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 look amazing! Would it work to add fresh cranberries to this recipe?
Hi Stephanie, we haven’t tried, but you could start by adding 1/2 cup of dried cranberries to the batter. Let us know how it goes!
Forgot the 5 star rating lol
Wow! These are my new go-to recipe for pumpkin muffins! The crumb cake and maple icing top off a beautiful moist and delicious muffin. I don’t normally eat breads, cakes, etc. but love to bake for others. These are irresistible. A HUGE hit in my house! I made nine jumbo muffins baking 22-25 min at 350 after the first 5 minutes at 425.
These are the BEST! I made 12 because I didn’t want to wash another pan, and they came out like a perfect bakery muffin with that beautiful domed top! Will definitely be making these again.
These are delicious but every time I make them the batter rises up and swallows the crumb topping, covering it up. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Cathy, it sounds like your crumb topping may be a bit too warm/overworked a bit. After you make the crumb topping, you can place it in the refrigerator for a few minutes to help it cool/solidify, which should help it retain its shape better on the muffins. Be sure to also slightly press down on the crumbs, but not too much, so that they stay in place. We hope this helps for next time!
Absolutely amazing. I’ve made them several times with no adjustments. I think I’ll try them in 9×9 next time.
I impressed quite a few people with this recipe. It’s the perfect combination of pumpkin and maple syrup. Goodness! The texture of the crumb topping adds another level of yumminess! Make these tomorrow!
Do you think this recipe would work in an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan? Or a loaf pan like 9 x 5? So sorry if you have already answered this somewhere!!
Hi Elise, you certainly could. We’d recommend a 9×9 inch baking pan or a 9×5 inch loaf pan. For a 9×9, bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes, but use a toothpick to test for doneness just in case your oven takes longer. For a 9×5-inch loaf pan, we’re unsure of the exact bake time, but you can use this pumpkin bread as a guide. Enjoy!
Can you make them Jumbo with the same recipe to make maybe 6?
Hi Dave, absolutely — you can follow the bake time from these jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide. Enjoy!
These are so good! Just wondering, do you have the macro info for this recipe?
Hi Danielle, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Do you think I could sub sweet potato here?
Hi Amber, Puréed sweet potatoes work, yes.
This looks delicious
Hi, could full fat Greek yogurt be substituted for the oil? Thanks in advance!
Hi Pam! Oil is really best for these muffins.
These muffins are so yummy!!. I didn’t add the icing, amazing without it. Thank you so much. These remind me of fall. I shared them with so many people . They have never disappointed . Perfect every time.
Do you have to use pure maple syrup or will regular pancake syrup work too?
I’ve made these once before and they are SO good. I’m just lazy and don’t want to go to the grocery store
Hi Suzie, pure maple syrup is best here. Pancake syrup is thinner and has added sugars.
I just made this for the first time OMG absolutely love it. Will definitely make them again and again. lol. thank you so much for this recipe
Wow! These are incredible!
They are amazing in flavor and textures and are as gorgeous as they are delicious!
The recipe made exactly 15 muffins, following the recipe exactly as written, no changes or substitutions.
If you want to impress someone – this is the recipe to do it!
I did make my topping first and allowed it to chill while I did everything else.
A meat masher helped break up the crumble since it had hardened up some – but it was worth the extra step, because the crumble is so crunchy and delicious!
I made these today, but the dough came out too dense. I used exact measurements and baking times as well (even going a bit over to help dry it out).
Unsure of what went wrong… I’ll try again soon! Maybe with 1/2 c less canned pumpkin to help reduce the moisture in the batter.
Hi Madison! The batter was too wet? Did your pumpkin puree seem extra watery?
Have you tried baking these in the tulip cupcake liners? Would that work? Trying to find cute fall muffin liners and the tulips are so cute
Hi Emily, we’re sure they could work!
Made tonight – delicious and easy to make!
These were delicious. The taste and texture are fantastic. Did substitute Honey for the maple syrup -and then added my pumpkin pie spice to the glaze and it was delicious, other than that I followed exactly. Great recipe
I I noticed that the pin button is missing from your recent posts am I just not finding it?
Hi Kari! The Pinterest button is below the gray recipe card and the pink Fall Recipes email sign-up box. Hope this helps!
These are incredible! Such an easy recipe and so delicious. I used browned butter instead of oil (1/2 cup) & Buttermilk instead of milk. They came out so darn tasty thank you for another great recipe!
Haven’t made them yet but I’m excited. Would you recommend storing them in the refrigerator? Or would it be just as good to leave them out for a day/overnight, so they aren’t too cold in the morning?
Hi Kay, we recommend storing at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Delicious! My 12 and 14 year old loved them. I subbed butter for the oil, and they turned out very fluffy and moist. A must try recipe.
The BEST pumpkin muffins I have ever had hands down! Do not skip the maple glaze it’s incredible!
These are SO delicious!! Is there a baking time/temp adjustment if I make these as jumbo muffins instead of regular sized muffins?
Hi Cassie, We’re so glad you love them! You can follow the bake time from these jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide. Enjoy!
Delicious!!! I didn’t have pumpkin spice nor the spices to make it. I did have cinnamon, ginger and allspice. Add a pinch of fennel, cardamon and surprise!!! Yum!!! The crumb on top definitely needed salted butter. I only had unsalted.
Do you think this recipe would work for a loaf?
Hi Jo, 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.
Can you make batter ahead of time, if so how many days and what is the best way to store?
Hi Maddy, no, we don’t recommend making the batter ahead of time. The baking soda is activated once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, so the rise will be compromised if the batter is made ahead. It’s best to make it right away after mixing.
The best muffins I’ve ever made!
Hi Tammy, no, milk is best here to help thin out the batter. You can use any kind of milk, though.
Loved these so much! The crumb topping was such a good addition to these.