These grain-free and gluten-free paleo pumpkin muffins are an amazing autumn treat. My simple and delicious almond flour pumpkin muffin recipe has a moist crumb and calls for just a few easy-to-find ingredients!
Nothing says autumn like pumpkin-flavored everything: pies, lattes, nuts—even toothpaste and shampoo (I kid you not, people). But before pumpkin fatigue sets in, I need you to try my grain-free Paleo Pumpkin Muffins for one simple reason: they’re crazy simple and delicious.
Table of Contents
Almond Flour Muffins
These paleo pumpkin muffins are made with just almond flour as the base. Even though I love grain-free paleo treats, I don’t have the patience (or the expandable pants) required to test out every single substitution or alternative flour available. If I can nail a paleo dessert recipe with just one type of flour—in this case, almond flour—I call it a day and say “you’re welcome” to my waistline. Plus, I don’t need to spend tons of money on expensive flours and starches that I’ll rarely use.
Pro tip: The most accurate way to measure almond flour is by weight on a kitchen scale. No scale? You can also just use the “fluff, sprinkle, and scrape” method demonstrated here with dry measuring cups.
Nut allergy?
Need a nut-free version? I don’t have one (yet), so try this pumpkin bread recipe by my pal Danielle Walker instead!
Substitutions?
Unfortunately, my cooking skills are way stronger than my baking skills so I’m not sure how this recipe will work with different flours or how to substitute the eggs, sweetener, etc. If you try a substitution and it works out great, please leave a note in the comments so everyone can benefit from your baking prowess. Thanks in advance!
Can you use the paleo pumpkin muffin batter to make a cake or bread?
Yes! If you want to make a paleo pumpkin snack cake or pumpkin bars, pour the batter into a greased 8-inch by 8-inch square cake pan and bake it in the oven for 25 to 35 minutes or until cooked through. Love pumpkin bread? Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until cooked through. If the top is browning too quickly, tent the top of the loaf with a piece of foil at the 45 minute mark.
Get your kids to bake them!
These paleo pumpkin muffins are so dang easy to make, you should hand the recipe to your kiddos and tell them to bake a dozen! Before I finalized the recipe, I asked my favorite teenagers to bake a batch to see if the muffins would come out the right way…and the recipe passed with flying colors!
Ingredients
- Super-fine blanched almond flour
- Canned pumpkin purée: I like Libby’s brand the best.
- Honey
- Eggs
- Pumpkin spice blend
- Baking soda
- Cream of tartar (or 1 teaspoon lemon juice)
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Vanilla extract
How to make paleo pumpkin muffins
Heat oven to 350ºF with the rack in the middle. Line a muffin tin with parchment muffin liners or grease it well with ghee or coconut oil.
Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl: almond flour, pumpkin spice blend, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Whisk it all together.
In a separate large bowl, add the pumpkin purée, honey, eggs, and vanilla. Use a hand mixer or whisk to blend everything together.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and use a hand mixer to blend…
…until well combined.
Don’t dawdle because the baking soda has already been activated at this point and the muffins need to get in the oven!
Divide the batter evenly into each muffin liner. (I recommend using a #20 disher to scoop the batter if you have one.)
Bake the muffins in the oven at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the muffin tray at the halfway mark.
The muffins are done cooking when the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Eat ’em up!
How do you store and reheat pumpkin muffins?
You can freeze any pumpkin muffins that aren’t gobbled up right out of the oven. Store the muffins in a food-safe freezer bag or airtight container for up to 4 months. When you want to eat a muffin, you can thaw it overnight in the fridge or microwave it for 30 seconds straight from the freezer. If you want to use a toaster oven to heat up a muffin, I would still thaw it first and then bake at 300°F for ~5 minutes or until heated through.
More paleo pumpkin dessert recipes
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Paleo Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 2½ cups finely ground almond flour
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup canned pumpkin purée
- ½ cup honey
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350ºF with the rack in the middle. Line a muffin tin with parchment muffin liners or grease it well with ghee or coconut oil.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl: almond flour, pumpkin spice blend, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Whisk it all together.
- In a separate large bowl, add the pumpkin purée, honey, eggs, and vanilla. Use a hand mixer or whisk to blend everything together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and use a hand mixer to blend until well combined.
- Divide the batter evenly into each muffin liner. (I use a #20 disher to scoop the batter.) Don’t dawdle because the baking soda has already been activated at this point and the muffins need to get in the oven!
- Bake the muffins in the oven at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the muffin tray at the halfway mark. The muffins are done cooking when the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this and forgot the cream of tartar….and they were fine! I added a lot of chopped walnuts, replaced honey with 1/4 c. maple syrup (I’m a good New Englander, and also like to limit the sweetness), and topped with a few sunflower seeds. I really benefit from a fatty spread (like ghee or butter if you do dairy); I might experiment with adding a bit in the batter next time (I greased the muffin pan with coconut oil this time so that added a bit of fat too). But anyway, they’re terrific and the recipe is a keeper! Would maybe add soaked raisins or chopped dates sometime too.
Haha can I correct that typo in my comment? THEY really benefit from a fatty spread! HAHAHA
I’m back here with more: I just made these again, this time using CASHEW FLOUR instead of almond. Added a generous grind of…wait for it….black pepper. Used lemon juice instead of cream of tartar. Added a cup of chopped walnuts and 6 chopped dates. Result? SUPERB. The cashew flour adds richness, and the muffins remained tender and moist. Cashew flour is a total winner, makes a nice change from the always-reliable almond flour. Thanks again for a wonderful recipe!
Wonderful recipe! We used buckwheat honey and smeared yummy cocoa cashew butter on them and it was amazing!!
Can these be frozen?
Yes! I thaw them in the fridge before I pack them or reheat them.
Baked up exactly as expected! Very happy with these muffins. They freeze well. Hubby takes them for breakfast each day.
I also added some ground flax. They still baked perfectly.
These are delicious. Just what I was wanting. I’ve watching my non-paleo family members eat pumpkin muffins from Costco and I was feeling left out. These fit the bill and now I can have pumpkin muffins too!
These muffins were moist and full of pumpkin flavors for fall. I did not have cream of tartar or lemon juice on hand so used 1 tsp of white vinegar. They came out fine. I like that they have only one flour making them quick. I also added a streusel topping.
These just came out of the oven ten minutes ago, cooling on the rack, I couldn’t wait. My husband and I just had one and we LOVED them! May even experiment with maple syrup and pecans next round. Another great recipe Michelle ~ Thank you for making it easy to make better food choices!
Has anyone made these with a keto friendly sweetener instead of honey? if yes, how did they turn out?