Chocolate Chip Vegan Pumpkin Muffins — These vegan pumpkin muffins are studded with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Plus, they’re packed with five different warming spices, which makes then extra flavorful!
The Best Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
No butter? No eggs? No problem. Vegan never tasted so good, and you’d never know it by how rich these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins taste.
If you want to make a vegan baked good taste just as good as its buttery counterparts, I recommend using bananas, avocado, or pumpkin to the batter. They all add moisture, richness, some heft and density. Sometimes even I am amazed at the results of vegan baking when I use one of those ingredients.
These sweetly spiced vegan pumpkin muffins are no exception. The batter comes together with a whisk in minutes. No need to turn on your mixer, a time saver when it comes to doing dishes.
Although there are no eggs, the muffins are fluffy and have the right amount of lightness. Not airy, but aren’t overly dense and heavy either, which can sometimes happen with pumpkin or any time you don’t use eggs. There’s no butter either, and while butter is great in cookies for an irreplaceable flavor, pumpkin has such a dominating flavor profile you won’t miss a drop of buttery flavor.
Plus, for items I want to stay soft and supple like cake or muffins, oil is the way to go anyway. I used melted coconut oil. Actually, I didn’t have to melt it since my kitchen has been nice and toasty due to a heat wave. Warm a chunk in a small bowl in the microwave, and if yours is solid and then measure out 1/3 cup.
I called for a fair amount of spices because there’s very little more bland and grosser than unseasoned pumpkin puree and you really do need to doctor it up.
I would put these vegan pumpkin muffins up against any pumpkin muffin made with eggs and butter. They’re that good, and if you never told anyone they’re vegan, no one would be any wiser. Just like these Blueberry Muffins, vegan or not, they’re my favorite blueberry muffins.
They’re supremely moist, soft, bouncy and have a springy quality that makes them irresistible. The melted chocolate chips don’t hurt, either. Healthier than the alternatives, and I especially love it when vegan goodies trump the alternatives.
What’s in These Vegan Pumpkin Muffins?
For these vegan pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Spices
- Salt
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Pumpkin puree
- Coconut oil
- Unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- Molasses
- Vanilla extract
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
These vegan pumpkin muffins couldn’t be easier to make! Simply whisk together the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry in another. Then combine the two and whisk until just combined before folding in the chocolate chips.
Divide the batter between 12 greased muffin cups and bake until the tops are domed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You’ll need to let the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins rest in the muffin pan for 10 to 15 minutes before removing them to cool on a wire rack.
These vegan pumpkin muffins taste delicious as is, but I highly recommend adding a little vegan butter and/or pumpkin butter to the top to really amp up the flavor.
Can I Freeze Vegan Pumpkin Muffins?
Absolutely! Let them cool to room temperature before sealing them inside a freezer baggie. When you’re ready to eat the frozen muffins, reheat them in the microwave or place them on the counter to thaw.
Can I Add Another Mix-In?
I don’t see why not! Chopped nuts or dried fruit would work well in these vegan pumpkin muffins, or you could do a few different mix-ins. Just make sure not to add more than 1 cup of mix-ins total.
Is There a Pumpkin Pie Spice Substitute I Can Use?
For these chocolate pumpkin muffins, I used pumpkin pie spice as well as additional cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice (all of which are in pumpkin pie spice). If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice in your area, use a heavier hand with the spices listed.
Is There a Coconut Oil Substitute I Can Use?
The muffins don’t taste like coconut, and even if you don’t like coconut, just try it. It adds a layer of flavor you can’t put your finger on, in a satisfying, warm blanket, cozy and comfy undertone way. Substitute with canola or vegetable oil if you must.
Can I Omit the Chocolate Chips Altogether?
You can, if desired. Personally, I love the semi-sweet chocolate chips in these vegan pumpkin muffins, but you can leave them out if you’d rather have plain pumpkin muffins.
Can I Use Another Type of Milk?
Yes, any variety of unsweetened milk should work in this recipe (both dairy and non-dairy milks are fine).
Tips for Making Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
The muffins are pleasantly spiced with a nice pop of the flavors of fall, and aren’t overly spiced. However, as with any baking, season to taste, and dial down if you don’t care for a certain spice.
I used mini chocolate chips because I like the smaller size in muffins, quickbreads, and cakes. Using regular-sized chips is fine, but they’re more clunky and not as delicate. I don’t prefer biting into those big pebbles.
I’ve trialed the recipe as mini-loaves, adding about 5 minutes to the baking time, and had success. I have not baked it as a full-size loaf.
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Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted (vegetable or canola oil may be substituted)
- ¼ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, other milks may be substituted including coconut, soy, rice, cow
- 2 tablespoons mild or medium molasses
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, regular-sized chips may be substituted, use about 1 1/4 cups; or use 6 to 8 ounces chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan very well with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (I don’t prefer the cosmetic look of muffin liners and I am not sure if the paper will stick to the muffins)
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and optional salt; set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sugars, pumpkin, oil, milk, molasses, and vanilla until combined.
- Pour the wet pumpkin mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix. Batter is quite thick and if yours is seemingly too thick, add a tiny additional splash milk to thin it.
- Fold in the chocolate chips (I like mini chips in muffins because of the size ratio, but use what you have)
- Divide batter equally among the cavities of the prepared pan. Each cavity will be just under 3/4 full (don’t exceed 3/4 full or they could overflow). Spraying a one-quarter cup measure with cooking spray so the batter slides right off is handy here.
- Bake for about 18 to 19 minutes, or until tops are domed, puffed, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs dangling but no batter.
- Allow muffins to cool in pans for about 10 to 15 minutes before removing and placing on a rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Vegan Baked Goods:
Soft Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Brown Sugar Streusel Crust — If you want to make a believer out of anyone who doubts that vegan baked goods can taste amazing, this recipe will change their mind.
Soft Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream Frosting — The cake is supremely soft, moist, springy, and bouncey. It’s some of the best pumpkin cakes I’ve ever tried, vegan or otherwise.
Mini Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread — Super soft, tender, moist pumpkin bread that’s loaded with chocolate chips!! The mini loaves are EASY, brimming will fall flavors, totally IRRESISTIBLE, and accidentally vegan!!
Fluffy Vegan Coconut Oil Banana Muffins — These vegan banana muffins are extra fluffy and moist thanks to the combination of coconut oil and ripe bananas in the batter. This is a quick and easy muffin recipe you’re bound to love!
Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Miracle Cookies — No oil, no flour, no salt, no white or brown sugar. These truly are miracle cookies!
Vegan Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins — These apple cinnamon muffins are studded with BIG chunks of apple! They’re so easy to make and are perfect for a quick snack or breakfast to-go.
Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins – Fast, EASY, one bowl, no mixer muffins!! You’d never guess they were vegan! Soft, fluffy, full of PEANUT BUTTER flavor, and LOADED with CHOCOLATE in every bite!!
I made these few days ago and it was really really GREAT,actually I didn’t expect them to be delicious because I had not baked any vegan muffins before..and I was wrong!
I didn’t have mollases so I omit it.and I used little bit more brown sugar and less white sugar.can I use only brown sugar in this recipe?(and in other recipes as a general question)
thanks for your amazing recipes
In general, it’s best not to swap white for brown, or brown for white, when it comes to sugar in my recipes or in any. Now, in an absolute pinch, you probably could get away with it, but that’s iffy and it’s best to just make the recipe as written since I know it will work as written.
So glad that these muffins pleasantly surprised you! Sounds like you had low expectations and they really caught you by surprise in a good way :) Love it when that happens!
thanks for your advice :)
can’t wait to try your other recipes
so delicious, my kids love it!!!
i made a french version on my blog
Glad they worked out great for you!
Hi! This recipe looks great! I love using pumpkin in cakes and similar :) I have one problem though, I can’t get molasses where I live, would it be OK to use honey instead? Or something else?
Honey would be fine, maple syrup, or just omit. It’s not a critical item in the recipe.
Great! Thanks for your quick response and for your yummy recipe! Keep posting…
Me again! So happy to hear you are writing a pumpkin cookbook! After making these muffins at least 15 times, I’m ready to branch out. Do you need recipe tasters/testers? My kids want you to make a recipe for pumpkin-chocolate swirl loaf. Thanks, we love your blog.
Glad you love pumpkin and the book is already written :) Will be in stores in the fall. Formal announcements will be forthcoming. Thanks for your support!
I made these last night to have for breakfast this morning. Let me tell you, they are amazing! Extra bonus is that they made my house smell wonderful :). I followed the recipe except I had to use gluten free flour due to my three year old. I did a mix of oat flour, coconut flour, and a gf mix that had rice flours etc. Because of this they came out not as light and tall and fluffy as yours look, but they still rose and they were still extremely moist. I wish I would have doubled the recipe! :) Thanks so much for sharing such a great recipe.
That’s wonderful that you were able to make them GF and love them! You can always double the recipe next time :) Thanks for LMK that your blend of GF flours worked!
I made these last night, and warm out of the oven they were delicious! This morning they were just as good, very moist, cannot believe there is no butter in them:-) I will be making these again, thank you for the great recipe!
I know – no butter and no eggs and they’re still buttery-tasting and fluffy! Glad you love them. Thanks for trying the recipe!
I have made these 3 times already! They’re sooo good! Today I added 2 overly ripe, mashed bananas(just so I could get rid of them) and reduced the pumpkin to 1/3 cup. They’re in the oven now and they smell divine! Thanks for this awesome recipe!
And there are 2 other versions of it – same essential base recipe, just tweaked slightly and baked in different pan sizes. In case you want some variety…glad you love it!
https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/10/soft-vegan-pumpkin-cake-with-pumpkin-spice-buttercream-frosting.html
Made these today and they turned out fabulous! Followed the recipe to the T except I doubled it and only had black strap molasses. Perfect amount of spice and very moist! I will definitely make these again, perfect for Fall!
Thanks, Carrie! Glad you loved them! I have since made this recipe into two other things, very similar to these!
Bread https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/09/soft-vegan-pumpkin-bread-with-brown-sugar-streusel-crust.html
Cake https://www.averiecooks.com/soft-vegan-pumpkin-cake-with-pumpkin-spice-buttercream-frosting/
I know, nit flours stink to bake with, I’ve done it before and usually when baking mix it with another type of flour but that is all I had on hand at the time and needed to satisfy my pumpkin craving! I found some quinoa flour in my pantry, so I might try again with that and see how it goes for round 2 (round 1 was still very delicious!)
I can’t eat white flour or sugar. Has anyone tried using a different type of flour (I love almond flour) or coconut sugar for these? They look amazing!
Coconut sugar will be fine and as for the flour, if you’re used to almond flour (it’s so dense and heavy and the nutty flavor – lots of people balk at it) – then you could use it…BUT they will be denser and not rise as well. I would try whole wheat pastry flour since it will absorb the liquid more than almond flour will (grain vs. nut). LMK how it goes!
I’m used to almond flour, I had to cut out white and whole wheat flour a few months ago because I had to go on a low glycemic and gluten free diet. I’ve missed baking and having treats! I just made these using all almond flour and they taste amazing but they didn’t rise much at all, and are sort of crumbly (I made them in liners and they don’t come out in one solid piece, they break apart). I might try another batch using quinoa flour and see how those compare. Thanks for the great recipe base…i’m so excited to test out all these different gluten free flours work the best!
The issue is that you used a nut-based flour AND one with zero gluten. If you were to use a grain based flour, i.e. oat or rice for example, while still no gluten present, you would definitely get more puff and rise, and the texture wouldn’t be as crumbly. I would check out a popular baking blend that’s GF like Bob’s or Arrowhead Mills and go from there!
Thanks for the recipe! I just made these and they are fantastic! Such a great way to ring in fall – my first pumpkin recipe of the season. I used vegetable oil but want to make another batch with coconut oil. Thanks again for a delicious recipe!
So glad you loved them and will be trying them with coconut oil soon!
Pumpkin and choc? Check! I LOVE these Averie!! They look amazing and the fact that they are vegan makes them even better!!
With all the pumpkin stuff you make, I know you know how it just makes everything fluffy & tender and you truly don’t need eggs!
Ok, so I’m not quite ready for full-on pumpkin stuff but these muffins I can handle. They look like the partner my boring afternoon cup of coffee is looking for!
Usually with vegan recipes I am missing crucial ingredients. But not with this one!!! These are wonderful! Thanks for the breakdown of why you do what you do with your recipes — it always helps me so much!
Glad to hear it helps!
I am going to have to make these this fall! I have a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip bread that I love, but it’s not exactly healthy, so I think these would be a good substitute. :)
And I don’t know if these are ‘healthy’ per se, but they are vegan, and they are way better than many recipes! So let’s go with it and call them healthy :)
I’m absolutely loving all the fall flavors I’m seeing lately, and I always appreciate a new vegan pumpkin recipe. It is a miracle ingredient (along with, of course those other miracles, banana and avocado). These muffins look wonderful!
Thanks Jodye and yes, pumpkin is such a miracle worker indeed!