Pumpkin Muffins with Pecan Streusel
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With warm spices and a crunchy pecan streusel, these pumpkin muffins are the quintessential fall breakfast treat.
Of all the baking recipes I’ve shared over the years, my grandmother’s pumpkin bread remains the most popular. Originally published in the McCall’s Cook Book in 1963, the recipe has stood the test of time. Like most sweet quick breads, it can easily be converted to muffins. In this pumpkin muffin recipe, I use almost the exact same batter but add a cinnamon-spiced pecan streusel for some crunch. Even my kids, who claim I “ruin everything with nuts,” love the streusel topping, but it’s optional. If you’d prefer to make plain pumpkin muffins, simply increase the sugar in the batter by ¼ cup.
What you’ll need to make Pumpkin Muffins
When purchasing ingredients for the recipe, be sure to select 100% pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling (they typically sit side-by-side on the grocery store shelf). Pumpkin pie filling is already sweetened and flavored with spices and would not work well in the muffins.
If you live in an area where canned pumpkin is not available (or you’d just prefer to use fresh), making your own pumpkin purée is actually quite easy. This tutorial from King Arthur Flour gives you step-by-step guidance on how to get from a whole pumpkin to fresh pumpkin purée.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin with the streusel topping: Combine the flour, butter, demerara sugar, chopped pecans and cinnamon in a small bowl.
The mixture will be quite wet. Set aside. (Note: If you want to plan ahead a bit, the streusel topping can be made up three days ahead of time and kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready for use.)
Move on to the muffins: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Whisk well and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar at low speed until just blended.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Continue beating at medium speed until very light and fluffy, a few minutes.
Add the pumpkin.
Beat until combined, scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary.
Add the flour mixture.
Mix on low speed until just combined.
Using an ice cream scoop or two spoons, transfer the batter to the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup full.
Using your fingers, divide the topping evenly over the muffin batter.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.
How To Freeze Pumpkin Muffins
The muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw for 3 to 4 hours on the countertop before serving. To reheat, wrap individual muffins in aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F-oven until warm.
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Pumpkin Muffins with Pecan Streusel
With warm spices and a crunchy pecan streusel, these pumpkin muffins are the quintessential fall breakfast treat.
Ingredients
For the Topping
- 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 5 tablespoons demerara sugar (also called raw cane sugar or turbinado)
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
For the Muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1½ sticks (¾ cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 (15-ounce) can 100% pure pumpkin (I use Libby’s)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a standard muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Begin with the topping: Combine the flour, butter, demerara sugar, chopped pecans and cinnamon in a small bowl. The mixture will be quite wet. Set aside.
- Move on to the muffins: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar at low speed until just blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; continue beating until very light and fluffy, a few minutes. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Using an ice cream scoop or two spoons, transfer the batter to the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup completely full. Using your fingers, divide the topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.
- Note: This recipe makes 12 large muffins. For smaller muffins, divide the batter into 18 muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw for 3 – 4 hours on the countertop before serving. To reheat, wrap individual muffins in aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F oven until warm.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 416
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated fat: 11 g
- Carbohydrates: 51 g
- Sugar: 30 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Sodium: 235 mg
- Cholesterol: 74 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Will it be an issue if I don’t add the pecans in the topping? My family doesn’t like nuts.
Not a problem – it’s fine to omit the nuts. Enjoy!
Easy Peasy Light and Wonderful!!!!!
Thank You.
J. Sandoval Topock AZ
Absolutely delicious! I used measure for measure gluten free flour and it came out amazing! I also did these as muffins instead of loaves, and cooked them for 35-40 minutes. I can’t wait to make these again and again all fall.
These are the best muffins I have ever made! Thank you so much for this recipe. We host a family reunion every October and these will be on the breakfast menu!
These are DEVINE! Moist, perfectly spiced and not too sweet. A huge hit! I had a lot of extra batter after filling 12 normal size muffins so I made minis that came out even better. My only complaint (not really a complaint) was that the streusel topping falls off quite easily on the large muffins. Regardless, this recipe is excellent and will stay on our fall muffin rotation forever!
Needed to use up some canned pumpkin, so tried your pumpkin muffin recipe and was I ever glad that I did! The muffins were so tender and nicely spiced, not overly sweet, but such a treat! Another winner Jenn!
These were delicious. I ran out out the turbine sugar but had maple sugar instead and I added only 3 tablespoons in place of the five. Absolutely delicious. So tender and moist. Thank you so much !
Lost the copy of this recipe and went on a 30 min search to try and find it again. It’s that DELICIOUS! Thank you 😀
I tried this recipe today. I made smaller muffins and baked 22 mins. They were delicious! I will definitely make again. Thanks for great recipe.
Jenn thank you for a wonderful recipe! I had my pantry stocked with pumpkin for the Holidays and the combination of illness and bad weather kept most of my family from traveling home. So what to do with all these cans of pumpkin?! I recently found this recipe and made 2 batches to take to friends in need. Both families LOVED them!
These are so delicious! I have made them a few times now and they turn out perfect. Also love your pumpkin scones in the fall as well. I have a question, do you think I could make this in a loaf pan instead of individual muffins? Or do you think there would be to much batter for a single loaf pan? Thanks
Hi Sandy, It should work in a 9×5 loaf pan, but it may be a bit dense. If you have two 8×4 loaf pans, that would be ideal.
They were amazing!I will definitely be making more, perfectly spiced and the toppings were just perfectly crunchy and they freeze very well for lunches.
Hi Jen – Bravo on all your recipes! Always, outstanding!
About the muffins. Since my oven is out of use right now, I can only use my large countertop Breville convection oven, which can only accomodate a 14-inch 6-muffin pan. Each muffin is twice the size (yaye), but what would you recommend for any adjustments, in ingredients, temperature or bake time, before I give these a try? I am dying to try them, but am not sure how, or whether, to adjust recipe. Thanks much for your time.
Hi Rita, so it sounds like you have a jumbo muffin tin? If so, you wouldn’t need to modify anything about the recipe except for the baking time. I’d add 5 minutes onto the baking time and then check them for doneness. I’d love to her how they turn out if you make them!
These are by far the best pumpkin muffins I have ever made. People who are really fussy, ask me to make these for them. Thank you for this recipe.
Thanks so much for this super fun, delicious, and fragrant pumpkin muffin recipe. I adapted it to my tastes with less sugar (1 1/4 cup in the batter) (4 tbsp in the topping +added 1 tbsp flour), a tad less spices in the batter (1/2tsp cloves, 3/4 tsp nutmeg), and a tad bit more in the topping (1/2tsp cinnamon). I also added 1 tsp of vanilla and grounded up the pecans in the topping. My kids (and I) are going nuts over the muffins. Thanks so much!!!
These turned out delicious! I love the fluffy batter. Great recipe.
Word to the wise: because of the butter in the topping and the fact that the muffin tins are completely full, you should consider putting a baking sheet with a rim below your muffin pan. I didn’t and had to air out my kitchen because the butter overflowed in my oven and set off the smoke detector.
These were amazing! Gave some to friends, and they haven’t stopped talking about them, lol
If you want to eliminate the nuts, will the topping still taste right or does it need some modifications?
It’s fine to omit the nuts, the muffins will still taste delicious. 🙂
im in au – cant find tinned pumpkin – is it ok to (roast or bake?) then blend pumpkin?
Definitely! Just make sure to squeeze out any excess liquid before you incorporate it into the batter.
Made it twice on two separate occasions. Ididn’t make strudel because as a senior I’m trying to watch my sugar lol. They are fine without it my husband loves them and both times came out well even though I’m not one of those people who have a special knack for baking. So successful thanks for the recipe .
I made these today with some leftover pumpkin puree from Thanksgiving. The streusel topping is SO nice. I added a few more pecans to the batter. This is a really great muffin! Thank You
These were great! My kids were looking for pumpkin rolls, and don’t like nuts – we omitted the topping and increased the sugar as recommended in the batter. I made 20 smaller (cupcake sized muffins) that baked for a bit under 30 minutes. Moist, tender, and a nice mix of pumpkin and spice. I served them with a dollop of vanilla cream cheese icing to mimic a low effort pumpkin roll. My picky kids are already asking for another batch. I might do half with “grown up” topping for the next round. 5/5 recommend!
Fabulous! Just made these and they are delicious. Tender crumb and great flavor. Kids love them 🙂