Welcome to the epitome of fall baking! (Well, besides apple cake and apple crisp.) These are my super-moist, deliciously spiced, and extra soft pumpkin muffins. They’re adapted from my popular pumpkin crumb cake muffins and aren’t quite as sweet, making them the perfect “anytime” treat during the fall season. You could even add chocolate chips for extra tasty pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. No mixer required!
One reader, Nicole, commented: “Another winner, of course. We made the mini muffin version and they were so light, moist, and delicious. Perfect breakfast compliment for this crisp fall morning! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Holly, commented: “First time making these. Did half regular and half with chocolate chips, and they came out delicious and very moist. Even my picky daughter loved them… This recipe is definitely a keeper. ★★★★★“
Meet my favorite pumpkin muffin recipe, the sequel to my favorite zucchini muffins and banana muffins. I appreciate “simple” muffin recipes like these because sometimes we don’t crave all the bells and whistles of pumpkin cream cheese muffins… right? Over-the-top muffins are undoubtedly delicious, but I’m certain you’ll want to make today’s easy pumpkin muffins again and again. Why?
Here’s Why You’ll Love My Simple Pumpkin Muffins
- Reliable, easy recipe with basic ingredients
- No mixer needed
- Extra soft & moist
- Deep pumpkin spice flavor (you can use your homemade pumpkin pie spice!)
- Dairy free if using dairy-free milk
- Very adaptable recipe—add chocolate chips, nuts, or dried cranberries; sprinkle with coarse sugar; or leave plain
How are these different from pumpkin cupcakes? My pumpkin cupcakes recipe is a favorite! In that recipe, you use less flour and milk with the same amount of pumpkin, so the cupcakes have a much lighter, airier texture. Today’s muffins are thicker and denser with just as much flavor.
Grab These 11 Ingredients:
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour in this recipe. If desired, you can replace half of the flour with whole wheat flour for a heartier, denser pumpkin muffin.
- Baking Soda: Helps the muffins rise. There’s no need for baking powder and, in fact, I’ve made these pumpkin cream cheese muffins with only baking soda before too. (Just leave out the baking powder in those; truly no noticeable difference in the outcome.)
- Cinnamon, Ginger, & Pumpkin Pie Spice: Pumpkin is tasty, but in order to really bring out its flavor, you need some warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, and pumpkin pie spice. You can use store-bought or try my homemade pumpkin pie spice blend. Pumpkin pie spice already includes cinnamon and ginger, but for the BEST, deepest flavor, I recommend using all 3. See recipe Note.
- Pumpkin Puree: You need 1 and 1/2 cups (about 340g) of pumpkin puree, which is most of a standard 15-ounce can. Do not use pumpkin pie filling. Just like with these pumpkin snickerdoodles, canned pumpkin is best, but you could use fresh puree if that’s what you have.
- Oil: The muffins taste dry and rubbery without some fat. Just as if we’re making pumpkin cake and pumpkin coffee cake, use vegetable oil. You could also use melted coconut oil.
- Brown & White Sugars: Pumpkin adds a lot of volume to the muffin batter, but doesn’t sweeten it at all. Using half white and brown sugars provide enough sweetening, and the brown sugar adds additional flavor.
- Eggs: Provide structure.
- Milk: Like most muffin recipes, the batter needs a liquid. You can use whole milk, buttermilk, or any dairy or nondairy milk you enjoy. I use orange juice in my pumpkin bread recipe, but using orange juice (for the amount of liquid needed here) wasn’t ideal here. The muffins were too citrus-y. You could, of course, replace *some* of the milk with *some* orange juice.
This is optional, but I love adding a little coarse sugar to the tops of the pumpkin muffins before baking. I do this in a lot of my muffin recipes (both online and in my book) because it adds a sparkly crunch—just like real bakery muffins! You can use something like Sugar in the Raw or white sparkling sugar. And don’t forget my high-temperature trick, included in the written recipe and explained in the Notes below.
As instructed in the printable recipe below, grab a large bowl for the dry ingredients, a medium bowl for the wet ingredients, then whisk it all together. Expect a thick batter:
Fill the muffin liners all the way to the top:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
You can turn these easy pumpkin muffins into pumpkin chocolate chip muffins! Simply fold 1 cup (about 180g) of chocolate chips in the batter right before spooning into your 12-count muffin pan.
If you enjoy pumpkin + chocolate together, be sure to try my chocolate pumpkin muffins as well. For extreme chocolate and pumpkin lovers only!
More Pumpkin Favorites
- Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Donuts
- Pumpkin Cake
- Pumpkin Bars
- Pumpkin Pancakes or Pumpkin Waffles
- Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Mini Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Coffee Creamer
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Cream Pies
- Pumpkin Hand Pies
For even more inspiration, here are my 30+ best pumpkin dessert recipes.
Print
Easy Pumpkin Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 21 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These muffins are adapted from my popular pumpkin crumb cake muffins and aren’t quite as sweet, making them the perfect “anytime” treat during the fall season. You could even add chocolate chips for extra tasty pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. No mixer required!
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil (or melted coconut 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 (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk (dairy or nondairy)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, 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, and then fold everything together gently just until combined and no flour pockets remain.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, 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 5 minutes in the muffin pan before enjoying.
- Cover tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then heat up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk
- Pumpkin Pie Spice & Spices: 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 ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, and ground allspice, and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. Do not leave out the 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon that is also called for in this recipe. Depending how much you like ginger, you can skip or leave in the extra 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger that is also called for in this recipe.
- Can I reduce the sugar or oil? You can absolutely slightly reduce either or both, but understand that sugar and oil help produce moist, tender muffins and the results may be disappointing and your muffins could taste dry. For the oil, feel free to swap *some* for applesauce. You could also try substituting all or most of both sugars with coconut sugar.
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins/Other Add-Ins: Simply fold 1 cup (about 180g) of chocolate chips in the batter right before spooning into your muffin pan. Or you can add 1 cup (about 130g) of chopped pecans or walnuts, or 3/4 cup (about 105g) of dried cranberries.
- Mini Muffins: For around 30 mini muffins, line mini muffin pans with liners or spray with nonstick spray. Prepare batter as directed and fill liners to the top. Bake at 350°F (177°C) the entire time (skip the initial high temperature) for 11–13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Why the initial high oven temperature? Like I do for most muffin recipes, bake the muffins for 5 minutes at a very hot temperature. Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, switch to a lower temperature for the remaining bake time. This initial high temperature will quickly lift the muffin tops so they’re extra high, then the centers will bake during the lower temperature bake time. This trick makes beautiful bakery-style muffins every time.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Flavorless. Made this with my granddaughter today and was disappointed.
Wonderful and easy to follow recipe! Came out perfectly dense and moist and not too sweet which I appreciate, added dark chocolate chip about a cup and it was perfect! Will be making again
294 calories per muffin cooked in a standard 9 muffin tin.Having calculated all the ingredients.
These turned out great. Flavorful and tender. I added some dark chocolate chips and a lil sugar in top for crunch. Will save to make again.
Hi! Just made these again with whole wheat flour and they tasted amazing! Trying to increase fiber in my house. Anyways, did I overlook the nutrition info of these muffins? Like calories? Thanks!
Hi Courtney, 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 So glad you enjoyed the muffins!
I ran the recipe through a calorie calculator and it’s coming out as 563 calories per 1 muffin.
Made these today. Didn’t have milk, I used water. Added dried cranberries. Made streusel topping and added to each muffin. Delicious.
These actually turned out PERFECTLY!
I even followed the apple pie spice for individual, which thank you for that I’m keeping that little recipe for emergencies, and it made a world a difference than any other pumpkin muffin recipe. These were moist perfectly round and smelled as good as they tasted. Thank you!
I’ve made these for a couple years now and love them! Have you ever tried an alternative sweetener with them? Like maple syrup or coconut sugar?
Hi Courtney, we don’t recommend swapping for a liquid sweetener like maple syrup. You could try coconut sugar, but keep in mind that the overall taste and texture will be different. Let us know what you decide to try!
Wonderful recipe, definitely will make this recipe again. I used a jumbo muffin tin and made 6.
Great flavor! When using a normal 12 ct muffin tray, I actually had enough batter to make 18 very full muffins. Additionally they were fully cooked through after only 10 min at 350 after the original 5 min at 425. I do live at high altitude so I’m wondering if this had an effect.
So good. i’ve been using bobs red mill egg replacer in your muffin recipes and they come out great! (Especially after buying new baking soda and powder)
Another winner, of course. We made the mini muffin version and they were so light and moist and delicious. Perfect breakfast compliment for this crisp fall morning!
I would love to do these in jumbo muffin tins. It looks like enough volume for six, even though the flour is less than in the master jumbo muffin recipe. Do you recommend scaling up at all? Thank you.
Hi Ellen, this batter will yield about 5 jumbo muffins. We’re unsure of the exact amount to scale up for one more, so you could either: use as is and divide between the 6 cavities for slightly smaller jumbo muffins, or make 2 batches and freeze any leftovers. You can use the baking time and instructions from jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide. Hope they’re a hit!
Thank you, Lexi. I added some chopped pecans and mini chocolate chips (a scant cup and a half) and ended up with six very generous giant muffins.
Theses turned out so well! I put in chocolate chips and walnuts and the flavours worked really well. I replaced some of the AP flour with whole wheat and some with almond flour and it left them really moist and delicious.
Can I use the whole can of pumpkin? I hate having leftover pumpkin go to waste.
Hi Amy, no, we do not recommend adding more pumpkin here, or the muffins will be too moist. Here are all our recommendations for how to use leftover pumpkin puree!
Could olive oil be used in this recipe?
Hi Denise, yes, you can use olive oil in place of the vegetable/melted coconut oil.
First time making these. Did half regular and half with chocolate chips and they came out delicious and very moist. Even my picky daughter loved them. For me, total time was 21 minutes. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
These have got to be the fluffiest, most flavorful muffins ever. I did not add chocolate chips as I do not care for the extra sweetness. Mine were perfectly baked after 19 mins however I do recognize that all ovens are different so mine may run hot.
I made this recipe for the first time exactly as written using the suggested coconut oil. They are amazing. Cooked in exactly 21 min total. Lovely muffins. They are a keeper.
Like all your recipes I’ve made, these were delicious! Definitely on the not-sweet side.
Any tips on how to keep them from sticking to the liners when peeling off?
Hi Megan, We find that muffins usually stick to liners when they’re quite warm. Letting them cool a bit longer helps them release a little better. You can also spray your liners.
Parchment paper muffin cups won’t stick!
It wouldn’t cook in the middle at all. I followed the recipe and even cooked it for 30 extra minutes and the middle was just so oily.
Hi Isabelle, that’s a very long time for muffins. I wonder if you substituted any ingredients or accidentally left something out?
My Husband absolutely loves this recipe. Every year around fall he always asks me to make these. Although I have tried to do a crumble topping on them and I can never get the right consistency right.
I love this recipe! I put chocolate ships in some of them!
I loved these muffins! They weren’t too sweet, and they definitely got me excited for fall! While I loved the moist texture of these muffins, I think next time I will add just a smidge less oil. I felt that these were a little bit too moist, almost mushy. But the flavor was perfect! I always love all of your recipes!
Have you used an egg substitute in this recipe? Would applesauce work?
Hi Shaw, we haven’t tested these muffins with any egg substitutes, but let us know if you do any experimenting.
Do the eggs and milk need to come to room temperature first?
Hi Megan, yes, room temperature is best!
Best pumpkin muffins ever! I love the tip about baking them at a high temperature for 5 minutes. They rose so high and are truly bakery quality muffins!
I loved this recipe! The muffins are soft and moist. They are well spiced, pumpkin forward and not too sweet.
These sound wonderful and the comments and rating are as well. I am going to make these for company for breakfast and wonder if I can make the batter the night before?
Hi Cindy, we don’t recommend it. The leaveners are activated once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, so it’s best to make the batter soon thereafter. You could, however, mix the dry ingredients and have those ready to go. Or the muffins reheat wonderfully!
Amazing recipe!! Only thing is it took a little bit longer for mine so I was bouncing off the walls from how good they smelled!