pumpkin streusel muffins with maple glaze

Pumpkin Muffins are buttery soft and flavored with real pumpkin and cozy spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Dress them up with a quick cinnamon streusel and a drizzle of maple glaze. This easy recipe is perfect for breakfast, dessert, or a grab-and-go snack!

Published September 2017. Updated October 2019, and September 2023.

It’s pumpkin season, friends! These muffins probably aren’t the most nutritious breakfast ever but my mom definitely let us her homemade pumpkin bread for breakfast when we were kids soooo….if mom allows it, I’ll allow it. I think that’s a good rule for life in general. Besides, fall only comes once a year! Now, let’s dive in to this easy recipe.

Why you’ll love these Pumpkin Muffins:

• Pillowy Soft Muffins – These muffins are ultra soft and moist, with tons of pumpkin and spice flavor. And, they come together in one bowl!
• Cinnamon Streusel – An easy cinnamon streusel is piled high on these muffins for extra flavor and a slight crunch.
• Maple Glaze – Drizzle on a luscious maple glaze for the full fall experience!
• Easy Recipe – Even though there are a few elements at play here, they’re all incredibly easy and quick to make! Each portion takes just minutes to mix up, and you don’t even need a mixer or wait for any ingredients to come to room temperature.

Ingredient Overview:

As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found at the bottom of this post.

• All-purpose flour – Spoon your flour into the measuring cup, then level it with a flat utensil for best results, or use a scale. Scooping the measuring cup directly into your flour will lead to too much flour, and a potentially dry bake.
• Vegetable Oil – Vegetable oil keeps these muffins ultra tender and moist!
• Sugar – Sugar adds flavor of course, but also keeps these muffins soft and moist.
• Eggs – Use large eggs.
• Pumpkin – Use canned pumpkin. Be sure not to buy pumpkin pie filling as this is a bit different and has other ingredients added, like sugar and spices.

Ingredient Substitutions:

• Dairy-free – The muffins are dairy-free since they use oil, not butter! Use your favorite dairy-free butter in the streusel to make these muffins dairy-free.
• Gluten-free – I have not tested a gluten-free version of these muffins. Let me know if you do try it!
• Pumpkin Pie Spice – If you have pumpkin pie spice on hand rather than the individual spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice you can use it. I’m not 100% sure about the substitution ratio since I always just use the individual spices, but I would keep 1 and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and add 1/2 to 1 and 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, to taste. It’s a little hard to guesstimate without trying it, which is why I recommend just using all the base spices. Plus, they’re fabulous in SO many fall baking recipes with pumpkin or apple, so I do recommend having them on hand.
• Fresh Pumpkin Puree – You can use fresh pumpkin puree if you’re feeling like Martha, and want to roast and puree your own pie pumpkin.

How to Make this Pumpkin Muffins Recipe Step-by-Step:

Step 1: Make the Streusel. Melt butter in a medium bowl. Stir in flour, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt and cinnamon.

Step 2: Make the Muffin Batter. Whisk together your batter in a large bowl. We’ve got the usual suspects – vegetable oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin for the wet ingredients. And, flour, baking powder and soda, spices, and salt for the dry ingredients. This batter comes together in no time, with just a whisk – no need to get out your mixer!

Step 3: Fill Muffin Pans & Add Streusel. Add muffin liners or cupcake liners to your pan and fill 3/4 full with batter.

Add a generous sprinkle of streusel over the tops of the muffins.

Step 4: Bake Muffins. Bake as directed in the recipe card below for best results. Let the muffins rest in the pan for a few minutes, then use a butter knife to pop them out. Transfer to a wire rack. No need to let cool!

Step 5: Top with Glaze. Drizzle with a simple glaze made with milk, powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and a little cinnamon.

Serving + Storing this Recipe:

Be sure to enjoy these while they’re nice and warm from the oven! Biting into a warm, homemade pumpkin muffin with that cinnamon streusel and maple glaze is truly one of the best parts of fall. Happy baking!

Expert Success Tips for the Best Pumpkin Muffins:

• Oven Thermometer – An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.
• Kitchen Scale – A food scale is the best way to make sure your flour is at the proper weight, since amounts will vary SO widely based on how you measure it, as well as the measuring cup you use, as they are not standardized.
• Don’t Over Mix – Fold the dry ingredients into the muffin batter just until the last streaks of flour disappear. Over mixing can lead to dense or dry muffins.
• Don’t Over Bake – Many recipes will tell you that things are baked when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. In my years of experience, that means you have likely already over baked the item by a few minutes which can make a big difference. A toothpick shouldn’t pull out wet batter, but some moist crumbs which will cling to the toothpick. This indicates a perfect bake!

FAQs:

Recipe Variations:

• Streusel Alternative – If you want, you can skip the streusel. Sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon sugar over the top of each well of muffin batter for crispy cinnamon sugar lids. Or, leave them plain!
• Glaze Alternatives – If doing cinnamon sugar on top, you can still do the glaze, or you can leave it off. The same goes with plain muffins. Make ’em however you like!
• Chocolate Chips – Make these into chocolate chip pumpkin muffins by adding 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips to the batter. Feel free to keep or omit the streusel and glaze – it’s up to your tastes!

Special Tools:

• Muffin Pan – This is the muffin or cupcake pan that I have. It’s lasted for years and is in great condition despite being used all the time.
• Microwave Safe Mixing Bowls – A good set of glass mixing bowls is a baker’s best friend!
• Ice Cream Scoop – This makes scooping batter easy and mess-free, since the little trigger releases the batter. I use this for portioning batter, scooping cookie dough, and so much more!

More Pumpkin Recipes to Love:

• Pumpkin Snickerdoodles with Rum Caramel
• Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
• Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake
• Pumpkin Scones with Bourbon Vanilla Glaze
• Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
• Mom’s Best Ever Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Pasties with Maple Glaze

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