If you want a delicious and easy way to bake with pumpkin puree, then you need to try these Healthy Pumpkin Oat Muffins. Full of all the delicious flavors of fall, light and fluffy, with dots of chocolate chips to make them a little more special.
We are all about the pumpkin desserts at the moment and after getting a bit too obsessed with our Healthy Pumpkin Bread, we thought about turning it into muffins. With a few changes, we came up with these pumpkin oat muffins.
Such a good way to use a can of pumpkin puree. These healthy pumpkin muffins are made a little bit lighter by using Greek yogurt instead of butter or oil, being sweetened with maple syrup and using oats as the flour.
Still full of all that cinnamon and ginger flavor that you would expect from pumpkin oatmeal muffins, just a bit lighter. We even serve them up as pumpkin breakfast muffins!
Looking for more pumpkin recipes? Why not try our Starbucks beating Healthy Pumpkin Spice Latte, creamy Pumpkin Smoothie or our easy Pumpkin Overnight Oats?
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Ingredients and Substitutions
A full ingredients list, along with US Customary and Metric measurements, can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Maple syrup - This is what is used to sweeten the healthy pumpkin muffins. You could use honey instead, but we think the maple syrup adds to the fall flavor.
- Coconut oil - This is used instead of butter. We tested it without any fat at all, but we felt like it did need some for a better texture muffin.
- Egg - Use a room temperature medium sized egg.
- Vanilla - Use vanilla extract rather than essence.
- Greek yogurt - This gives muffins the best texture, especially when you are using oat flour as it helps to lighten them a bit. We used 0% fat yogurt to make these low fat pumpkin muffins.
- Pumpkin puree - The star of the recipe. Make sure it is pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling you are using.
- Oats - These are oat flour pumpkin muffins. We used some oats to make oat flour, although you could use plain flour instead. Don't worry, all you have to do is blend oats. Oat flour does make these chocolate chip pumpkin muffins a little more dense, but we like that. We then used whole rolled oats to mix into the batter and then some to sprinkle on top.
- Baking powder - This helps the muffins to rise. Not to be confused with baking soda.
- Cinnamon and ginger - Where all the fall flavor comes from. You could use pumpkin pie spice if you prefer. Nutmeg works too.
- Chocolate chips - We wanted to keep these healthy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins refined sugar free, so these are the Refined Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Chips that we used.
Variations
We added chocolate chips into ours, but you can change it up with other mix-ins like chopped nuts (pecans and walnuts are our favorite) or dried fruit like cranberries, raisins or cherries.
You can use wholewheat flour, but we find it makes these muffins too dense.
If you want to make this healthy pumpkin muffin recipe a little more indulgent, then make a glaze with powdered sugar and water to drizzle on top before serving. You could add cream cheese frosting too.
How To Make Healthy Pumpkin Oat Muffins - Step by Step
Prep: Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(fan)/375°F/Gas 4. Line a twelve hole (or 2 six hole) muffin tin with muffin cases.
- Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, add the Maple syrup, coconut oil, egg, vanilla and yogurt. Mix well to combine.
- Step 2: Mix in the pumpkin puree.
- Step 3: Add the oat flour, whole oats, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger. Fold everything together.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Step 4: Divide the batter between the muffin cases. Sprinkle a few oats on top of each muffin.
- Step 5: Put into the oven and cook for 25 minutes. when cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
What To Serve With Pumpkin Oat Muffins
We love serving these warm with some nut butter on them. Have you tried our Homemade Peanut Butter or Cinnamon and Vanilla Almond Butter? For something a little more indulgent, try our Healthier Nutella Recipe.
For an afternoon pick-me-up, serve one of these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins with a Chai Tea Latte or a Cinnamon Mocha.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store these in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days. To keep them longer, store in the fridge and then they can be warmed up in the microwave for 10-20 seconds.
Yes, we always make extra to stash in the freezer. Individually wrap them and store them in a freezer bag for up to 2 months. They can be defrosted in the microwave until they are warmed through.
When muffins are made with a large quantity of wet ingredients like pumpkin puree, if can be more difficult to gauge cooking time. Every oven cooks differently, so you may need to put your muffins back in for up to 5 minutes extra.
More Muffin Recipes
If you’ve tried this healthy pumpkin muffin recipe, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
Tag us in your creations on Instagram @hungryhealthyhappy - Use the hashtag #hungryhealthyhappy too.
Recipe
Healthy Pumpkin Oat Muffins
Ingredients
- 125 ml (0.5 cups) Maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon Coconut oil - melted
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 90 g (0.33 cups) 0% Fat Free Greek yogurt
- 425 g (1.75 cups) Pumpkin puree
- 90 g (1.5 cups) Oats - blended into flour
- 30 g (0.5 cups) Oats - left whole
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 0.5 teaspoon Ground ginger
- 60 g (0.5 cups) Dark chocolate chips
- Oats - extra; for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(fan)/375°F/Gas 4. Line a twelve hole (or 2 six hole) muffin tin with muffin cases.
- In a large mixing bowl, add 125 ml Maple syrup, 2 tablespoon Coconut oil, 1 Egg, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract and 90 g 0% Fat Free Greek yogurt. Mix well to combine.
- Mix in 425 g Pumpkin puree.
- Add 90 g Oats (blended into flour), 30 g Oats (whole), 1 teaspoon Baking powder, 1 teaspoon Cinnamon and 0.5 teaspoon Ground ginger. Fold everything together.
- Fold in 60 g Dark chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cases. Sprinkle a few Oats on top of each muffin.
- Put into the oven and cook for 25 minutes. when cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Recipe Tips
- To ensure this recipe is definitely gluten free, use oats that are certified gluten free.
Nutritional Information
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
As all appliances vary, cooking times are a guide. Please note that by changing the serving size, the cooking time may also need to be altered.
N/A says
Didnt cook all the way through, left with wet muffins and a waste of ingredients
Dannii Martin says
This recipe has been triple tested and I never had that issue. Was it 100% pure pumpkin puree that was used?
CC says
I added an extra 15 minutes to baking time and they were still wet.
Dannii Martin says
We have tested this a lot and that never happened. Did you use 100% pure pumpkin puree?
Beverley Heine says
These are really good! I made them to take to work and they went down a storm.
Dannii Martin says
I am glad they worked for you. A couple of people have said they were too wet, but I have never had that issue, so I am glad that you didn't have a problem either.