Healthy pumpkin muffins with applesauce, topped with a spicy crumble, and soft in texture with no refined sugar, and low in calories thanks to a few simple swaps including applesauce. A nutritional breakfast muffin with fiber and vitamins, made in one bowl in 20 minutes and egg-free.
These soft spicy healthy pumpkin muffins with applesauce are perfect for breakfast or even a snack and made easily in one bowl. They are soft inside, warm with pumpkin pie spices, but also rich in nutrients, low in calories at 160 per muffin, have no refined and are full of filling goodness. Enjoy these muffins with my pumpkin smoothie or my apple banana smoothie.
Like my healthy pumpkin bread with applesauce, blueberry muffins and my chocolate chip muffins, and even more easy recipes with pumpkin purees such as my pumpkin fudge, iced pumpkin spice latte and my healthy chocolate cake, and even my baked pumpkin donuts, these pumpkin muffins are a quick and easy breakfast treat.
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Why You'll Love These
These healthy pumpkin muffins taste spicy and soft. They are:
- Full of warm fall spices and healthy pumpkin puree
- Easy to make in one bowl, and baked in 20 minutes.
- Refined sugar free, vegan, gluten-free, egg-free, with an oil-free option
- A great healthy breakfast or snack
Ingredients
Flour – I used oat flour but all purpose flour or gluten free baking flour would also work easily. You can buy oat flour or make it by blending rolled oats into a powder.
Oil – If you don't want to use oil in this recipe, replace it with unsweetened apple sauce. I use extra-virgin olive oil which is heart-healthy and the least processed oil.
Milk activated with lemon juice – I add a tablespoon of lemon juice to my almond milk to activate the baking soda to help the muffins rise. This is also called vegan buttermilk.
Brown sugar - Coconut sugar will keep these muffins refined sugar free, but any light brown sugar also works. These muffins have half the sugar of other similar recipes.
Pumpkin puree – I use quality canned pumpkin puree. The only ingredient is pumpkin. So don't mistake pumpkin puree for pumpkin pie puree which has added sugars. Also, sweet potato puree or butternut squash puree works perfectly if you can't find pumpkin puree.
Cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg – I use my homemade pumpkin spice recipe off my homemade holiday spice recipe guide here - In this guide, I not only share a homemade pumpkin pie spice, also homemade gingerbread spice, homemade chia spice, and homemade apple pie spice.
Baking essentials: baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Now you’re ready to bake!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions
Oil-free: Swap oil for more applesauce or coconut oil.
Milk: I used almond but any dairy-free milk works. I add the lemon juice to curdle the milk into a kind of buttermilk - this allows the baking soda to help with lift.
Flour: I used oat flour but all purpose also works, just use less, 1 ¾ cup for this recipe.
Step by Step Instructions
For more detail, visit the complete recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.
Preparations: Make the streusel top first. Combine ingredients with a fork for only a minute - you don't want the butter to melt. Allow texture to be chunky and put it in the freezer while you make the muffin batter.
Step 1: Add the lemon juice to the milk and set it aside for 5 minutes. Then mix up the wet ingredients including applesauce in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients.
Step 2: Mix the batter to combine into a smooth texture. Don't mix too long if using all purpose flour or the muffins will be rubbery.
Step 3: Use a medium scoop (2 tbsp) to distribute batter between 12 muffin wells in a muffin pan lined with paper cupcake liners, either two 6-well pans or 1 12-well pan.
Step 4: Get the pre-made crumble and spoon it over the muffin batter. Make sure 2-3 cubes of flour-coated butter are sitting on each muffin.
Step 5: Bake for 20 to 22 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of a center muffin to be sure they are done. The tester should be clean.
Step 6: Allow these healthy pumpkin muffins to cool 20 minutes in the pan. This will help the papers come off more cleanly.
Recipe Tips
1.Be sure to add the lemon juice to the milk and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. When making an egg-free recipe, it's important to add an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar to the milk to react with the baking soda and help the muffins rise.
2. There is not a ton of oil and butter in these muffins so to help them not stick to the papers, let them cool in the pan for 20 minutes then peel off paper carefully or grease a muffin pan with butter, and dust with flour.
3. You can bake these in mini-muffin tins as well.
5 Healthy Benefits of Pumpkin
1. Pumpkin Supports Weight-loss: Rich in fiber so slows digestion, making you feel full longer. Also low calorie. Far lower in calories than butter that traditional pumpkin recipes include. [source]
In addition, pumpkin protects eyes & vision, boosts immunity, protects skin, and balances blood sugar.
Variations
Mix-ins: To the batter, fold in your choice of chocolate chips, shredded carrots, or crushed walnuts. Add ¼ cup of each, and you can even omit the streusel top and instead sprinkle some of the mix-in on top of the batter before cooking.
Make mini pumpkin muffins:
- Spoon the batter into mini cupcake pans lined with paper cups.
- Fill the wells most of the way up. Forgo the crumble top.
- Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 F. Test baked muffins with a toothpick to be sure they are baked through.
- Once cooled, dip in a simple sugar glaze rather than drizzle.
FAQS
Look at the ingredients before you buy. For this recipe, the ingredients need to be only pumpkin. Don't use Pumpkin Pie filling as it has added sugars and spices and is more suitable for pumpkin pie.
Muffins stored in a container at room temperature will become moist after a few days. To combat this, add a paper towel to the bottom of the container, and lay a paper towel on top of the muffins as well. They should stay dry for about 4 days. Freeze them in a container for 3 months.
Using coconut sugar or maple syrup or dates is a way to keep desserts refined sugar free. Those sweeteners have more nutrition and are less processed so do less damage to the body than refined sugar does. Maple syrup imparts a strong maple flavor however, so I prefer dates and coconut sugar which taste more like traditional brown sugar.
More Bread & Muffins
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📖 Recipe
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins with Applesauce
Equipment
- Measuring cups & spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Hand-mixer
- muffin pan, liners
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1 cup pumpkin puree, canned
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 tablespoon applesauce
- ½ cup brown sugar (coconut sugar)
- ¼ cup olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour or use 2 cups oat flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
Spices
- 2 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon cloves
Equipment
- ½ cup flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2-6 tablespoon butter sticks, chilled and chopped
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Instructions
Prep
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Line cupcake pans with paper liners. Either 1 (12-well) pan or 2 6-well pans.
- Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into the milk and allow it to curdle for 5 minutes.
Crumb Top, optional
- Combine ingredients with a fork for only a minute - you don't want the butter to melt. Allow texture to be chunky and put it in the freezer.½ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, 2-6 tablespoon butter sticks, chilled and chopped
Make Pumpkin muffins
- Mix up the wet ingredients in a large bowl.1 cup pumpkin puree, canned, ½ cup milk, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 tablespoon applesauce, ½ cup brown sugar (coconut sugar), ¼ cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Set a sifter over the bowl, and add the dry ingredients + spices to it. Then using a spoon to push the dry ingredients into the bowl on top of the wet ingredients.1 ¾ cup all purpose flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, pinch salt, 2 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon cloves
- Or, alternatively, just stir up the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and dump that into the wet ingredients.
- Use a medium scoop or 2 tablespoon scoop to fill each well. If you are using crumb top, add it to each muffin now.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes.
- Let muffins cool for 20 minutes in pan.
Store Pumpkin Muffins
- Store pumpkin muffins covered at room temperature for one day. After that, refrigerate for 4 days, again well covered but with paper towels in container.
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