This healthy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins recipe is so easy to assemble and FULL of warm, cozy flavors! Perfect on a chilly fall morning. Plus naturally sweetened with no refined sugar or oil! (Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, nut-free.)
These easy vegan pumpkin muffins are so perfect on a fall morning! They're deliciously spiced and naturally sweetened with no oil needed. (Plus dusted with a cinnamon-sugar sprinkle if you wish!)
Best of all, they're simple to assemble with a handful of healthy ingredients. They boast a full cup of pumpkin puree that's loaded with vitamin A, beta-carotene, and fiber.
Enjoy them for a cozy autumn breakfast, energizing snack, healthy dessert, or even packed in lunchboxes.
Ingredients for Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
For this recipe, you'll stir together in a large bowl, then bake in a 12-cavity muffin pan in the oven:
- Oat flour: Ensure yours is gluten-free if needed. It can also be helpful to measure flour ingredients by weight for better precision. (Toggle the button to "metric" in the recipe card below to show these specific amounts.)
- Pumpkin pie spice: This is a tasty blend of warm, cozy flavors. Pumpkin spice usually combines cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. But it can also include allspice, cardamom, black pepper, etc.
- Baking powder & baking soda: I use Bob's Red Mill double acting baking powder with no added aluminum. Be sure yours is fresh (not expired) for proper rising.
- Salt: I use fine grain salt for this recipe.
- Pumpkin puree: I use canned pumpkin puree which comes in a 15-ounce can. (Be sure to find 100% pure pumpkin, not the canned pumpkin pie filling mix which has added sugar and spices.)
- Applesauce
- Coconut sugar: This is a refined-free sugar with a caramel-like taste. You can swap in cane sugar or brown sugar instead but I haven't tested these.
- Pure maple syrup
- Ground flaxseed: This is also known as flax meal. It acts as an egg replacer and binder in baked goods, waffles, etc. (Either brown or golden flax works great.)
- Pure vanilla extract
- Apple cider vinegar: This reacts with the baking soda and baking powder to help give the muffins a fluffy lift, and moist, tender texture.
Customizing
Chocolate chips: For a decadent twist, fold in some vegan chocolate chips to the muffin batter when you add the dry ingredients. (Or you could also fold in pecans, pumpkin seeds, raisins, walnuts, or anything else that sounds good.)
Cinnamon-sugar topping: This is completely optional, but I include a quick recipe below for a cinnamon & coconut sugar sprinkle. Feel free to top your muffins with this before baking!
Flour substitutions: I haven't tested this recipe with any other flours, so feel free to experiment on your own if you'd like. I love hearing your feedback and results if you try something else!
Texture notes: These are fairly dense muffins, but they should have moisture and sweetness in every bite. If your muffins come out dry, that means they were overbaked, so leave them in the oven less next time.
Serving
Enjoy these healthy pumpkin muffins for breakfast, an energizing afternoon snack, in lunchboxes, gift-giving, or even as a healthy dessert.
Storing
Store completely cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature. I find they keep for about 3 days. Feel free to rewarm them in the microwave for a few seconds. (I haven't tried freezing these, so can't say for sure how well that would work.)
More Pumpkin Spice Recipes!
For more inspiration, also browse all vegan fall recipes or breakfast recipes.
Vegan Pumpkin Muffins (Gluten-Free!)
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups oat flour (GF if needed)
- 1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Wet ingredients:
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned)
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. ground flax
- 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
For the cinnamon-sugar topping (optional):
- 1 Tbsp. coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Line a muffin tin with 12 paper baking cups. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add all dry ingredients and stir. Set aside.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, add all wet ingredients. Stir with a spatula until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir again until fully combined.
- Disperse the batter evenly throughout the 12 muffin tin cavities. (I use OXO good grips 2 1/4" classic ice-cream scoop with thumb lever for even dispersal. This is a 2 oz. scoop.)
- Mix together the coconut sugar and cinnamon topping (if using). Sprinkle it on top of each muffin, using about 1/4 tsp. for each muffin. Then I like to gently tap down the sugar mixture with my finger to help it better stick to the muffin tops.
- Then place in the oven and bake for about 17-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. (Baking time can slightly vary based on your oven.) Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving (Estimate)
Sodium content: This is omitted as I cannot provide an accurate number. I encourage you to calculate your own to provide a much more precise reading based on the exact ingredients, brands, and amounts you're using.
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Jennifer says
Today was a pumpkin spice day!! 😀 I made these right after making your pumpkin cookies...and wow did my kitchen ever smell glorious!! I followed your recipe exactly as written, including the cinnamon-sugar topping. To evenly disperse the sugary topping, I sprinkled 1/4 tsp per muffin, which was perfect. The muffins were moist and flavourful with a perfect amount of sweetness on top. I will likely add some chopped nuts or seeds into the batter next time for a bit of crunch. This is a great recipe for fall!
What size scoop/disher did you use to distribute the batter?
Kaitlin says
We've been having lots of pumpkin spice days too! So warm and cozy. Fun to hear these worked out for you and excellent call adding some crunch next time with nuts or seeds! The ice cream scoop I use for these is 2 1/4" or 2 oz. (Specifically the OXO good grips classic ice cream scoop.) So for me, it comes out to 12 medium muffins using 12 full scoops with that scooper. I'll add a note in the recipe so the size is more specific - thank you for asking! Wishing you a restful week and hope you're feeling & recovering well.