These Vegan Pumpkin Muffins are perfectly spiced, fluffy, and moist. Best of all, they’re easy to make in one bowl in just 30 minutes!
Looking for more vegan muffin recipes to try? I know you’ll also love my Vegan Apple Muffins, Vegan Banana Muffins, and Cranberry Orange Muffins.
“These seriously are the best vegan pumpkin muffins! I make them a few times every year, and without fail at least one person that tries them for the first time asks me for the recipe – both vegans and non-vegans!” -Nikki
I know that fall is the perfect time of year to bake a fresh batch of these Vegan Pumpkin Muffins, but I could truly eat them all year long. I don’t think I’ve ever had a muffin that was so soft, fluffy, and moist before!
Their irresistible texture and cozy fall flavors are all thanks to simple baking staples, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spices. Just mix them all together in one bowl and bake! In no time, you’ll be left with an ultra-cozy treat to enjoy right away or freeze for later.
Why these are the best vegan pumpkin muffins
- Moist and fluffy – Pumpkin puree not only makes these muffins orange and tasty, but also makes them incredibly moist! Every bite melts in your mouth.
- Warm fall spices – This wouldn’t be a pumpkin muffin recipe without plenty of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in the batter.
- Easy 1-bowl recipe – Just like my Vegan Apple Cake and Vegan Pumpkin Cake Bars, these vegan pumpkin muffins are always on my fall baking list because they come together so easily!
How to make vegan pumpkin muffins
Find the complete printable recipe with measurements below in the recipe card.
Whisk the pumpkin, melted vegan butter (or oil), non-dairy milk, and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices over the wet ingredients in the same bowl. Mix until just combined.
Recipe Tip
Do not overmix the batter! This will almost always give you dense and rubbery muffins. Instead, gently mix the wet and dry ingredients together until the flour is absorbed.
Finish the muffin batter by gently folding in the mix-ins of your choice with a spatula.
Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups, then bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Set them aside to cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!
Recipe Tip
Do not overbake the muffins. This is the second reason for dry, dense muffins! My muffins were light and fluffy after baking for 22 to 25 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center—if it comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached, the muffins are done.
Frequently asked questions
Customize these muffins with your favorite add-ins, like dairy-free chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, raisins, chopped pecans, dried cranberries, or pumpkin seeds. You could even top them with the pumpkin pie-spiced streusel from my Pumpkin Coffee Cake recipe for extra sweetness!
Absolutely! Bake your mini pumpkin muffins for 15 to 18 minutes instead.
I tried this when I was testing my Vegan Pumpkin Bread, and it didn’t work well. My advice? Go make that bread instead!
Sure. A quality gluten-free flour mix (like King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill) will work as a substitute for the all-purpose flour here.
For oil-free, replace the butter or oil with an equal amount of applesauce or non-dairy yogurt. The texture will be different, but the muffins will taste good.
Transfer the cooled muffins to an airtight container and store them at room temperature for 3 to 4 days, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Thaw the frozen muffins on the counter before serving. I love to warm them up in the microwave for 30 seconds or even pop them in the air fryer for a few minutes until warm. YUM!
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.
These are the best pumpkin muffins! They are perfectly moist and taste great! I did cut back a little on the spices to our preference. I’ll be making these again and again 🙂
Simple and delicious recipe, thank you! Overall made as is except reduced sugar to 3/4 C as directed for lower sugar and I did half all purpose and half spelt flour. Turned out great!
Sadly mine came out mushy I kept put it back in the oven to bake more again and again and again until it was just hard on the outside and messy on the inside. No egg or no egg replacement wasted a lot of good ingredients. So glad everyone else got yummy muffins!!!
I’m sorry to hear that. Did you make any substitutions at all? I wonder if perhaps your can of pumpkin was really runny, causing the muffins to be too moist. You may also want to check your oven temperature, and always bake in the center rack. Muffins that get hard/burnt on the outside but don’t cook inside is often due to the oven being too hot.
Where are the eggs?
This is a vegan recipe and does not use eggs, just like all of my recipes. I hope you try them!
My family *loves* this recipe, and it’s so simply to make. 3/4c brown sugar is plenty sweet for us, and we use pumpkin pie spice mix to make the recipe even simpler. Thank you for another winner, Nora, and for making baking something we can fit into our busy life!
For those that experiment with the notes in Nora’s recipe about sugar and subbing applesauce for butter, here’s how it went for me!
First, I’ve been making these for years exactly as the recipe is written with added walnuts and sometimes chocolate chips for my husband. These are AMAZING as is. I like them as a dessert.
I also wanted to see if I could get the butter and sugar content down so I can eat them for breakfast instead, and it went well!
I cut the butter in half and replaced the other half with applesauce. I have sometimes replaced ALL of the butter/oil in other muffin recipes and it makes them completely different, more dense and less moist (as Nora notes in her recipe) so I wanted to see if I could keep them somewhat less dense and with more moisture if I did half and half. I also used only 1/2 cup sugar plus 2 tbsp.
They came out great! I didn’t use cupcake liners this time but did spray the cupcake and muffin tins I used and they didn’t stick. They are still totally sweet like a morning muffin and I think 1/2 cup of sugar alone is still enough for the muffins to be sweet. I’ll admit I prefer less sweet things sometimes so if you have a sweet tooth, it may not be enough! The muffins are still moist and not dry like all-applesauce muffins can be! A win!
Thanks Nora!
AMAZING!! Made these for thanksgiving and they were a hit!
Thank you, Jackson, for your awesome review! Happy cooking!
I just left a long review, but I think the ads caused the page to refresh.
So the short version is, with a few tweaks, the muffins were delicious.
I made these for my 5yo grandson and husband (and myself) today. I did change things a bit because I wanted oil free but had no applesauce. Also wanted to try out baking with date sugar. So, I did a fresh apple, peeled and pureed for the butter/oil replacement and replaced 1/2 cup of brown sugar with date sugar (still used the 3/4 cup brown sugar). I really had some doubts with my changes, but they were delicious! I am going to try reversing the date and brown sugar next time 3/4 C date, 1/2 C brown sugar just to see how it will turn out. Thank you so very much.
Hi MaRilyn. I’m so glad that the muffins turned out delicious for you with your recipe updates! Thank you for taking time to share your recipe experience and wonderful review! Wishing you happy cooking!
Can you use oat milk instead of the soy or almond?
Yes, you can.
This is my go-to breakfast muffin recipe for fall! Everyone loves it and it’s super simple. I like to reduce the sugar just a bit and use applesauce in place of the oil and it still turns out just right. Thanks for another great recipe, Nora!
You are welcome, Kate! I’m thrilled. Everyone is loving the muffin recipe! Thank you for sharing your stellar review and feedback! Happy cooking!
They are easy and delicious. I reduce the sugar as well and bake them in well greased mini muffin pans for a quick potluck item that pleases my vegan, celiac and “regular” family and friends
Good recipe, but the amount of sugar is pretty off the charts. Came out great cutting it down by half a cup
OH my god, it just couldn’t have turned out better. This is my third or forth time trying vegan baking and I’ve been sick of not having any treats around this time of year. Fantastic!!!
Thank you, Devin, for your glowing review! I hope you’ll try some of my other baked good recipes! I’m thrilled that you loved the muffins. Wishing you happy cooking!
Your muffin recipes are always my go-to treats for the weekend. These will be added to the list. Instead of pumpkin puree, I used a can of sweet potato puree. Followed the recipe as is, but did reduce the sugar by half. Folded in walnuts at the end. Delicious!
Hi Nancy. I’m so glad that you are enjoying the muffin recipe! Thank you for sharing your recipe idea, as well as your glowing review! Wishing you happy cooking!
I bought canned pumpkin but forgot why so I went to google to find muffins. It took me 35 minutes from start to finish. I added chocolate chips. They’re delicious! Soft and fluffy. I’ll keep these in my recipe stash.
Melissa, I’m glad you tried the muffin recipe, and that you loved them! Thank you for your stellar review and feedback! Happy cooking!
I can always count on your recipes to be good, Nora, and this one is no exception. I did make one modifications, which was to use only 1 cup of all purpose flour and for the other 3/4 cup , I used whole wheat flour. They were perfectly delicious, moist, and so pretty too. Thanks for another great recipe!
I used homemade pumpkin puree and they didn’t bake at all on the inside! My puree must have been too moist compared to a can, so for anyone else trying this, reducing the other liquid for homemade puree might be necessary.
They smell really good, at least!
Would any changes be needed to make large muffin tops instead of regular muffins with this recipe?
You just might need to adjust the baking time. I’ve never tried it but I’m assuming you may need to add extra time.
I baked them for 26 minutes and they turned out very well.
Thanks.
Can you use whole wheat flour?
Hi Leigh. Yes, you could use whole wheat flour. They will of course be more dense. Enjoy!
How should I store them if I’m not going to freeze them? In the fridge or on the counter? And how long will they be good for? I am making these Sunday and am bringing them to my son’s school on Tuesday.
I usually store them on the counter in a covered container. The refrigerator is fine, but they won’t be as moist and light straight out of the fridge. They last up to 4-5 days at room temperature, though they are better the first day or two I’d say. Perhaps refrigerate them covered on Sunday, then let them warm to room temperature before serving on Tuesday at his school.
These muffins are yummy – thank you! Can you please share how to thaw the muffins if I were to freeze them? Thanks!!!
Thanks! To thaw I literally just take them out of the freezer and set them on the countertop to thaw. It won’t take too long, maybe an hour if that.
great texture, flavor and fluffiness. No one believes they are vegan;-)
These are amazing! I cheated and subbed 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice for all the spices, and it worked beautifully. Light, fluffy, and absolutely delicious! The quintessential fall muffin.
Hi Rachel. Thanks for Sharing your recipe experience and glowing review! I’m so glad that you loved the muffin recipe!
Wow seriously so good! I didn’t put any clove spice but it turned out so good & perfect! Literally the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor & the texture is so on point. Love your recipes 💓💓💓💓
Hi Eva. I am thrilled that you love the muffins! Thank you for sharing your glowing review and feedback! I absolutely love pumpkin recipes! Wishing you lots of happy cooking this fall season!