Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
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Healthy Pumpkin Muffins are a delicious refined sugar free treat!. Naturally gluten free – these muffins are easy to make and so tasty!
This post contains affiliate links. This post was shared in 2017 but has since been updated.
These healthy pumpkin muffins might be the best muffins we’ve ever made.
These healthy muffins are naturally sweetened with maple syrup, made with whole grain oat flour and other basic pantry staples. They take less than 15 minutes to prep and are so tsty!
I’ll admit it, I’m one of those people that LOVES pumpkin, so it was easy to fall in love with these muffins. If you love pumpkin, you have to checkout these 34+ Healthy Pumpkin Recipes!
liz’s top tips for healthy pumpkin muffins
- If you don’t have these spices, try substituting with pumpkin pie spice!
- Be sure to grab pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling at the grocery store! Pie filling can be full of sugar and spices.
Ingredients
I love this non stick muffin tin or these silicone muffin liners for baking muffins.
Substitutions
Milk: You can use any milk you like in this recipe. Dairy or non dairy (almond, soy, oat, coconut) will all work
Oat Flour: You can make your own oat flour following this oat flour recipe. You can’t use coconut flour or almond flour in this recipe. I haven’t tried this recipe with whole wheat flour but I think it would work!
Sweetener: You can sub maple syrup for the honey in this recipe.
Add ins: I like adding chocolate chips. Chopped nuts, dried cranberries, or seeds are also delicious.
Spices: You can use 3.5 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice in these muffins. If you do not have nutmeg or cloves, just add a little bit more cinnamon/ginger.
Pumpkin: If you’re out of pumpkin, you can use mashed bananas. You could also make these Healthy Banana Muffins! I have not tried subbing the pumpkin puree for sweet potatoes, but I think it would work. Otherwise you could try this Sweet Potato Muffin Recipe!
Is pumpkin puree the same as canned pumpkin? Yes! Pumpkin puree and canned pumpkin are the same thing. Make sure you are buying pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin Pie filling has sugar and spices added.
Vegan: I have not tried making these muffins vegan, but you might be able to substitute the eggs with flax eggs. You can substitute maple syrup for honey.
High Protein: We love these Pumpkin Protein Muffins as a higher protein fall muffin (9g per serving).
Bread: I haven’t tried making this recipe into a pumpkin bread, but you can try our healthy pumpkin bread recipe!
How to make Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine maple syrup, pumpkin puree, eggs, and milk.
- Once combined, add in baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and cloves.
- Add the oat flour to the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined (don’t over mix!)
- Gently fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into greased or lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with extra chocolate chips on top if you’d like.
- Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the muffins.
- Enjoy with a vanilla latte!
Storage Options
These low fat pumpkin muffins won’t last long in your house. I love to snack on them with a Low Sugar Pumpkin Spice Latte!
Storing: Let the muffins cool at room temperature, then store the leftover muffins in the fridge for up to a week to maintain freshness. You can leave them out of the refrigerator, but they will not last as long because they’re very moist and will get moldy.
Can you freeze pumpkin muffins?
Yes, you can freeze these pumpkin muffins! Allow the muffins to cool, then store them in an airtight container or ziploc bag in the freezer. To defrost, leave out the night before in the fridge and they will thaw out. Or, just pop in the microwave for 1-2 minutes directly from the freezer
Other healthy muffin recipes you’ll love:
We love healthy muffin recipes so much that we created a whole free muffin ebook about them! You can get it here or check out these Healthy Muffins:
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
- ½ cup maple syrup or honey
- ¼ cup milk regular or nondairy
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups oat flour gluten free if necessary
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a greased or lined muffin tin. We recommend using silicone muffin liners or a nonstick muffin tin.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, mix together the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, milk, vanilla and eggs.
- Once combined, add in the oat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Mix until just combined (don't over mix!)
- Gently fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into greased or lined muffin tins, filling each cup with ⅓ cup batter. Sprinkle with extra chocolate chips on top if you'd like.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the muffins.
Video
Notes
- Milk: You can use any milk you like in this recipe. Dairy or non dairy (almond, soy, oat, coconut) will all work
- Oat Flour: You can make your own oat flour following this oat flour recipe. You can’t use coconut flour or almond flour in this recipe. I haven’t tried this recipe with whole wheat flour but I think it would work!
- Sweetener: You can sub maple syrup for the honey in this recipe.
- Add ins: I like adding chocolate chips. Chopped nuts, dried cranberries, or seeds are also delicious.
- Spices: You can use 3.5 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice in these muffins. If you do not have nutmeg or cloves, just add a little bit more cinnamon/ginger.
Why so much baking soda? They had so much that they tasted like it when they were baked… I was also wondering why you didnt use any baking powder in them?
I haven’t had someone say this tastes like baking soda and these have many reviews – so I’m sorry you felt that way! That’s what I chose for the leavening agent in this recipe. I haven’t tried it with baking powder.
My go to pumpkin muffin! Made these over five times in the fall time . They turn out great everytime ! You’d never tell it wasn’t made without white flour .
You mentioned sweet potatoes in the substitutions. Do you think it would work to swap with the pumpkin? Thanks
I haven’t tried that, but if you want a sweet potato muffin recipe, you can just make this Sweet Potato Muffin!
I haven’t made this recipe yet, but plan to make it soon. But, can you clarify something in the notes/substitutions which on one hand says:
Oats: You can sub old fashioned rolled oats for 2 cups of oat flour.
And on the other hand says:
Blender: If you don’t have a blender, you can make these in a mixing bowl. I’d recommend using oat flour. You can’t use whole oats to make this recipe, they will not cook.
Would you clarify? Thank you.
i’m not sure what part you need clarification by – I’m sorry! You can’t use whole oats in this recipe – you need to use oat flour. I was just saying if you don’t have a blender, you can use a mixer to mix the muffin batter, not to mix oats.
This recipe was so simple and so delicious. My daughter has to eat GF and she said they are amazing! I thought they were amazing too and I am not a fan of GF baked items. Both the taste and texture are excellent!
So easy to make and super delicious! My 2 year old loves them too!
Wonderful as muffins. We had extra batter and tried as pancake…yum! Could also make a 9×9 cake. Very versatile.
Is applesauce a possible substitute for the honey or maple syrup! I plan to make them this weekend and I’d like to reduce the honey (and do not like maple syrup) and have seen other healthy- type recipes use unsweetened applesauce. Looking forward to trying them!
No, applesauce would completely change the batter and make it too wet. You can try reducing the honey a little bit but definitely don’t try applesauce!
hello. is there a way to turn this recipe into cookies? thank you
Unfortunately no but you can try these!
This was a great recipe to try! Thank you for creating and sharing it! I didn’t measure the chocolate chips that I used and the muffin I did try (with more to sample soon) was wonderful! Keep up the great work!
I’d give it a six if I could. My daughter turned me onto these muffins, and they are dangerously delicious. I love the texture and the fact that they’re not yucky sweet. We topped it with Enjoy Life regular and chunky Chocolate Chips which are fantastic. The only problem I can fine with this recipe is the fact that you can’t eat just one. I find myself grazing.
Can you add cocoa powder instead of chocolate chips to make them swirl chocolate pumpkin?
I don’t think that would taste very good! Cocoa powder is pretty bitter so it might need something sweet to counteract it. You could skip the chocolate chips if you don’t want them.
Thank you for this delicious recipe! Just tried it out because I had canned pumpkin I wanted to use up. They turned out so good! I like that they’re just the right amount of sweetness and that was without the added chocolate chips on top. This recipe is too good to only be used in the fall! I made them for my 13 yr old son to take to school as a snack and I’m sure he’s going to love them!
Truly THE BEST healthy pumpkin muffin out there!! I used a little less maple syrup but replaced the sugar by adding more chocolate chips on top of muffin 🙂 They came out absolutely perfect!!
These are so good and so moist!!!! I made my own oat flour with a food processor (which is so easy and less expensive than buying a bag of it!), and used pumpkin spice and a little extra cinnamon and ginger instead of the individual spices and they came out perfect. I’ve been heating them up for breakfast and putting cream cheese on them.
These are so good! Quick and easy to make. I will definitely be making these again!
I love these muffins, they turned out great! I added one teaspoon of vanilla extract and two pinches of salt to the batter.
These are incredible!!! Such great flavor and full of healthy ingredients! you can’t beat this!
These have become a mid-morning snack staple in our house. I have added raisins to the muffins which we like a lot. Thanks for the very delicious and relatively healthy addition to our menu.
Have you ever made them in the ninja foodie? How would you adjust the time?
Sorry but I have no idea! I don’t have a ninja foodie
I was wondering if I could reduce the amount of maple syrup or would they get to dry and not sweet enough?
Probably wouldn’t recommend it because I think they would be dry and not as sweet
They came out great and were easy to make! I will be making these for when I go to work.
So delicious! Finally made some this morning because I’d been craving them for about 2 weeks!
We love these amazingly moist and delicious muffins. We add raisins instead of chocolate chips and they’re perfect.
Hi, I just made these last night & they were soo delicious!! This recipe will be my go to from now on. Thank you for sharing 👍