Fluffy vegan pumpkin muffins with bakery-style muffin tops! These muffins come together in one bowl and have a crunchy streusel topping.
This recipe uses cozy Fall spices and a whole can of pumpkin puree for the best pumpkin flavor (and you'll have no leftovers)!
Simple ingredients you'll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes about the ingredients
Pumpkin puree, either canned or homemade (I've tested this recipe with both). If you're making your own pumpkin puree, make sure it is thick, like pictured.
All-purpose flour for the fluffiest muffins. Alternatively, you may use whole wheat or spelt flour for denser muffins.
Brown sugar for sweetness and depth of flavor. For lighter muffins, you can use granulated sugar. Or for refined sugar-free muffins, use coconut sugar.
Baking powder and soda. Pumpkin purée often weighs down baked goods so we're using double baking agents to ensure the muffins are fluffy.
Even though these muffins are eggless, we don't need any special egg replacers. The extra pumpkin in the recipe adds moisture and binds the ingredients!
How to make vegan pumpkin muffins
The muffin batter is easy to make as we're just mixing the wet ingredients, then the dry ingredients in one bowl. For the best results, here are some tips:
- Measure your flour accurately. If you're using measuring cups, don't use the cup to scoop flour out of the container as it can pack in too much flour and lead to dry and dense muffins. Use the spoon and level method to add flour to your cup, or use an electric scale.
- Make sure your baking powder and soda are still active. Old raising agents will make smaller and denser muffins.
- Avoid overmixing the batter, otherwise you'll get dense muffins that won't rise as much.
Making the streusel topping
The topping is easy to make as we're adding all ingredients to a bowl and mixing it until combined.
If you want a streusel topping without pumpkin seeds, you can replace them with chopped pecans, or simply exclude them. Your streusel will be more similar to the one I used for my banana muffins.
TOP tips for cafe-style muffin tops
If you bake these muffins as is, you'll still get high muffin tops! In a classic USA muffin tray, the muffin batter fills each cavity close to the top.
If you'd like extra high muffin tops, I recommend spacing apart the muffins in your muffin tin and baking only six at a time. Each muffin is exposed to more oven heat which encourages them to rise more! With a 12-cavity tray, you'll place the muffins diagonally from each other. If you have only one muffin tray, you'll need to bake the muffins in two lots.
Customizing these muffins
Yes, you will get around 16 smaller muffins from this recipe (similar in size to my vegan apple muffins) and will take around 20-25 minutes to bake. Or make them even smaller to fit into school lunchboxes!
Yes! I recommend:
- dairy-free chocolate chips (or check out my vegan choc chip muffins)
- pecans, walnuts or other nuts
- dried cranberries, soaked in water beforehand
I haven't tested this recipe with gluten-free flour. It may work with a high-quality flour, such as King Arthur's measure for measure flour.
Yes, you can use whole wheat flour or spelt flour and coconut sugar. However, add an extra dash of non-dairy milk because those flours are more absorbent than all-purpose flour.
More vegan recipes with pumpkin
Or check out my round-up post for all my vegan Thanksgiving desserts.
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Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
Wet ingredients for pumpkin muffins
- 15 ounces (425g) pumpkin puree, canned or homemade (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 cup (190g) packed light brown sugar, granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ cup (125g) neutral flavored oil
- ¾ cup (190g) dairy-free milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry ingredients for pumpkin muffins
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose plain flour, spooned and leveled (note 1)
- 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, (note 2 for homemade blend)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
Crumb topping (see note 4 if omitting the crumb topping, and for the optional icing)
- ½ cup (65g) all-purpose plain flour
- ¼ cup (30g) raw pumpkin seeds, or replace with 1-2 tablespoons (8-15g) extra flour
- 3 tablespoons (45g) vegan butter, melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons (25g) packed brown sugar, granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, or ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners. If you're using paper liners, spray or brush them with oil.
Preparing the pumpkin muffins:
- Add the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet batter and mix until there are no big lumps. Make sure you don't overmix the batter.
- Use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to divide the batter in your muffin pan (note 3). The batter should fill each cup almost entirely (see the reference images above).
To make the crumb topping:
- Add all ingredients for your crumb topping to a mixing bowl (to minimize dirty dishes, you can use the same bowl that you used for your batter). Mix with a spoon or your fingertips until combined. The mixture should be flaky and crumbly.
- Generously sprinkle the crumb topping onto your muffins.
Baking and storing the muffins:
- Bake the muffins for 25-28 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in a muffin and it comes out mostly with no wet batter (a few moist crumbs are fine).
- Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin pan for 10 minutes (or until they aren't too hot to handle). Remove the muffins and allow them to cool on a wire rack.
- Enjoy the muffins warm or at room temperature. They're perfect by themselves or with some vegan butter.
- Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days, in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. If the crumb topping softens, you can reheat the muffins in the oven for 10 minutes at 160°C (320°F) or until heated through.
Video
Notes
- If you're using measuring cups, make sure you measure the flour accurately otherwise your muffins will be dry and dense. Use the spoon and level method where you fluff up the flour in the bag, use a spoon to add the flour to a measuring cup, and level it off with a knife. Please don't use the measuring cup to scoop flour out of your container, as it will pack in too much flour and result in dry and dense muffins. For the best results, use the grams measurements.
- For homemade pumpkin spice, use 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground ginger and a pinch of ground cloves.
- For the highest muffin tops, space apart the muffins in your muffin tray and only bake 6 at a time. This encourages more of the hot oven heat to circulate the muffins, and they rise more. If you do this, you'll need to bake the muffins in 2 lots.
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If you omit the crumb topping, please use 1 cup (250g) of dairy-free milk in the batter. The topping shields the muffins from the oven heat, so they don't dry out quickly. However, baking the muffins without the topping can result in drier muffins.To make a simple icing for your muffins, combine ¾ cup (75g) of powdered sugar with 3-4 teaspoons of dairy-free milk in a medium bowl. Add more sugar for a thicker icing or more liquid for a thinner icing and drizzle it over the cooled muffins.
Nutrition
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Sharanya says
Hey Anthea
Tried these lovely lovely muffins and they turned out so so well ❤️❤️ yumm! Suuper softtttttt
Anthea says
Hi Sharanya! I'm so happy that you enjoyed these muffins! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
Patti Norris says
Your recipes look amazing!! Can you substitute gluten free flour and almond/oat flour for regular flour? Do you have any idea of the ratios needed to get the same texture?
Anthea says
Hi Patti, thanks for your support! I haven't tested this recipe with a combination of gf flour and almond/oat flour. However, I've done this successfully with other similar recipes (with different fruits/vegetables) when I used half of each using grams. I hope that helps and let me know how you go if you make them!
Arin says
made these 2x for loved ones & they enjoyed them immensely! some commented that they wouldn't have thought they were vegan had i not said it!
1st time i decreased sugar to 170g then increased 180g the 2nd time. sweetness was great at that amount. streusel was made with 65g flour, 35g butter, & 15g brown sugar, & cinnamon ofc! also measured out 125g butter then melted & cooled as replacement for the oil in the batter, worked tremendously!
my molds are smaller than regular cupcake pans so i made 12 & split the rest to make 4 large muffins. baked beautifully with a bit extra time.
this was my 1st time trying one of your recipes & i'm certainly encouraged to bake more from ya very soon! thank you so much, Anthea!! ^^
Anthea says
Hi Arin, aw that's great feedback!! I'm thrilled that they were undetectably vegan and thank you for letting me know about the changes that you made - I'm sure others will appreciate it too! I hope you enjoy anything else that you get to bake and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment here!
Saundra Krieger says
The taste was great, except the muffins never popped up or got hard. They fell apart?
I added an additional 15 or 20 minutes more of cooking time, but they’ve never got done. Not sure what I did wrong as I followed the directions
Anthea says
Hi Saundra, oh that doesn't sound right at all! By any chance, did you substitute any of the ingredients? It sounds like your batter wasn't right in the first place. Muffins should never take 45 minutes to bake.
Natalie says
Delicious! They rise into 12 large muffins. Had salted roasted pumpkin seeds on hand. Washed off the salt, but twice roasted wasn't as good. Will only use raw next time.
Anthea says
Hi Natalie, I'm so glad you enjoyed these muffins! Thanks for the tip about the roasted pumpkin seeds too - I know other readers will appreciate that :).
Malou says
Hi Anthea, this recipe looks so good. To make this for my toddler, I would like to replace the sugar for apple sauce. Could this work? 🤔
Anthea says
Hi Malou! That's a good question - I imagine it will work but the texture will be much denser. You may also want to reduce the amount of milk in the recipe. I hope that helps!
Nancy says
This looks amazing. Can these be made gluten-free?
Wendy says
These muffins come out soft, springy & delicious! They're a great treat for my teenage vegan grandson.
Anthea says
Hi Wendy, I'm so happy that you and your grandson enjoyed these muffins! Thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
Hollie says
I’m terrible at baking, especially vegan recipes. But this was very simple and came out SO GOOD!
Anthea says
Hi Hollie, aw I'm so happy that you found these muffins approachable and tasty!! Thanks so much for your review!
Fary says
They are perfect!
Anthea says
So glad that you loved them!
Nora says
Baked these muffins this morning and wow, they're so fluffy and I love those huge muffin tops! Better than any bought muffin I've bought at a cafe! Thank you so much!
Anthea says
Aw, that's amazing to hear! The muffin tops are my fav too. Thanks so much for your lovely comment 🙂
Katka_bu says
Simply amazing and delicious 🤤. I fell in love with these! Tastes like spicy Autumn 🍂. The structure is spot-on and the crumble on top? Oh myyy ❤️!
Anthea says
Aw I'm so happy that you loved these muffins! And I love the sound of spicy autumn :).Thanks so much for your lovely feedback x
Nicole C. says
This recipe looks amazing! Would it be possible to swap out unsweetened apple sauce for the vegetable oil? Thanks in advance!
Anthea says
Hi Nicole! Unsweetened apple sauce may work but I haven't tested it myself so I'm not 100% sure how it will affect the texture. I hope that helps!
Sofie says
Oh my god! These are delicious! And very easy to make! Thank you for the recipe ❤️
Anthea says
Aw that's music to my ears! Thanks so much Sofie!
Nicole says
Hello can coconut oil be used in place of vegetable?
Anthea says
Yes, but I recommend eating the muffins slightly warm because coconut oil tends to solidify at a certain temperature and can make baked goods feel drier than normal!
Jung says
What is the white liquid topping you spooned over the baked muffins? Condensed milk?
Anthea says
Hi Jung, it's just a simple icing made from powdered sugar and a small amount of dairy-free milk.
Tess says
Absolutely delicious, moist, and fluffy. I've found my new go to pumpkin muffin recipe.
Anthea says
I'm so glad that you enjoyed this recipe Tess! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Alina says
Anthea, thank you for the recipe! I’ve been waiting for it 🙂 I’ve already made your carrot muffins and lemon muffins - they were extremely delicious! So I’ve been looking forward to a new autumn season recipe:-) Tell me please how can I prepare pumpkin purée by myself?
Anthea says
Aw I'm so glad that you loved my carrot and lemon muffin recipes! To make your own pumpkin puree, I recommend either:
1. Peel and cut your pumpkin into cubes and steam it. Or cut your whole pumpkin in half, remove the seeds and roast it until the flesh is super soft. Scoop out the flesh and discard the skin.
2. Use a food processor or stick blender to puree the pumpkin!
I hope that helps 🙂