Easy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

My easy vegan pumpkin muffins are soft, tender and full of pumpkin spice flavor as they should be and they’re made with simple ingredients, don’t require a special egg replacer, and come together in one bowl.

What makes my recipe a little different is the mixing method. I use a reverse-creaming technique, mixing the oil and sour cream or yogurt into the dry ingredients before adding the remaining wet ingredients. This coats the flour with fat preventing moisture absorption and helps create a tender crumb and makes these muffins surprisingly forgiving to make and hard to over-mix.

Pumpkin provides plenty of moisture, but the vegan sour cream or yogurt adds the richness and fat that pumpkin alone can’t provide. A little cornstarch also helps lighten the batter.

I like to finish these with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar on top for a little crunch, but you can also add chocolate chips, nuts or dried fruit. They’re especially good warm with a little vegan butter.

Why my recipe works

Reverse creaming: Instead of adding all the wet ingredients to the flour at once, the oil and vegan sour cream are mixed into the dry ingredients first. This coats the flour and helps limit gluten development, resulting in a more tender muffin.

Vegan sour cream or yogurt: Pumpkin adds moisture, but the added fat and richness help give these muffins a better texture and flavor.

Cornstarch: A small amount lightens the flour and helps create a soft, tender crumb.

Homemade pumpkin spice: I prefer mixing the individual spices so I can control the flavor, but you can substitute pumpkin pie spice if you prefer.

Frequently asked questions

Check out more of my pumpkin recipes below! (Click the name.)

• Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies
• Pumpkin Spice Vegan Snickerdoodle Cookies
• Vegan Pumpkin Cake With Dairy-Free Frosting
• Vegan No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Easy Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes
• Perfect Vegan Pumpkin Pie
• Vegan Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

These muffins are exactly the kind of pumpkin recipe you’ll like to have around once fall is in full swing. They’re easy enough for a weekday breakfast but good enough to serve when you’re having people over, and you don’t need any unusual egg replacers or specialty ingredients to make them.

The reverse-creaming method is an extra step, but it’s what gives these muffins their soft texture and makes them much more forgiving than a typical muffin batter. Make a batch, stash a few in the freezer and you’ll have a pumpkin-spiced treat ready whenever the craving hits.

Easy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

Recipe by Kreg

4.8 from 18 votes

Cuisine: Dessert, breakfast, seasonalDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Soft, tender vegan pumpkin muffins with plenty of pumpkin spice flavor.

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 3/4 cup vegan cane sugar (plus more for sprinkling)

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar

• Wet Ingredients to mix into dry

• 1/2 cup plain vegetable oil

• 1/2 cup vegan sour cream or plain non-dairy yogurt

• Remaining Wet Ingredients

• 1 15 oz can of pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie mix)

• 1/2 cup room temperature water

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare a 12 cup standard muffin pan by greasing it with spray or vegan butter or use paper cup liners.
• In a large mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients and whisk together to remove and large lumps. Add the oil and vegan sour cream and using a rubber spatula or spoon mix together until all of the dry ingredients are coated. The mixture should look like a crumb topping mixture and there should not be large areas of flour not mixed in so make sure there’s no streaks of flour left at the bottom of the bowl.
• Add the remaining wet ingredients (canned pumpkin, water and vanilla) and using a whisk or spoon, fully mix them well until a smooth batter is formed. You can’t over-mix the batter now as we’ve protected it with fat from forming gluten so whisk or stir well until fully blended.
• Using a large scoop or spoon, fill each muffin cup almost to the top (about 3/4 full) and give the pan a good rap on the counter a few times to level out the tops of the batter. They should be pretty much flat. Sprinkle sugar over the top if desired and bake for 18-24 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Every oven varies (I use a convection oven) so watch carefully but they could take a bit longer to bake if not using convection. Cool slightly then enjoy! These can be frozen or refrigerated.

Notes

• Make sure to use plain pumpkin purée not canned pumpkin pie filling as that’s sweetened.
  
• I use Crystal Diamond kosher salt which is softer in flavor so if using a more aggressive salt, you can reduce the amount to just one teaspoon. Salt adds flavor to baked goods and is needed. I found 1 1/2 teaspoons to be the right amount.
  
• Use your favorite vegan sour cream or plain unsweetened yogurt.

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