These 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins are moist pumpkin chocolate chip muffins made with 3 simple ingredients. Plus, they are allergy-friendly and made without eggs, butter, or dairy.
You know my passion for easy baking recipes with less than five ingredients, like my 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Bread or 3-Ingredient Brown Sugar Cookies. As a mum, I like simple recipes that my kids can learn to make using minimal kitchen tools and save me time. And when the fall season arrives, all I feel like is pumpkin recipes.
Luckily, I found a deal on two boxes of spice cake mix. I was very excited to make a cake until I realized that I could probably swap the expensive eggs and dairy recommended on the box with a simple can of pumpkin puree. In fact, this spice cake box recommends 1 cup of water or milk, 3 large eggs, and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil.
The result of swapping these ingredients for a simple can of pumpkin puree is delicious muffins. The pumpkin muffins are moist, fluffy, and full of pumpkin spice flavors.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make this simple pumpkin muffin recipes are:
- Spice Cake Mix – The brand of cake mix I used makes 15-ounce cans. It’s important that you use a similar size or your batter can end up too dry or too wet.
- Canned Pumpkin Puree – Watch out. This is not pumpkin pie filling. Make sure you use 100% pure pumpkin puree.
- Dark Chocolate Chips – I prefer using dairy-free chocolate chips to make these as allergy-friendly as possible.
How To Make 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins
You won’t believe how easy and delicious this easy pumpkin muffin with chocolate chips is!
- In a large bowl, add the pumpkin cake mix and pumpkin puree.
- Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer or electric beater, beat on low speed until both ingredients come together into a creamy pumpkin muffin batter.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Line a 12-hole muffin tin with a paper liner. Then, use cooking spray to oil the paper.
- Use an ice cream scoop maker to scoop out some muffin batter and fill each muffin cup evenly. If you like, add a few more chocolate chips on top of each muffin before baking.
- Bake the muffins on the center rack of the oven at 350°F (180°C) until the muffin is dry on top and, a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the muffins.
- Let the muffins cool down for 5 minutes in the muffin pan. Then, cool completely on a wire rack.
Storage Instructions
These pumpkin muffins with cake mix can be stored in an airtight box, and placed in the fridge. Keep them in the fridge for up to 4 or 5 days. If you have too many muffins, you can freeze them in a sealed container and thaw at room temperature the day before serving.
Decoration
You can have fun and decorate these pumpkin muffins with:
- Dust of pumpkin pie spices or cinnamon.
- A drizzle of royal icing. Use my recipe for royal icing without meringue powder for a super easy recipe.
- Cream cheese frosting
Allergy Swaps
Find below some ideas to pick the right pumpkin spice cake mix to make these pumpkin muffins if you have some food allergies.
- Low-Sugar, Keto, and Gluten-Free – The brand I used has a vanilla keto cake mix that works well to make pumpkin muffins healthy. However, the keto mix is made from low-carb flour, and you must adjust your recipe to use this mix. For one keto cake mix, add three eggs, and use only 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree and add one tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice mix to add pumpkin flavor to the muffins. Also, use sugar-free chocolate chips as a healthy swap.
- Gluten-Free – Not all gluten-free spice cake mix works with this 3-ingredient pumpkin recipe. In fact, a mix entirely made from almond flour won’t firm up with just pumpkin puree. The best gluten-free mix to use in my recipe as per written is Namaste gluten-free spice cake mix but it calls for 26 ounces, which means it makes 24 muffins. You will also need to add 2 cans of pumpkin puree for a bag of 26 ounces.
- Vegan – The mix I used in this recipe is vegan-friendly it’s egg-free and dairy-free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the answers to your most frequent questions about this recipe.
You can bake this recipe in a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan. Grease the loaf pan evenly with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper, and oil again. Pour the batter evenly and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
You can use homemade pumpkin puree for this recipe. However, keep in mind that canned pumpkin puree is made from a blend of 6 pumpkin varieties and has much more pumpkin flavors.
It’s a great 2-ingredient pumpkin muffin recipe as well, no need for the chocolate chips at all. You can also swap the chocolate chips for roasted chopped pecans. They taste delicious with pumpkin spices.
More Muffins Recipes
Below are some more muffin recipes for muffin lovers.
3-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 Spice Cake Mix I used a 15-ounce Duncan Hines package.
- 1 can Pumpkin Puree 15 ounces
- ½ cup Dark Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃). Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases. Lightly oil the cases with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl, add the spice cake mix and pumpkin puree.
- Using the paddle attachment or an electric beater, beat on low speed until both ingredients comes together into a thick pumpkin muffin batter.
- Fold in chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.
- Fill each muffin cup evenly.
- Bake in the center rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a pick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
- Cool down for 5 minutes in the pan then transfer to a cooling rack.
Storage
- Store in the fridge for up to 4-5 days in a cake box, or freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature the day before.
