Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins made grain-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free, and paleo friendly. These moist pumpkin spice muffins are a delightful fall treat proudly boasting pumpkin spice flavors.
After sharing my Cinnamon Swirl Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread and my Double Chocolate Pumpkin Bread, I wanted to share a grain-free pumpkin treat for my friends who follow a grain-free diet.
These moist and dense almond flour pumpkin muffins have magnificent texture and are a lovely display of fall flavors.
Plus, the optional chocolate chips provide a boost of gooey fudgy goodness to make the muffins even more enticing.
Made with all wholesome ingredients that you can find at any grocery store, these easy pumpkin muffins are lower in added sugar, especially if you leave out the chocolate chips.
They are also dairy-free and refined sugar-free, making them suitable for those who follow the paleo diet.
If you’re on the prowl for grain-free pumpkin dessert recipes, also try my Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars, Paleo Pumpkin Blondies, Paleo Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars, or my Paleo Pumpkin Cheesecake.
These easy gluten-free pumpkin muffins require basic ingredients that can be found at any grocery store, a couple mixing bowls and a muffin pan.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for almond flour pumpkin muffins!
Ingredients for Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins:
Almond Flour and Tapioca Flour: Rather than using regular all-purpose flour, we use a combination of almond flour and tapioca flour. These two flours generate a light and airy texture that is similar to regular wheat flour baked goods.
I recommend using finely-ground almond flour rather than almond meal for the best texture. Do note that the absorbency of almond flour can vary between brands so you may need to add extra liquid or extra flour depending on the consistency of the muffin batter.
If you don’t have tapioca flour on hand, you can replace it with more almond flour, or you can swap it out for arrowroot flour.
Pumpkin Puree: Canned pumpkin puree adds pumpkin flavor, moisture, and volume to the muffins. Be sure to use canned pureed pumpkin with one ingredient: pure pumpkin puree, as pumpkin pie filling contains other ingredients like sugar and spices.
We only need one cup of pureed pumpkin, so you will have leftover canned pumpkin puree which you can use in my No-Bake Pumpkin Oatmeal Cups.
Eggs: We need a few large eggs to help give rise to the almond flour. Because grain-free baked goods require eggs in order to become airy and fluffy, I don’t recommend replacing the eggs with flax eggs or any other vegan egg replacer.
In my experience, almond flour baked goods that include egg replacers turn out fairly dense and maintain a raw-like texture on the inside.
Pure Maple Syrup: Sweetened with pure maple syrup, these muffins are only lightly sweet without the chocolate chips.
If you prefer a sweeter treat, be sure to add the chocolate chips or add an extra 1 to 4 tablespoons of regular cane sugar, brown sugar, or coconut sugar. For a low carb option, use your favorite sugar-free granulated sweetener, such as monk fruit sweetener.
Avocado Oil: A little avocado oil (or oil of choice) adds some fat content to the muffins that also helps with a moist texture. You can replace the avocado oil with melted butter, coconut oil, or olive oil.
Vanilla Extract: A splash of pure vanilla extract adds warm flavor to the muffins.
Pumpkin Pie Spice: The all star ingredient that makes any pumpkin recipe taste like a fall explosion. Pumpkin spice is a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and sometimes cardamom.
If you don’t have it on hand, you can replace it with ground cinnamon instead. If you have all of the individual spices in pumpkin pie spice, feel free to make your own homemade pumpkin spice blend.
Baking Powder: The leavening agent here. Baking powder helps the muffins rise and ensures they stay held together nicely after the muffin papers are peeled off.
Sea Salt: Salt is a big flavor enhancer! It levels up all of the flavors in this almond flour pumpkin muffin recipe.
Chocolate Chips (Optional): While the chocolate chips are optional, they add a burst of sweetness, richness, and gooey chocolate flavor. You can use semisweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or sugar-free chocolate chips.
If you skip them, consider adding a few tablespoons of a granulated sweetener to the recipe if you prefer sweeter muffins.
You can sprinkle pumpkin seeds or chopped walnuts or pecans on the top of each muffin for an added crunch.
Now that we’ve covered the basic ingredients for these paleo pumpkin muffins, let’s bake them!
How to Make Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin tray with muffin papers.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree and mix until the wet ingredients are completely smooth.
In a separate bowl, stir together the almond flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice, and sea salt until the dry ingredients are combined.
Transfer the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl with the wet ingredients and mix well until a thick muffin batter forms.
If adding, stir in the chocolate chips.
Transfer the pumpkin muffin batter to the prepared muffin tin and fill the holes ⅔ of the way up. You can also make large muffins by filling the muffin liners all the way up.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the muffins test clean.
Muffins are fully baked once they reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Insert a digital thermometer into the center of a muffin and wait until the numbers stop moving to determine if it is fully cooked. This step is optional; however, it takes the guesswork out of whether or not the muffins are fully baked.
Allow the muffins to cool to room temperature before peeling off the muffin papers. If you peel the paper liners when the muffins are still warm, you’ll lose much of the muffin to the muffin paper.
Store leftover muffins in an airtight container or a zip lock bag in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can also freeze muffins in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
I enjoy eating the muffins warm with a little almond butter or regular butter smeared on them.
The next time you’re craving a pumpkin treat, whip up a batch of the best almond flour pumpkin muffins!
For those of you who prefer using coconut flour over almond flour, make my Chocolate Chip Paleo Pumpkin Bread and turn the recipe into healthy pumpkin muffins.
If you’re looking for more healthy muffin recipes, also try out these grain-free muffins.
More Healthy Muffin Recipes:
- Spiced Apple Carrot Muffins
- Blueberry Almond Flour Muffins
- Almond Flour Banana Muffins
- Paleo Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- Almond Flour Morning Glory Muffins
Enjoy these chocolate chip pumpkin muffins during the fall and winter months!
Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin tray with muffin papers.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, pure maple syrup, avocado oil, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree and mix until the wet ingredients are completely smooth.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice, and sea salt until the dry ingredients are combined.
- Transfer the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl with the wet ingredients and mix well until a thick muffin batter forms.
- If adding, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Transfer the pumpkin muffin batter to the prepared muffin tin and fill the holes ⅔ of the way up. You can also make large muffins by filling the muffin liners all the way up.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the muffins test clean.
- Muffins are fully baked once they reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Insert a digital thermometer into the center of a muffin and wait until the numbers stop moving to determine if it is fully cooked. This step is optional; however, it takes the guesswork out of whether or not the muffins are fully baked.
- Allow the muffins to cool to room temperature before peeling off the muffin papers. If you peel the paper liners when the muffins are still warm, you’ll lose much of the muffin to the muffin paper.
Notes
Nutrition
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These turned out delicious, but there was one error: the directions forgot to list adding the oil, so I never added it. It wasn’t until I was putting everything away that I realized I never added the oil. Hopefully Julia can edit that. But regardless, they turned out just fine. I used slightly less than 1/2 cup maple syrup and still found them plenty sweet. I also was out of pumpkin pie spice, so I used about 3 tsp cinnamon (because I like it more flavorful). I used about 1 cup of raisins instead of chocolate chips and I melted butter on the top of the warm muffins – to make up for the missing oil and because, butter! My family loves them!
Hi Sierra! Thanks so much for catching my error – I edited the recipe to include the avocado oil in the instructions 🙂 Your version of the muffins sounds delicious! I’ll have to try your method too 🙂
These are delicious! Moist & tasty! I used monk fruit & erythritol sweetener & added a half cup of pumpkin. I used 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice and used walnuts instead of chocolate chips. Great muffins!
I love the idea of using a sugar-free sweetener to cut down on the sugar content! Thanks so much for sharing, Cynthia – this is super helpful to others who want to try the same thing. I’m happy you enjoy the muffins! xo
Seriously, these are DELICIOUS! Even if you aren’t trying to be lower carb, these are amazing. I love them and so does my toddler. Will be making these over and over!
I’m so thrilled you and your toddler enjoy the muffins, Shelby! Thanks so much for swinging back around to share your experience!
Tapioca Flour is not requested in the dry ingredients.
Necessary or not?
Hi Lyn! The tapioca flour gets mixed in with all of the other dry ingredients in Step 3 🙂 I edited the recipe to make this clearer. Happy baking!
These have become a staple in our house. Grandkids scarf them! I use sweet potato instead of pumpkin. I also put the liquids in my Vitamix followed by dry, keep it on low. So fast! Thank you!
Yaaaay! I love hearing that! Thanks so much for swinging back around to let me know, Deb! Much love to you and your family 🙂 xo
These tasted absolutely delicious. I did tweak the recipe and used a syrup made from monkfruit in place of the maple syrup.
Ooh, that sounds great! Thank you for sharing, Venica! xo