These Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Muffins are seriously moist, warmly spiced, and perfectly dense. They're filling and satisfying, and are a good source of protein and fibre. They're refined sugar free, come together in one bowl and are ready in just 35 minutes! The perfect healthy dessert, snack, breakfast or brunch.
Tips for making these
- Make sure to use the right amount of baking powder - 4 teaspoons! Use too little baking powder and your sponge will be too fluffy, too much and it'll have a bitter taste.
- The vinegar is crucial as it's acidic, which means it reacts with the alkali bicarbonate of soda to create a bubbly batter and fluffy sponge.
- Make sure to use an all-purpose shop-bought gluten-free flour blend (or a homemade gluten-free flour blend), as opposed to just using any type of gluten-free flour you can find (such as almond flour, coconut flour, buckwheat flour etc).
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Make sure to use a measuring jug to measure out the exact amount of plant-based milk!
- Divide the batter between muffin cases in a muffin/cupcake tin.
- Scatter over pumpkin seeds to decorate, if desired.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup, date syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
- You can use either shop-bought pumpkin purée or make our own.
- The pumpkin purée can be replaced with sweet potato or butternut squash purée.
- The mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice) can be omitted or replaced with cinnamon.
Ways to adapt this recipe
- You can top these with chopped pecan nuts, flaked almonds, pumpkin seeds or coconut flakes before baking.
- You can add chocolate chips, raisins or dried cranberries to the batter.
How long do these Pumpkin Muffins keep for?
These Pumpkin Muffins keep well covered in the fridge for up to a few days. They're easily transportable and freeze well too. You can reheat them in the oven or an oven toaster if you like.
More gluten-free vegan muffin recipes
- Carrot Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Muffins
- Cornbread Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Apple Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Orange Poppy Seed Muffins
- Raspberry Muffins
- Gingerbread Muffins
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 150 ml (⅔ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 225 g (1 cup) pumpkin purée
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder ensure gluten-free if necessary
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda baking soda
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice to taste (pumpkin pie spice, or a mixture of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon)
To decorate (optional):
- Pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if not using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the pumpkin purée, vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer the mixture between muffin cases in a muffin tin.
- Scatter over pumpkin seeds to decorate, if desired.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- These muffins keep in the fridge for a few days. They can be reheated in the oven or an oven toaster if you like.
Video
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog - thank you.
Julie McLennan
Hi, how much do you mix in the flour, you don't say in the recipe. They look so good I want to try them .
I have never had a success with muffins but want to give these a go.
Thanks Julie
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! I'm sorry if it wasn't clear in the recipe - you can just mix the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into the batter once you've sifted it in. Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions!
Hanka
Hi Rhian,
Thank you for the recipe.
How do I make pumpkin pure? Do I just blend pumpkin or do I need to add some water?
Also why cannot gluten free flour be used instead of the blend?
I can't get these two ingredients where I live, so I will need to make them myself,
Thank you for your answers.
Hanka
Rhian Williams
Hi! You can make the pumpkin purée by just blending up cooked pumpkin, no need to add water. You can either boil, steam or roast the pumpkin then blend it up. You can use gluten-free flour! I meant you have to use a gluten-free flour (which is usually made from blending together other flours, such as rice flour, tapioca flour, potato flour etc) rather than just any flour without gluten, such as almond flour or coconut flour as some other readers have made that mistake in the past. Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions!
Andrea
Another lovely muffin recipe, never made pumpkin before!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!
Virgilia
Hi Rhian!
I love your muffin recipes! They're always a big hit in my home. I was wondering if this recipe actually calls for 4 teaspoons of baking powder, or if that's a typo?
Thanks so much!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that! No it's not a typo, I tested this with 2 teaspoons baking powder as normal, and because of the pumpkin purée they didn't rise as well, and the texture was much better with 4. Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Sue
Can these be made into mini muffins? If so, how long should they cook?
Rhian Williams
Yes! Depends how big the muffins are - I would cook for around 10 minutes then keep checking after that, until an inserted skewer comes out clean!