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
Moist but light and fluffy. Nice balance of flavors. Super easy to make! Will definitely make these again!
Super moist and delicious! Very easy to make
These are delicious. Moist, sweet enough and my new favorite. Used buttermilk, as suggested, and they’re just delicious. Sprinkled Turbinado on top for a crunchy, sweet bite.
We’re thrilled to read this, Gina!
Excellent recipe – I followed it exactly & added the chocolate chips as listed in the options. Delicious!
I misread the amount of pumpkin and used 7.5 ounces (half of a 15 ounce can). Added a cup of Choclate chips. All other ingredients as listed in the recipe. The muffins were velvety and tasty, I couldn’t figure out why it only made 11 muffins.
I wish there was a macro break down on this recipe. Any way that can be added?
Hi Sandi, 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
Made the pumpkin muffins exactly according to the recipe with my three year-old grandson. They turned out, delicious, perfectly risen and moist. THE go to pumpkin muffin recipe.
Love all Sally’s recipes & usually I can swap out the flour for a gluten free flour blend, but not this one. Way too dense, not pretty,ha. I should have trusted my instincts & added the missing baking powder. My mistake for sure but thought to let others know.
Hi Reese! Which flour did you use?I made these using the King Arthur GF 1:1 blend and they turned out well.
These are wonderful – a good pumpkin flavor, a dense cakey texture that somehow feels smooth and fluffy. They are not fussy to throw together, which was perfect for me trying to make a quick baked treat while handing out Halloween goodies.
Made these tonight. They are easy and quick to make and turned out beautifully. When I make them again, and I will, I think chopped pecans and dried cranberries would be a great addition.
I made these for a Halloween party for a group of seniors (like me). I tried adding an orange icing and messed it up badly. I’m going to take them anyway… Hope people appreciate how delicious they are, anyway!
just made some for a party tonight hopefully they are as good as yall make them! happy Halloween!
These are amazing! I’ve made them several times already. Just made a batch for my daughters co-workers and now making some for us ! Happy Halloween
I just made these muffin’s for my daughter’s Halloween party at daycare. The kiddos love them! This recipe is absolute perfection. I make these several times each fall. One of my favorites!
These were delicious and so moist. Went down a treat with friends. Popped cream cheese icing on top
Lovely – I like mine sweeter I think? I had to use raw sugar as I found myself out of regular and that might have been it? Not a lot of pumpkin flavor. I added chocolate chips too.
I made these for the first time yesterday. Followed the recipe exactly. I thought they were a little bland as well (no toppings or add-ins). I think the pumpkin flavor and spice was not as strong as I would have liked. Not sure how to adjust the recipe for next time…they cooked up so beautifully.
I don’t see the nutritional information listed. Where can I look it up?
Hi Paula! 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
Amazing recipe! These muffins were a hit! Looking forward to making them again!
I made six jumbo muffins and baked an additional 10 minutes. We piped cream cheese frosting in the centers and a light layer on top. Absolutely delicious!!
The best muffins I’ve ever made. I replaced the sugars with sugar alternatives, allulose and swerve brown sugar, but other than that I didn’t change anything.
Followed the directions exactly and they were undercooked. Put them in for another additional ten minutes and still undercooked. The top was beginning to darken so I just left them. I seem to have issues with pumpkin baking and this is the last time I bother with it.
I have made these a few times and they’re always perfect. I sometimes sprinkle chopped pecans on the tops before baking. Yummy.
I 100% recommend this recipe. I’ve made it twice already, and both times the muffins came out fluffy and delicious. Personally, I like to add about half a teaspoon of peanut butter inside to make a nice filling. Just layer it like a sandwich: a tablespoon of the muffin batter, some peanut butter, and another tablespoon of the batter.
Thank you, Sally <3
I just made these and they came out AMAZING! So delicious and an absolute great recipe.
Flavor-wise, outstanding (as always!!)! But I have made these twice now as written and found both times that I was unable to remove them from the muffin pan in one piece. The first time I thought maybe I didn’t grease the pan enough, but I buttered and floured the second round, so I think it is probably related to the hydration of the batter. Any thoughts?
Hi Kayt, I’m sorry to hear that you’re having trouble with these muffins sticking to your muffin pan. We’d recommend using muffin/cupcake liners for future batches. We like this brand of parchment muffin liners.
These are delicious. I had an issue using melted coconut oil. When I added cold milk the oil and sugar solidified. Next time, I’ll use room temperature milk and mix the oil into the other ingredients before adding the milk. Great texture and flavor.
As usual this recipe is perfect. We grew pie pumpkins and I used the purée to make a double batch of these delicious muffins. Easy prep and delicious results.
I cut the granulated sugar and they were still delicious!!
I see in these muffins you have no baking powder is this correct? All others have 2 teaspoons
Hi Daphne, that’s correct—no baking powder in these muffins, just baking soda.