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.
Becky
Just made these pumpkin muffins and they are delicious! I will be making these often! Thank you for this yummy recipe!
Mary
Want to try this recipe. What about using fresh pumpkin? Any changes or tips for that?
Sam
Hi Mary! You would want to make sure cook that fresh pumpkin first then use the same amount. 🙂
Altaira
These are literally the best muffins I have ever made or eaten. I can’t even explain the deliciousness! The smell and tastes while baking was good foreshadowing.
Annabelle
hi I am Annabelle.I love your recipes!
Allie
These are delicious! Wait until the second day for the flavors to really set in, and then…INDULGE. Delicious and not too hard to make. I love the video tutorials. Thanks again, Sam!
LeAnn
Just amazing! These are absolutely the best pumpkin muffins I’ve ever made/eaten. Putting this recipe in my personal cookbook.
Hannah
These are absolutely delicious!! I used dark brown sugar since I didn’t have light brown and it worked perfectly. I also added walnuts. Keeper recipe!
Megan Goebel
These turned out perfect! Dangerously delicious… my only feedback is that the recipe for the streusel made about double the amount i actually needed to top the muffins, so those measurements could easily be reduced to avoid leftover topping (which is obv not the worst problem to have!).
Lindsay
I made the streusel topping but there seems to be so much left over I could have quartered it. I’ll freeze it for more muffins later, or perhaps use it on a pie!
J
Is it okay to use unsalted butter cream?
Sam
Do you mean in the topping? Yes you can use unsalted butter, but you’ll want to add a pinch of salt. 🙂
Anita Derma
Hello! I was wondering if you could substitute the whole milk with anything else? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Anita! I think a nut milk would work fine here. Enjoy!
Rachel
These are the best muffins I’ve ever made! I did swap the sugars in the muffin batter with maple syrup and also used a mixture of AP and whole wheat flour but they could not have turned out better. I left the glaze off and they were still the perfect amount of sweetness! Already planning to make a new batch tomorrow bc the first batch is already almost gone lol!
Lucy
These muffins are the best I’ve
Ever made. Moist with the right spice and sweetness. Maybe my oven but I had to bake for 25 minutes. So good!
Sam Hill
These taste good but they are so so dense for me. I didn’t switch anything. I added 1tps of cinnamon instead of 1/2 because we love it. I baked for 20 minutes, toothpick came out clean. Then they fell a little, which I expected due to full cups, and I let them cool. They’re almost fudge dense. I’m not sure what went wrong. (Baking soda and baking powder both opened this month and have worked in other baking)
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this! If they are dense they could have potentially been over-mixed, or over-baked. 🙁 Your toothpick should come out with a few moist crumbs on it.
Kathy Kass
Can I use dark brown sugar?
Sam
Yes, that will work.
Nicholas Stewart
Is there a way to leave out the cinnamon my wife is allergic to it but loves all things pumpkin currently baking your banana muffins and I can’t wait to dig in to them. They smell amazing!!
Sam
Hi Nicholas! I would make the homemade pumpkin spice and leave out the cinnamon in that (as storebought will contain cinnamon) and then of course just leave out the cinnamon in the recipe. The spice of the recipe will be diminished but I think it will be good! Let me know how they turn out!