Easy Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

These Easy Pumpkin Muffins are packed full of pumpkin purée and warm spices. The sweet and crunchy pumpkin-spiced streusel topping makes this delicious breakfast treat taste and feel more like a decadent dessert.

Muffins are such versatile treats. They can be simple, like these chocolate muffins, dressed up with streusel like these pumpkin spice muffins or my buttermilk blueberry muffins, or filled with nuts like these banana nut muffins. They can be enjoyed for breakfast or as a snack and can also work well as a dessert!

Why you’ll love this recipe

• So flavorful – The warm spices, sweet pumpkin, and buttery streusel come together to create a real treat. These muffins certainly taste decadent and indulgent, especially with the added topping. As I mentioned… they could be enjoyed for dessert!
• Easy to make – Simple ingredients and straightforward steps make these a great option for both novice and experienced bakers.
• The ultimate autumn breakfast treat – These pumpkin streusel muffins are perfect to enjoy with a mug of pumpkin spice hot chocolate warming your hands while you watch the leaves fall. So cozy. They would also make for a welcome addition to an autumnal brunch spread.

Tools you’ll need

You don’t need any special equipment to make my easy pumpkin muffin recipe — just your standard baking equipment, like measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, a whisk, a spatula, and a muffin tin. You could also use an electric hand mixer to make combining the ingredients easier. A pastry blender, a fork, or two butter knives are needed for the streusel.

Ingredients and substitutions

As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:

1. Pumpkin purée – make sure to use canned pumpkin purée, not pie filling. The pie filling comes with sugar and spices already added, which you don’t need here. Homemade pumpkin purée should also work.

2. Egg – you only need 1 large egg for your easy pumpkin muffins. Bring it to room temperature first.

3. Milk – adds moisture and richness. I like whole milk or 2%, and you should also bring it to room temp like the egg. You can also use buttermilk, nut milk, even yogurt or sour cream if that’s all you have.

4. Unsalted butter – unsalted is best here to give you better control over the sodium content. If you do use salted, you’ll have to reduce the amount of salt added by half. It should be melted and cooled for the muffin batter, and cold and cubed for the streusel.

5. Light brown sugar – provides sweetness, moisture, and a very light caramel-like flavor to the pumpkin streusel muffins and their topping. You could use regular white granulated sugar if that’s all you have, but note the flavor profile may not be as complex.

6. Pure vanilla extract – to enhance and round out the flavor of the muffins.

7. All-purpose flour – just your standard AP flour is perfect for this pumpkin spice muffin recipe. You’ll use it for the muffins and the streusel.

8. Baking soda & baking powder – both leavening agents give your muffins lift. Brown sugar is acidic, which is needed to activate the baking soda! So if you’re substituting granulated sugar, you can omit the baking soda in this recipe.

9. Pumpkin pie spice – usually contains cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice… you can use store bought or make it from scratch.

10. Kosher salt – just a bit to enhance and balance out the other ingredients.

How to make my easy pumpkin muffins

The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

Prepare the pumpkin spice streusel

Add the flour, sugar, spices, and salt to a small mixing bowl and whisk to distribute evenly. Add the cold cubed butter then cut with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form.

Note: As mentioned, you could also use a fork or two butter knives to make the streusel. Alternatively, a food processor with the dough blade attached would also work. The process is similar to making pie dough — the goal is to get the cold butter and dry ingredients to form coarse crumbs. You can also use your fingers to press the butter into the dry ingredients mixture, just work quickly so you don’t melt the butter completely and then refrigerate the streusel before using.

Make the pumpkin spice muffins

Add the pumpkin purée, egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl and beat with a whisk until smooth. Add the brown sugar and beat again until smooth.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice, then stir in the salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and gently fold with a spatula until incorporated.

Top with streusel and bake

Use a large cookie scoop to divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups, then add a tablespoon of streusel on top. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, then let cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes.

Tip: To remove the pumpkin streusel muffins from the hot pan, simply flip them out on top of a clean dish towel to finish cooling. Letting them cool on their sides helps with keeping the top more rounded.

More baker’s tips

• Room temperature ingredients – It requires a bit of forethought, but making sure your eggs, butter, and milk are at room temp will help the ingredients blend more smoothly and bake more evenly.
• No pumpkin pie spice? As mentioned, you can use store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice for my easy pumpkin muffin recipe. But if you have neither, you can just use a mix of warm spices you have available in your pantry. You will need at the minimum 1 ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, plus ½ teaspoon of ginger. I would also recommend adding ¼ teaspoon of allspice, and ¼ teaspoon of cardamom if you have these but you can omit if you don’t have them or use nutmeg and cloves. I would be careful with clove as it is very strong, I personally don’t like a really clove forward pumpkin pie spice.
• For slightly larger pumpkin spice muffins with more prominent muffin tops, I recommend baking 11 instead of 12 muffins for 22 minutes.
• A note on salt – I exclusively use kosher salt in all of my baking because that’s what we typically cook with. Kosher salt has large grains, so I don’t sift the salt together with the rest of the dry ingredients as it won’t be able to get through the fine-mesh sieve I use. Instead, I just stir it into the dry ingredient mixture.

Storage

After the pumpkin spice muffins are cool, place them in an airtight container lined with a paper towel to absorb any excess moisture. You can keep them at room temperature for up to 4 days, or up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

You can also freeze your muffins after baking. Wrap them individually in plastic and place them in a freezer bag to freeze. Be sure to thaw completely before serving. You can warm them up in the microwave to serve if desired.

FAQs

More autumn breakfast treats

• Pumpkin Pancakes
• Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
• Baked Apple Donuts
• Apple Scones
• Apple Coffee Cake

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📖 Recipe card

Easy Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

These Easy Pumpkin Muffins are packed full of pumpkin purée and warm and sweet spices. The sweet and crunchy pumpkin-spiced streusel topping makes this delicious breakfast treat taste and feel more like a decadent dessert.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

Calories: 246kcal

Author: Trang

Equipment

• Standard Size Muffin Pan
• Large Cookie Scoop
• Pastry Blender

Ingredients

Streusel

• ▢ ¼ cup light brown sugar (packed, 50 g)
• ▢ ¼ cup all-purpose flour (32 g)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• ▢ A pinch of kosher salt
• ▢ 1 ounce unsalted butter (cold and cubed, 28 g)

Muffins

• ▢ 1 cup pumpkin puree (234 g)
• ▢ 1 large egg (room temperature)
• ▢ ½ cup milk (whole milk or 2%, room temperature, 114 g)
• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled, 112 g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ ⅔ cup light brown sugar (packed, 140 g)
• ▢ 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour (228 g)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

• Make the streusel: combine ¼ cup of brown sugar, ¼ cup of flour, a pinch of kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl, mix thoroughly with a whisk. Add cold butter and use a pastry blender or a fork to cut butter into the dry mixture until coarse crumbs form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Make the muffins: preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a regular size muffin pan with cupcake liner. Set aside.
• Add 1 cup of pumpkin puree, 1 whole egg, ½ cup of whole milk, ½ cup of melted unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to a large bowl and beat with a whisk until smooth. Add ⅔ cup of brown sugar and beat again until smooth.
• In a medium bowl, sift together 1 ¾ cups of flour, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, 1 ¾ teaspoons of baking powder, and 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. Then stir in ½ teaspoon of kosher salt. Pour the flour mixture into the liquid mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined.
• Divide batter equally into the previously prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of streusel over each cup.
• Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes. Flip muffins over to get them out of the muffin pan and onto a clean dish towel. Let them cool on their sides on the towel.

Notes

• Pumpkin pie spice substitute: 1 ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, plus ½ teaspoon of ginger, ¼ teaspoon of allspice, and ¼ teaspoon of cardamom.
• If you don’t have regular milk, any of these will work: buttermilk, nut milk, yogurt or sour cream.

Nutrition

Serving: 86g | Calories: 246kcal

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