These Vegan Pumpkin Muffins are the most delicious muffins for fall with a moist crumb packed with real pumpkin puree and fall spices. Bonus these egg-free pumpkin muffins are also easy to make gluten-free, so you can share them with all your friends and family.
Everyone loves Fall recipes made with homemade pumpkin puree like my vegan gluten-free pumpkin bread. This vegan pumpkin muffin recipe is a fantastic addition that has a very fluffy texture and a delicate pumpkin taste.
Why You’ll Love These Muffins
These are naturally:
- Dairy-Free
- Egg-Free
- Nut-Free and, therefore an excellent recipe for a kid’s lunchbox.
- Gluten-Free
- Vegan
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need are:
- Pumpkin Puree – You can use canned pumpkin puree – make sure it’s not pumpkin pie filling – the ingredients listed on the can should be just pumpkin, with no added sugar or preservatives. But my preferred option is to make your own pumpkin puree.
- All-Purpose Flour – Classic wheat flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour.
- Flaxseed Egg – You can make a flaxseed egg with one tablespoon of flaxseed meal combined with 3 tablespoons of lukewarm water. Set aside your mixture for 10 minutes until it looks like an eggy texture. This adds a real chew to the muffins, and the crumbs hold perfectly while staying moist and egg-free.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda – for a nice and fluffy texture.
- Light Brown Sugar or coconut sugar.
- Maple Syrup – Classic maple syrup or any other liquid sweetener such as agave syrup, rice malt syrup, or coconut nectar.
- Light Olive Oil – or any vegetable oil like melted coconut oil or canola oil.
- Cinnamon – for perfect fall flavors.
- Ginger – to add a little zing.
- Nutmeg or cloves or ginger
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
It’s super easy to make a vegan version of your old-time favorite pumpkin muffins.
- First, in a large bowl, add pumpkin puree, flax egg, olive oil, maple syrup, vanilla, brown sugar, and spices. Stir to combine.
- Next, sift the remaining dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt on top of the bowl with the previous wet ingredients.
- Stir to combine evenly. The batter should be thick with a light orange color.
- Now, feel free to fold in chocolate chips if you like, 1/2 cup dark chocolate tastes fantastic.
- However, I prefer to skip the chocolate chips because I think it hides the pumpkin flavor too much.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cups. Slightly oil the cups with olive oil spray.
- Fill each paper cup with the batter – about 3-4 tablespoons per muffin. If you like, sprinkle some pumpkin seeds on top of the muffins before baking.
- Place the muffin pan in the center rack of the oven and bake them for 30 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean and dry.
- Cool the muffins completely on a wire rack for 1 hour before eating.
Storage Instructions
Store your baked vegan pumpkin muffins in a sealed, airtight container and place them in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also freeze pumpkin muffins and thaw them at room temperature the day before.
Flavor Variations
If you like to create different pumpkin muffins flavor, try to stir in 1/2 cup of these ingredients in the muffin batter:
- Dark Chocolate Chips
- Chopped Pecans
- Chopped Walnuts
You can also make a delicious oat crumble and sprinkle it on the top of the muffins just before baking. To make it, stir 1/2 cup of rolled oats with three tablespoons of softened coconut, two tablespoons of maple syrup, and a pinch of cinnamon. Sprinkle the oat cinnamon crumble on top of each unbaked pumpkin muffin.
Serving
These pumpkin muffins are delicious on their own, but you can also serve them with:
- Peanut Butter
- Coconut Whipped Cream or Vegan Whipped Cream
- Almond Butter or peanut butter.
- Vegan Butter
Allergy Swaps
There are a few ways you can adapt this recipe to your food allergies, including:
- Gluten-Free – Use an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend containing added gum for the best texture. Make sure the baking powder is wheat-free as well.
- Sugar-Free – Pumpkin contains natural sugar but actually not that much. So if you use sugar-free maple syrup and a sugar-free granulated sweetener like brown erythritol or brown allulose, it will make delicious sugar-free pumpkin muffins.
- Oil-Free – I didn’t try the recipe oil-free, but I am pretty sure that the same amount of vegan yogurt or unsweetened apple sauce will work perfectly in this recipe.
- Flaxseed-Free – You can replace the flaxseed meal with ground chia seeds to make a chia egg instead of a flax egg. Another option is to use one tablespoon of cornstarch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below I answered the most common questions about these pumpkin muffins.
You can remove the sweeteners in this recipe, of course, but the flavor will be very bland. If you do want to make savory vegan pumpkin muffins, swap the maple syrup for the same amount of almond milk. Then, remove brown sugar and replace it with 2-3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast in the recipe to enhance the flavor of the muffins.
Absolutely, you can replace the spices added in this recipe with 2 3/4 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice mix.
No, you can’t replace all-purpose flour in this recipe with low-carb flour like almond flour or coconut flour. The recipe has no eggs, so low-starch flours won’t firm up the muffin batter.
More Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
I have so many delicious vegan recipes made with pumpkin for you to try. Pick some of the below this fall.
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Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour - or whole-wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon Flaxseed Egg - 1 tbsp of flaxmeal + 3 tbsp of warm water
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar - or coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 1 can (15oz) Pumpkin Puree - about 1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup Light Olive Oil - or vegetable oil of choice
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Fresh Ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Topping
- ¼ cup Pumpkin Seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-hole muffin pan with muffin paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin puree, flax egg, olive oil, maple syrup, vanilla, brown sugar, and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger). Set aside.
- On top of the bowl, sift the remaining ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Stir until just combined, don't over-stir the batter to avoid packed gummy muffins. The batter should be thick and dense not runny or overly dry. Optional: fold in 1/2 cup of chopped nuts or chocolate chips halfway if desired.
- Fill the muffin paper cases evenly with about 3-4 tablespoons of batter per muffin.
- Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top of the muffins if desired.
- Bake in the center rack for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool down completely on a cooling rack for one hour before eating.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freeze in a sealed box for up to 3 months and thaw the day before eating at room temperature.
FANTASTIC