Featured Comment
From Lorna: “In the words of my toddler, in tears over these treats, “they’re just so good!” A really great recipe that brings the texture and moisture many gluten-free baked goods are lacking. Will be keeping this recipe close at hand”
From Sam: “These are my absolute favourite pumpkin muffins! Sooo good.”
From Abbie: “My family absolutely loves this recipe! I have been gluten free for over 6 years and this is one of the best pumpkin muffin recipes I have made. One that I am keeping on repeat this fall! Thanks for all your great recipes!”
Recipe Overview
⏱️ Time to Taste: 45 minutes
✨ Texture: Moist, fluffy, and light.
🥣 Ease: A simple recipe that’s easy to whip up whenever a pumpkin craving hits
🌾 Flour Used: Gluten-Free Measure-for-Measure Flour + Blanched Almond Flour
🧁 Equipment Needed: Standard muffin pan, mixing bowls, whisk, and rubber spatula
🎉 Best For: Fall breakfasts, snacks, lunchboxes, and holiday baking
❤️ Why You’ll Love It: These muffins are the kind of fall treat you’ll want to make on repeat. They’re soft, full of pumpkin flavor, and loved by both kids and adults.
As the weather gets cooler, there’s no better treat than a soft, spiced pumpkin muffin. This muffin recipe with pumpkin puree is packed with flavor and has the perfect tender texture. And they’re even better with mini chocolate chips added in!
If you’re looking for a delicious gluten-free muffin idea to satisfy your pumpkin cravings, this is a recipe you’ll come back to time and time again. Whether for breakfast, a snack or dessert, it’s one of my favorite gluten-free recipes for fall!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are a few notes on some of the key ingredients to make these gluten-free pumpkin muffins. Jump to the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Gluten-Free Flour: The type of flour you use can greatly effect how the muffins turn out. For best results, I recommend using King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure-for-Measure Flour.
- Almond Flour: I love adding a little almond flour because it adds moisture and richness for a tender texture. I recommend using blanched almond flour.. I also use a little in my gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip bread!
- Spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves add warmth and enhance the pumpkin flavor for the coziest fall muffins! You can also use pumpkin pie spice instead.
- Pumpkin: Be sure to use 100% pure canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling. It’s my go-to for all of my favorite gluten-free pumpkin recipes, like my classic gluten-free pumpkin bread!
- Oil: Any neutral oil works in this recipe! I like to use grapeseed, avocado, or vegetable oil. Coconut oil will work too.
- Lemon Juice: This might seem like an unusual ingredient, but adding a little lemon juice helps activate the baking soda and baking powder. This creates a little extra rise to ensure the fluffiest muffins!
How to Make the Best Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins
Here’s an overview of how to make these muffins. You can jump to the recipe for the full instructions!
Whisk dry ingredients: I like to mix the dry ingredients first so the leavening and spices are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Whisk the wet ingredients: Mixing the wet ingredients separately helps create a uniform batter and even texture.
Combine: When adding the wet mixture to the dry ingredients be careful to not overmix! I stop mixing as soon as the flour is no longer visible. I love folding in some mini chocolate chips too!
Chill and Bake: I always chill the batter after scooping it into the muffin pan to give the gluten-free flours time to hydrate. I also recommend using the two-temperature baking method for tall, bakery-style muffins!
Make-Ahead/Storage/Freezing Instructions
To Make-Ahead: These muffins are best baked fresh, but you can make them ahead and store them once baked. They stay soft and moist when stored properly!
To Store: Store the cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
To Freeze: Let the muffins cool completely before transferring to a freezer bag or air-tight container. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, let frozen muffins sit out at room temperature for a few hours.
What Do These Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins Taste Like?
These muffins taste like fall in every bite! They’re packed with fresh pumpkin flavor, warm spices, and just the right amount of sweetness. The cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves create that classic pumpkin spice flavor without being overpowering.
Can I Use Pumpkin Pie Spice?
Yes! You can use 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice in place of the individual spices.
Can I Make Mini Muffins?
Yes! In fact, that’s one of my favorite ways to make this recipe! You can bake the gluten-free pumpkin muffins in a mini muffin pan, just reduce the bake time to 15-20 minutes. They’re perfect for parties and snacks!
More Gluten-Free Muffin Recipes
Moist Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1½ cups (225g) gluten-free measure-for-measure flour
- ¼ cup (25g) almond flour
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (106g) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Other
- one 15-ounce can (425g) canned pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup (80ml) neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ cup (90g) mini chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
- Line a standard muffin pan with paper baking cups.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, almond flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, vanilla and lemon juice.
- Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined and no dry flour streaks remain. Fold in the chocolate chips, if using.
- Using a kitchen scoop or large spoon, portion the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan.
- Refrigerate the muffins for 20 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Bake the muffins for 10 minutes at 425°F, then reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in September 2020. It was updated with new photos and instructions in July 2026.
can you use all almond flour?
Hi there, we wouldn’t recommend replacing the gf 1:1 flour with all almond flour. Almond flour doesn’t typically replace other flours at a 1:1 ratio and calls for more adjustments. If wanting to use all almond flour, it’s best to use recipes that are designed for just almond flour. Using a 1:1 flour blend will produce the best texture and reliable results for this recipe. We hope this helps!
If you substitute duck eggs for chicken eggs the muffins will rise twice as high
Thank you for the tip, Deborah! We’ll have to give that a try!
I found the chocolate overpowered the pumpkin to the point that I couldn’t taste it at all. For the next batch I substituted 1/2 cup chopped pecans for the chocolate chips and thought the flavor was much better. Other than that I think it’s an excellent recipe. Like one of your other posters, I also found that the flavor and texture improved after freezing. Have already tried your orange-cranberry bread, which I love, and will be working my way through your other recipes. Thanks so much for your hard work bringing these to the gluten-free population.
I just made your zucchini muffins which calls for refrigerating the batter and starting with a higher temp to get a good rise. Would those tips be applicable here?
Yum! I made these (no chocolate chips) and the pumpkin bread (with chocolate chips) as written and both were delicious! Muffins were perfectly baked in exactly 25 mins. Thank you for the awesome recipes!
Great to know the recipe worked well as pumpkin bread as well! Thanks for the comment.
I want to add fresh cranberries. Will that affect the baking? Thank you! Annie
Adding fresh cranberries sounds delicious! The baking time should be about the same. You might have to add 5 minutes or so on to the bake time.
Oh heavens! I made these exactly as directed in the recipe for the muffin part but added a cream cheese centre… 1 brick of cream cheese + 1/4 cup sugar & 1 egg… piped into the centre’s of each muffin before baking and topped with a streusel and pumpkin seeds! Chefs kiss, so delicious.
That cream cheese center sounds so delicious! I’m going to have to try that myself. Thanks for sharing the fun idea!
In Australia we don’t have canned pumpkin. How much would one have to cook up to make 15oz can equivalent?
It depends on the size of the pumpkin but I’m pretty sure 1 pumpkin pie pumpkin would work. You can bake it then measure 15oz of the cooked pumpkin. Let me know if you try it!
Have you tried the silicone muffin pans? Would I need to put paper cups in those to bake my muffins in
These muffins will bake up great in a silicone muffin pan! No need to use liners, but I always like to grease the silicone muffin pan with a little cooking spray just to be sure they’ll come out.
I have now made your blueberry muffins, cranberry orange muffins, chocolate chip muffins, apple muffins and your basic muffin recipe with raspberries, oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips/cranberries and raisins. Each and every recipe was easy to make and very tasty. No one could tell they were gluten and dairy free. (I used oat yogurt and earth balance). I will be making your vanilla cake tomorrow for my granddaughter’s 9th birthday. I will be adding raspberries at her request.
Thank you from Vancouver Island, Canada, for all of these amazing recipes. My grandchildren love all the new treats that G’ma is making (with your help).
I’m so honored you like the recipes! You grandchildren are lucky to have you! Thanks for the comment 🙂
These are so good. Thank you. I did some changes. I added a scoop of fiber to them, used Swerve brown sugar (low glycemic) and unsweetened coconut flakes..Freezing them now so I dont eat all of them at once.
Great to know they worked well with Swerve! I’m glad you enjoyed them 🙂
I don’t have muffin pans. Could I make this in a square pan as pumpkin bars?
I think that should work! Or you could try this recipe for pumpkin bars: https://meaningfuleats.com/gluten-free-pumpkin-bars/
Excellent taste and texture. I added the mini chocolate chips as suggested. Smells so good while baking! I will make these again.
These were delicious, and even improved after freezing! I’m literally devouring all of your quick-bread recipes as I work my way through your quickbread archive. What a blessing your recipes are! May God bless you for sharing the fruits of your labor freely!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins! Glad you’re enjoying the recipes 🙂
I don’t have lemons, can I use lime?
Yes that will work! You can’t taste the lemon or lime – it just tenderizes the crumb. You could also use apple cider vinegar!