Pumpkin Muffins
Updated Oct 04, 2025
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These are the best pumpkin muffins. They are moist, buttery, soft and loaded with fragrant fall spices with just the right amount of sweetness. Use fresh or canned pumpkin to make these easy pumpkin muffins – no mixer required.
The transition of the seasons from summer to fall always prompts me to break out the pumpkin puree and start baking. Everyone needs a classic pumpkin muffin recipe in their repertoire, and this is mine. It’s easy to make with simple ingredients – no mixer required!
These pumpkin muffins are moist, buttery, soft and loaded with fragrant fall spices with just the right amount of sweetness. Enjoy them with a slather of cinnamon honey butter and a warm cup of coffee to make any chilly fall morning nice and cozy.
Everyone who tries them absolutely loves them, just like Michelle:
Best pumpkin muffin recipe I’ve tried! I won’t be looking for another one!
– Michelle
Pumpkin Muffins: Ingredients & Substituitons
Let’s discuss the ingredients in these pumpkin muffins, as well as possible substitutions.
- Pumpkin puree. This recipe calls for 15 oz pumpkin puree, which equals one can or 1 ½ cups. If you have fresh homemade pumpkin puree, feel free to use that as well! Just be sure you have drained the water out of it so that it’s thick and isn’t runny.
- Salted Butter. Unsalted butter, coconut oil, canola oil or ghee can be used in place of butter with great results. You can substitute part of the butter with applesauce, but I prefer it with butter.
- Light Brown Sugar. If you want a stronger molasses taste, use dark brown sugar.
- Granulated sugar. Any white granulated sugar works great in this recipe. I use organic cane sugar.
- All-purpose flour. Bread flour and pastry flour work well. You can use an all-purpose gluten-free baking flour to make them gluten-free.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice. Use store bought or make your own with this recipe: Homemade pumpkin pie spice.
How To Make Pumpkin Muffins
These pumpkin muffin recipe only takes 5 minutes to mix and 25 to bake! Let’s walk through it together step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video for additional guidance.
Begin by mixing the flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking powder and sea salt together in a small bowl. Then set it aside to use later.
Next, whisk the pumpkin puree and melted butter together until combined. I like to do this to ensure the melted butter doesn’t solidify again.
Then, add the brown & granulated sugar and whisk until the sugars are dissolved and the mixture is uniform throughout.
Next, add eggs and vanilla and whisk or stir to combine.
Finally, add the dry ingredients and stir until batter is smooth. If desired, add mix-ins and stir until evenly distributed.
Mix-in Suggestions
- Chocolate chips
- cinnamon chips
- nuts (pecans, walnuts, etc.)
- rasins
- dried cranberries
- white chocolate chips
Bake
Pour ¼ cup of the pumpkin muffin batter into each well of the muffin tin, and smooth out the top.
Bake in preheated oven for 16-22 minutes, or until the tops are set and a cake tested inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean or with a few crumbs. (I bake mine for 20 minutes).
Cool
Let pumpkin muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove them and transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.
Serve
Serve these pumpkin muffins warm with a slather of cinnamon honey butter or homemade pumpkin butter. I like serving them alongside an egg dish like this egg casserole or frittata, or with a pumpkin smoothie!
Store/Freeze
Store the pumpkin muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in a single layer in an airtight container in the freezer for up to two months.
Pumpin Muffins Recipe FAQs
Yes! As long as you purchase a can that reads “pumpkin puree” and has one ingredient listed – pumpkin.
One 15 oz can of pumpkin usually equals 1 1/2 cups.
Yes, they are the same thing.
How do you make pumpkin muffins from scratch?
Follow this recipe and make your own homemade pumpkin puree.
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Best Pumpkin Muffins Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree
- ½ cup salted butter (melted)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar (packed)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup mix-ins (optional) (chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, nuts, dried fruit, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius).
- Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin, set aside.
- Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking powder and sea salt in a small bowl. Then, set it aside.
- Whisk the pumpkin puree and melted butter in a large bowl until smooth.
- Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and whisk until the sugars are dissolved.
- Then, whisk in eggs and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredient mixture and whisk or stir until batter is smooth.
- If desired, add mix-ins like chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, walnuts, etc. and stir until evenly distributed.
- Pour ¼ cup of the pumpkin muffin batter into each well of the muffin tin, and smooth out the top.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are set and a cake tested inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean or with a few crumbs. ( NOTE: for high altitude, reduce baking time. I bake them for 15 to 18 minutes and I live 5,000 feet above sea level).
- Let pumpkin muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp cloves
- ½ tsp allspice
- Pumpkin puree. This recipe calls for 1 ½ cups of pumpkin puree, which equals one, 15 oz can of pumpkin puree. Or you can use homemade pumpkin puree.
- Salted Butter. Unsalted butter, coconut oil, canola oil or ghee can be used in place of butter. You can replace half the butter with applesauce.
- Light Brown Sugar. dark brown sugar works well.
- Granulated sugar. organic cane sugar or coconut sugar are good substitutes.
- All-purpose flour. bread or pastry flour works well in this recipe. Use an all-purpose gluten-free flour to make them gluten-free.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice. Use store bought or make your own!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
A bit more than the 10 min. prep time mentioned was required but, oh, SO worth it! They are dee-lish and I see a command performance in the very near future. Thank you!
Hi, The first couple of times I made this recipe, there was a recipe for pumpkin pie spice that made just enough for the recipe. I see that has been changed to a recipe that makes a bigger amount. My family really liked the old recipe better. Because I’m using homemade pumpkin to make the muffins, the extra spiciness of the all spice really made them delicious. I know a lot of people would not like the allspice so I understand why you changed it. Is it possible to give me the first recipe? It would save me having to figure it out. These are awesome muffins by the way. I have made them two ways, one with pepitas, coconut and dried cranberries. And a second version with walnuts, coconut and mini chocolate chips. Both were so good! Thanks for a great recipe!
I added it back in to the recipe card! 🙂
Thank you so much!
Recipe is awesome, I’ve tried a few. I’m trying to find a darker muffin, I used dark brown sugar and I used sugar in the raw instead of granulated. I used parchment paper liners and added some pecans to a few of the tops.
Great recipe! Just wondering, does the calorie count factor in the cup of mix-ins (chocolate chips in this case) or is it not reflecting those and just counting the plain muffins? Thanks!
I believe I calculated the nutrition information without mix-ins.
So what I was looking for was just a standard pumpkin muffin, not something with strudel or cream cheese, and this recipe hit the mark. The things I changed were decreasing the sugars to 1/2 cup each, and using 1/4 cup of melted butter with 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. I got 16 muffins out of this batter, filling the muffin tins 3/4 full. I baked them for 25 min. Took one out at 22 minutes and it was a tad doughy inside still. Something else I’d like to pass along is using ‘parchment’ baking papers. No greasing the muffin tins and no cleanup. Thanks for these super moist pumpkin muffins! ** This is an updated review, disregard the original.
These are great!! following other comments, I used 1/2 cup of light brown and granulated sugar. Another change was to use maple extract instead of vanilla. I compromised my love of butter and desire to watch fat intake by using 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 oil. These defiantly need more than 17 minutes, probably closer to 25. The tooth pick was clean at 20, but they still seemed undercooked, so I put them back in for another 5 and they were perfect!
I was running short on cinnamon, so didn’t add a full 5 teaspoons of spices. They definitely need that much; otherwise, they are just an OK pumpkin muffin. They are nicely moist, and I appreciate that they are made with butter and use the entire can of pumpkin. I will make them again with the full amount of spices before I make a final judgment!
Oh my goodness this is the best pumpkin muffin recipe-thank you!
These are delicious! However, it made 24 muffins, not 14 . Be prepared!
These are delish and I love that the recipe uses a whole can of pumpkin. I used just 1/2 cup each of the sugars and there was enough sweetness.
Thank you so much Krissy! No wasted pumpkin here!