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Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

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These healthy pumpkin muffins are my new faves! They’re naturally gluten-free, sweetened with maple syrup, quick and easy to make, and perfecty pumpkin-y.

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Recipe (Gluten-Free)

Meet your new favorite pumpkin muffins. 

Oh my goodness, we’ve been completely obsessed with these little guys these past few weeks. They are perfectly pumpkin-y, made with my favorite warming spices, and lightly sweetened with maple syrup (plus a pinch of turbinado sugar on top, if you’d like a little extra sweetness and sparkle). They’re also quick and easy to make with ingredients that I’m betting you probably already have on hand. And thanks to an oatmeal base, they’re also gluten-free and on the healthier end of the muffin spectrum in general.

Basically, a pumpkin muffin recipe that tastes great and you can feel great about enjoying too. That’s my kind of a muffin win-win.

Let’s make some!

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Ingredients

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Ingredients:

As I said, the ingredient list for these muffins is super simple. You will need:

  • Pumpkin puree: ‘Tis the season!
  • Old-fashioned oats: Which we will pulse in the blender or food processor until they are finely ground to make our “flour”
  • Pumpkin pie spice: Either homemade or store-bought
  • Almond milk: Or your favorite kind of nut milk or cow’s milk (2% or whole)
  • Maple syrup: Or you could sub in honey, if you prefer
  • Coconut oil: Just a few tablespoons (or feel free to sub in your favorite mild-flavored oil)
  • Eggs, salt, vanilla and baking soda: Because…muffins.
  • Turbinado sugar: Totally optional, but I love the extra hint of sweetness and crunch and sparkle on top

As always, if making this recipe gluten-free, be sure to double check that all of your ingredients are certified gluten-free. (Especially the oats.)

Also, I made my own little parchment baking liners. But feel free to use whatever baking liners you love best, or can just mist the baking pan with some cooking spray.

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Recipe with Maple Syrup

How To Make Pumpkin Muffins:

To make this pumpkin muffins recipe, simply:

  1. Make your oat “flour”: Add your oats to a blender or food processor and pulse until they reach a flour-like consistency.
  2. Combine your dry ingredients: Add the pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda, and pulse until evenly combined.
  3. Whisk together your wet ingredients: In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla until evenly combined.
  4. Combine the two. Fold the dry ingredients in with the wet, and use a spatula to stir together until just combined. (Try not to over-stir.)
  5. Fill your muffin cups. Portion the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups. (I always like to do this with a large cookie scoop. You’ll need a heaping scoop of batter for this specific recipe — about 1/3 cup per muffin.)  Then sprinkle with a pinch of turbinado sugar, if you’d like.
  6. Bake. Until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes.
  7. Enjoy! I love these muffins best fresh outta the oven. But once they have cooled to room temperature, feel free to store them in a sealed container for up to 3 days, or freeze (wrapped tightly in plastic wrap) for up to 3 months.

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins with Parchment Liners

Optional Add-Ins:

Feel free to also add in:

  • Chocolate chips: Because…chocolate.
  • Nuts or seeds: Such as pepitas, pecans, sunflower seeds, walnuts, etc. You can either sprinkle them on top of the muffins, or fold them into the batter.
  • Dried fruit: Dried cranberries, raisins, apricots…whatever you love.
  • A maple glaze: Whisk together powdered sugar and maple syrup until they form a glaze-like consistency, and drizzle over your muffins for extra sweetness

The BEST Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Enjoy, everyone! ♡

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Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Recipe (Gluten-Free)

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.6 from 116 reviews
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 12 servings 1x

Description

These healthy pumpkin muffins are naturally gluten-free, sweetened with maple syrup, quick and easy to make, and so perfecty pumpkin-y.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 cups old-fashioned oats*
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, homemade or store-bought
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, plain or vanilla
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or any mild-flavored oil)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • optional: turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with parchment or cupcake liners, or lightly grease with cooking spray.  Set aside.
  2. Puree oats in a blender or food processor until they reach a flour-like consistency.  Add in the pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and sea salt, and pulse until the mixture is evenly combined.  Set aside.
  3. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla extract until evenly combined.  Fold the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredient mixture, and stir until the mixture is just combined.  (Try to avoid over-mixing.)
  4. Portion the ingredients into prepared baking cups.  Then sprinkle a pinch of turbinado sugar on top of each muffin, if you would like.
  5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.
  6. Serve warm.  Or let the muffins cool to room temperature, then store in a sealed container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Notes

*Or feel free to substitute in 240 grams (8.4 ounces) oat flour.  And as always, be sure to use certified gluten-free ingredients if making this recipe gluten-free.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light.

Easy Healthy Pumpkin Muffins | Gimme Some Oven

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209 comments on “Healthy Pumpkin Muffins”

  1. I made these exact to recipe, no extras but the sprinkled sugar on top. As someone else stated I found them a bit eggy and plain, they needed to cook longer too (about 22 minutes as mentioned in reviews). If I were to make these again I think I’d add applesauce for flavor, I saw some suggested it as a replacement for egg, I’d only ever used applesauce as a replacement for oil- but would be willing to try something new. I did fill my muffin cups to the top and got a beautiful domed muffin. Great healthy base, but needs more flavor/spice imo.






  2. I was super skeptical at first, no flour or sugar?! But WOW. These turned out GREAT! I made the recipe exactly as written and then I added some heath bits (cuz, Heath bits..!) to some. Both were wonderful. The batter was very wet but it baked out to a nice dense muffin. Next time I’ll try the maple glaze. Thanks for sharing!






  3. These were great! Butternut Squash is easier for me to handle than pumpkin. I’ll make these again and again. But the reason I gave 4 stars is because even though they are cooked all the way through, they seem chewy and almost sticky. Can someone tell me what I might be doing wrong? Or is the reason just because it’s oats? Otherwise, these are my new go-to muffins!






  4. This as great recipe! I added 3/4 cup of milk instead of the 1 cup called for. I used regular milk and 1/2 cup of honey instead of syrup and 1/4 cup of sugar. Added walnuts! Baking at 375 is perfect to develop nice color. This is a super healthy recipe for muffins! Very tasty and No white flour and moderate sweetness. Thank you.






  5. BEST G-Free Healthy Pumpkin muffins Ever!!

    Seriously – thank you for this easy deelish recipe. My husband & I are also an oil-free home due to heart issues, so I omitted the oil and instead doubled the pumpkin puree. Also sub Pumpkin Almond Milk for Almond milk. They turned out perfect: moist & fluffy w/golden crust and really deelish. Great canvas for adding nuts/fruits. Cheers!!






  6. This recipe totally surprised me! Much lighter than I expected, just a hit of sweetness. My grandson ate one, an really liked it. Thanks

  7. Incredible texture and flavor. Perfectly sweet! My boyfriend kept eating the batter, which was also good. I’m not even gluten free but I would make oat flour muffins over wheat muffins any day just because they are so good. ?






  8. These were awesome! Could regular milk be substituted for the almond milk? My boyfriend is allergic to all nuts






  9. Liked these very much. Plenty sweet. I added 1 T. Chia seeds and I cup fresh cranberries frozen.. Cooked at 350 for 25 minutes. Will make again.

  10. These were Great, This as a great recipe! Seriously – thank you for this easy delish recipe. Thank You for sharing this with us. this is a great blog. I appreciate You.

  11. Best pumpkin muffins! Great flavor!






  12. Delish!! I substituted 1/3 cup monk fruit instead of the maple syrup.






  13. These are delicious! My kids won’t eat many veggies so I load these up with zucchini and a little cauliflower and you can’t even taste it.






  14. Wonderful ………make these muffins often!






  15. How many calories per muffin?

  16. I’m impressed! This is a fantastic recipe that I didn’t think would be that good being there is no wheat flour or sugar. I substituted pumpkin purée for the oil. I also used 2 duck eggs that I find make baked goods recipes come out lighter and because that’s what I had on hand. This recipe is getting bookmarked. I will make it again!






  17. Made this for Christmas and they seemed a bit bland – I would add more salt next time and probably also pecans. So much for healthy ;)

  18. Delicious! I love to sprinkle chocolate chips on half of them. I typically cook these about 20-24 minutes.






  19. Made these today, so good! I doubled the recipe, substituting flour for oats in the double. 3 cups of oats in the blender = 2 1/4 cups blended, plus 2 1/4 cups flour in the double recipe (running low on baking supplies).
    Love the maple glaze too!






    • I followed the recipe exactly..I even made my pumpkin purée from scratch. The muffins looked good…but when I tasted them I was really disappointed – the muffins were almost savory and pretty bland. :-( I spent a long time making these and I am pretty sad about the outcome. I will look up a frosting recipe tomorrow and try to salvage them by putting some frosting in top. I think you should revise your recipe…or at least put a note in there for others re: sweetness levels.






  20. Just wanted to say that these are AMAZING!!! It was a nice break from the box mixed muffins and were so delicious during our extra time at home!






  21. Turned out really tasty!!






  22. These did not set up for me. I like to make larger muffins, so I cooked for at least 33-35 minutes and they were still raw inside. I feel they were lacking in flavor as well. I will try again.






  23. Super delicious . One of my favorite make. I add chocolate chips in the mix and once they’re done cover the top in mix of coconut sugar and cinnamon. Usually I only like the recipes that have banana and nuts . But wow !

  24. Made these using Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer since my son has an egg allergy. They were awesome!

  25. Just made this according to the recipe and it came out perfect! No substitutes. Yummy!!!!!!
    Hmmmm…Thinking about using squash puree next time.






  26. Gave these a try and thought they were pretty tasty as is. I added vegan mini chocolate chips and the turbinado sugar and found they were just sweet enough. The texture is moist and almost spongy. They were done after about 15 minutes but I left them in for another 3 to see if they would darken up a bit. They didn’t. They looked like the picture, except that the perfectly domed tops deflated after they cooled. They stuck a bit to my paper muffin cups but now that they’ve cooled a bit, they come out with no problem. The tops are a bit sticky so I’d recommend refrigerating them and consuming them right away. Seems like they might mold otherwise.






  27. Made this recipe exactly as suggested- found the muffins to be a bit plain. Most likely will not be using again.

  28. This is my second week in a row making these. This week I added extra spice and some cardamom. I love the texture!






  29. These are actually the best gluten free muffins i have ever had!! Thankyou! These will be a weekly thing in my house!






  30. This was a fail for me. I know what went wrong so I will try and warn others to not make my mistake. My oats did not grind “flour like” it was not a powder and because of that the batter was wet like others described. So, to have your muffins turn out as beautifully as the picture, make sure your oats resemble flour before you combine ingredients!! The muffins did set and my kids are eating them with no complaints!!! I’ll try again :)

  31. Does anyone know how many net cards are in each muffin?

  32. I used a large sweet potato instead of pumpkin. They turned out great!. 2nd time I made them I sprinkled pumpkin seeds over the top for extra crunch. Love this recipe. Thank you!

  33. They are not very Tasty. I had high expectations for this recipe. But it just didn’t deliver. And I’m not sure what I could do to make it taste better.






  34. These were the absolute best!!! They are delicious, but taste so natural and healthy at the same time. I will make a double batch the next time. I followed the recipe, but needed to bake about 5 extra minutes. Thank you. We loved them!






  35. I’ve been making these non-stop. They’re a great filling snack with a cup of tea in the afternoon. I found the baking time is closer to 26-28 minutes, I’m not sure why there is such a big difference but this is what has worked for me (this was before trying any add ins as mentioned next). I’ve played around with different add-ins: chocolate chips, dried cranberries, apple and blueberry (separately). My favourite by far is the blueberries! Also, I use a heaping tbsp for the pumpkin spice. Make sure your species are fresh. Lastly, to my surprise I much prefer grinding my own oats rather than the oat flour. I much prefer the texture with ground oats for some reason. Anyway, this recipe is a new staple in my house, thank you!






  36. Very filling but very bland. I definitely think that additional sugar or extra pumpkin pie spice is needed in this recipe because I was honestly struggling to taste anything. These turned out similar to the consistency of something made with almond flour (very dense, chewy, sticky), so if texture is an issue for you I’d also probably steer clear of this recipe. I also had to bake these an extra ~5-10 minutes from what the recipe said so don’t be worried if they aren’t ready at the written time. With allll of that being said, if you’re looking for a recipe that’s very filling, not bad tasting but not full of flavor, and very healthy, I’d definitely make these, but I probably won’t be making these again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯






  37. Overall, these are quite nice. Some changes I ended up making:
    (1) I didn’t want to use maple syrup, so I used ED Smith No Sugar Added syrup as a substitute, and also included one ripe mashed banana. As a result, the muffins were only lightly sweetened. Next time I will use half ED Smith and half maple syrup. I think they really need the intense sweetness of the maple syrup, or honey.
    (2) I doubled the vanilla and the amount of pumpkin spice. I tend to do this whenever I bake. I’m glad I did.

    I will definitely make these again. They rise up so nicely as they bake and are so light and tasty. Perfect with a cup of tea on a chilly Fall day. Thanks for this recipe!

  38. Used applesauce in place of coconut oil. Instead of maple syrup, used light pancake syrup and 1/3 c of Splenda. Added 2tsp cinnamon and more pumpkin spice. Also added some golden raisins. Next time, will add walnuts. Very good and low calorie. I made 15 muffins; 70 cal each

  39. Let me start by saying I am a huge fan of your recipes! your baked potato soup gets us thru the winter :) Having said that I was very disappointed in this recipe. I am a very experienced baker, followed this to a T and my muffins came out nothing like the pictures. I even used fresh pumpkin I roasted myself. If I baked them long enough to get the gorgeous color of yours, they would be overdone. I was excited to bake with oat flour since I have tons of oats(thanks Costco LOL), but I felt the texture was not what I look for in a muffin and the flavor was just meh. I know lots of reviewers raved, but sadly, not a fan here. I made them 4 days ago and still have over half left. My family just didn’t like them either. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes :)

  40. I love the healthy ingredients, but flavor-wise, these didn’t hit the mark with my family. I didn’t include the optional turbinado sugar topping and instead sprinkled them with hulled pumpkin seeds. The muffins were rather bland. I’m guessing the turbinado sugar really brings them together in the flavor department. Without it, I thought they needed a touch more sweetness, as well as more pumpkin spice flavor. I also needed to bake them longer—about 22 minutes total baking time.






  41. My son, who is notoriously fussy, actually likes these. I am amazed – that alone makes them worth baking repeatedly! They turned out wonderfully. I used the homemade pumpkin spice mix and found the flavour was perfectly spicy. I did need to up the cooking time however. They required about 25 minutes to make sure the centre was done.

  42. Thank you for this recipe. Instead of rolled oats, i substituted with raw oat bran and i used coconut sugar for the sprinkles on the tops. It baked very well in 18 mins and i had 21 muffins. It lacked sweetness for me though – perhaps increasing maple syrup to 1 cup might have helped. Then the times would have to adjusted, isuppose. So after the 1st batch of 12 came out of the oven, i added 60% chocolate chip cookies to the balance batter. Those muffins are easier to eat on its own while the 1st batch can be used for breakfast cereal muffins with butter and some jam or marmalade.






  43. Easy & delicious! I made them as minis and baked them for just shy of 12 minutes. Added three semi sweet choc chips to the tops of each and it gave it that little bit of extra deliciousness. Thanks as always for a reliable recipe!






  44. Simple and delicious! My baby loved them!

  45. Thank you for this recipe! We’ve recently discovered some significant allergies in our family & are so. very. grateful. for healthy, gluten-free options! This will be on consistent rotation for breakfasts. Sincerely thankful for this simple but yummy recipe. Seriously.

  46. First time I made this it was super good! With some adjustments. I baked them at 350 for 24 minutes, used 2% instead of almond milk, and I made my own spice mixture (2.5 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, shake of ground ginger, and a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice). The second time I made it, it turned out very eggy tasting and took 30 minutes in the oven for it to not be too wet inside the muffin. Both times I used oat flour instead of blending whole oats. The first time however I used 2.5 cups of oat flour and the second time I used 2.25 cups of oat flour and used melted butter instead of oil. I guess that wasn’t the move. My rec here to make these work is to use more spices and vanilla than the recipe calls for, lower the temp to 350, and cook for a little longer (22-24 min)! And if you use oat flour, 2.5 cups should do!






  47. They were amazing! I made a half batch, subsituted apple sauce for coconut oil and skim milk for almond milk, and added mini chocolate chips. My family loved them. I will definitely make again.






  48. Delicious! I wish I knew how many calories/nutritional info for each muffin. Awesome recipe! Thank you!!!






  49. These muffins somehow suck all the flavor out of it. I literally couldn’t taste anything. No pumpkin, no cinnamon, nothing. Except cloves, but that’s because it’s a REALLY strong taste. But other than that, these are the most unflavorful muffins I’ve ever had. I even put the sugar on top, and added extra maple syrup. Nothing. I had high hopes with this recipe, and I am extremely disappointed. I stupidly ignored the comments that said it wasn’t very flavorful because I thought “oh, it can’t be THAT bad”. Trust me: it’s that bad. Usually desserts, muffins, anything like that goes fast in this household, but I think I’ll have a very hard time getting through them. I’ll try to salvage them with some frosting or something, but I honestly don’t know if that’ll do it. Just stick to another recipe. But if you’re stubborn like me and want to try it anyway, try doubling the pumpkin puree and omitting the oil. Maybe do some of the add ins, too. And good luck.






  50. Excellent recipe! It’s now in our regular rotation. I’ve also played with it and substituted mashed bananas or shredded zucchini for the pumpkin. Great result. Does anyone have a nutritional analysis for the recipe? I’m curious about the amount of fiber.