Love pumpkin baked goods but want to keep junk food out of your diet? These healthy pumpkin muffins taste amazing and are also flour free, sugar free, oil free, & dairy free. It’s the perfect pumpkin recipe for fall… delicious gluten free muffins.
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Grab-and-Go Breakfast
Mornings are not the most fun time at my house in the fall. The mornings are darker, my dogs are circling me wanting to be walked, and the kids have a harder time getting up for school at the start of a new year. I hate to admidt it, but I tend to turn into a big grouch the fifth time I have to urge someone to get out of bed.
It’s not the best time to be cooking a healthy meal! I need quick and healthy breakfast options that head off the early morning grouch-fest.
Muffins are a favorite grab-and-go breakfast, but most recipes are loaded with enough sugar, oil and white flour to be cupcakes!
Are Pumpkin Muffins Healthy?
I’ve never called pumpkin muffins healthy… until I developed this oatmeal muffin recipe as a better-for-you alternative.
I replace the flour with toasted oatmeal (use gluten free oats for gluten free muffins), added pumpkin puree instead of oil, coconut milk instead of cows milks (you can use whichever milk you prefer), and real maple syrup instead of refined sugar.
This may sound like a recipe for a baking disaster, but fear not!
- Toasting and grinding the oats results in a fluffy muffin with a slightly nutty flavor.
- Canned pumpkin adds the right amount of moisture and pumpkin taste.
- Real maple syrup give the muffins just enough natural sweetness to tempt your sweet tooth.
- Pumpkin spice makes your taste buds sing.
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins for the Win
My family likes these healthy pumpkin muffins more than unhealthy pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread… that’s a HUGE win in my book!
I hope you try this easy muffin recipe and see how simple and delicious eating healthier can be. (Tip: Check out my original Healthy Oatmeal Muffins Recipe made with bananas instead of pumpkin. They are a healthy breakfast option you can customize! )
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Recipe (No Flour, Sugar Free, Oil Free, Dairy Free)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 14 muffins 1x
- Category: Muffin
- Cuisine: American
Description
Healthy pumpkin muffins are a better-for-you alternative to traditional pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread. Gluten free, sugar free, oil free, and dairy free. Your taste buds will love the healthy fall flavors.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (9.3 ounces, toasted & ground, )
- 3/4 cup old fashioned oats (2.8 ounces, toasted, reserve 2 Tbsp for muffin tops)
- 1 1/8 cups pumpkin puree ( * 10.7 ounces)
- 2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
- 6 tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
- 3/4 cup canned coconut milk or dairy milk ((full fat, skim or 1 %,))
- 2 tsp real vanilla
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
- ½ cup walnuts, raisins, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips ((optional))
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325. Place all oats on a baking sheet and toast until lightly browned, stirring once (about 4 to 6 minutes). Let cool to room temperature. (If you are in a hurry you can skip this step and use plain old fashioned oats, however the toasting adds flavor.)
- Place 2.5 cups of oats in a food processor and blend/pulse until they reach a rough, flour like consistency.
- Combine pumpkin puree, eggs, maple syrup, milk, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- Add both ground and unground oats to wet ingredients and allow to sit for 10-20 minutes (this allows the oats to soak and soften).
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until just incorporated. (The batter will be very thick.)
- Optional: Fold in approximately 1/2 c walnuts, raisins, chocolate chips, or dried cranberries.
- Scoop batter into muffin tin, lined with muffin wrappers (makes 12-14 muffins). FIll the muffin tins 7/8 full.
- Bake at 350 for about 23 – 25 minutes, a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean and the top of the muffin should feel firm.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Use parchment muffin liners or lightly spray liners lightly with oil to make the baked muffins easier to remove.
No pumkin spice? Substitue 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, and 1/4 ground nutmeg.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 123
- Sugar: 8.9
- Fat: 0.8
- Carbohydrates: 23.1
- Fiber: 2.5
- Protein: 4.4
- Cholesterol: 26.8
Keywords: healthy pumpkin muffins
How to Make Pumpkin Muffins
I get lots of questions about baking no flour pumpkin muffins. Here are some of the most frequently asked:
How to Store Pumpkin Muffins?
Store baked muffins for 3 days on the counter top or cover and refrigerate for up to a week. You can also wrap the muffins well and freeze for 3 months (I like to wrap mine in plastic wrap and then place in a freezer bag to prevent freezer burn.) Defrost on the counter top or place unwrapped muffin the in microwave for 10 seconds.
How to Keep Muffins from Sticking to Baking Cups?
Gluten free muffins often stick to paper muffin liners. You can keep this from happening by: 1) Using quality parchment paper liners. 2) Spray or brushing muffin liners with a little oil or butter. 3) Baking the muffins in a silicone muffin pan with no liners. I use parchment liners when baking my healthy muffins for easy clean up and storage.
What if the muffins are already stuck? Let the muffins cool completely, place then in a sealed container, and put them in the refrigerator for a few hours. The wrappers will soften due to the moisture in the muffins and they should release.
How to Make Pumpkin Muffins in the Blender?
It’s easy to make pumpkin muffins in the blender! First, add all liquid ingredients and blend until smooth. Next add all dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Scoop into prepared muffin tin then rest batter for 15-20 minutes before baking.
MORE HEALTHY MUFFIN RECIPES TO TRY
1 – Healthy Oatmeal Muffins – My original no flour, no sugar, no oil recipe. This basic recipe is sweetened with bananas and is easy to customize.
2 – Healthy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins – My kids’ all-time favorite healthy oatmeal muffins recipe. Lots of CHOCOLATE flavor
3 – Healthy Zucchini Muffins Recipe – Zucchini and spices give the muffins classic zucchini bread flavor. Enjoy a fall favorites with no guilt!
4 – Apple Cinnamon Blender Muffins – This easy recipe mixes in the blender for no mess but lots of cinnamon apple flavor.
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Ngoc
Yum! Another delicious recipe. Thanks, Bren!
I used half the amount of maple syrup and I actually love it. You can barely taste a sweetness. I might try this recipe without the syrup and I imagine it would go well with a pumpkin soup or something in place of corn bread.
Jina
Delicious. I used pure powdered monkfruit to boost the sweetness and also added some psyllium husk fiber and some unflavored protein powder. I am also making the similar recipe of pumpkin muffins in this same manner. Mmmmm!
★★★★★
Jina
Whoops I meant to say I was making the pumpkin ones and the similar banana ones. 🙂
★★★★★
Sara
I loved these muffins! Soaking the dry material for 10-20 minutes made all the difference. I made the pumpkin muffins and added chocolate chips to it. Turned out great!
Clarice E Hausch
I love your muffin recipe and was so glad to find one that was not loaded with fat and sugar. I love muffins and had given up eating them because they are typically so unhealthy so finding yours was a great pleasure. Also I am always looking for ways to eat more oats. But I do gave a concern about the way you label your muffin recipes as sugar free and then it includes honey or maple syrup. Yes body digests them easier than refined sugar, but both are sugars. Your nutrition content lists 8.9 g sugar per serving. That is not sugar free. I am not being critical because your recipe is way above standard muffins not to even mention store bought muffins for less sugar and fat, but it seems a shame to take something great and much healthier that you have developed and mislabel it as sugar free when it is not. Proper education about sugar is important and obviously you have a dedication to eating and cooking healthy so it seems to take away from your accomplishment to mislabel it. You should tout how much less sugar these have have than normal muffins that’s for sure, because it is a major benefit to your recipe. It just needs to be done accurately.
Sophia
Can I use almond milk?
Bren
Yes!
Anna
How could I substitute eggs?
Bren
You can use “flax eggs” in place of eggs. Stir together 2 tablespoon ground flax seed (flaxseed meal) with 5 tablespoons warm water in a small dish and let rest for 5 minutes to thicken. Add to recipes in place of eggs.
Amanda
These are wonderful! Needed something quick and healthy on hand to keep morning sickness at bay and these are just what I needed. Have also tried the original version with banana and that is great too. Such simple ingredients. Thank you!
★★★★★
emmy
HELP
I am new to removing sugars from recipes. Does anybody have any recommendations of what to use instead of the honey or pure maple syrup? Do you think it work without any sugar at all? Of course, if i did it this way, i would extract the salt as well? My grandma doesn’t eat sugar, and we both love making pumpkin dishes all through the fall! Can’t wait to try this recipe! Thank you so very much in advance for your help! Have a blessed day!
Pierre
I love this recipe and my daughter has been taking them to school.
One time I was in a rush and forgot to process the oats into flour and they turned out exactly the same lol!
★★★★★
Shira
We don’t have canned pumpkin by us.
Can I substitute with purred pumpkin?
Bren
Yes, you can use purred pumpkin just watch the batter thickness as it can be a different consistency when thinner pumpkin is used.