Healthy Mini Pumpkin Muffins for Toddler + Kids
These Mini Pumpkin Muffins are the perfect treat for the fall! Quick and easy to make, they are a hit with toddlers and kids, and the adults too! Made with no refined sugar and whole wheat, they make for a healthy and delicious snack or breakfast!
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
I can’t wait for you all to try these! A group of (socially distant) kids 👫👭 devoured an entire batch of these muffins in like 5 seconds flat! It was actually pretty impressive how quickly they disappeared!
These mini pumpkin muffins 🎃 are super moist and flavorful, and your entire family will love them!
They are a great healthy option as they have no added refined sugar, contain whole wheat and they are ready to enjoy in 30 minutes.
They are also nut-free 🥜🙅♀️, so a great option for school lunch boxes and are perfect as a grab and go breakfast or after school snack.
Mini Pumpkin Muffins Video
Watch this video to see step-by-step instructions on how to make these muffins!
Reasons to Love Mini Pumpkin Muffins
- toddler, kid and adult-friendly
- easy to make
- can customize with different add-ins
- great for school or packed lunches
- healthy
- freezer-friendly
- great for breakfasts on the go
- can be made gluten and dairy-free
- naturally nut-free
Ingredients
- Flour: I like to use white whole wheat flour for some added nutrients. You can use whole wheat flour, a mixture of 50/50 white and whole wheat flours, all-purpose or gluten-free one-for-one flour.
- Pumpkin puree: use natural (organic if you can) pumpkin puree without any other added ingredients.
- Oil: to make the muffins nice and moist. You can use coconut, avocado, vegetable, olive or melted butter.
- Milk: you can use any milk you like in this recipe. Dairy milk works well, but make them dairy-free by using almond, oat or cashew.
- Maple Syrup: to naturally sweeten the muffins.
- Spices: a little cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice delivier some big flavor!
- Baking soda and powder
- Egg
Mix-Ins
These pumpkin muffins are delish as is – or you can add in a 1/3-1/2 cup of your favorite mix-ins. Personally, I always make half of the batch plain and then add in some mix-ins for the other half. This way we have plenty of options for a yummy snack and both of my kids are happy! Some of our favorites are:
- Mini Chocolate Chips
- Chopped Walnuts
- Craisins or raisins
- White Chocolate Chips
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray or line a mini muffin tin.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup, egg and milk until smooth.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ones.
- Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones until just combined. DO NOT overmix. Add in any mix-ins you want to use.
- Scoop the batter into the muffin tin, roughly 1 tablespoon per cup. I love using this cookie scoop to get the perfect size muffins.
- Place the muffin tin into the oven, and bake for 12-14 minutes or until just golden brown.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes, and serve.
How to Store and Freeze Pumpkin Mini Muffins
Once the muffins have cooled completely, store them in an airtight container. They will keep on the counter for up to 4 days and in the fridge for up to a week.
To freeze the muffins, place the mini muffins into a freezer zip-lock baggie or stasher bag and place in the freezer. They will keep for up to 3 months frozen.
Thaw frozen mini pumpkin muffins overnight in the fridge or by gently warming them in the microwave.
Tips for Making the Best Pumpkin Muffins
- Do No Overmix: I can’t stress this point enough – do not over mix the muffin batter, if you do they won’t rise in the oven and will become dense and hard. The dry ingredients should be just combined with the wet ingredients.
- Preheat Oven: make sure the oven is fully preheated so that the muffins cook through evenly.
- Let Cool: let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes before enjoying them and let them cool completely before storing.
Cooking with Kids
Toddlers
- Toddlers can help measure and put the ingredients into the bowl.
- They can help mix the ingredients together.
- Toddlers can help scoop the dough into the muffin pan.
Kids
- Preheat the oven.
- They can pick out and measure all of the ingredients.
- Kids can help mix the ingredients together.
- They can help to fill the muffin cups with the batter.
- Once filled, kids can carefully put the muffin tin into the oven (with adult supervision) and remove once baked.
Tools Needed
DID YOU MAKE THESE MINI MUFFINS?
I’D LOVE TO KNOW HOW IT TURNED OUT! LEAVE A COMMENT AND A ⭐️ RATING BELOW 👇
Get the recipe: Healthy Mini Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour (see notes)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (see notes)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup oil – coconut, avocado, oil, vegetable or melted butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup milk of choice, regular, almond, oat, cashew
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray or line a mini muffin tin.
- Whisk Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup, egg and milk until smooth.
- Pour: Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ones.
- Mix Wet and Dry Ingredients: Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones until just combined. DO NOT overmix. Add in any mix-ins.
- Fill Muffin Tin: Scoop the batter into the muffin tin, roughly 1 tablespoon per cup.
- Bake: Place the muffin tin into the oven, and bake for 12-14 minutes or until just golden brown.
- Eat: Let cool for 5-10 minutes, and serve.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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60 Comments on “Healthy Mini Pumpkin Muffins for Toddler + Kids”
Made these yesterday and my almost three year old twins couldn’t eat them fast enough!! I had to put them away so they didn’t eat the whole pan 😂, thanks for the recipe!!
These are just the best all around! I make them regardless of season; everyone enjoyes them. I opted to add about 1.5 cups of mini chocolate chips and it was just enough and didn’t throw off the flavor or sweetness. Thanks for the awesome recipe 😘
Fantastic and tasty and soooo easy! I love all your recipes!!! You are my go to source whenever I’m looking for something new to try 🙂
So happy to hear you love this recipe! And I’m so glad you are here.
Made these with a flax egg, oat flour, and puréed sweet potato. Turned out great! My baby girl is sensitive to eggs and gluten so the substitutes worked great for her.
Awesome! Love your substitutions and so glad they turned out great! Enjoy:)
These were super easy to make and came out great. I did not have the pumpkin pie spice or the spices to duplicate it, so I just used cinnamon. Since these muffins were for my 11 month old, I only added a drizzle if pure maple syrup. They were pretty tasty and baby loved them. Even my older children liked them!
These were super easy to make and came out great. I did not have the pumpkin pie spice or the spices to duplicate it, so I just used cinnamon. Since these muffins were for my 11 month old, I only added a drizzle if pure maple syrup. They were pretty tasty and baby loved them. Even my older children liked them!
So happy to hear your baby and children loved these muffins! Love that you just used cinnamon, a great way to make it work.
Just made the muffins with whole Wheat flour. Came out wonderful and the whole house smelt great:) Soft and delicious! Let’s hope the lo likes it too!
So glad you are loving these mini muffins!
Can you put these in full-size muffin cups and just increase the cooking temp?
Yes, you can make these into full-size muffins. Same temp, but longer time 20-22 minutes.
All of your recipes that I have tried are phenomenal! I may make a few tweaks here and there to suit our seasoning taste, but these are awesome for kids and adults alike. Thank you so much for your tireless hard work and for sharing these awesome recipes with moms and dads who need inspiration.
Thank you so much for your very kind words! I am glad you have enjoyed my recipes with your family ❤️. Please let me know if there is something you want to make that isn’t on my site, I’m always looking for recipe ideas!
How many regular sized muffins would this recipe make?
I believe 6-8 regular sized muffins.
Just made these for my 6 month old baby! I did add a dash of vanilla to it & used Oat Milk & Gluten-Free Flour. He is going to love it! I made some for his dad & I with chocolate chips 😋 super easy recipe ! Thank-you!!
So glad to hear that the entire family has a delicious snack!
wonderful recipe! texture is absolutely perfect. will definitely save this one 🙂
So glad you enjoyed them:)
Hey I am so keen to try this recipe for my 9 month old.
Is there any substitute for Maple syrup?
Would love to know ☺️
You can sub in a medium ripe banana or 1/3 cup apple puree or applesauce (no added sugar) instead of the maple syrup. They won’t taste exactly the same, but they will still be good!
Thank you for this! I was just about to ask the same question 🙂
Thank you for providing a sugar free substitute!!
delicious! I used regular all-purpose flour and instead of the maple syrup used honey and applesauce. they’re super moist – I can’t stop eating them! I also mixed in mini chips.
So glad you are enjoying these muffins! Love adding the chocolate chips, they are a must in our house:)
Perfect recipe as is, including the size for my toddler. She loves them and I love that these are a lower sugar, more wholesome option!
I’m so glad your little one loves these as much as we do, I just made a batch and we all devoured them in a day 😂
So easy and delicious. They turned out perfect!
I’m so glad they turned out perfectly for you! These are must-make fall muffins for me! ❤️
My 11 month old is obsessed with these muffins! I’ll be making them over and over. Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear that your little one loves these muffins!
Hi! Love all your recipes, the zucchini bread was a big hit so I’m excited to try these! If I wanted to make a loaf instead of muffins how long should I bake it?
So glad you enjoyed the zucchini bread! I haven’t tried making these pumpkin muffins into a loaf before, but if you try it I would bake for 40 minutes and then check every 5 minutes until done. Let us know how it turns out. Thanks!
Thank you! It came out perfect!!
I only have canned pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin purée. Will that work?
You can, but look at the label and see if there is any added sugar. If so, then omit the maple syrup and spices.
My kids & I love these muffins! They’re so easy and delish!
So happy to hear that the entire family loves these muffins!
These muffins are delicious. I usually double the recipe. I use half coconut oil and half apple sauce and half regular flour and half gluten-free flour. This recipe is not just for kids. Great healthy recipe for adults too!!!
Love your modifications! Glad the entire family loves these muffins!
So good. Made with my 3 year old! We had fun and they are yummy!
So happy to hear that your little one loved these muffins! Thank you for reviewing this recipe 🤍
Delicious! I added a little flaxseed. Perfect breakfast treat for my toddler.
So happy to hear that your little one loved these muffins! Love the addition of adding in flax seeds. Great idea!
I added a tsp of vanilla and only 1/4 white whole wheat flour because whole wheat muffins never taste good to me sadly. Otherwise I followed the recipe and they turned out great! I will definitely be making them again. Thanks!
These muffins are AMAZING. My toddler is allergic to eggs so I use a flax egg substitute and they come out incredibly fluffy and tall every time. Most vegan recipes or recipes using egg substitutes do not have the right texture of a muffin, but these do. 100/10!
Thanks for sharing that Bree! I’m sure others can benefit from your substitute! 💕
Do you have any thoughts about how to potentially add more egg to this, or muffin recipes in mind that have more egg? I’m supposed to be introducing baked egg for my toddler and looking for new options but need a ratio of 1/4 of an egg in a serving (ie 3 egg for a batch of 12 big muffins/24 mini muffins). Thank you for any idees or suggestions! (Ideally need to use recipes that also contains milk as we’re introducing that too but it is smaller amounts so easier to fit in).
You can add in more eggs, but it will change the texture and the muffins will be more dense. What about trying some of these egg muffins (https://babyfoode.com/blog/toddler-breakfast-egg-cups-4-tasty-ways/)? Which have both baked eggs and milk.
My picky 17 month old enjoyed these! I made them in 9 full sized muffins so it took a bit longer to cook. They had a nice fluffy and moist texture but I found them quite bland (for my preference). I was expecting more of a pumpkin spice flavor but as long as the little one enjoys them that’s all that matters!
You are welcome to add more pumpkin spice next time you make them! Glad your little one enjoys them! 💕
I was looking for a recipe to use some leftover pumpkin purée and this was perfect for my 2-year old. Healthy ingredients, easy to make, tastes good, and most importantly, toddler-approved! I used whole wheat flour and honey instead of maple syrup. Turned out moist. Yum!
That’s great! Thanks for sharing, AKmama! 💕
My 11 month old loved these. I added mini chocolate chips to half of them for my husband and I to eat. Delish! I was wondering if there is a way to make this into a cake for my baby’s first birthday smash cake? I can experiment but wonder if anyone has done this yet? If so, please let me know how!
Hi Anna! The consistency of muffin dough is a bit different from cake. I haven’t tried but maybe someone else in the comments may have a solution. Have you seen my smash cake recipe? Hope your baby has an awesome 1st birthday! 💕 https://babyfoode.com/blog/healthy-smash-cake-baby/
Delicious for the whole family, adults+toddler+9month old
Hi Ema! We make a ton of them during the fall and holiday season! So happy your family loves them too! Thanks for sharing. xo, Michele
This is not a healthy recipe! maple syrup is sugar. It may be healthier, but it’s not healthy.