Everyone needs these Healthy Pumpkin Muffins in their life! A simple recipe made with pumpkin purée, sweetened with maple syrup and made with whole wheat pastry flour for the softest, tender muffins. Dairy free, gluten free friendly.
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This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help Fit Mitten Kitchen bring you new content!
Pumpkin muffins are in season year round, in my opinion! They are so delicious and make the best snack.
What really makes pumpkin muffins, well, pumpkin muffins, is the pumpkin pie spice.
However, if you’re not a huge fan of spice, you could just do 1 teaspoon of the spice blend to give it a little flavor.
Why You Should Make These
- Pumpkin adds so much moisture to these muffins – we’re using over a cup!
- Whole wheat flour makes for a more nutrient dense muffin.
- You can add chocolate chips – the best combo!
- This healthy pumpkin muffin recipe happens to be dairy free and gluten free friendly.
- Anyone can make muffins! They’re the perfect recipe to start your baking adventures.
What You Need
Muffins are one of my favorite things to make. You usually have everything you need on hand, they’re easy to make and they can be a wholesome snack!
Here’s a quick rundown of the pumpkin muffin ingredients you’ll need:
Dry Ingredients
Whole wheat pastry flour, pumpkin pie spice (use my homemade blend, linked!), baking soda, baking powder and a touch of fine sea salt.
Wet Ingredients
Canned pumpkin (pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie mix), egg, maple syrup, a little oil, and some non-dairy milk to help thin out the batter a bit.
Why Use Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour is one of the best whole grain flours to use in healthy muffin recipes, in my opinion. Bob’s Red Mill is 100% stone ground from the finest soft white wheat. The lower protein content makes it perfect for whole grain baking, and will yield a softer, tender texture.
If you need a gluten-free sub, feel free to sub their 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour in this recipe. It works perfectly!
Tips for Making Muffins
Mix the dry ingredients separately from the wet – this will make sure your baking soda and baking powder get evenly incorporated into the whole wheat flour.
When combining the wet ingredients with the flour mixture, be sure to slowly combine and not over-mix. When you over-mix whole grain flours, it will give you tougher muffins.
When adding mix-ins, add them in when you can still see some dry bits of flour in the batter. This will make sure you’re not over-mixing the batter.
Use a medium cookie scoop for easy dispensing.
Want my Top 5 Muffin Recipes?
How to get Higher Muffin Tops
Bake the muffins at 425ºF for the first 5 minutes, then drop the oven temperature to 350ºF and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Mix-ins and Toppings
You can’t go wrong with mixing chocolate chips in pumpkin muffins.
If you want a little crunch, add some pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) to the top of the muffins.
Looking for a sweet topping? Use the oat crumble from this recipe.
Want a simple glaze? Mix 1/3 cup confectioners sugar with 2 teaspoons of milk and dip the tops in.
Ways to Use Up Canned Pumpkin
Because this pumpkin recipe calls for 1.25 cups of canned pumpkin, you’ll be left with a half cup. But don’t let it go to waste! Use one of these three recipes to use up the rest of the can:
- Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal {Stovetop + Instant Pot!} (calls for 1/2 cup)
- Pumpkin Spice Latte Truffles (1/3 cup) then use up the rest to make my Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte (about 2 tablespoons)
- Chai Zucchini Pumpkin Muffins (calls for 1/2 cup)
Let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a comment and rating below! It helps others learn more about the recipe too! Xx Ashley
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups whole wheat pastry flour, see notes
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups canned pumpkin
- ¼ cup avocado oil, see notes
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp non-dairy milk, cashew, almond, coconut, oat or similar consistency
- ¼ cup pepitas, optional, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF and grease 12-cup muffin pan, or use silicone baking cups; set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients, flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, egg. Slowly add half of the dry ingredients, gently stir, then add the milk and remaining dry ingredients. If using mix-ins, add them in before dry ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Evenly distribute batter into muffin pan, filling about 3/4 way full. Top with pepitas if you'd like.
- Bake muffins for 5 minutes at 425ºF then drop oven to 350ºF and bake for an additional 12-18 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow muffins to cool in pan for 10 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool completely.
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