This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate I earn qualifying purchases. Click here for more about this policy.
Step up your cornbread this fall and try these fluffy and moist Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins! They are gluten-free and vegan while also being high in protein and fiber. The flavor of the pumpkin and cinnamon is the perfect pairing for your fall meals.
Instead of pumpkin bread, try these more savory cornbread muffins this season. The pumpkin eliminates the need for added oil or sugars, but a touch of maple syrup balances the sweet and savory flavors. These muffins are perfect for your Thanksgiving table or to go with a delicious fall chili.
If you like savory pumpkin recipes, you will love my Pumpkin Hummus and Pumpkin Biscuits too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- High Protein and Fiber: These cornbread pumpkin muffins have 5 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber in each muffin. These are great amounts for a baked good. I talk about the importance of fiber in this free weight loss class.
- Moist and Fluffy: Many people associate gluten-free with dense baked goods, but these muffins are light and airy.
- Perfect for Thanksgiving: The addition of the pumpkin makes these muffins great for serving with fall meals. They are always a huge hit for Thanksgiving!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Pumpkin Puree: Adding pumpkin to these savory muffins eliminates the need for oil and adds fiber.
- Maple Syrup: A splash of natural maple syrup adds sweetness to the muffins. You could also use honey, but then the muffins would no longer be vegan.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: The vinegar will react with baking soda to make a light and airy muffin.
- Cornmeal: You can’t have cornbread without cornmeal. Be sure to check the ingredients in your cornmeal to ensure that it’s gluten-free.
- Gluten-Free Flours: This pumpkin corn muffin recipe uses a combination of gluten-free oat flour and almond flour. You can use a regular gluten-free baking flour in place of the oat flour if needed. It’s important to measure properly when baking with gluten-free flours, so be sure you use the spoon and level method.
- Coconut Sugar: This sugar alternative has a slightly lower glycemic index, but you can substitute it for regular sugar or a zero calorie sugar substitute if you need to.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations & Dietary Modifications
- Try with a Different Squash: Don’t limit yourself to just using pumpkin; you can also make these muffins using butternut squash, acorn squash, and sweet potato purees! They all have delicious, mildly sweet flavors that complement the cornbread.
- Use Semolina Instead of Cornmeal: Semolina is a coarse flour leftover from milling durum wheat. It has a similar texture and color to cornmeal, but it is not gluten-free. If you have a hard time digesting corn products and aren’t gluten-free, this is a great alternative.
- Make a Skillet of Bread: If you want to make cornbread instead of muffins, pour the batter into a greased skillet and bake for double the amount of time. The muffins take about 25-30 minutes, so the bread would take 50-55 minutes. You could also make my healthy Pumpkin Cornbread recipe instead.
How to Make Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
These savory pumpkin and corn muffins are the perfect bread to go with a large holiday meal or a pot of chili. Everyone will love the addition of the pumpkin for a taste of fall. All you need to make them is a food processor, a mixing bowl, a greased muffin tin, and an oven preheated to 350°F.
Step 1: Process Ingredients. Combine the pumpkin, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, oat flour, coconut sugar, maple syrup, and cinnamon in the food processor and pulse until the mixture is smooth.
Step 2: Add the Remaining Ingredients. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl and fold in the baking soda, cornmeal, almond flour, and salt by hand. Mix the batter until just combined. Place the bowl in the refrigerator and let the batter rest for 1 hour to thicken.
Step 3: Divide the Batter Into the Muffin Tin. Scoop the batter into a lined muffin tin. Be sure to fill each cavity equally for even baking.
Step 4: Bake the Muffins. Bake the muffins at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until the muffin tops turn golden brown and a toothpick can be cleanly removed from the center. Remove the muffins and let them cool in the muffin tin for about 10 minutes before you remove and serve them.
Expert Tips
- Use Muffin Liners: Save yourself some time and effort with cleanup and use paper muffin linings or silicone muffin liners instead of baking the muffins directly in the muffin tin for easy muffin removal.
- Let the Batter Chill: It is critical that you let the batter chill in the refrigerator for an hour before baking. During this time, the cornmeal will absorb the liquid, and the apple cider vinegar and baking soda will create a reaction. Both of these will result in thick, fluffy muffins.
- Don’t Overmix: Only mix your muffin batter until it is just combined. Overmixed batter will result in gummy and dense cornbread muffins.
Storage Directions
- Storing: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also individually wrap the muffins and freeze them in a freezer container for 60 days. I love this muffin traveler for taking muffins places or storing them!
- Reheating: If you like warm muffins, pop leftovers in the microwave for 30 seconds to heat them. Be sure to thaw frozen muffins in the refrigerator for 24 hours before reheating them.
Serving Suggestions
These healthy cornbread muffins are the perfect bread dish to accompany a variety of fall dishes like soups, chilis, and salads. They are always a popular item for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas as well. You can also just snack on them with a little butter in the afternoon. The balance of sweet and savory makes them a great pick-me-up during a long day.
- Name a more iconic pair than cornbread and chili! Serve these cornbread pumpkin muffins alongside a bowl of black bean chili or healthy crockpot turkey chili.
- Use the cornbread to make a gluten-free cornbread stuffing for your holiday table.
- You’ll love this cornbread with your Thanksgiving dinner. Make it alongside my sweet potato gratin or any of my other healthy Thanksgiving recipes.
Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins Recipe FAQs
If your muffins came out dense and heavy, then chances are you overmixed the batter. Be sure to stir until they are just combined to avoid making dense muffins.
If you don’t let your muffin batter sit in the refrigerator for an hour, then it won’t thicken. The thin batter won’t cook properly, and you’ll have muffins that are still wet inside.
The almond flour is critical for the texture of the muffins. I don’t recommend using a substitute.
More Healthy Pumpkin Recipes
If you tried this Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin Tin
- Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup Pumpkin Puree
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- 1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk, or milk of choice
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 cup Cornmeal
- 1 cup Almond Flour
- ⅓ cup Gluten Free Oat Flour
- ¼ cup Coconut Sugar, or sugar of choice
- ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350 F. Prepare a muffin tin with cooking spray or liners (or baking dish if making this as bread).
- In a food processor, combine the pumpkin, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, oat flour, sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon until smooth.
- Next fold in by hand the baking soda, cornmeal, almond flour and salt to combine.
- Let the batter sit 1 hour in the refrigerator to allow the batter to thicken, the cornmeal will absorb all the ingredients to make fluffier and thicker muffins (trust me!).
- Pour the batter into the cavities, dividing it evenly among each cavity. Bake 30 minutes until the muffins appear golden brown and a toothpick can be inserted cleanly in the center. If making the bread version, you will need to bake longer 50-55 minutes for the bread version.
- Remove the muffins from the oven then let them cool in the tin 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Use muffin or cupcake liners to help make serving these muffins easier and less messy.
- The batter has to chill for an hour in the refrigerator so it will thicken. The thicker batter will result in moist, fluffy muffins.
- Don’t overmix the batter, or it will result in dense and gummy cornbread muffins.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
In one place you say one muffin is 142 calories. In another, you say 2 muffins are the same number of calories. Which is it? Also, you mention a bread version, but there are no directions – time, temperature?
Hi Judith, I’m not sure where you saw the 2 muffins with the same number of calories? I do not see this anywhere. I did just re-calculate the calories as this was an old recipe that was converted and the calorie info in the recipe card is now accurate. As for the bread, you would simply double the baking time. That’s general rule of thumb when converting any muffins to bread. I updated the recipe though for others that are not familiar with baking so thanks for pointing that out.
Megan~
I am eager to bake these wonderful looking muffins.
What do you think of using this recipe for waffles?
Are there any modifications you might suggest?
Thank you!
Lester
Oh you will love the muffins! Everyone does. I’m not sure about waffles. I’m guessing it should work. It is a thicker batter so you may need less to make a waffle. If you try it, please report back and let me know. I’ll update the recipe card for others!
Reference to “oats” and “honey” in step is confusing. I interpreted as “oat flour” and probably “maple syrup”??
Anyway, navigating they that I persevered and will admit these are OUTSTANDING. In some ways more like pumpkin bread vs. cornbread. I love them. Thanks.
Hello, any way to replace almond flour? In allergic to tree nuts!
Oat flour, whole wheat flour or potato flour I would try.
As someone who’s never had pumpkin before I was hesitant to try these but because I am the only vegetarian in my family I was looking up some recipes I could make for thanksgiving. I came across your pumpkin cornbread muffins from a huffington post on vegan thanksgiving recipes and I can honestly say making them was the best decision!! I couldn’t even taste the pumpkin and they turned out fantastic! Can’t wait to share these with the rest of my non-vegeterian/vegan family and see the response!! Thanks for the recipe Megan!!
I’m so happy you loved them Lilly! I’m not a big fan of pumpkin on it’s own so finding ways to incorporate without tasting is something I like to do. Thank you for taking the time to let me know!
Love cornbread, love pumpkin, I can guarantee I will love these AND they are going on my thanksgiving meal plan right now.
Glad your feet are feeling better!
You will surely love these Hayley!
the perfect combo! Care to deliver these for thanksgiving? haha
and I totally love my inserts but was skeptical at first. Glad you are feeling better!
I would gladly deliver on Thanksgiving for you!
I’m adding this to our Thanksgiving menu. It looks too good not to. Thanks Megan and have an awesome weekend!
Yeah! You will love them Jill!
So glad you’re doing better! Love these muffins too – I’m not a cornbread fan but if you add something creamy for the texture I’m allllll over it. 🙂
Thanks! I can’t tell you how great it is to have two working feet again.
I wouldn’t have thought of the pumpkin + cornbread combo. Sounds like this could make an interesting side dish for Thanksgiving!
It’s delicious! You would never know they have pumpkin in them.