Pumpkin Spice Muffins are a delightful treat with a rich, moist, and warmly spiced flavor, perfect for capturing the flavors of Fall. Enjoy them warm, spread a little butter on them, and enjoy it with a hot cup of coffee or tea for a cozy treat. If you love everything pumpkin, be sure to also try my Pumpkin Spice Cruffins and Best Ever Pumpkin Bread, too!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Pumpkin: Be sure to use pure pumpkin (also known as pumpkin puree), not pumpkin pie filling. Pure pumpkin is cooked pumpkin that is blended or mashed into a smooth texture. There should be no seasoning, spice, flavoring, or sugar added.
Vegetable Oil: Vegetable oil is added to the muffin batter to ensure moisture and tenderness in the muffins. Canola oil would also work well. Applesauce is a popular substitute for oil in baking, but we have not tested it in this recipe, so I can’t speak to its effectiveness.
Milk: For the best results, use whole milk. If preferred, you could substitute a lower-fat option.
Pumpkin Pie Spice: For the classic pumpkin flavor, pumpkin pie spice is added to the batter. For the most flavor, make your own spice!
Turbinado Sugar: Turbinado Sugar (optional for these muffins) is a sugar that falls between granulated sugar and light brown sugar in both color and flavor. It has a yellowish-brown color and with some molasses content left in the turbinado sugar (which gives it the color), it will provide a slight butterscotch flavor and has larger and coarser grains. You could also top the muffins with granulated sugar if that is what you have on hand. Or, leave off the sugar; the muffins are still delicious!
Can I Make Pumpkin Spice Muffins Ahead Of Time?
Sure! You can certainly get the muffin batter mixed ahead of time. After you have mixed the wet and dry ingredients, making sure not to overmix, cover the batter. Store it in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to bake, simply fill each muffin cup and bake! You will notice that the muffin cups are filled to the top. This gives the muffins a beautiful muffin top!
How to Store Pumpkin Spice Muffins
There are a few ways to properly store muffins.
- Room Temperature: Because they are best enjoyed at room temperature, this is usually the recommended way to store them. Use a larger sealable plastic bag or an airtight container to store the muffins in a single layer. Some folks recommend adding a piece of paper towel to the bottom so that it will soak up any condensation. If your muffins are properly cooled before storing, this may not be necessary. However, if I am using an airtight container, I will often add a piece of bread to the container, torn in half, and fit in between the muffins. The bread will soak up moisture as well. Best enjoyed within 2-3 days.
- Refrigerator: (Refrigeration, in general, dries out baked goods faster so a typical muffin recipe shouldn’t be refrigerated.) Place in a sealable plastic bag or airtight container and then place into the refrigerator. They should keep for up to 5 days. To reheat, remove from refrigerator and pop into the microwave for 10 seconds. Or, just allow the muffin to come to room temperature naturally, about 15 minutes.
- Freezer: Place cooled muffins into a freezer-safe sealable plastic bag or a freezer-safe airtight container and pack as closely as possible without crushing. Remove as much air as possible. Label with date and recipe name. To reheat, remove the muffin from the freezer and allow it to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, or on the counter at room temperature for a couple of hours.
More Muffin Recipes
This recipe has been updated as of October 2023.
Pumpkin Spice Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin
- 2 ½ cups (500 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup (218 g) vegetable oil
- ½ cup (122.5 g) whole milk, room temperature
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups (437.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, divided, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2, 12-cup muffin tins with muffin liners and set aside. (This recipe makes 21 muffins.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the pure pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Stir together until just combined.
- Add about ⅓ cup of batter to each muffin cup, or just to the top of the liner.
- If using, sprinkle about ¼ teaspoon of turbinado sugar on the top of each muffin.
- Bake for 24-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out mostly clean, but a few crumbs are okay.
- Allow the muffins to cool completely. Enjoy!
Video
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
What the Test Kitchen had to say about this recipe:
Autumn
These are so good and perfect for fall! The pumpkin spice is right on point. Personally, I loved the crunch of the turbinado sugar on top, but you could leave that off if you wanted.
Elizabeth
Amazing! I love the super large muffin top (which is my favorite part of a muffin)! And, the pumpkin spice comes through just enough in each delicious bite!
Rachael
These are beautiful muffins! They are picture-perfect shape and the spice flavor is perfect for the cooler months! Must try this season!
Bella
Such a beautiful muffin with the perfect amount of pumpkin spice!
Selena
These are gorgeous. I love the crackly top and the shine of the sugar. Subtly spiced and moist muffins are sure to please.
Can I swap out half or all the oil for canned pumpkin? Thanks!
It does not say how many eggs are used in the recipe but mentions adding eggs in the directions. How many eggs are uses?
The ingredients list has 4 eggs.
Your recipes sound DE-LISH!! I would love to try some of your recipes.Thanks.I am 78…but still love to cook and esp. bake.Still make my own bread.:)
I like to use rolled oats in my muffins. Is there a way to swap some of the flour for it?
Hi ☺️ thank you very much for this recipe. I will use this recipe many times in the future because this muffins are totally delicious. There few things what I changed: I used butter instead of oil, I used homemade pumpkin puree and I reduced sugar as well (I used about 400g). In first batch I used brown sugar to sprinkle the top and with second… I forgot 🙈 tip for everyone- don’t forget that part, they way better with sugar on the top.
I’ll leave converted measure for people from Europe 😉
Preheat oven to 190°C
Use 425g pumpkin puree
About pumpkin spice. If you can’t buy this seasoning, make your own. It’s totally worth it and it’s not complicated to make one.
What’s the lighter muffin with the glaze on it?