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These gluten free pumpkin muffins are soft, tender, and packed with pumpkin flavor, with plenty of warm spice, just enough chocolate chips, and a crisp crumble topping.
A quick blast of high heat helps them rise tall before they finish baking at a lower temperature. The result is a bakery-style muffin with a soft center and a golden, craggy top.
Why this recipe works
More than 1 cup of pumpkin puree plus just enough granulated sugar gives the muffins lots of moisture without making them heavy. Pumpkin pie spice and a little brown sugar round it out with warmth and richness.
The batter stays soft and tender, while the chilled crumble bakes up crisp on top. That contrast keeps every bite from feeling too soft or one-note.
Starting at a high oven temperature gives the muffins an early lift, then lowering the heat lets the centers bake through evenly without burning. You get tall tops without drying out the crumb.
Recipe ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make these muffins, plus something about the role of each ingredient in a successful result:
- Gluten free flour blend: responsible for most of the structure of these muffins. My favorite blends are Better Batter's classic all purpose blend, Nicole's Best with added xanthan gum as listed in the recipe card, and Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 in the blue bag with 1/2 teaspoon more xanthan gum in the muffins and 1/8 teaspoon more in the topping (the blend has some gum, but not enough).
- Baking powder: provides plenty of rise for tall muffins, especially when we bake them first in a really hot 425°F oven for a few minutes.
- Salt: brings out the other flavors and balances sweetness.
- Pumpkin pie spice: A warm spice blend with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg.
- Sugars: there's mostly white sugar in these muffins for sweetness and tenderness, plus some light brown sugar for the rich taste of molasses. Both varieties help lock in moisture for a tender crumb that doesn't dry out easily. The crumble topping is all brown sugar for flavor.
- Pumpkin puree: a full 1 1/4 cups of pure canned pumpkin puree make the muffins really tender and moisture, faint aroma, and color. It doesn't have a lot of flavor.
- Butter: Melted butter keeps the muffin crumb nice and dense so it tastes like a muffin and not a cupcake, and adds buttery flavor and some moisture to bring the batter together.
- Eggs: Add rise, richness from the yolks, and structure from the whites that helps the muffins hold their shape as the muffins cool.
- Chocolate chips: Dark chocolate chips pair really well with pumpkin, but semi-sweet work great, too. You can replace them with chopped raw walnuts or pecans, or another type of chip. If you leave them out, the muffins will be smaller.
How to make gluten free pumpkin muffins
For full instructions, see the recipe card below. Here's an overview of how to make these muffins in your own kitchen:
Make the crumble topping
Make the crumble topping first because it has to chill. Mix the gluten free flour blend, brown sugar and melted butter, which makes it easy to blend, and place it in the refrigerator to firm up and become stable enough not to melt quickly in the oven and stay chunky.
Whisk the dry ingredients then wet separately
We'll use two bowls to make the muffin batter. In the first, whisk together the dry ingredients, including the flour blend with xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice to ensure there are no clumps.
In a separate bowl, add in the sugars, beaten eggs, melted butter and pumpkin puree and then mix until fully combined. You want the eggs to become emulsified in the melted butter and pumpkin puree, since the eggs help the muffins hold their shape after baking.
Add dry ingredients, then the chips
Placed the whisked dry ingredients right on top of the wet ingredients all at once for a thick, soft batter. Since there's no gluten in these muffins, you don't have to worry about mixing the batter too much. Then add the chocolate chips until they're evenly mixed and appear all over the muffins.
Fill the muffin wells, add topping, bake
Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin tin. The batter is thick, so a large cookie scoop can be useful in getting a rounded mound of batter in each well for round top muffins.
Break up the chilled crumble topping and scatter it over the muffins. Since it's chilled, it will keep its shape in the oven. Bake at 425°F for 6 minutes to quickly activate the baking powder and get a high rise, then finish baking at 350°F so nothing burns.
Expert tips
Bake in a really hot oven at first
To get a really tall rise on these muffins, bake at 425°F for 5 or 6 minutes. Without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 350°F and finish baking, about another 20 minutes. The super hot oven activates the baking powder fast, and your muffins get a head start.
Chill the crumble topping first
The crumble topping has to be cold or it won't hold its shape in the oven. So mix it up first and put it in the refrigerator. As soon as you're done making the muffin batter, the topping is cold enough to break up, scatter on top, and bake.
Use room temperature ingredients
If you are using leftover pumpkin puree, it's going to be cold. If you add cold ingredients to melted butter, the butter will clump and your batter won't be smooth or cohesive. Microwave cold leftover puree at 50% power for 10 to 15 seconds to warm it up. Float cold eggs in warm water for 15 minutes before using.
Substitution suggestions
Dairy free
In place of butter in the topping and muffin batter, try block-style vegan butter like Miyoko's, Melt or Trader Joe's brands. Avoid the kind in the tub, which has too much oil. And make sure your chocolate chips are dairy free, too.
Egg free
Try 2 “chia eggs” (2 tablespoons ground white chia seeds + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel) or 2 flax eggs, which will add some unwanted flavor and color, but provide more structure.
Pumpkin pie spice
In its place, you can use use apple pie spice if you have it, or 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg if you have it. Most of the flavor we associate with pumpkins actually comes from this spice, which is a blend of ground cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg. In its place, try using apple pie spice blend, which is similar, or just 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon if that's all you have.
Storage instructions
These are really moist, tender muffins that will keep well in an airtight container on the counter for 2 to 3 days.
For longer storage, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. Just place them in a single layer on a small rimmed baking sheet and freeze until firm, then place them in a feezer-safe zip-top bag and freeze. Let defrost overnight on the counter or microwave at 70% power for about 30 seconds.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
For the crumble topping
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (109 g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup (70 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, See Recipe Notes
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
For the muffins
- 2 cups (280 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, See Recipe Notes
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 ¼ cups (306 g) pure canned pumpkin puree, at room temperature
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- 6 ounces chocolate chips, I like dark chocolate chips here
Instructions
Make the crumble topping
- In a small bowl, place all of the ingredients (melted butter, brown sugar, flour blend and xanthan gum), and mix to combine fully. The mixture will be thick.
- Place the crumble mixture in the refrigerator to chill while you make the muffin batter.
Make the muffins
- Preheat your oven to 425°F. Grease or line the wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set it aside.
- In a medium-size bowl, place the flour blend, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice, and whisk to combine well. Set the dry ingredients aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, place the melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, and eggs. Whisk to combine very well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl of wet ingredients, and mix until just combined. The batter will be very thick.
- Add the chocolate chips to the batter, and mix until just evenly distributed throughout.
- Divide the batter among the prepared wells of the muffin tin. The wells should be full of batter.
- Remove the crumble topping from the refrigerator and use the tines of a fork to break up the mixture into small chunks. Use your fingers to scatter the crumble topping evenly across the tops of all of the raw muffin batter in the wells, and press very gently to help the mixture adhere to the dough.
- Place the muffins in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 6 minutes.
- Without opening the oven door, lower the oven temperature to 350°F. Let the muffins continue to bake for about 20 minutes more or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the center muffin comes out clean.
- If the toothpick still comes out wet at all after the final 20 minutes of baking, reduce the oven temperature to about 300°F and continue to bake until done.
- Remove the pan from the oven. Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FAQs
Yes, you can definitely use this recipe to make mini muffins rather than full-sized ones. I would suggest checking the mini muffins starting at 12 minutes and using the toothpick test to judge whether they're done.
Your muffins might be dense because your leaveners that aren't fresh, so check your dates. Plus, ask yourself if did you bake for 6 minutes at 425°F and then lower the oven temperature to 350°F until they were done baking?
Did you use one of my recommended flour blends and measure by weight, not volume? Did you bake your muffins at the right temperature? If the oven temperature is too low, they may not rise properly. If your oven temperature is too high for too long, the outside will become dark before the inside has the right baked structure and the muffins will sink as they cool and become gummy inside.
No, this recipe is only suitable for muffins. If you'd like to make a loaf, try our recipe for tender and flavorful gluten free pumpkin bread. Like these muffins, it's full of pumpkin flavor and made with simple canned pumpkin.
Yes! Skip the crumble topping if you'd prefer, and reduce the baking time at the reduced 350°F oven temperature by 2 to 3 minutes.
Hi Nicole,
I made these and followed your directions using your better the Batter Butter flour mix. My dough was not soft and the muffins came out somewhat gummy. Is it possible I overmixed the dough? Can you overmix gluten free doughs?
Hi, Lissa, I’m afraid I really can’t know why your muffins came out gummy, except to guess that you measured by volume, not weight, and your proportions were off. It also sounds like perhaps you didn’t bake them enough. I recommend an oven thermometer.
My daughter bloats if we use Xanthum gum what may I use instead please reply it says I’ve said that before but didn’t get help
This is the first time I’m seeing a question from you, Lahni. You can use guar gum in place of xanthan gum, but you must use one or the other for this recipe to work as written.
Hi Nicole, I love anything pumpkin, and lately I have been looking for a tasty pumpkin GF muffin. I was wondering if I can put a cream cheese filling in the middle of these muffins? Thank you
I honestly don’t know, Jo! I would definitely make them at least once first the way the recipe is written, so you know what to expect before you alter it.
How can I print this recipe only without getting all the “extras”?
Hi, Carla, I’m not sure what you mean by “extras,” but the print-friendly function allow you to add or subtract the photo, and add or subtract the notes. The ads don’t print.
Made these today. They were fabulous! I ddin’t have buttermilk and used coconut milk instead. They were still delicious.
Made these yesterday, delicious! I have to hide from my non GF family.
Thank You for making it without the pumpkin butter because I always have a can of pumpkin around but not necessarily the pumpkin butter. Are candied cherries and candied pineapple gluten free ???
These look uber fluffy and delicious! Everything I want in a muffin!
Can you substitute coconut milk or almond milk for buttermilk?
I have successfully substituted coconut milk in a variety of recipes calling for buttermilk. Specifically great in waffles.
Hi Nicole, I wondered about oat flour and did not find a search button on your site. Could you speak to this flour?
I can jump in here! The search button is near the top. a magnifying glass next to the Books tab. For oat flour, Nicole suggests processing Certified GF oats in the blender to a flour consistency. That is what I have always done and it works great. Hope that helps!