Muffins with: NO refined sugar, NO starches, and that have fruits, vegetables, AND whole grains?! This is one muffin you’ve got to try!
Another creation to get healthy foods into my son’s belly!
As if it wasn’t enough that he had an exorbitant number of sensitivities, on top of all THAT, he’s p.i.c.k.y about whole (non-pureed) foods! I am so sick of feeding him baby food, and at 18 months, he is more than ready to be using those chompers he worked so hard to get in!
Not only were these a hit with him (minus the chocolate of course!), the rest of us went nutzo over these moist muffins too!
We know YOU will too, so put your bakers hat on and whip up a batch of healthy goodness for YOUR family OR just yourself!
Using fresh pumpkin puree in your pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
I love to grow all sorts of verities of winter squash and pumpkins in my garden every year. So generally, inmost of my recipes using pumpkin, I use fresh pumpkin puree!
I adore the flavor of a quality perfect squash baked up in the oven. Often, they are sweet enough to eat all by itself. You simply can’t get that from a can!
So I encourage you to try your hand at making your own homemade pumpkin puree, it is an easy process and requires no special skills!
But no worries if you don’t have fresh puree, I also tested these gluten free vegan pumpkin muffins with just a can of purchased pumpkin!
Gluten free pumpkin chocolate chip muffins substitutions
Here are some frequently asked questions and my answers to them!
I can’t have oats, what else can I use? You can actually use any all purpose gluten free flour in place of ALL the flours in this recipe! Or grind for own light/fresh buckwheat groats (see my gluten free banana chocolate chip muffins for details on raw groats) to replace the oat flour, or even brown rice flour.
I want to use eggs instead? Go ahead and replace the applesauce and the chia or flax meal with 2 large eggs.
I don’t have coconut oil? Any light tasting oil will work here. Avocado or light olive oil are my favorites.
More gluten free muffins ideas:
- Paleo 5 Minute Muffins – these are ready for the oven in about 5 minutes using your blender! Low in added sugars!
- Paleo Vegan Banana Bread Muffins – finding an egg free grain free muffin is always a challenge!
- Paleo Chocolate Butternut Muffins take advantage of the easy to find butternut squash!
- Gluten free pumpkin muffins are super easy to whip up in your food processor bowl!
Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Muffins Recipe:
Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
Wet Mix Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup homemade pumpkin puree or one can, room temp to not harden coconut oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey if not vegan
- 1/2 cup applesauce room temp to not harden coconut oil
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or other light tasting oil
- 1/4 cup palm sugar (same as coconut sugar) or other granulated sugar. May add more to suit your taste
- 1/4 cup chia meal can use flax meal instead
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Dry Mix:
- 1 1/2 cup gluten free oat flour make you own by whirring rolled oats in a spice/coffee grinder
- 1/2 cup sorghum flour millet or brown rice would work too
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips or raisins, or dried cranberries (or more to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with muffin liners.
- Mix the wet mix ingredients together.
- Place the dry mix ingredients, in order, on top of the wet mix. Gently whisk the dry ingredients a bit and then stir vigorously to blend well.
- Pour into a prepared muffin tins, 2/3 full.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes until tops are just set, and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean!
Nutrition
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I made these for my son’s snack day at school today. I used maple syrup instead of honey and regular white sugar *gasp* as I didn’t have any palm sugar on hand. I guess I could of used coconut sugar. Oh well. Anyway, they are delicious! Super moist too. I had to bake them 10 extra minutes though.
Hi Jackie! Glad they worked out for you!! One of our family’s favorites, especially this time of year! The extra cooking time could be to the pumpkin puree….the moisture content can be vary greatly. And coconut sugar and palm sugar are the same thing (; Any granulated sugar would work in these!
These muffins are amazing. Made them last night & can’t stop eating them. So moist & delicious.
one of our family’s favorite too…hoping to get oat flour back in our menu again, thanks for your feedback Sara!
Hi Tessa
I made these muffins and they are delicious. Mine are very moist, almost wet tasting, even though my toothpick came out crumb free after 22 minutes baking. Is that normal? I’m still rather new to gluten free and vegan baking.
Hi Anne-Marie…they are moist…how long you cook them will depend on the moisture in your pumpkin puree..If you like things drier, bake a bit longer or reduce the pumpkin puree a bit!
Thank you for your response. The muffin flavor is delicious.
These look great! I am gluten free and vegan. I was wondering, I try to avoid fat in my diet. Could I substitute applesauce for the oil? Or does that change it too much since it already has applesauce in it?
Hi Alison….try subbing half with applesauce!
Hi!
I don’t have BROWN rice flour…can I use regular (white?) rice flour or tapioca flour instead? I’d love to make these tonight!
Thanks!
Hi Jaye, do you mean in place of the 1/2 cup sorghum? Yes, rice flour and tapioca should both work…I’d do rice. Any medium flour should work (refer to my baking tips page where I list all the flours by heavy, medium, light for additional sub ideas you might have on hand! More oat would even work! Please let me know how they tun out and what changes you make!!
These are delicious. We can’t do oats either. I’ve made them with buckwheat & super fine brown rice flour or all super fine brown rice flour & they still turned out nicely though I prefered the buckwheat. I might try leaving out the granulated sugar next time.
These look so yummy! Pumpkin just makes everything better, don’t you think? If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to visit my Gluten-Free Monday party at OneCreativeMommy.com and link up this and any other GF idea you would like to share. I hope to see you there.
I just had to pin this to my pumpkin board! These look amazing! 🙂
Hi Alaine, hope you love them, would be great to hear your feedback!
These sound so yummy and I have all the ingredients! YAY! Curious if you’ve tried freezing them, do they freeze well?
Hi Becky, thanks for your comment! Yes, I have frozen these for lunchboxes with no issue! They rarely make it there with three kids and hubby though, honestly!
Thanks Tessa! Guess what is in the oven baking right now? 🙂
Yay Becky! Please give feedback and share any tweaks!
These are so good! I’ve made them a few times now. I don’t add the 1/4 c sugar anymore and they’re plenty sweet with the chocolate chips. Last time I ran out of oat flour so I used 1 c oat flour and 1/2 c almond meal. Still tasty! Thanks for such a great recipe! I just posted my first blog post and would love it if you’d check it out… engineeringdinner.com. Thanks!
Thank you Anne, so great to hear feedback!! I agree, withe chocolate chips, it is enough for my family too…but know others need a touch more! Did you use fresh or canned pumpkin?
Once again, pumpkin plus me equals love! 🙂 Got it tweeted and pinned!
Yum!
Oh yum! I love all things pumpkin and chocolate too, and better yet that it’s sugar free! Personally I’ve always been a sugar hound, and I see the tendency in my daughter and I’d much rather her (and me) eat healthier treats when we can, so thanks for this.
Is there a sub for the chia? Like flax meal? Just don’t have any on hand.
-Dana
-Dana
Hi Dana…yes a flax egg should work…gell 1T first with 3T hot water, it takes more time/heat to gel than chia!
Any suggestions to sub out the oats? My daughter has food sensitivities to oat.
Hi Annie! My GF Flours page (tab at top) goes into more detail on subbing. I would recommend a mix of teff, millet, or brown rice as first choices…buy others would work…look at ‘medium’ flour on my page!
Your muffins sound absolutely scrumptious, and perfect for children and adults alike! Thank you for sharing another delicious recipe 🙂
Let's see…pureed sweet potato or winter squash of any kind would be the best sub (you might need more liquid w/ sweet potato). Any blend of pureed fruits and veggies would probably woke, although the flavor would be different depending on the combo you used. Pureed carrots, parsnips, anything with some natural sweetness like pumpkin.
They look incredibly moist and delicious. I look forward to getting these on the table. What else could you use instead of pumpkin puree if I didn't have any on hand? If there a substitute?
Thanks for sharing these with us at WHole Food Wednesdays Tessa and have a great week.
I love pumpkin and chocolate makes it even better. Wil have to try these.
This recipe sounds great! I'm definitely going to be trying it. New follower from http://www.forhimandmyfamily.blogspot.com
I was reading your gluten free flour section and loved it! I make my own bread and use a mix of brown rice, teff, amaranth, annd millet flours with tapioca starch. There are so many great flours out there!
Aggh!! I wish I had some honey so I could make these right now! Will have to wait until I restock, but I definitely will. Pinned it!
What a wonderful muffin!! They look so good. These would be perfect for pregnant or breastfeeding mommies. Would you be willing to post this on my blog carnival, superfood sunday?
http://www.painfreepregnancy.org/2012/02/superfood-sunday-blog-carnival-february.html
Tessa,Your baking skills are amazing my friend! I can't keep up with you (In fact, I had to put together a "Tessa's baking" cookbook and it's growing by the day)! These muffins look truly wonderful. And as always, top-notch ingredients. Well done!!Hugs,–Amber
You're too sweet! I love to bake….so I guess it was the first thing to master allergy free and healthy! Hope you get a chance to try these!