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.
Robin
The first time any muffin recipe came out light and fluffy! With these directions, I didn’t overmix it! So very delicious. The only thing that wasn’t perfect, was that I had double the amount of streusel. It made about 2 cups… but, will keep for later.
Mary
Super easy recipe….and yummy!!
Laura
Excellent pumpkin muffins! I used cupcake liners, followed the recipe from start to finish including the glaze. Wish I could share a pic of them with you… they’re beautiful AND delicious, so pumpkin-ey and perfect. Happy Fall Y’all!
Lori Reed
Wowza!! Delicious and light as a feather. Thank you for the great recipe.
Bobbi
Made your muffin recipe to give to my siblings for their wedding anniversaries (4 fall weddings including my own) this weekend and everyone absolutely loved and devoured them! Flavor and moistness superb! I didn’t add the glaze as I packaged them in cute containers and was afraid they’d get messy, but will definitely be making them again and will try it. First time to your site… I’ll be back for more! Thank you! 🍂🎃
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
What a sweet anniversary gift, Bobbi! We’re so happy they turned out so well for you. Let us know what else you try 😊
Carol
Very easy to make, and they look beautiful, haven’t tried them yet. Can they be frozen?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Carol! We cover this in the recipe notes under the “storing” section. We hope you love them!
Toby
These are delicious! I had some leftover pumpkin puree to use up and thought I would try this recipe. We only had 1% milk AND I forgot to add the extra salt in the streusel topping (since I had unsalted butter) but they still were great. Yum, yum, yummy! And you are right, they are good with and without the glaze. Thank you for your recipes.
Sam
You are so welcome, Toby! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Ashley
This recipe was PERFECT. It’s summer and I’m pregnant craving a fall treat. Decided to make them and everyone attacked them! The only thing I did different was do a cream cheese glaze on top instead! SO SO good!! Will making again ❤️
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum–sounds delicious, Ashley! We’re so happy they were a hit for you 🧡
Di
My picky teen said “best muffins eve!”
Jo Painter
These are fantastic! I made 6 jumbo muffins and they looked better than from a bakery. Be generous with the streusel. These are soft and tender, somewhere between a muffin and cupcake. I will definitely make these again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
They sound gorgeous, Jo! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review. Enjoy ♥
Eora
WHAT A MOIST MUFFIN!!! Every single time I try one of your muffin recipes they come out incomparable to all others and I am completely satisfied with the results. I don’t know why I ever try any other food blogger websites because they aaaaaalways disappoint…just human nature I guess?!? I very often substitute cream or, more often, half and half for the milk in your muffin recipes and they always come out amazing. Actually I would really recommend half and half instead of the milk…you know, just to get more fat in there…fat = flavor….I also always use Jovial Foods All Purpose Einkorn flour instead of flavorless modern flour and WOW the flavor it adds to foods is SOOOO satisfying. 10000% recommend. It’s like the flavor you always wanted in baked goods but never knew quite how to get. Plus the fact that it’s not the whole-grain stuff, so that for quick bread recipes you don’t have to modify the recipe at all even though it’s a quite a different flour! To anyone who reads this: please consider switching to all-purpose einkorn. And adding more fat to your foods through dairy. Also to Sugar Spun Run as a website…the actual success and high quality recipes you bring to my life are enough to make a cook cry tears of joy!!!
Sam
Thank you so much, Eora! I really appreciate your kind and thoughtful comment. I’m so glad you enjoy everything so much. 🙂
Kristine Ford
I made the pumpkin muffins and pumpkin cheesecake today for my husband’s birthday. They turned out absolutely amazing!!! Thank you so much for sharing these delicious recipes. I’m looking forward to trying out your others.
Michelle
Hello are these done in a cupcake size pan or the larger muffin pan?
Sam
Hi Michelle! They are a regular cupcake tin, not a jumbo muffin pan. 🙂
BK
Totally impressed with the recipes on this site! Thanks.
Nora Brungard
Sam, do you think this streusel topping could be used on other types of cupcakes say like blueberry for example – I love streusel topping!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! That’s a delicious combination. Enjoy, Nora! 😊
Desi
Hi, I’m new to you blog and want to try this recipe. My question is, once I fill my cupcake liners, can I put the streusel on top then freeze? When I decide to bake a few at a time, do I defrost them, then bake or put in the oven frozen to bake? Thanks!!
Desi
Sam
Hi Desi! I’ve never tried freezing the muffin batter before baking, I think it would probably be best to bake them and then freeze, honestly. However if anyone else has tried this method I’m curious to hear how it has worked!
Desi Wilson
Thank you Sam. I have definitely frozen my baked muffins before but, I was just wondering about freezing before baking. I’ll try it and see how it works. 😊