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
Hi Sally –
Can’t wait to try these! I’m looking for a good grab-and-go muffin for my kids to be able to eat in the car when we are running late to school. I was wondering if you have any suggestions how to add some protein powder without ruining the texture. Thanks!
Hi Tracy, we don’t have much experience baking with protein powder so can’t offer any advice. Let us know if you give it a try!
Hi Sally!
Cant wait to try these! I volunteer bake at a Ronald McDonald house near me going once a week and baking muffins and scones for the residents there so they can feel a little more like home and have something to grab each morning on their way to the Children’s hospital next door Ill be doing these and your pumpkin cream cheese muffins in November for the residents.
How sweet of you, Terri! We hope the muffins are a hit 🙂
Good morning Sally, I made these muffins the other day and they’re lovely! I am planning to make some more today! I’m a big fan of your recipes! I’ve been making at least twice of your recipes in a week sometime more! I hope your have another baking book coming out!!
Hi could I do this in a cake pan? What would you recommend for baking times? Thanks!
Hi Michelle, sure can! We would use a 9×9 pan. We’re unsure of the bake time exactly. 30 minutes, maybe 35 or a little more. You could also try using a 9×5 loaf pan. You might also enjoy our pumpkin coffee cake!
Hello Sally, I wanted to say thank you so much sharing your lovely recipes with us. I recently tried this recipe and it was awesome! I love the fact that its only makes 12 not 24.
I made these to celebrate the first day of fall with my daughter – perfect! They were so moist and full of great pumpkin flavor. Love this recipe! Thank you!
Wow! These sound *incredible*, I’m looking forward to making them! One quick question first- I have TJ’s Maple Agave blend syrup in the house, do you think that would be ok to use instead of 100% maple syrup?
Hi Christine, I haven’t tested it but I can’t see why not.
Hi I really want to try this recipe and I have some buttermilk leftover in the fridge. Would it be okay to sub the milk for buttermilk?
Hi Hilda! Yes, that should be fine here. Enjoy!
Hi
Would like to make the recipe but I have real pumpkin not canned. Would it work and can I use applesauce instead of oil.
Hi June, you can use real pumpkin puree here. You can try subbing the applesauce for oil, but the cake will not be as moist and may even taste a bit rubbery.
Would anything change in this recipe if you opted for the jumbo muffin Pan? I made your jumbo blueberry muffins and they turned out perfect.
Hi Tara, no changes needed — you can just follow the bake time and directions from the jumbo blueberry muffins. Hope you enjoy these just as much!
I love this recipe- I couldn’t wait to make it this season! If I want to try giant muffins (bakery style) do you have any suggestions other than the time it will take to bake?
Hi Liz, you can follow the directions and bake time from these jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide. Enjoy!
Wow… Just wow. I’m not even on the whole pumpkin train like everyone else but these turned out perfectly. I followed the recipe exactly (using 2% milk). The texture of the muffin itself is amazing, with the crunchy topping, as well as the glaze and the spices stand out beautifully. I brought one to my fiance, before I had even done my own taste test. I was a little worried because he wasn’t saying anything. A few seconds later he came around the corner with a stunned look on his face and started raving about how good they are. Then he proceeded to walk over and help himself to another. Said he couldn’t give me a review right away because he was too busy stuffing it into his face lol.
Hello Sally,
For this Pumpkin Muffin recipe do you recommend blotting out any excess moisture from the Pumpkin purée beforehand or is it okay to just put it in as is without blotting out any excess moisture?
Hi Jessica, we don’t blot out the extra moisture here, but if yours is looking especially wet, feel free to gently blot away some of the excess moisture. Hope you enjoy the muffins!
Good evening from Idaho! I was wondering if I could make jumbo muffins with this recipe? If so, would the cook time be different? Thanks for all your hard work ☺️
Hi Sarah, you sure can! Bake for 5 mins at 425F (like we do for the normal size version) then reduce oven temp to 350F (again, like we do here) and continue baking for 23 or so minutes. Or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let me just say I have made a lot of Sally’s recipes and they are always wonderful, but this one is my favorite and has become a family staple in our home! My daughter doesn’t like pumpkin and she loves these! My husband doesn’t like sweets and he loves these as well! Super quick, easy, and always turns out perfect!!!
Another amazing recipe I tried. Family loved it! I substituted whole milk with almond milk and it was simply amazing.
Thanks Sally
I’ve made these muffins a lot they are a family favorite. I have had a request to use chocolate chips next time and I was wondering if you think this would be okay. If so, would you recommend milk chocolate or semi-sweet morsels?
Hi Lisa, you absolutely can add chocolate chips to these. We’d recommend about 1 cup – 1.5 cups of semi-sweet chips. Enjoy!
Could you tell me in your pumpkin spice muffins with a delicious topping can they be made with 100% whole wheat flour or does it have to be white? I love your muffin recipes as well as a lot of your other recipes so delicious and everyone raves about them. Thank you looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi Kathy! You can use whole wheat flour, but the muffins will be quite dense. We’d recommend trying a batch with half all-purpose flour / half whole wheat flour first to see how those turn out for you. Let us know how it goes!
These are serious showstoppers! Loved them!
Another AMAZING Sally recipe!!! I was wondering…could this be made in a loaf pan?
Hi Jojo! Yes, you could bake this batter in a loaf pan. We’re unsure of the bake time.
Hi! I just baked it as a loaf. I did the 5 minutes on 425 and then did about 1 hour at 350. The middle seems okay, I kept checking every 10 minutes after 40 just to see, but my loaf pan was also a higher one so I imagine if you did the standard then yours may come out 5-10 minutes sooner. Hope it helps!
I’ve made these twice now (exactly as written) and they are phenomenal!! Super moist and such great flavour. Probably the best muffins I’ve ever made. Thank you 🙂
Not sure what i did wrong, subbed maple syrup for sugar (daughter in law has ms sugar triggers migraine) and left off topping and icing for same reason. Muffins are blah…even with extra spice and a weird doughy texture…would the sugar make that much difference?
Laurie,
It could change the structure slightly. Maybe try maple sugar the next time. I followed the recipe exact and found it to be bland also. I think I will add a little more salt next time as pumpkin tends to be on the bland side.
I have a question about your homemade pumpkin pie spice recipe in the notes of this recipe. It doesn’t have cinnamon in the recipe. Every recipe I have seen for pumpkin pie spice mix has cinnamon. I don’t want to use the homemade blend that doesn’t contain cinnamon, if the original recipe was created for the store bought blends that contain a lot of cinnamon. Is the cinnamon missing from this recipe? Thx.
Hi Katie, We like a lot of cinnamon too! The recipe calls for 2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon plus the pumpkin pie spice – so if your homemade spice mix doesn’t have extra cinnamon you likely won’t notice. But definitely feel free to add even more if you would like!
Can i use home made pumpkin puree instead of canned for the recipe?
I always use my homemade pumpkin puree in recipes, but I strain it through a fine-mesh strainer before measuring because it is juicier than the canned stuff. Alternatively (and I have done this too), reduce liquid called for in the recipe.
Your muffin recipes never let me down. These pumpkin crumb cake muffins are to die for
These muffins are absolutely delicious! Other than adding additional cinnamon (because my family LOVES all things cinnamon), I followed the recipe exactly. The icing puts these yummy muffins over- the-top delish! Love all your recipes!!!
I made these yesterday. They are super moist and very flavorful. Instead of adding milk, I used the rest of the pumpkin in the can. I am wondering how they would turn out if I reduced the oil or used applesauce instead. Has anyone tried this? Thank You
Hi Cynthia, you can try subbing the applesauce for oil, but the cake will not be as moist and may even taste a bit rubbery. We’re glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Very good!
Just had a thought..
If you are making these muffins to go with a chili, put the rest of the pumpkin purée in the chili!
There wasn’t much left from the can, and it would be a healthy addition!
Made these muffins to go with Turkey Chili, when I discovered a can of pumpkin in my pantry!
My comment is about the icing amount in recipe.
I made 1/2 the recipe and felt it was just enough to cover the 15 muffins, at least for us.
What a great recipe! Thank you!
Had some pumpkin left over from a cake I made, didn’t want it to go to waste, so tried this muffin recipe. Took them to work for my boss’s birthday, everyone loved them. The crumb topping is a must. They are moist and I didn’t think overly sweet, perfect with the topping and icing giving it the extra sweetness. I did end up with more like 20 muffins. Very good, will be making again!!
Hi, Sally! I made these muffins today, and they were terrific! I made the recipe precisely using all three components- muffins, the crumb topping, and the maple icing. The muffins were light and fluffy, and the topping and icing were delicious. I love sweet, but maybe these were a little too sweet…. Maybe, maybe not… But yum!
I made exactly fifteen standard size muffins, but I had leftover topping and icing, even after heavily topping and icing the muffins… Maybe I should have made 18 muffins?
I’m wondering – could you use the entire can of pumpkin, either in the batter or to replace some of the butter in the crumb topping?
Anyway, a lot of prep and cleanup, but delicious muffins! I’ll definitely make them again, but maybe not super often.
Hi Julie! So happy you enjoyed these muffins. You can reduce the amount of icing next time if it was too much – we love icing here! We don’t suggest adding extra pumpkin or replacing butter with pumpkin. It will add too much moisture to the muffins. Here’s all our recipes that use pumpkin for your leftover puree.
Absolutely delicious! I used a whole can of Libby’s pumpkin puree and the muffins turned out SO moist and decadent. My entire family loved these, and they are a perfect treat for a crisp fall day. Tres magnifique!