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Grain-Free Healthy Pumpkin Muffins and Bread

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Healthy-Pumpkin-Muffins
Wellness Mama » Blog » Recipes » Grain-Free Healthy Pumpkin Muffins and Bread

 Ahh, fall… the glorious season of apples, pumpkins, changing leaves, and cooler weather (finally!). I definitely get in on the fall pumpkin craze and start making pumpkin spice everything this time of year. This coconut flour healthy pumpkin muffins (and bread) recipe is the perfect way to ring in the season.

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins (and Bread!)

Unlike most baked goods, these delicious muffins are a great low-sugar snack or breakfast. Instead of refined sugar or brown sugar, they use natural sweeteners, like honey, stevia, or maple syrup. They’re also packed with plenty of protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Slather some grass-fed butter on the top and they make the perfect yummy fall breakfast.

Perfect Paleo Pumpkin Bread

If this is your first time baking grain-free bread, expect a denser bread or muffin. They’re still moist with a soft texture and all the warm flavors of pumpkin spice (with just the right touch of sweetness).

Instead of all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, or even whole wheat flour, these muffins rely on coconut flour. I use this a lot to bake with in my grain-free recipes. Whole grains are often a staple in healthier muffin recipes, but it’s not something our family eats much of.

Since coconut flour can vary, if your batter ends up way too thick, then add a little bit of milk to thin it. Some muffin recipes replace the butter or coconut oil with applesauce. I haven’t personally tried it here, but let me know if you do!

Pure Pumpkin Flavor

You can use homemade pumpkin puree or a can of pumpkin for these. They’re delish either way! Just be sure to not get the can of pumpkin pie filling at the store instead of pure pumpkin. While the filling already has added spices, it also has lots of added refined sugar.

Even though pumpkin has become a staple in fall cooking it’s worth having all year round. Pumpkin is high in vitamin A (the beta-carotene version), vitamin C, and potassium. There’s nothing quite like biting into some warm pumpkin bread or muffins!

The healthy pumpkin muffins are delicious by themselves or with a little melted butter or coconut oil. This recipe also freezes well once baked if you prefer to batch cook.

Healthy Pumpkin Muffin Variations

  • Add in some dark chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or dried cranberries to the batter.

  • Top with a dollop of raw milk or coconut whipped cream.

  • If you eat dairy, you can pour half of the batter into an 8×8 pan, add slices of cream cheese, and then add the rest of the batter.

  • We also mix it up and use a similar coconut flour base recipe to make grain-free banana bread or apple cinnamon muffins.

Need an egg-free version? Try making the muffins with flax eggs, made with ground flaxseed and water mixed together. Here’s how to substitute eggs in recipes like cupcakes, muffins, and more.

If you are looking for a grain-free, low-carb, and sugar-free bread for breakfast or dessert … try this recipe! It just might become a new favorite.

Healthy-Pumpkin-Muffins

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

Simple gluten-free, dairy-free, and grain-free pumpkin muffins made with coconut flour, warm spices, and pumpkin for a healthy and nutritious breakfast. Can also be made as healthy pumpkin bread.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Calories 139kcal
Author Katie Wells

Servings

12 muffins (or 1 loaf)

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • Lightly grease muffin tins (or use paper muffin liners) or an 8×8 baking dish with coconut oil or olive oil. A regular loaf pan doesn't work well.
  • Put all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix with an immersion blender or strong whisk until smooth and well incorporated. If the batter is too thick, add a little coconut milk, almond milk, or water to thin, but don’t let it get runny at all.
  • Scoop into greased muffin cups with a ¼ cup measure or pour into a greased 8×8 baking dish. 
  • Bake for 13-18 minutes for a muffin pan or 20-25 minutes for bread. Cook until lightly browned and set in the middle (a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean).

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Recipe
Amount Per Serving (1 muffins)
Calories 139 Calories from Fat 68
% Daily Value*
Fat 7.6g12%
Saturated Fat 5.8g36%
Cholesterol 68mg23%
Sodium 131mg6%
Carbohydrates 14.6g5%
Fiber 4.7g20%
Sugar 6.7g7%
Protein 3.9g8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Notes

Optional: Finely grind almonds or pecans and mix with butter or coconut oil to make a crumble topping.
Store the healthy pumpkin muffins in an airtight container at room temperature. 

Like this recipe? Check out my cookbook, or get all my recipes (over 500!) in a personalized weekly meal planner here!

What’s your favorite way to eat pumpkin? What mix-ins do you like adding to your muffins? Leave a comment and let me know!

Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

165 responses to “Grain-Free Healthy Pumpkin Muffins and Bread”

  1. Amy A. Avatar

    1 star
    I am always looking for healthy recipes and I tried this one today. It did not come out good at all. It is very bland, needed more sweetner. And, I am someone who like things when they are less than regular sweet.

    The consistency is not bread like, it is paste or pudding like. you have to eat it with a spoon. My children and my husband rejected it altogether after trying it. I am very sad since I used very expensive, organc ingredients and now there is nobody who can eat this.

  2. Jennifer Avatar

    3 stars
    I used three eggs instead of five because mine were extra-large, but the batter still came out too moist! I just added more coconut flour to make it more firm. Besides those adjustments, I followed everything else to a T.

    I don’t know if it’s because I used my little toaster oven, but I had to double the time to give it the consistency I wanted. The prescribed 20 minutes left it super moist, so I tacked on another 20 before it became nice and firm. I do agree with the others though on the lack of sweetness-it tasted pretty bland! (And I hate sickeningly sweet stuff.) So I added Enjoy Life chocolate chips on the top and popped it back into the oven.

    Next time, I’d probably mix in a half cup chocolate chip or something, to get the whole thing consistently sweet.

  3. Joanne Tiedemann Avatar
    Joanne Tiedemann

    I cannot find your recepie for chocolate muffins. I made them once and they were delicious. Will tou please send me the receipe or tell me where to find it? Thank you!

  4. Teresa Avatar

    5 stars
    I followed the recipe, except for: using 4 eggs (it was all my hens laid this morning). baking powder as my children don’t care for baking soda in muffins, and maple syrup because I was out of honey. They are in the oven now and smell delicious. I also added the pumpkin pie spices and used pumpkin from our garden. I baked at 350 because I have found coconut flour baked goods tend to burn in my oven before they are done cooking.
    Update: Just took them out of the oven. The texture is soft and moist. They are plenty sweet and super yummy. I think I’ll add pecans next time. Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe.

  5. Jennifer Avatar

    5 stars
    I accidentally used a whole can of pumpkin (woops). lol! I just cooked it a few more minutes and it was still good albeit a little wetter. I used less honey and i like that it wasn’t too sweet. I don’t like everything to be sweet so i cut the honey by about a centimeter from the 1/4 cup mark. I added cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon and chopped some walnuts to add to the mix. YUMMO! I’ll make this again for sure.

  6. Fiona Avatar

    These turned out great for us! The whole family loved them. They will be a wonderful nut-free treat for school lunches. Thanks you (:

  7. Amy Avatar

    5 stars
    These are great! My 4 year old and I made some early this morning (she love helping me cook), and my kids LOVED them, I loved them, the hubs even loved them! Thanks for the recipe!!!

  8. Emilie Avatar

    5 stars
    I absolutely love this recipe! I baked up a big pumpkin for pie on Thanksgiving, and had a lot of leftover pumpkin to use up, and this recipe is perfect for that. I’m about to make this pumpkin bread for the third time in a week!

  9. Denise Avatar

    5 stars
    I just made these and I added some chocolate chips and made a pecan crumble for the top. They came out so so good!!! I loved that they were light & fluffy. You would never know it was made with all coconut flour.

  10. Gina Avatar

    I just made these in an 8×8…added some mini chocolate chips and a little cream cheese in the middle…I just sampled an edge and the texture isn’t “bread” like at all, it’s kind of mushy and pumpkin pie like in texture…is that normal? It isn’t horrible, just not expected. Just wanted to make sure that’s to be expected and they aren’t under baked.

    1. Denise Avatar

      I just made muffins and they came out light & fluffy. Not at all mushy. I added chocolate chips and made a pecan crumble for the top.

  11. Rachel Avatar

    2 stars
    I made these muffins and followed the recipe exactly. I even read the comments and added a bit of stevia on top of the 1/4 cup of honey to sweeten them a little more. I also added a bit of ginger.
    The consistency is very wet. The flavor is lacking. All around pretty meh 🙁
    I’m sorry for giving a bad review I’m just being honest so other people will know

  12. Kim Avatar

    5 stars
    These are very, very good! We use honey and follow the recipe. We put either crushed walnuts or almonds on top. I have made this a couple times now, and we really enjoy these muffins. They are so moist, LOVE!

  13. Christie Avatar

    5 eggs geez I was about to make this but that’s quite the over kill .. Thats enough for 2 meals . Especially when eggs are 6$a dozen here n TX . I’ll look elsewhere for an actual healthy and cheap recipe!

    1. Annie Avatar

      4 stars
      The eggs are required with coconut flour. It’s a thing that those of us who must avoid grains have accepted. 😀

  14. Michael Avatar

    Hi, I don’t bake at all, but I’m venturing into by starting with this recipe. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I followed the recipe and the inside was too mushy. I cooked it significantly longer than stated, and it got a bit better but not much. Just kind of a spongey texture. Should I maybe add more flour next time? Thanks.

  15. Amanda Avatar

    I adore paleo food, because it is healthy and still yummy. So i decided to start paleo diet (this time i mean it). If you were to buy one book to give to a friend on Paleo, what would it be? please please recommend a good one 🙂 Thank you!

  16. Marjan Avatar

    5 stars
    I baked it just now. It’s great very smooth and delicious. I cooked pumpkin first with it seeds and I used seeds above my bread. I did not wanted to waste them. Thank you.
    I am following you for a long time now. I cut sugar, oats, corn, soya and last one vegtable oil (I thought my grape seed oil is very healthy before you tell us) I am so happy I did.
    Thank you very much indeed

  17. Melanie Avatar

    Made these yesterday after looking for a recipe without a ton of sugar but also without a bunch of random paleo ingredients. This is it! So good, so simple! Thank you thank you!

  18. Brooke Avatar

    Can this recipe be easily doubled and baked in a 9×13? Would the temp/time stay the same?

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