Low calorie, healthy pumpkin muffins made without butter, oil, or flour! These naturally gluten-free pumpkin muffins are moist, flavorful, and perfectly pumpkin spiced.

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

These delicious pumpkin muffins are made with better-for-you ingredients and a fraction of the fat, calories, and sugar you’ll find in regular pumpkin muffins.*

We use blended up old fashioned oats in place of any refined flour, honey replaces a lot of sugar, and canned pumpkin makes up a large percentage of the muffins.

Pumpkin is packed with nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants. Fun fact – pumpkin has the highest amounts of vitamin A (when compared to other veggies). Vitamin A helps to keep skin healthy, eye-sight healthy, as well as reducing the risk for chronic disease. (Source.)

You may be wondering about those pools of melty chocolate you’re seeing dotting these pumpkin muffins. Can chocolate be healthy? Yes! To keep these on the nutritious side, we’re using dark chocolate. Dark chocolate has essential fats your body needs and is a powerful source of antioxidants. (Source.)

Let’s talk pumpkin

Pumpkin pie filling or pumpkin puree?

Canned pumpkin is cooked pumpkin that has been pureed. Pumpkin pie filling, though, is pureed pumpkin with additions like cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and cloves, and sweetener. To keep these muffins as healthy as possible, we don’t use pumpkin pie filling, we want the pure canned pumpkin.

To use fresh pumpkin: measure out 1 leveled cup of : measure out 1 leveled cup of cooked pureed, and cooled pumpkin

How much pumpkin?

Many recipes call for an entire can of pumpkin. This recipe, however, is different. Using an entire can of pumpkin will result in overly wet healthy pumpkin muffins. Make sure to only use 1 cup of pumpkin

Press out the moisture

I recommend good quality, non-watery pumpkin for these muffins. There are many brands that water down the pumpkin which will leave the muffins very lackluster. While not sponsored, Libby’s is my preferred brand of canned pumpkin.

After measuring out the leveled 1 cup of pumpkin, I recommend pressing out the excess liquid with a few paper towels. This keeps the muffins from being overly moist and potentially a bit gummy.

Oat flour

If you have quick oats or old fashioned oats, you can have oat flour ready for these healthy pumpkin muffins in 5 minutes or less; here’s how:

Place the oats (you can use old fashioned or quick oats) into the bowl of your food processor or small blender jar. Pulse the oats until ground into a powder-like consistency that resembles flour. Stir the oats around if needed to be sure all the oats are finely ground and there aren’t any full oats left. Make sure to measure your oat flour after it’s been turned to flour and not in the original whole oat form or the measurement will be off. When measuring in a measuring cup, overfill the measuring cup and then use the back of a butter knife to level it off so the oat flour is fully filling the measuring cup.

Heathy pumpkin muffin tips

Use a good, non-stick muffin tin. A good tin make sa world of difference! Here’s my favorite muffin tin.

A good tin make sa world of difference! Here’s my favorite muffin tin. Solid-packed pumpkin . I highly recommend Libby’s pumpkin (not sponsored) for these healthy pumpkin muffins as I’ve always had the most success with their canned pumpkin — it’s thick, not watery, and has a great pumpkin flavor.

. I highly recommend Libby’s pumpkin (not sponsored) for these healthy pumpkin muffins as I’ve always had the most success with their canned pumpkin — it’s thick, not watery, and has a great pumpkin flavor. Adjust the sugar. If you aren’t used to healthier baked goods you’ll want to increase the sugar — up to 6 tablespoons (or even 1/2 cup). I typically add a packed 1/4 cup of brown sugar in these muffins. If you’re used to healthy baked goods and wanting to limit sugar, you can use as little as 2 (packed) tablespoons sugar.

If you aren’t used to healthier baked goods you’ll want to increase the sugar — up to 6 tablespoons (or even 1/2 cup). I typically add a packed 1/4 cup of brown sugar in these muffins. If you’re used to healthy baked goods and wanting to limit sugar, you can use as little as 2 (packed) tablespoons sugar. Measure precisely. When measuring each ingredient, level off measuring cups to the top and ensure the measuring cups with liquids (pumpkin and honey especially) are fully scraped out into the mixing bowl.

More healthy pumpkin recipes

FOLLOW ALONG! Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates, recipes and content. Healthy Pumpkin Muffins 4.83 from 39 votes Review this recipe Low calorie, healthy pumpkin muffins made without butter, oil, or flour! These naturally gluten-free pumpkin muffins are moist, flavorful, and perfectly pumpkin spiced. SAVE TO RECIPE BOX Print Recipe Healthy Pumpkin Muffins 4.83 from 39 votes Review this recipe SAVE TO RECIPE BOX Print Recipe Low calorie, healthy pumpkin muffins made without butter, oil, or flour! These naturally gluten-free pumpkin muffins are moist, flavorful, and perfectly pumpkin spiced. Ingredients 1 cup (222g) canned pumpkin (See Note 1)

2 tablespoons honey

2 -4 tablespoons light brown sugar, (See Note 2)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup + 1 tablespoon oat flour (regular oats that have been blended) (See Note 3)

1/2 cup (83g) dark chocolate chips Instructions PREP : Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9 cavities in a muffin tin with nonstick spray; do not use muffin liners with these, they stick to the liners. Press excess liquid out of the pumpkin with paper towels.

WET INGREDIENTS : Combine the pumpkin, honey, brown sugar (See Note 2), vanilla, and egg in a bowl. Beat until combined.

DRY INGREDIENTS : In another bowl, stir together the salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and oat flour.

MIX TO COMBINE : Add the dry to the wet mixing until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

BAKE : Separate the mixture evenly among 9 muffin cavities and place a few (3-4) extra chocolate chips on top if desired. Bake for 19-24 minutes or until the tops of the muffins look dry (not gooey) (My oven takes 23 minutes). Remove and allow to cool for 3-4 minutes and then remove them from the muffin tin on to a cooling rack.

STORAGE: Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature. Muffins are best within 1-2 days. Video Recipe Notes Note 1: Grab high quality pumpkin that isn't overly watered down (I prefer Libby's). Make sure to grab pure canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling. Note that this recipe only uses 1 cup of pumpkin, not the entire can! Note 2: If you aren't used to healthier baked goods, use 4-6 tablespoons brown sugar in these muffins. I typically use a packed 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) Note 3: Oat flour is just old-fashioned or quick oats that have been blended in a food processor or blender until they reach the consistency of flour. Make sure to measure the oat flour AFTER blending and not to measure the oats before blending. Level the measuring cups off after being completely filled with oat flour (don't loosely measure). Nutrition Facts Calories: 129 kcal DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? I love hearing from you when you've made one of my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @ChelseasMessyApron or leave me a comment below.

*While I have my background in Exercise and Wellness (B.S.), all the content in this post is for informational purposes only. Please consult a doctor or dietician for any specific dietary needs/questions.