come together quickly.
Mix the dry ingredients together. This includes lots of spice flavor and you can use homemade pumpkin pie spice here.
Whisk the wet ingredients together. Combine wet and dry ingredients, then fill the muffin cups—almost full, but leave room for the topping.
Make the crumb topping. Spoon it evenly onto each muffin, pressing the crumbs into the tops. Bake, then whisk the 3 icing ingredients together. Drizzle and serve.
Pumpkin Spice Crumb Topping
If you thought crumb topping couldn’t get any better, think again. We’re topping pumpkin crumb cake muffins with pumpkin spice crumbs. YES!
We use oil in the muffins themselves for extra moisture, but we use melted butter in the crumb topping. Why? FLAVOR. The crumb topping also has brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and pumpkin pie spice. (Like my traditional crumb cake topping but with pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon.) There are repeat ingredients used in the muffins, so this is not only an easy recipe, it’s a convenient one too. By the way, this crumb topping would be fantastic on zucchini muffins and these chocolate pumpkin muffins, too.
I reduced the sugar in these muffins because they’re getting an extra dose of sweet from the crumb topping and maple icing. With that, I also reduced the salt to make sure the muffins didn’t taste salty with less sugar.
Optional Maple Icing
“Optional” might not be the right word here, because the icing seeping into the crumb topping is outstanding. While the muffins are wonderful on their own, I highly recommend the quick maple drizzle for an extra indulgent finish.
You could also try the maple icing on these mini pumpkin muffins, too.
Be sure to enjoy a batch with a cup of coffee and homemade pumpkin coffee creamer for the ultimate fall breakfast!
More Crumb Lover Recipes
- Coffee Cake
- Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- Crumb Cake Donuts
- Apple Crumb Cake
- Crumb Cake Muffins
- Raspberry Almond Crumb Cake
- Zucchini Crumb Cake
- Crumb Coffee Cake
Pumpkin Crumb Cake Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 15 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft and moist pumpkin crumb cake muffins with pumpkin pie spice and maple icing topping.
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) canola or vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) canned pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk, at room temperature*
Crumb Topping
- 3/4 cup (94g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice*
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
Maple Icing (optional)
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) pure maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. This recipe makes 15 muffins, so prepare a second muffin pan in the same manner. Set aside.
- Make the muffins: In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together until combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs and milk together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold everything together gently just until combined and no flour pockets remain.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them almost full.
- Make the crumb topping: Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice together until combined. Using a fork, lightly mix in the melted butter until crumbs form. Don’t over-mix. Spoon crumbs evenly on top of the batter and gently press them down into the batter so they’re snug.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C) then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21-22 minutes, give or take. Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes in the muffin pan as you make the icing. *For mini muffins, bake for 11-13 minutes at 350°F (177°C) the entire time.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together until combined and smooth. Drizzle over muffins and serve warm. Cover tightly and store at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: For longer storage, freeze muffins (with or without icing) for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or warm up in the microwave if desired. Top with icing before serving if needed.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Spatula | Whisk
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can find pumpkin pie spice in the baking aisle of most grocery stores or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have either and want to use individual spices, use 1/4 teaspoon each of ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground allspice in the muffin batter. Do not leave out the 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon that is also in the muffin batter. The crumb topping also uses pumpkin pie spice and, again, if you don’t have store-bought or homemade, use 1/4 teaspoon of each of those spices and add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon too.
- Milk: Any milk works. I’ve tested with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, whole milk, and skim milk. You can use any, dairy or non.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These are great! The crumb is perfect and the flavor of the muffins is excellent. I had more glaze than I needed, but that’s not a bad thing! I will definitely make these again.
Can the batter be frozen?
Hi Andrea! No, we don’t recommend it.
I have gotten so many compliments on these muffins, they are delicious! Thank you for sharing, I can always count on your recipes to be a hit.
I’m looking forward to trying this but I was wondering if I can substitute the granulated sugar in the muffin portion for maple syrup?
Substituting maple syrup would require some testing, since you would be adding more moisture to the muffin batter. It wouldn’t be a 1:1 swap. Let us know if you try anything!
I make these at least once a week for my family. They are so delicious! My 4 year old is picky and eats very little but these are her favorite. Thank you so much!
These are amazing. I’ve made them 4 times in the past month. Super moist and delicious.
Could I double this recipe, or would you recommend making two batches instead?
Hi Cierra, we recommend separate batches for best results. Enjoy!
I’m planning on making this recipe for thanksgiving and I’ve made it in the past as muffins, do you think I can make it as a cake instead, do I need to change any of the measurements
Hi Carolyn! Here’s our pumpkin crumb cake recipe.
I made this absolute masterpiece gluten free by swapping out the flour with Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 and I don’t miss it even a little. They are absolutely blissful. I’m not GF but a couple of my closest friends have been missing out on treats because they are, and this recipe worked out perfectly with the flour alternative. Thank you, Sally, and your team for yet another mind-blowingly awesome, versatile recipe!! These are so tender and delicious and I’m definitely not even telling anyone they are GF when I serve them tomorrow!! (Except my GF friends, of course.) Totally knocked me over. Thank you!!
I just whipped these up but only came out with 12. I guess I overfilled them. The crumb topping was too wet so I had to add flour. I weigh all my ingredients so I don’t know what happened.
Me too. Same exact thing just happened
Could you make into mini muffins and omit streusel topping?
Definitely! Here’s our plain pumpkin muffins recipe, as well.
Could I use this recipe to make a 9×13 coffeecake instead of muffins?
Hi Linda, here is our pumpkin crumb coffee cake instead.
Have you or do you know anyone who has tried gluten free 1:1 flour with this recipe? I love it so much, but I have a friend who is gluten free who loves pumpkin.
Hi KLJ, we haven’t tested it, but let us know if you do!
Just tried it using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free baking flour and I thought it came out just as amazing, just less dense.
These muffins are so delicious! I did have an issue with the muffins sticking to the paper baking cups. Any idea why?
Hi Hollie, it could simply be the brand of cupcake liners. Some work much better than others. If you can try a different brand next time, we’d recommend that! Be sure that the muffins are completely cooled first, too.
Would this recipe work for a 6ct jumbo muffin pan? Baked longer of course. Thanks!
Hi Ashley, absolutely — you can follow the bake time from these jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide. Enjoy!
hello, these are awesome. I baked them yesterday, stored them in a plastic container overnight and the crumb topping got very soft. Any reason why?
Hi Chris, that can happen when there is too much moisture trapped in the container. Leaving it open just a crack will help for next time!
These are so delicious! Followed the recipe and bake time exactly. I took them to work and they were a big hit! Got many requests for the recipe. Thanks, Sally for a great recipe. You are my go to!!
Yum! These muffins are so good and pumpkin-y! They came together very easily. I love the softness of the muffin with the crunch of the topping. I left the maple icing off, but these are delicious without it!
I absolutely love this recipe! I buy extra cans of pumpkin purée and make these through February!
Can I make the batter the night before and then bake them the morning of?
Hi Katy, we don’t recommend making the batter the night before. The leaveners are activated when the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, and it’s best to bake the batter soon thereafter. You can certainly bake the muffins the night before and then rewarm them in the morning. Hope this helps!
Could I make a bread out of this??
Hi E., yes, you can use this batter in a 9×5-inch loaf pan. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but you can use this pumpkin bread as a guide.
Not sure why but these turned out quite flavorless for me and I followed the recipe to a T…. Not sure what happened. They looked great but didn’t taste super great. Bummer!
Can you make these into Jumbo Muffins like some other of your recipes? Thanks
Hi Gail, absolutely — you can follow the bake time from these jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide. Enjoy!
My family absolutely loved this recipe! I added a small cube of cream cheese to the center of each muffin, and was worried they might turn out a little too wet, but it was a perfect addition. Tasty fall treat, and super easy to make as someone who never bakes!
These are absolutely delicious! Oh my! Way better than any bakery. Thank you for this recipe!
Absolutely best pumpkin muffin I have ever made. I made these for the first time last year and have been asked several times to make them again. The flavors are wonderful!
This is the most excellent recipe, I’ve tried many others and they are just not it. You take the ultimate prize for the best muffin recipes altogether!!!!!!
Can’t wait to try this recipe. thank you
I try to avoided vegetable oils, for this recipe would avocado oil be an okay substitute or would it totally ruin the flavor?
Absolutely! I’ve made them with avocado oil before with no issue.
Can I sub almond milk for regular milk?
Yes you can! See recipe notes.
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Have you ever added pecans to the batter or streusel?
Hi Bernadette, You can add them to the batter or add them in after you’ve created the crumb topping or simply sprinkle them on top and slightly press them in like we do with the crumb topping. Let us know how it goes!