Cozy Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins

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Easy, wholesome pumpkin muffins made with whole grains, natural sweetener (maple syrup), and real pumpkin! These muffins are impossibly fluffy and delicious.

Updated byKathryne Tayloron August 30, 2024

We caught our first cool fall breeze this week. Do you know what that means? It’s pumpkin muffin time.

I snapped some fresh photos of my favorite pumpkin muffin recipe while satisfying my pumpkin craving. These pumpkin muffins are pure comfort for chilly fall mornings and afternoon snacks.

They’re more wholesome than most, since they’re made with whole wheat flour and oats, sweetened with real maple syrup or honey, and call for coconut oil or olive oil instead of butter. Believe it or not, this wholesome pumpkin muffin recipe yields impossibly light and fluffy muffins.

These pumpkin muffins wouldn’t be complete without a generous dose of warming spices, including cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Most of that “pumpkin spice” flavor actually comes from the spices, not the pumpkin!

I adore these muffins with a generous smear of almond butter, peanut butter, or pecan butter on top. Nut butter adds a little extra protein, which means I’m not ravenous before lunchtime. If you’re going pumpkin-crazy this time of year, enjoy your muffin alongside a homemade pumpkin chai latte.

These pumpkin treats have the magical ability to convert “healthy muffin” skeptics into devoted fans. Let’s bake some!

The Very Best Pumpkin Muffins

Five reasons to fall in love with this pumpkin muffin recipe:

Wholesome Pumpkin Muffin Notes & Tips

Change it up. Add nuts, chocolate chips, chopped cranberries, or crystallized ginger. See the recipe notes for details.

Simplify the recipe. Swap 2 teaspoons of store-bought pumpkin spice blend for the individual spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice). Or, if your spice drawer is bare, simply use 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and call it good.

Craving a sweet topping? Liz topped these muffins with the maple glaze from my pumpkin scones recipe, which sounds absolutely marvelous.

This muffin recipe is special diet-friendly. You can easily adjust it to be vegan, dairy free, egg free, and/or gluten free. See the recipe notes for details.

Watch How to Make Wholesome Pumpkin Muffins

Baking Tips for Muffin Success

How to Measure Flour Properly

How you measure your flour matters. Why? If you measure incorrectly, you could end up with up to 50 percent extra flour, which will leave your muffins dense, dry, and flavorless. Use the spoon and swoop method:

Use Baking Soda, Not Baking Powder

They are not the same thing. Both are leaveners that help your baked goods rise (baking powder contains some baking soda, but that’s a long story). For the best results, always follow the recipe and measure carefully.

How to Stir Your Muffin Batter

This muffin batter is wonderfully simple to stir together by hand, and that’s exactly how I recommend making these muffins. Why? Over-mixing will make the flour’s gluten protein too strong, yielding tough muffins.

I know it can be tempting to reach for a stand mixer or hand mixer when it’s right there. Please don’t! Follow the instructions below and you’ll be rewarded with light, fluffy muffins.

More Pumpkin Treats & Cozy Fall Muffins

Craving more? You’re going to adore these recipes:

Please let me know how these pumpkin muffins turn out for you in the comments. I love hearing from you, and I hope these pumpkin muffins become your new favorite.

P.s. That beautiful mug in the photos above and below? It’s handmade by my friend Margaret.

Cozy Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins

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Easy, one bowl, wholesome pumpkin muffins made with whole wheat grains and naturally sweetened! These pumpkin muffins are as light, fluffy, and delicious as their coffee shop counterparts. Recipe yields 12 muffins.

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Recipe adapted from my healthy pumpkin bread.

*Oil options: I adore coconut oil here. I used unrefined coconut oil and can barely detect it in the finished muffin. Olive oil might lend a faint herbal note, if that’s your thing (I tested with California Olive Ranch’s “Everyday” variety and couldn’t even taste it). Vegetable oil has a neutral flavor, but the average vegetable/canola oil is highly processed, so I suggest reaching for cold-pressed sunflower oil or grapeseed oil when you can.

**Flour alternatives: White whole wheat flour works beautifully, if you can find it. Whole wheat pastry flour yields extra light and fluffy muffins that are delicate until cooled. All-purpose flour and gluten-free all-purpose flour blends work well, too.

**Change it up: You can really go wild with add-ins here. After stirring in the flour and oats, gently fold in up to ¾ cup chocolate chips, chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts, and/or some chopped dried cranberries or crystallized ginger.

Serving suggestions: These muffins are lovely on their own, with a pat of butter, or slathered with almond butter. They’d also be fantastic with homemade pecan butter or coconut butter.

Make it egg free: Readers report that these muffins turn out beautifully with flax eggs!

Make it vegan: Use maple syrup, flax eggs, and non-dairy milk.

Make it dairy free: Simply use your favorite non-dairy milk.

Make it gluten free: Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose blend works beautifully in place of the whole wheat flour. You could use 2 ½ cups certified gluten-free oat flour instead, or follow my recipe for almond flour-based pumpkin muffins.

Make it oat free: Simply omit the oats. No other changes necessary.

Make it lower in fat: I’d argue these muffins contain a healthy amount of fat, but you can swap the oil for applesauce if you’re following a low-fat diet. Choosing olive oil instead of coconut oil will reduce the saturated fat content; the total fat content will remain the same.

Update September 24, 2019: I removed white whole wheat flour as an option simply because I can no longer find it in stores. I also upped the spice from 1 ½ teaspoons to 2 teaspoons for even better pumpkin flavor.

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