This is truly the BEST Pumpkin Muffins recipe — they’ve been carefully tested to be soft, fluffy, moist, and loaded with fall flavor! My recipe is easy (no mixer or pastry cutter needed!) and takes just 10 minutes to prep. Recipe includes a how-to video.
Top-Rated Pumpkin Muffins
These easy pumpkin muffins are every bit as delectable as my pumpkin cupcakes, but slightly more suitable for breakfast! With their buttery streusel topping and their moist and flavorful pumpkin-y centers, they rival my banana muffins in terms of favorite muffins ever.
The streusel is what takes these muffins from delicious to irresistible. It’s buttery and crisp against the super soft and moist pumpkin muffin interior. The best part? Instead of using cold butter and working it into the sugar and flour with a pastry cutter, my recipe uses a simpler method with melted butter. It’s not only easier, but it also lends itself to a more buttery streusel–yum!
What you’ll love about my recipe:
- Only 10 minutes to prep!
- Uses simple ingredients with incredibly moist and tender results.
- No mixer or pastry cutter needed.
- Includes an easy (optional) 2-ingredient glaze!
What You Need
Here are the key ingredients in my pumpkin muffin recipe:
- Sugar. I like to use both white and brown sugar. The brown sugar adds subtle molasses tones that really complement the pumpkin and the spiced fall flavors.
- Butter. Let your butter cool after melting, otherwise it will melt your sugars, yielding flat, sub-par results.
- Canned pumpkin. Make sure you use pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling, which has other additives that can keep your muffins from tasting as they should.
- Milk. Since it’s such a small amount, really any kind will work. I use whole milk.
- Pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can always whip up a batch of my homemade pumpkin spice!
SAM’S TIP: These pumpkin muffins would look so nice in my parchment paper muffin liners! They’re extremely easy to make and have a pretty and professional look.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pumpkin Muffins
- Stir the sugars, eggs, pumpkin puree, and milk into the (cooled) melted butter until combined.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually fold them into the wet ingredients. With muffins, it’s important that you don’t over-mix the batter, so do this step by hand (with a spatula) and be gentle. Don’t use an electric mixer here (!) and stir until just-combined.
- Evenly portion your batter into a lined muffin tin and set this aside while you prepare your streusel.
- Whisk together the flour, sugars, and cinnamon.
- Pour melted butter over the mixture and toss with a fork until clumps form.
- Sprinkle the streusel over your prepared muffins and bake for 17-19 minutes.
- Let the muffins cool before topping with vanilla glaze (if using).
SAM’S TIP: The key to good streusel is a mixture that’s nice and clumpy, so don’t break up the clumps that form as you stir in your butter. If you over-work your streusel, you’ll end up with a paste rather than the crumbly topping that we’re aiming for.
Frequently Asked Questions
These will be fine at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days. They could be refrigerated, but the fridge tends to dry out muffins and so I don’t recommend it.
Yes! Your bake time will be different though (less time for mini, likely about 14 minutes, and more time for jumbo), so keep an eye on them.
You could, but I’d recommend making my pumpkin bread instead. It’s meant to be baked in a loaf pan and has a perfectly dense crumb that’s designed to be sliced without crumbling (which might happen if you use this recipe!).
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
The Best Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled at least 10 minutes
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten (room temperature preferred)
- 1 cup (240 g) canned pumpkin puree¹
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice (click the link for instructions to make your own pumpkin spice)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Streusel Topping²
- 1 ¼ cup (156 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar tightly packed
- ⅓ cup (66 g) sugar
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) salted butter³ melted and cooled until no longer warm to the touch
Glaze (optional)
- ½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons milk
Recommended Equipment
- Muffin pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners (or lightly grease and flour). Set aside.
- Combine melted, cooled butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl and stir well.¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- Stir in eggs. Add pumpkin puree, milk, and vanilla extract and stir well.2 large eggs, 1 cup (240 g) canned pumpkin puree¹, 2 Tablespoons milk, 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon until well-combined.1 ¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoons baking powder, ¾ teaspoons baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Add your dry ingredients into your wet and gently stir until just combined, taking care to not overmix the batter.
- Evenly divide muffin batter into prepared muffin tins (filling each ¾ full). Set aside while you prepare your streusel.
Streusel
- Prepare your streusel by whisking together flour, sugars and cinnamon.1 ¼ cup (156 g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar tightly packed, ⅓ cup (66 g) sugar, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pour the melted butter into the mixture and, using a fork, stir until crumbles form. Don't overwork the streusel or you'll end up with a paste, you want it to be nice and clumpy!6 Tablespoons (85 g) salted butter³
- Using your hands, evenly divide streusel over muffin batter, piling the streusel over the batter and gently pressing the topping into the batter.
- Bake on 375F (190C) for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Allow muffins to cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Glaze
- If desired, make glaze by whisking together powdered sugar and milk. Drizzle over cooled pumpkin muffins½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar, 2-3 teaspoons milk
Notes
¹Pumpkin Puree
Make sure you buy puree that is 100% pumpkin and NOT “Pumpkin Pie Filling”, which contains other ingredients.²Streusel topping
These pumpkin muffins can be made without the streusel topping, they may just need a minute or two less in the oven. A few people have commented that the streusel recipe made more than they needed for their muffins. The amount listed is exactly as much as I use and as is shown in the photos and in the video, but feel free to reduce the amount in half if you don’t like a lot of streusel.³Salted vs unsalted butter
If you don’t have salted butter on hand, just use unsalted and add ¼ teaspoon of salt to the dry ingredients for the streusel.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Muffins may also be tightly wrapped and frozen for several months.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
I originally published this recipe 10/3/2018. Post updated with new pictures and more notes, recipe is the same.
Kathy A
Love this recipe so much! I actually drizzled with your easy caramel sauce for something different. Sooooo good! Thanks for a perfect fall a go-to recipe Sam!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds delicious, Kathy! We’re so happy you loved them ❤️
Xena
This recipe is a keeper.
My microwave has a “soften” option, so the butter was super easy to get right. We use non-dairy butter because of food allergy. Also, I always increase seasonings so I upped the cinnamon to a rounded tsp and added a tsp of Chinese Five Spice.
I got 18 muffins instead of 12 but probably due to the size of the muffin holders.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how it worked out for you, Xena! 😊
Vera
They just went into the oven, but I’m just wondering if I’m the only one that had waaaay too much streusel? If they’re yummy, I’ll have to make another batch haha
Sam
I like LOTS of streusel so I rarely have any left over. 🙂 I hope you love them!
Ivy
Yes, I had way to much streusel left over as well, I could have halved the recipe and then it would have been the right amount. I love streusel but even this was too much.
Robin Fowler
I used brown parchment paper liners. The middle was not done after 17 min and ended up baking about 8 min longer. Could be my oven? On some of them the middle did sink, but after cooling the muffins were baked. And all were delicious. I feel like I may have overfilled the liners.
Sam
Hi Robin! If you take them out of the oven to check them too often it will take longer to bake and could ultimately cause the middles to sink. If you haven’t already I would consider a cheap oven thermometer to see if your oven is actually at the right temperature. 🙂
Amy
I’ve made these 3 times in 6 days!! Everyone loves them! I made them for Thanksgiving, then I made them again for a Friendsgiving two days later. I made them mini the second time, which I recommend for parties because they are a lot easier to eat!! I made them again last night, but it was pretty late and I got tired so I made half last night and refrigerated the batter and made the rest this morning. They look fine, but I was wondering if you recommend not saving the batter? I know some cupcake recipes tell you to bake right away, but I didn’t know about muffins.
BTW, I’ve loved every recipe I’ve made from you!! Your carrot cake is my go to, and now these are too!! 🙂
Amy
Also, for people who are making these, a word of advice! Make sure your butter is COMPLETELY COOL. It has taken longer than 10 minutes to cool my butter each time I’ve made them. I had to start over last night because I thought my butter was cool enough, it was barely warm, I couldn’t even tell it was warm, honestly lol. But it ruined my butter, sugar and brown sugar. Instead of being a nice consistency, the butter stayed melted and the sugar just sank to the bottom.
Also! I made cream cheese glaze which was AMAZING with these!
All you need it 4 oz of cream cheese and 1/4 cup of butter softened, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Beat them together well and scoop into an icing bag. Warm it up for about 20 seconds and drizzle on top!
Sam
Hi Amy! I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! I typically don’t recommend saving the batter because the results can be a little disappointing but it sounds like it worked out well for you. I hope you continue to love everything you try. 🙂
Crissy
I used the recipe to make mini muffins. They are moist and very delicious!
How do I store the muffins to keep them moist?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Crissy! Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days 🙂
CRISSY SAUNDERS
Thank you. One more question – can I use this recipe to make a cake instead of muffins? 8 by 8 inch square pan or I also have a square pan that is 12 by 8 inches?
Sam
Hmmm an 8 inch square pan is a little small you may have some leftover batter, but you can do it. Make sure to not overfill the pan. I’m not sure on a baking time though.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Crissy! To keep the muffins moist, I recommend storing them in an airtight container at room temperature. 🙂
Alex Schofield
Best pumpkin muffins ever- I have never commented on a recipe before but these are amazing!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Alex! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
Leslie
I sent these to work with my husband and they were a HUGE hit! Making more today! Some of the best muffins I’ve ever had by far.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Leslie! 🙂
Brenda T
Hi Sam! I DO NOT like pumpkin…ANYTHING!! On the other hand my husband LOVES pumpkin. So I was trying to tempt him (because I made them after 9 pm and it was a little late for him) and I tried it and I LOVED IT. Super tasty! Thank you for sharing.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Brenda! I think if I made these anytime of day, Zach would eat them. He might even wake up to eat them. He loves them so much! 🤣
faith Kuhn
I am making these for my demonstration speech for my speech class, and I am so excited to share these delicious muffins with all my friends.
Sam
I hope everyone loves them, Faith! 🙂
Faith Kuhn
I was actually not able to make them for my speech, due to having to take all of the ingredients to school. But I made a batch today to take to school for my teachers, friends and boyfriend! They are delicious.
Sam
I’m glad everyone enjoyed them! 🙂
Pamela Johnson
These pumpkin muffins are the best muffin I have ever tasted! My husband loved the streusel topping!! So easy to make. Thank you Sam!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Pamela! 🙂
Michele
By far the best pumpkin muffins!! I’m making another batch today…addicted😂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Michele! 🙂
Cindy Barry
Easy, moist, excellent muffins!
Love them!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Cindy! 🙂
Bruce
Great muffins, of course. They don’t need the glaze at all. I recommend letting them cool completely before eating, because the high moisture content from the pumpkin makes them seem underdone when they’re warm. When they’re cooled completely, you get them at their best.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Bruce! 🙂
Kari
These muffins truly were amazing. I made them with my granddaughter. They were gone within hours. We used applesauce 1/2 c and avocado oil 1/4 c instead of the butter. Also used apple cider instead of milk. One of the moistest muffins I’ve had. And beautiful too!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kari! 🙂