This recipe is Fall comfort food at its finest. These easy gluten-free pumpkin muffins are made with only nine ingredients and offer a delicious taste of pumpkin spice and the satisfying texture you crave most. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures here.
I admit I’m a little obsessed with anything and everything pumpkin. Pumpkin makes everything taste better.
In this post, I will share my simple pumpkin muffin recipe so you can quickly and easily create this tasty pumpkin treat at home with little fuss and using only nine pantry-staple ingredients.
This recipe is one that I have fussed with over the years, so if you’re returning to the recipe, you’ll notice the recipe has been improved and updated since it was first published.
Ingredients
This recipe can be whipped together in just a few minutes. All you need are these nine pantry-staple ingredients:
1:1 Gluten-Free Flour: I use and highly recommend Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Flour. It’s made from a blend of sweet white rice flour, whole grain brown rice flour, potato starch, whole grain sweet white sorghum flour, tapioca flour, and xanthan gum, ensuring your muffins have a nice, chewy texture you desire in a quick bread.
Pumpkin: Of course, you need canned pumpkin, and this recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups of pumpkin. You’ll have a little leftover pumpkin in your can, which you can use for pumpkin pancakes the next day.
Pumpkin Pie Spice: Pumpkin pie spice includes a blend of spices, making it a one-stop shop for spicing up these muffins. You can get pumpkin pie spice at most grocery stores or here online.
A Few Pantry Staples: You’ll also need brown sugar, butter, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, and eggs.
How to Make ‘Em
Step #1: Whisk together your flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl and set it aside.
Step #2: Using your standing mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar, then add the eggs, one at a time, then the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract.
Step #3: Once all the wet ingredients are well mixed, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing on low until well combined. Do not over-mix.
Step #4: Transfer the batter to your muffin pan (lined with cupcake liners). You will have enough batter for 13 muffins (a baker’s dozen!).
Step #5: Bake for 20-22 minutes in a 350º F oven until baked through and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
How Do They Taste?
These muffins are the best! They are chewy, soft, doughy, and even a little dense, thanks to the generous portion of the pumpkin.
They are perfect for snacking, dessert, breakfast, or anytime really.
These muffins are only slightly sweet, and they’re packed with nutrient-dense pumpkin puree. They’re Only about 200 calories each – score!
I hope you enjoy not only how easy they are to make but how delicious they are to eat. Enjoy!
Substitutions, Swaps, and Troubleshooting
I’ve answered the following FAQs to help you in your pumpkin muffin-making endeavors:
No cupcake liners: I highly recommend using cupcake liners to prevent the batter from sticking to the muffin tin. If you do not want to use liners, grease the muffin pan prior to adding your batter.
Dairy-free: You can swap butter for dairy-free butter without changing the recipe. Earth Balance makes dairy-free, vegan butter sticks that taste like butter but is made without dairy.
Other flours: I have not tested this recipe with any other flour except for Bob’s Red Mill’s 1:1 gluten-free flour. Ensure the flour blend you use is marketed as a 1:1, cup-for-cup, or measure-by-measure and that it contains xanthan or guar gum. If it doesn’t, add about 1 tsp of it to your flour mixture before baking.
Pumpkin spice: I like using a store-bought blend of pumpkin pie spices, but you could also combine the following to make your own spice blend:
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cloves
Want More Pumpkin Recipes?
If you’re pumpkin obsessed like me, try on some of my other awesome pumpkin recipes for size:
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Squares: These pumpkin squares are light and fluffy, and they’re topped with a luscious sweet cream cheese frosting.
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pancakes: Add pumpkin to my famous, no-fail pancake recipe and get this delightful pumpkin pancake result.
Pumpkin-Spiced Cake Pops: Use a store-bought pumpkin bread mix to make these fun pumpkin-spiced cake pops. Yum and fun!
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins
Equipment
- 2x 12-cavity muffin tin pan
- 13 cupcake liners
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp butter at room temperature
- 1 1/3 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F and line a muffin tin with 13 muffin liners. Set aside.
- Combine flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
- In a bowl attached to your standing mixing (paddle attachment), mix butter and brown sugar for 1 minute on medium speed until well combined, then add eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla and continue to mix until all the ingredients are mixed together well.
- Add the flour mixture gradually to the pumpkin mixture until well combined without overmixing.
- Add the batter evenly into muffin pan. You will have enough for 13 muffins (a baker's dozen). Each cavity should be about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a serving dish.
Notes
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cloves
Very good muffins! I cut the sugar in half and they are still plenty sweet in my opinion. My toddler loves them.
So good! Thank you. I replaced the brown sugar with Splenda brown sugar instead due to needing to watch my sugar. They taste fantastic!
If you use a mix follow the instructions on the box. Add 1/2 cup pumpkin. Should work. 🙂
Have you tried this using gf muffin mix instead of flour? I don’t know what to omit or add to the mix.
In a zip top bag. They’ll last several days.
How should these muffins be stored?
Thanks – these were fantastic!! We used butternut squash so they came out extra sweet and flavorful. I baked these extra, for a crispy top and less gumminess.
I use canned pumpkin. It might not work with pumpkin pie pumpkin, which also comes in a can. Did you by chance use canned pie pumpkin by mistake?
I tried making these tonight and they came out gummy and not fully baked through on the bottom even after I put them in for more time than the recipe stated 🙁 Any tips on baking with pumpkin? I feel like the thickness of the canned pumpkin makes a difference?
I made these, but I couldn’t find the Bobs red mill at my grocer. I used King Arthur measure for measure and it still came out great! My husband told me they were awesome. So easy to whip up too!
The measurements I gave you were from the original recipe from my cousin, however, I think adding a little extra spice is nice. Good luck!
I’m going to assume you mean 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger, and pinch of cloves (3 tsp = 1 Tbsp). Thanks for the tip! I may go crazy and include cardamom, too.
Try 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. ginger and a pinch of cloves. Good luck!
I’m going to try making these, but don’t have pumpkin pie spice. I prefer to measure out individual spices. Would you be willing to share measures for that from the original recipe? I’m guessing that it involves cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves, as that’s usually what goes into pumpkin pie, but having the amounts for this recipe would be great. Thanks!