These super moist and tender Vegan Pumpkin Muffins are a must for your fall baking repertoire. Crowned with not one but TWO delicious toppings, meaning they’re every bit as delightful as the pastries from your favorite café (even better than Starbucks!).
These eggless and dairy-free pumpkin muffins are the grab-and-go breakfast pastry you need in your life right now!
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📖 Recipe Overview
- Perfectly Portioned - If you love to share your tasty vegan bakes with friends, opting for a treat that doesn’t require slicing is the way to go. This vegan pumpkin muffin recipe is ideal!
- Delectably Moist - It kills me to say that plant-based treats often get a bad rap for being dry. Not so with these gourd-geous egg-free pumpkin muffins! Even your omnivorous mates are going to want this recipe.
- Fluffy and Tender: They have the most amazing tender crumb and are moist, soft, and fluffy. With a slight crunch from the streusel and gooeyness from the maple glaze, all the textures come together to create an incredible vegan muffin.
- Fall-Flavored Magic - These easy pumpkin muffins are great for leaf-peeping road trips, apple-picking picnics, back-to-school bashes, and just about any other autumnal adventures you might get into.
- Easy to Make: With just 15 minutes of hands-on prep, and minimal equipment, they're quick and easy to whip up. They're also ready to eat in less than an hour, so are great if you're expecting some last-minute guests!
If pumpkin spice is one of your love languages, you should try these other vegan pumpkin recipes next: streusel-topped pumpkin pie, rich & creamy pumpkin crème brûlée, giant bakery-style pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and dreamy pumpkin cheesecake. Yum!
🧾 Ingredients Needed
As I mentioned earlier, this plant-based pumpkin spice muffin recipe relies on mostly pantry staples. Here’s what to grab:
Ingredient Notes
- Pumpkin Spice Mix - Fresh out? Don’t fret. It’s easy to make your own. Mix together 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 filling. Feel free to swap in homemade pumpkin purée if you like!
- 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.
- Non-Dairy 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 gives eggless pumpkin muffins a nice fluffy rise.
- Runny Nut Butter ~OR~ Olive Oil - I’ve incorporated a little “choose your own adventure” fun into this vegan pumpkin muffins recipe. 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.
🥣 How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
This easy recipe for pumpkin muffins comes together with very little fuss. Here’s how:
Step 1: For 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.
Step 2: Add the non-dairy buttermilk, pumpkin puree, almond butter or olive oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and brown sugar to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Step 3: 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!
Step 4: 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.
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
While I feel I’ve perfected these maple pumpkin muffins to my personal specifications, feel free to make edits to make them YOUR perfect fall treat. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Nut-Free - Use olive oil instead of almond butter to keep these no-egg pumpkin muffins totally free from nuts.
- Oil-Free - If you prefer to avoid added oils, use almond butter instead and skip the crumb topping.
- Simple & Straightforward - Both the streusel topping and maple glaze add extra flavor and texture, but they also come with extra dishes. If you want to make these eggless pumpkin muffins with a little less hullabaloo, simply omit the toppings!
- 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 or crunchy toasted pepitas.
📝 Recipe Tips
Skip every other muffin well. 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 temperature for the remainder of the baking time. This activates the baking powder and helps the muffins rise more quickly.
Set your timer. You don't want to forget about that high baking temp (it happens) so be sure to set your timer for 5 minutes and be on the ready to reduce your oven temperature.
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 personally haven't attempted to use GF 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. Just 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 recipe in a gluten-free manner, 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.
🍂 More Vegan Muffins
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Description
Equipment
Ingredients
Streusel Topping (optional)
- 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar, brown sugar or coconut sugar *see note 1
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice mix, *see note 2
- 1 teaspoon orange zest, optional
- 50 g (⅖ cup) 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 200°C (392°F) and 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 200°C (392°F) for the first 5 mins, then turn down the temperature to 175°C (347°F) and bake for another 15 minutes. Check they are done by piercing them with a toothpick or a knife, the knife should come out almost clean- a few crumbs are fine. 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: For the topping, brown sugar 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 fluff 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.
Nutrition
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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!
