These super moist and tender vegan pumpkin muffins are the portable handheld version of my popular vegan pumpkin bread.
Quick and easy to make, they're ready in under an hour and are so much better than Starbucks!
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🧾 Ingredients Needed
These easy vegan pumpkin muffins are made using mostly pantry staples. Here’s everything you need:
Ingredient Notes
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Pumpkin Spice Mix: If you don't have it at home, simply mix 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, ¾ teaspoon of ground ginger, ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves.
- Pumpkin Purée: - Make sure you’re reaching for 100% pure pumpkin, not a can of pumpkin pie mix that has added sugars and flavorings.
- Orange Zest: Totally optional, but quite lovely for introducing a bit of brightness. Ensure you’re only grabbing the brightest orange part of the zest, as the white pith is bitter.
- Soy Milk: I like to use soy milk as it works best for homemade vegan buttermilk. This becomes the base of the vegan “buttermilk” when mixed with apple cider vinegar and makes these eggless pumpkin muffins tall and fluffy. You can however also use oat milk or almond milk if needed.
- Runny Nut Butter OR Olive Oil: Opt for olive oil for a lighter crumb, or go for almond butter for a slightly denser, richer result. If using olive oil, the recipe calls for slightly more flour as it is more absorbent than almond butter.
- Pure Maple Syrup: “Pure” is the operative word, here. Avoid grabbing any of the colored corn syrups they bill as maple syrup (e.g. Aunt Jemima or Log Cabin) in order to get the truest, most delicious flavor possible.
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🥣 Instructions
Here are step-by-step images showing how to make these vegan pumpkin spice muffins. Please refer to the detailed printable recipe card at the end of this page for full measurements and written instructions:
Step 1: To a medium bowl, add the granulated sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and orange zest, and use your fingertips to rub the zest and spices into the sugar. Rub the vegan butter into the dry ingredients using your fingers until it resembles a crumble consistency.
Step 2: In a large bowl, combine the non-dairy buttermilk, pumpkin puree, almond butter or olive oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and brown sugar and whisk to combine.
Step 3: Sift the dry ingredients (all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and fall spices) into the wet ingredients in 2 parts. Fold the ingredients into the batter between each increment until there are no pockets or streaks of flour.
Step 4: Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, distribute the muffin batter amongst the muffin liners and make sure to fill them to the top for high muffin tops.
Step 5: Crumble some streusel topping on top of each muffin and bake.
Step 6: Drizzle the maple icing on top of the muffins once they have cooled.
🎃 Variations
- Nut-Free: Use olive oil instead of almond butter to keep these no-egg pumpkin muffins free from nuts.
- Oil-Free: If you prefer to avoid added oils, use almond butter instead and skip the crumb topping.
- Mix-Ins: If you’d like to add a little texture, consider stirring in up to ½ cup of your chosen mix-ins like sweet, chewy sultanas, chocolate chips, or crunchy toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds). You can also serve them with a slathering of spiced pumpkin butter!
💭 Recipe Tips
Skip every other well in your muffin pan. By leaving some space between the muffins, you’ll both get a much loftier result AND prevent the muffin tops from fusing together as they bake.
Mix until *just* incorporated. You don’t want any visible pockets or streaks of flour, but resist the urge to overdo it. Over-mixed muffins tend to be tough and dense.
Bake at high-low-temperature. To get super high muffin tops, here is a tip I learned from Handle The Heat: Bake at a high temperature for the first 5 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature for the remainder of the baking time. This activates the baking powder and helps the muffins rise more quickly.
Cool completely before adding the maple glaze. If you rush this step, the glaze ends up soaking into the streusel instead of floating atop it, leaving you with a sticky, gooey muffin top.
💬 FAQs
Place the cooled cinnamon pumpkin muffins in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to a week. Let them sit at room temperature for an hour before serving if stored in the fridge. You can also freeze them in an airtight container and defrost them for a couple of hours before serving.
To return them to a state of tasting like they’ve been freshly baked, gently warm them in the oven or toaster oven before serving.!
I haven't attempted to use gluten-free flour here, and GF/egg-free bakes can be a little tricky. That said, you're welcome to swap in the GF measure-for-measure AP flour blend of your choice. Single flours like almond flour or oat flour will not work.
Make sure the blend includes xanthan gum and give the batter a full 30-minute rest before baking to give the flour time to properly rehydrate. If you attempt this, let me know how it goes in the comments below!
Soft brown sugar is the best way to sweeten these muffins as it keeps them lovely and moist. However if you want to use less refined sugar, you can also use coconut sugar like in my pumpkin cupcake recipe.
If possible, use canned pumpkin as it is designed for baking and has a lower water content than fresh pumpkin puree. If you're making your own, I would suggest using butternut squash as it has a much lower water content and more intense pumpkin flavor than actual pumpkins!
🍂 More Vegan Muffins
📖 Recipe
Vegan Pumpkin Muffins With Streusel Topping
Equipment
- Muffin tray
- Tulip muffin liners
Ingredients
Streusel Topping (optional)
- 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar *see note 1
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice mix *see note 2
- 1 teaspoon orange zest optional
- 50 g (3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) plain flour
- 30 g (1 oz) vegan butter room temperature
Muffins
- 1 batch vegan buttermilk *see note 3
- 300 g (1 ¼ cups) pumpkin puree NOT pumpkin pie filling
- 110 ml (⅖ cup) olive oil or 160g runny almond butter *see note 4
- 100 ml (⅖ cup) pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 140 g (⅔ cup) soft brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 280 g (2 ¼ cups) plain flour OR 240g/2 cups if using almond butter
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice mix *see note 2
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Maple Icing (optional)
- 80 g (⅔ cup) powdered sugar (icing sugar) *see note 5
- 2 ½ tablespoons pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to fan-forced 190°C(375°F) or conventional 210°C(410°F).Line 2 muffin trays with 10-12 muffin liners - leave a gap between each one as you will only be filling every second cavity. To make the vegan "buttermilk" add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar to a medium bowl, stir, and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Make the streusel topping: To a medium bowl, add the sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and orange zest, and use your fingertips to rub the zest and spices into the sugar. Add the flour and butter and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. You'll be left with a crumble consistency. Set aside in the fridge.
- Make the muffin batter: Add the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, almond butter or olive oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and brown sugar to a medium bowl and whisk to combine.To a separate large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and pumpkin spice mix. (NB: note the difference in flour amounts whether you're using olive oil or almond butter). Whisk to combine.
- Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 2 parts. Fold the ingredients into the batter between each increment until there are no pockets or streaks of flour. Do not be tempted to overmix!
- Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, distribute the batter amongst the muffin liners and make sure to fill them all the way to the top for high muffin tops. If you're using tulip muffin cases, fill them only to the surface of the muffin pan. Crumble some streusel topping on top of each muffin.
- Bake at fan-forced 190°C/375°F or conventional 210°C/410°F for the first 5 mins. Then turn down the temperature to 170°C/340°F or conventional 190°C/375°F and continue to bake for another 15 minutes.Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes, then carefully lift them out of the tray and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool further for 30 minutes.
- Make the glaze: Mix together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until smooth. You can add more or less sugar depending on whether you want it runny or thicker. Drizzle the maple icing on top of the muffins once they have cooled.
- Storage: Place the muffins in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to a week. Let them sit at room temperature for an hour before serving if stored in the fridge. You can freeze them in an airtight container and defrost them for a couple of hours before serving.You can also gently warm the muffins in the oven to get them back to tasting like they're been freshly baked!
Notes
- Sugar: Can use brown sugar or coconut sugar for the topping, but it will give a darker colored crumble
- Homemade Pumpkin Spice Mix: Mix together 2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp allspice, ½ tsp nutmeg, and ¼ tsp ground cloves.
- Vegan Buttermilk: Soy milk works best for fluffy muffins, but you can swap it for almond milk or oat milk. Learn more in my vegan buttermilk post.
- Olive Oil Vs. Almond butter: Opt for smooth runny almond butter for a slightly richer muffin, or olive oil for a light and fluffy muffin. For the olive oil version the amount of flour in the muffin batter is increased to 280g.
- Some white sugar in the US is not vegan, if in doubt use organic sugar.
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This recipe was originally posted in August 2022. It has since been modified and improved to be even more delicious and easy to make!
I have baked many a muffin in my day, both vegan and non-vegan, and I am impressed with this recipe. The muffins baked up high with a moist & tender crumb and were evenly baked - no scorched bottoms. The flavor was outstanding. You hit all the flavor notes just in the right balance with each other. The amount of effort that had to be put into developing this recipe is impressive. This is going into my "keepers" file to be made again and again! Thank you!
Hi Catherine,
This has absolutely made my day! Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comment 🙂
Hi when you say 1 Bach of buttermilk how many cup were looking it . Do we put lemon or venigar.
Hi Gitaben,
It's 1 cup of soy milk and 1 tablespoon of vinegar (the amounts are linked if you click on the buttermilk in the ingredients list) Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Chritina ❤️ These are the BEST pumpkin muffins we ever had. We looked forward to have 2 of these muffins for breakfast every day!!
Hi Nora,
This is so wonderful to hear - thank you!
This is my first experience of anything 'pumpkin pie' themed. As a South African, the 'fall' custom of pumpkin flavoured lattes, cookies, pies, cakes and spice.... was never more than something that appeared on TV.
So, once moving to the UK where ingredients like pumpkin puree are readily available - I thought I would give it a shot.....and WOW.
What an amazing, delicious, softly spiced, not too sweet (besides the streusel and glaze) creation. Absolutely LOVED these.
Easy to make, and utterly lovely. I will 100% repeat these and woe betide anyone who thinks they can muscle in on my share 😉
HI
Hi Megan,
What an honor it is for this to be your first pumpkin baking recipe! I'm so happy you loved it. Growing up, we also didn't have many pumpkin desserts in Ireland, so I completely understand your excitement once tried them!
Thanks so much for sharing your lovely review 🙂
The perfect Pumpkin Muffins do exist, it's these 🙂 And they are super easy to make. I totally recommend these recipe 🙂
Hi Nina,
Thank you so much for your positive feedback, I saw your muffins on Instagram and they looked so perfect!
Hola buenas tardes !!
en la cobertura se puede sustituir la mantequilla vegana por margarina ?
gracias por compartir tus recetas .
hola buenas trades !!
en el streusel la mantequilla vegana se podria sustituir por margarina ?
gracias por todas tus recetas !!!
Hello Hortensia,
I think it will be fine to use margarine for the streusel topping 🙂
Muchísimas gracias, ya los hice y quedarnos deliciosos, gracias por contestar y compartir tus deliciosas creaciones . Linda tarde !!
Just made these today and already ate two (don’t tell anyone). They are fluffy, light, beautiful to look at, just the right amount of sweet, deliciously spiced, perfect! I used a regular muffin tin and got 18 muffins though… I guess that means it’s ok to eat 2 😉
Hi Eve-Marie,
I'm delighted to hear that you loved the recipe, thank you so much for your feedback. You've reminded me to make another batch today! Oh yes, the liners I used in the images are slightly larger than regular muffin cases, but as you say, the more muffins the better 🙂
These look delicious. Would it work using carrot puree too??
Thanks so much Claire,
I'm not sure how the flavor would work with carrot puree, usually, I would use grated carrots for carrot-based bakes. Butternut squash would have a similar flavor to pumpkin though if that's easier to find? You just need to make sure that the puree isn't too watery, so reduce it in the pan if needed 🙂