Seriously the best vegan pumpkin muffins I’ve ever tasted! Perfectly spiced, soft and moist. Best of all you only need 1 bowl and 30 minutes to make them!
Vegan pumpkin muffins are perfect for fall but I could seriously eat them all year long. They are perhaps the most fluffy, moist and flavorful muffins that ever existed.
Pumpkin puree gives them that beautiful orange hue and incredible flavor, especially alongside warming autumn spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Pumpkin is also what makes these muffins SO moist and irresistible.
I love to keep a few in my freezer at all times, if I can stop myself from eating the whole batch fresh! Along with my popular Vegan Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin Coffee Cake, these muffins are one of my favorite fall treats.
Ingredients you need (with substitutions)
- Canned pumpkin puree – I’ve never made them with fresh pumpkin, but it should work just fine. Use quality canned pumpkin for the best results.
- Melted vegan butter or oil – You only need 1/3 cup for the whole batch. I prefer the taste melted vegan butter adds, but a neutral oil works as well, such as avocado, vegetable or melted coconut oil. For oil free, substitute applesauce or non-dairy yogurt.
- Non-dairy milk – I usually use soy, but sometimes I will use almond, cashew or even oat milk. Use your favorite.
- Brown sugar – To make the muffins extra rich tasting. Feel free to use less for a less sweet muffin, or substitute coconut sugar instead.
- All purpose flour – If you need gluten free vegan muffins, use a quality gluten free mix. Almond flour will NOT work here though.
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves – If you have it, substitute 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice mix instead.
- Add ins – Sometimes I stir in some vegan chocolate chips, chopped nuts or dried fruit. But most of the time I like to keep them purely pumpkin.
How to make pumpkin muffins
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Prepare the muffin pan with paper liners. Spray the inside of the liners with non-stick spray. I always do this for muffins so they don’t get stuck.
In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, melted vegan butter or oil, milk and brown sugar.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and spices. I use a fine mesh strainer for this. You can skip the sifting, but you may find little chunks of flour in your muffins. Not the end of the world really, but I prefer sifting here.
Stir until just combined, but do not over mix the batter or your muffins will be dense and rubbery. Stir in any optional ad ins, if using.
Fill the liners all the way to the top for nice big muffins. You should get 12 good sized muffins.
Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with no wet batter.
It’s best to let the muffins cool for at least 30 minutes before enjoying. The flavors mingle together and settle, and the texture gets better as they sit.
How to store leftover muffins
Leftover pumpkin muffins will keep at room temperature for 3-4 days, or a week in the refrigerator. Cover them or keep in a container so they don’t dry out too fast.
You can also freeze them. Freeze in a large container or ziplock type freezer safe bag.
I love to warm them up in the microwave for 30-40 seconds or even pop them in the air fryer for a few minutes until warm. YUM!
Tips
- Add frosting! These muffins are totally sweet enough to pass as cupcakes if you swirl some Vegan Vanilla Frosting on top.
- Don’t accidentally use pumpkin pie mix! You have to use pumpkin puree, which is just plain old canned pumpkin.
- Do not over mix the batter. This is almost always the reason your muffins turn out dense and rubbery. Mix gently until just combined, and carefully fold in any optional ad ins.
- Do not over bake. This is the second reason for dry, dense muffins! Only bake them until a toothpick comes out clean.
Can I turn these muffins into pumpkin bread?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work very well. I tried it when testing my Vegan Pumpkin Bread and it wasn’t good. My advice? Go make that bread instead!
You can, however make mini pumpkin muffins! Bake for only 15-18 minutes.
Want more pumpkin recipes?
- Pumpkin French Toast
- Vegan Pumpkin Cake Bars
- Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Pecan Frosting
- Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Vegan Pumpkin Pie
And check out all my Vegan Fall Recipes!
1 Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup melted vegan butter OR vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup soy or almond milk, unsweetened
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Optional ad ins:
- 1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries or chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and lightly grease a muffin pan. If you use paper liners, also make sure to spray the cups lightly with oil so the muffins don’t get stuck to the paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the pumpkin, melted vegan butter (or oil), non-dairy milk and brown sugar. Whisk until well combined and smooth.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and spices over the wet mixture (I use a fine mesh strainer for this or use a sifter).
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet gently using a large wooden spoon until just combined, being careful not to over mix.
- Fold in any optional ingredients, if using, and fill the muffin cups full. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- For oil free, replace the butter/oil with applesauce or non-dairy yogurt. They won’t be quite the same though.
- If you want less sweet muffins, you may lower the brown sugar amount to 3/4 cup. Or feel free to substitute coconut sugar if desired.
- For gluten free, use a quality gluten free flour mix.
- If you have pumpkin pie spice mix, you may use 3 teaspoons of it and omit the single spices. Either way works!
- These muffins freeze well, simply let them cool completely and place in a freezer bag.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in August 2018 and has since been republished with improved photos and writing.
I subbed regular flour for Anita’s GF flour and subbed almond milk for half and half cream and they are HEAVENLY. Great rise (that was the cream I think) and they cooked a little faster.
So glad you enjoyed the muffins, thanks!
BEST. MUFFINS. EVER.
It’s not even a question – perfectly moist, fluffy texture, and incredibly delicious!! These muffins taste like pumpkin pie with the perfect combination of nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Seriously, make these muffins!!
Thank you for sharing your terrific review, Emily! Glad you love the muffins!
Super easy and super delicious muffins. I added in dried tart cherries and pepitas but mini chocolate would have been great instead. I’ll do that next time. I tend to like muffins a little less sweet. Next time I’ll add a little less brown sugar. Thank you for a great recipe.
Hi Kim. Thank you for sharing your review! It’s always fun to hear the different variations people try! Happy cooking!
Substituted the oil with applesauce and added mini chocolate chips. Kids say they are the best muffins ever! They are very good ?
Thank you for sharing your review! I’m glad the muffins were a hit!
Extremely versatile and delicious!
Thanks Colin!
I’ve made this a couple of times! Absolutely delicious and my vegetarian wife and vegan sister-in-law love them too! I encountered a cold weather problem though! My coconut oil hardens like wax the instant it touched my room-temperature almond milk! So… I warmed it up – problem solved! I would zap my almond milk in the Microwave for about 30 seconds before adding coconut oil in. I am open to other solutions though!
Yes, all I would do in that situation is warm your milk as well, so it doesn’t harden immediately when mixing. Hope that helps, and glad you all love the muffins!
I adapted this to make an apple version –
Bobs’ redmill GF flour
sub pumpklin for applesauce
only 1c sugar
For some reason they were amazing the next day but not as amazing right out of the oven.
Oh I also baked for an extra 10-15 min
Thank you, Rayann!
These were so dang good and moist! I’m not vegan but was out of eggs and looking for a muffin recipe without them. Would make again! 5 stars.
Hi Nora! Any advice on if I wanted to incorporate whole wheat flour in to the recipe? (I don’t have white whole wheat and haven’t been able to find any info online about using a combination of AP and whole wheat flour in lieu of white whole wheat.) I’d like to incorporate some less-refined grains to this recipe if possible!
Sure, you could use half whole wheat and half white flour. They will of course be more dense, but I think it would still be good. You could even use all whole wheat for a different experience.
Simply fantastic. I mixed in chocolate chips and topped with pumpkin seeds. I love your recipes. Thank you for sharing them with us!
You’re welcome!
I made with Bob’s redmill GF 1:1 flour and even after 30 min they were totally gooey and raw in the middle but brown on top. Good taste – not sure what happened in the bake
I’ve never tried them with gluten free flour, but others have reported success so I’m not sure. They also may need longer to bake when gluten free, so make sure to bake them until the middle comes out clean. Also, if you used a larger muffin pan they would take longer as well. Hope that helps!
Hi! I did the same thing with Bob’s 1:1 GF Baking Flour, read this comment, checked them at 24 mins and continued to bake for almost an hour with checks every 10 minutes or so. Even after an hour they were still very gooey inside (but yes we still gobbled them up because they were delicious!) There may be an issue with GF, or specifically Bob’s GF flour with this recipe. The muffins were crispy and nicely browned on the outside, but like custard on the inside. My advice: may want to stick to the original recipe!
My baked goods always comes out gummy w/ Bob’s GF 1:1 flour. You probably did everything right, and it’s the GF flour.
Absolutely delicious!
I always come here to discover new vegan flavors.
This recipe is very good like many others in this blog.
Congratulations Nora!
Thank you for share.
Greetings from Spain!
You’re welcome! Thanks for the comment!
So easy and delicious Nora! I substituted Riviera vanilla vegan yogurt for the oil and added Enjoy Life chocolate chips. The recipe yielded 15 muffins (I filled a bit more than 3/4). I always seek out your blog when searching recipes now. Thank you!
That’s great to know it worked with vegan yogurt, thank you! So glad you are enjoying the recipes. ?
I love the simplicity of this recipe, and they taste great!
My problem (and I know it’s definitely something I did wrong), is that the muffins ended up deflating and never seemed to really cooked all the way through.
Any idea what I could have done wrong?
It sounds like you are just not baking them for long enough. Check with a toothpick or even sharp knife to make sure there is no wet batter, and that the tops spring back when lightly touched. Perhaps your oven runs less hot than most.
Delicious! I used freshly made pumpkin purée and added a sprinkle of raw sugar on top before baking
Very moist and fluffy!
Wonderful, thank you!
You haven’t disappointed me yet! I love how well you test your recipes they always turn out amazing. I was expecting a little more rise out of these at first- but they still tasted fluffy and delicious! I used homemade pumpkin puree that had been in the freezer your standard jack o lantern type pumpkin- and it still was amazing!
Thank you so much, it is a passion of mine for sure! 🙂
Wow, these are seriously good. Moist and flavorful. My husband asked for these to become “a regular.” Neither of us is even vegan.
That’s so great!
I made these again using truvia brown sugar blend (2x so used a little over 1/2 cup) and gluten free flour and they still turned out fantastic! What a great and versatile recipe, thank you for sharing it!!
You’re welcome!!
Easy and flexible recipe! Tested using date and coconut sugar, 1 cup total. Used walnut oil for fat and flax milk for milk. Added mini choc chips, coconut flakes, and sunflower seeds. Recipe made a lot so very full muffin liners – yes on the 24 minute bake. Had enough for 2 small ramekins in addition to the 12 muffins. Good recipe and notes, thanks!
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins!
Very good. Made in a mini loaf tin tray and topped w pepitas
These turned out fabulous! I had way too much for 12 muffins so I filled a ramekin too and now I have a mini cake. 🙂 The only thing I added was some walnuts and pecans, probably a 1/2 cup total. My muffin tins were more than 3/4 full so I baked them just a tad longer and they’re perfect. I decided I wanted to try the maple frosting with them, which was also delicious, but if I’d thought about that when I was starting out, I would have made the muffins less sweet. The combination is a bit much for breakfast…way more suitable for dessert. Please note, that is not a complaint! I did find that using a large, silicone spoon to stir with worked better than the wooden spoon. I’ve become a huge fan of my silicone cookware. This was such an easy, quick recipe. Thank you for sharing it!
Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins! They are quite sweet, so feel free to cut back on the sugar as desired. ?
Yummy! I added walnuts on top
Yum, thanks!
Why are my muffins sticking to the paper liners?
The muffins are delicious!
If they stick, just spray them with oil next time. Especially if you didn’t add oil to the muffins. Glad you enjoyed them!
I am not a vegan, my granddaughter is and I made these today for her as a surprise. They are so easy, so moist and so delicious. Better than regular pumpkin muffins I have had in the past. I drizzled them with a glaze made for pumpkin do-nuts and they really look extra special.
That’s great!
Made this with the Bob’s Red Mill gf flour, oat milk, pumpkin pie spice, and chopped walnuts. Came out SO nice and popped right out of the pan. Great tip on not over-mixing to avoid the gummy texture, I’m sure I’ve done that many times. Thrilled whenever something gf and vegan comes out decent, because baking without eggs is so hard. These were great with some Miyoko’s vegan butter. Thank you!!
You’re welcome!
Is it really 1 TBSP of baking powder? I’ve never used that much in a recipe so the first time I made these I subconsciously used 1 tsp and they turned out great. The second time I noticed my error but then I forgot to adjust the time for mini muffins and over baked them. I also didn’t store the first batch in the fridge and they went moldy after a few days. Besides my errors, I’ll continue to make these and correct my ways. My 9yo devours them.
Yes, 1 tablespoon is correct here. It helps them become very fluffy. Sometimes in vegan baking extra baking powder helps since you aren’t using eggs which often help with rising in baked goods. Hope that helps!