Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
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Published Sep 06, 2021, Updated Jun 12, 2023
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Full of pumpkin flavor and fall spice, these healthy vegan pumpkin muffins are naturally sweetened and made with simple pantry staple ingredients. They’re perfectly moist and fluffy!
These vegan pumpkin muffins were inspired by my vegan pumpkin bread! I tweaked the recipe a bit to make these with less oil, less maple syrup, and coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. I was a little nervous about cutting back on the oil so much, but the muffins turned out great!
Why You’ll Love These Muffins
- They’re packed with pumpkin flavor and fall spices!
- The texture is perfection… they’re super moist without a lot of added oil.
- Simple ingredients! You likely have most of these ingredients in your pantry already.
- They store really well. Make them for meal prep and enjoy these muffins for breakfast, snack or dessert all week long.
Here’s What You Need
- whole wheat pastry flour – I love baking with whole wheat pastry flour! It is packed with protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals and is really easy to bake with. All-purpose flour works as well.
- baking powder and baking soda – helps the muffins rise.
- cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice – the perfect spice pairings for this recipe. You can make your own pumpkin pie spice or buy a pre-mixed blend.
- sea salt – a hint of salt brings all of the flavors together!
- pumpkin puree – use canned pumpkin puree or make homemade pumpkin puree! If you are using store-bought, make sure the ingredient list is just pumpkin… don’t accidentally buy pumpkin pie filling! Pumpkin pie filling is loaded with added sugar.
- coconut sugar – we’re using coconut sugar instead of brown sugar or white sugar in this recipe. It also gives the muffins a darker color.
- maple syrup – use pure maple syrup for the best flavor. This natural sweetener adds the perfect amount of added sweetness and maple flavor.
- vanilla extract – a flavor enhancer.
- coconut oil – helps bind the muffins together.
- unsweetened applesauce – applesauce helps add moisture to the muffins while reducing the oil. You can make homemade applesauce or use store-bought!
- flaxseed egg – make a flaxseed egg by mixing 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 Tablespoons water. Set aside to let it gelatinize.
- mix-ins of choice – I like adding chocolate chips but you could also mix in nuts and/or dried fruit!
How to Make Pumpkin Muffins
It doesn’t get much more simple than this! Start by making your flaxseed egg in a small bowl and let sit until it forms a gel-like consistency. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and your wet ingredients plus sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just combined. Gently fold in any mix-ins if using.
Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or line with silicone liners. Fill each muffin tin by scooping the batter with a spoon and bake at 350º for 18-20 minutes. You’ll know the muffins are done when you insert a toothpick in the center of a muffin and it comes out clean.
Storage Tips
After allowing them to cool completely in the muffin tin, place the muffins in an airtight container – I like to use a silicone bag, a glass storage container works great too. Store muffins at room temperature for 2-3 days, in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Pumpkin Recipes to Try
- Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal Cups
- Pillowy Soft Pumpkin Cookies
- Pumpkin Chia Pudding
- Healthy Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips
- Tofu Pumpkin Curry
- Pumpkin Brownies
The Most Popular Muffin Recipes
Be sure to check out the full collection of pumpkin recipes and all my vegan recipes here on EBF.
Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup canned pumpkin or homemade pumpkin puree
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 flax egg
- ½ cup mix-ins: chocolate chips, chopped pecans or dried fruit
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Prepare a muffin pan by spraying it with cooking spray or lining it with silicone liners.
- Make your flax egg by whisking together ground flaxseed with water in a small bowl with a fork and let it sit for a few minutes until it forms a gel-like consistency.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt).
- In a medium bowl, mix together the wet ingredients and sugar (pumpkin, coconut sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, oil, applesauce and flax egg).
- Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently fold in any mix-ins if using.
- Place batter into the muffin pan by the spoonful filling each cavity about ¾ full. The batter should be enough to make 10 muffins. Place on the center rack of your oven.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow muffins to cool before removing from pan and serving.
- Store muffins in a container at room temperature for 2-3 days, in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
- Make mini muffins: Just use a mini muffin pan and bake for 12-14 minutes. You should get about 32 mini muffins.
- Gluten-free: If you want these muffins to be gluten-free, use 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love girl weekends like this! I have a “Nanny” too and I think you may be the first person I know that calls their grandma that other than me. My mom always does such maternal things around my house when she is here, like hang curtains and fold sheets. I will never turn it down either. 🙂
Glad you had such a great weekend Brittany!
Nannies are the best! 🙂 I hope you had a lovely weekend as well Lauren. xoxo
As a Nanny myself, am glad to feel the love here and a veagn as well:)
Do your Mom and Grandmother get on board with vegan, health-ified baking? My Mom tries to be supportive, but I’m pretty sure she would balk at things like using applesauce instead of butter/oil. (And I’m positive my Grandmother would probably turn over in her, uhhh, urn:-)).
If yes, that’s fantastic that they’re so supportive and open to new things!
Both my mom and grandmother are southern cooks so if they were doing the baking it would be with real eggs and butter, but they like to be supportive and will try anything I make. They actually really enjoyed the pumpkin muffins. 🙂
glad you had a great weekend with your mom and nanny!!
and love pumpkin muffins, Lori and I have been eating a lot of pumpkin
Me too! I’m surprised I haven’t turned orange yet! 🙂
Yay! I have all of these ingredients in my pantry! Excited to try them =)
Woo-hoo. I hope you love them Noel.
These look great! Pumpkin obviously gets a lot of love. However, I think butterscotch doesn’t get nearly enough. I love the stuff!
By the way, have you ever found all natural butterscotch chips? I can’t find them anywhere, not even online! Ugh…
No!! It really stinks that no one has come out with a brand of natural butterscotch chips. :/
Could I use a regular egg instead of a flax egg??
Thanks!!
Totally!
these sound delicious! can I sub the coconut oil for regular veggie oil?
*drool*
Totally making these tonight, thanks for the recipe!! Yummmm.
These look great! It’s always nice to find vegan baking recipes without flax (my family deals with a lot of food allergies).
Yum! These look so good !!!
yayy I have like all these ingredients lol I’ve always loved your recipes 🙂
Guess what I’m making when I get home?!? No maple syrup though. I have rice syrup, will that work?
I’m the exact same way; I’m totally in love with everything miniature. Things are so much more enjoyable when they’re adorable. 🙂 Good luck with your second week of P90X! Eye on the prize!
Yum, I can NOT get enough pumpkin!! Excited to try these!
What do you think would be the best GF substitute for the flour? I was thinking maybe GF oat flour? Or a combo of the oat flour and almond flour? I love coconut flour, but it seems like it rarely turns out well when I bake with it 🙁
these little muffins look delish!! I am completely in love with anything pumpkin, and I love baking…I may just have to give these little treats a try 🙂
IMHO butterscotch chips make everything better! I’ve had a bag in my pantry for a while, and I usually can’t help but throw them into my recipes too. So, question about coconut palm sugar, evaporated cane juice, sucanat, etc…what’s the difference between them all? Do you have another post or website you can point me to? I’ve been trying to incorporate healthier ingredients into my recipes, and I’ve seen a lot of people are using those sugars nowadays. Thanks so much, and I love your blog!
Coconut palm sugar, evaporated cane juice and sucanat are less processed and contain minerals and nutrients that are stripped from refined white sugar and regular brown sugar. At the end of the day you have to remember that they are all still sugar and have the same amount of calories as regular sugar so they should still be used in moderation. 🙂
You’re right – miniature IS better. I had no problem folding new little baby clothes, but when it comes to mine…pffft! haha
I need to get a mini muffin pan!!!
Great recipe! Not sure if anyone has mentioned this prior but I just added chopped pecans to the mix and the muffins were extra delicious!!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Tiffany. That’s a great suggestion. Nuts give muffins a nice texture!
Hello! I just wanted to let you know, since you’re vegan and many vegans are/like to keep themselves informed about the affects human activity on the rest of the planet, palm sugar is harmful because obtaining it involves tapping the tree, and once the tree is tapped it can no longer produce its coconuts and is therefor made permanently infertile. Sorry about the let down but I thought maybe you’d like to know!
These are amazing! I’m new to meat/dairy free and this was an easy recipe to follow with nothing weird in them!! I was out of coconut oil so I used a tad more apple sauce. Also automatically doubled recipe -muffins go fast in our house. I also added cranberries inside and sunflower seeds on top of a few of em.
Will make these again! Thanks so much!
Woo-hoo. So glad that you liked these, Amber! Thanks for coming back to comment and let me know. 🙂
I know you posted this recipe a LONG time ago but I just discovered it was great and shared it on my blog. I did use 2/3 cup sugar instead of 3/4 cup, but otherwise the same as you posted. Just wanted you to know it’s a great recipe and we really enjoyed the muffins!
Delicious!! The kids loved them as well. Definitely will be saving this recipe 👍🏼
Woo!! So happy to hear these vegan pumpkin muffins were a hit, Lauren! Thanks so much for the review. It means so much to me!
Made these for dessert. My kiddo loves them so much and had 3! She never eats muffins lol. So happy and will be making another batch tomorrow
Woo!! So happy to hear these pumpkin muffins were a hit, Candace! Thanks so much for the review and star rating. I really appreciate it!
Unfortunately, I used Buckwheat Flour and I can taste it. It’s not horrible and I will eat them. But next time I will use the Cup for Cup flour to make it gluten free.
Other than that, they are incredibly delicious! I added chocolate chips!
Good to know you didn’t love them with buckwheat flour!
This was a quick and easy Sunday bake and my first pumpkin recipe of the season. What a nice start to a fall morning. Thank you!
Yay!! So happy to hear these pumpkin muffins were a hit, Cara. Thanks for trying them out and coming back to leave a review + star rating. It means the world to me!
These are goooood! Not too sweet, which I like to be honest. I swapped for gf flour and a regular egg and they came out perfectly. Thanks for sharing!
Happy to hear these pumpkin muffins were a success, Libby! Thanks so much for the review + star rating. It means so much to me!
Simply delicious! I halved the batch and instantly regretted it after the first bite. The texture is perfect and the sweetness is just right.
Ah yay!! Pumped to hear these vegan pumpkin muffins were a hit, Molly! Thanks for the review + star rating. I really appreciate it!
Question! Can I use Almond flour or will that change anything? I am so excited to try this pumpkin recipe that looks delicious and healthy! 💫
I haven’t tried almond flour and it might change the recipe as this recipe is meant to me made with all-purpose flour. If you’re looking for a gluten-free option I would try using gluten-free AP 1:1 flour instead.
I wanted to try this recipe and I finally did! So delicious, taste like fall! Thank you for sharing this great recipe.
Ah yay! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed these pumpkin muffins, Sandra! Thanks for the review and star rating. It means so much to me!
These are so delicious and filling. My toddler loves them and I don’t mind giving them to her as a snack because the ingredients are pretty healthy! They are also great for this pregnant mom that can’t stop snacking!
Woo!! So pumped that these vegan pumpkin muffins have been a hit. Thanks for the review and trying them out, Lydia. I really appreciate it!
This is my first EBF recipe to make and I was SO IMPRESSED! Not only are these muffins so moist but they are also filling and delicious. Perfect for breakfast with coffee or a late afternoon snack with tea. They are sweet without being overly sweet. Thank you SO much for making a vegan recipe so simple and uncomplicated.
Ah yay! So pumped to hear you enjoyed these muffins, Kelli. Thanks so much for the review. I really appreciate it!
I love these!!! My husband and daughter loved them too! They’re so moist. I used the leftover pumpkin purée for the Healthy Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe on this website! 😊
WOO! I am so happy to hear that you and your family are loving this recipe, Tanya, the perfect fall treat! Thank you so much for sharing your review + star rating, I so appreciate you being here!
Really good! I added a little oat milk and some extra coconut oil for extra fat and they came out great!
YUM! Sounds delicious, I’m so glad you’re enjoying this recipe, Nora. Thank you so much for your review + star rating, I appreciate it.
I made these GF with a combination of almond flour and 1:1 GF substitution flour. I decreased the sugar to 3/4 the amount given the addition of maple syrup as well & decreased the cinnamon to 1/2 the amount called for because my pumpkin spice already had some & these turned out great! Light and fluffy, delicious. I’ll be making these annually!
Excellent! I am happy to hear these turned out amazing for you, Holly Ann! Thanks so much for your review + star rating, I truly appreciate it!