Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

The best healthy pumpkin muffins recipe that’s made with oat flour and gluten free but still delicious, without refined sugar, and quick and easy to make!

Pumpkin muffins are always a welcome baking project, but an absolute must in Fall. If your hang up is all the refined sugar, flour, butter and other not so healthy stuff, I feel you. While there’s a time and a place for all of that (in my opinion), on the day to day, it’s important to get more nutritious food into our bodies.

If you feel the same, try these pumpkin muffins! You won’t miss all of the crap you find in most muffin recipes one bit and all of your wildest pumpkin muffin filled dreams will be fulfilled.

They aren’t filled with unhealthy ingredients or random hard to find gluten free flours (what even is cassava flour?!). This healthy pumpkin muffin recipe just uses good ol’ ground up oats for flour, which most people have on hand already. They’re perfectly moist with just the right amount of sweetness and spice.

Grinding the oats takes one extra step, but you can throw the rest of the dry ingredients in with them so you aren’t making another bowl dirty. Whose got time for recipes that aren’t quick and easy these days anyways?

Why You Should Make These Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

If you’re not sold already, let me tell you a little more about this recipe. On top of being naturally gluten free, made with ingredients you probably already have and absolutely drool worthy, these muffins are full of healthy stuff!

• They’re made without any refined sugar too, just maple syrup.
• Each muffin has almost half your daily recommended amount of Vitamin A.
• Each muffin has 4 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.
• The freeze and reheat well.
• My toddler will eat them. Mike drop. (seriously, she’s picky as all hell these days so this is a win) – I bet your kids will too!

How to Make These Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

These recipes are pretty easy to make. Here are the basic steps:

1. Assemble your ingredients.
2. You put all of the dry ingredients in the blender and blend until the oats turn to flour. It should just take 20-30 seconds in a high power blender (Vitamix, Blendtec) and a little longer in a regular blender. Be careful not to over blend or the heat can make the oats clump up.
3. In a bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. I used a hand mixer but you can use a wire whisk if you don’t have one, just make sure to mix it well.
4. From here, pour the out flour mixture into the wet ingredients, stir until just mixed in and you’ve got your batter.
5. Pour into a lined or greased muffin tin, bake, cool, then shove a muffin in your face as fast as humanly possible. Do not skip the last step. It is imperative.

They’re easy to make and would be a great recipe to make with your kiddos. Probably not easy enough for a 2 year old, but a 4 year old could definitely help with this one!

Substitutions and  Variations for Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

As with most baked goods, you can do swaps on this one too. Of course, any major swaps may alter the taste but they should still turn out pretty tasty. Here are a few I’ve tested:

• Starting with the easiest – if you need them to be gluten free, make sure to use gluten free oats! This might seem like a no brainer, but I’d hate for you to give your celiac friend an allergic reaction so I want to be as clear as day on that one. Oats are naturally gluten free but pick up gluten in processing facilities.
• To make the muffins vegan, make flax eggs instead of real ones. To do this, whisk 2 tbsp flax meal with 1/3 cup water in a small bowl. -Refrigerate at least 20 minutes, or cover and refrigerate overnight before using in the recipe.
• If you don’t have almond milk, use whatever milk you’ve got. I’ve used regular cow’s milk and vanilla almond milk before. If you use vanilla almond milk, just use half the amount of vanilla extract. I’m sure you can use other milk types but haven’t tested each one myself.
• If you have pumpkin pie spice and don’t feel like measuring each individually, use 1 3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice instead of adding the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cardamom.

If you try any other substitutions that work out (or don’t), let me know and I’ll update the list!

Freezing and Reheating These Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

While they keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and about 3 days on the counter, sometimes you need more longevity out of a muffin. As a working mom, I appreciate having a plethora of healthy freezer snacks I can bust out for a quick weekday breakfast or to throw in a lunchbox.

To freeze these pumpkin muffins, make sure they are cooled completely. Place them in a freezer bag. I just got these reusable gallon sized bags and am really liking them so far. Seal the bag and freeze for up to 3 months. They might last longer but without wrapping each individually, they’ll probably get freezer burnt by then. Save the plastic and just eat them quickly.

To reheat, you can definitely just let the muffin thaw overnight or in your little one’s lunchbox, but I like to microwave mine and eat it warm. In my microwave, it takes about 45 seconds but the power level on different microwaves vary.

Test yours and it will probably take anywhere from 30 – 60 seconds. If you over microwave, the muffin will be dry and the texture won’t be as great. You’re been warned.

Other Oat Flour Recipes

I bake with oat flour a lot. By a lot, I mean, its really my go-to flour of choice and I have half a dozen oat flour muffin recipes on this site. Here are some of my favorites and a few from around the internet:

• Peanut butter banana oat flour muffins are by far my most popular muffin recipe
• These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes with coconut cream peanut butter frosting are divine
• These oat flour carrot muffins are another great way to get your veggies in muffin form
• Oat flour waffles that are filling and full of protein but still taste great
• Delicious looking oat flour chocolate chip cookies from Beaming Baker that are vegan to boot
• This oat flour coffee cake from Nellie Bellie has me planning a brunch party just for an excuse to make it

Other Pumpkin Recipes

If it’s pumpkin you’re after, I’ve got a few goodies for you:

• This pumpkin bread with orange glaze is ever so tasty and the zip from the orange adds a unique twist that you’ll love
• Pumpkin scones that are already moist and full of flavor and then get topped with a delicious maple glaze
• Gnocchi from A Couple Cooks that gets smothered in pumpkin sauce sounds all kinds of amazing
• Buttermilk pumpkin waffles from A Little Spice Jar are already going on my meal plan for next weekend

Aaaand, one more picture of the ingredients, just because I think they really shine from this angle. Let me know what you think of these healthy pumpkin muffins!