Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

Fluffy vegan pumpkin muffins with bakery-style muffin tops and a buttery streusel topping! These muffins use a whole can of pumpkin puree and come together in one bowl. They're fluffier than pumpkin bread but denser than pumpkin cupcakes or cake.

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American, Vegan

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 25

Total Time 40

Servings muffins

Calories 374

Author Anthea

Ingredients

Wet ingredients for pumpkin muffins

15 ounces (425g) pumpkin puree canned or homemade (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 - 1 ¼ cups (200g-250g) packed light brown sugar to taste (note 1)
½ cup (110g) neutral flavored oil
¾ cup (170g) dairy-free milk room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry ingredients for pumpkin muffins

2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour spoon and leveled (note 2)
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (note 3 for homemade blend)
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon 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 4). 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

Use more sugar if you prefer sweeter muffins or less sugar if you prefer muffins that aren't too sweet. Granulated and coconut sugar will also work instead of light brown sugar.
Measuring your flour: 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.
Gluten-free version: These muffins work well with King Arthur's measure for measure flour without any other ingredient changes. You may need to bake the muffins for an extra 1-2 minutes.
For homemade pumpkin spice, use 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/2 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.
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.

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