Are you looking for a delicious fall treat that's full of festive flavors and won't compromise your gluten free diet? Look no further than gluten free pumpkin muffins - a seasonal delight that won't disappoint! Not only are these muffins naturally gluten free, but they also offer the comforting flavor of pumpkin, warm spices and maple syrup, creating an unforgettable taste you won't be able to resist. Get ready to learn how to make the most flavorful, moist and delicious gluten free pumpkin muffins! So, grab your apron and let's get baking!
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Here is my gluten free pumpkin muffins a.k.a gingerbread muffins recipe! Yes, this recipe was initially named gingerbread muffins. But I changed the name of my gingerbread muffins to pumpkin muffins when I discovered that, although this is how we call them in France, it’s not how they are called in other countries.
So, some of my readers were asking me for a muffin recipe using pumpkin purée as they didn't realize this one was in fact what they were looking for. All, because I named it wrong. Oh la la the agony of a french girl trying to blog in English! lol Well, I have now corrected this mistake. Anyway, however you call these muffins I promise you it won't change how they taste! And from what I've been told by my readers, they taste pretty good!
⭐ Why you'll love this recipe
- These Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins are quick and super easy to make.
- This recipe is shockingly simple.
- Toddlers, kids and adults will all love this fall treat!
- These muffins are gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, AIP compliant but also coconut free and cassava free to be the most allergy friendly as possible.
Looking for more pumpkin recipes? Try my Easy pumpkin pie without evaporated milk or my Easy Healthy Pumpkin Pudding (vegan, paleo, AIP) or my Pumpkin and spinach quiche (AIP, paleo, vegan).
📖 Ingredient notes
- Pumpkin purée. You can either use canned pumpkin purée or homemade pumpkin purée (I just take cooked pumpkin or butternut squash and put it in the blender with the other liquid ingredients from the recipe).
- Arrowroot. It is a starch. See below for substitutions.
- Spices. This pumpkin muffin recipe uses a combination of cinnamon, cloves and ginger.
- Tigernut flour (or almond flour for those who are not on AIP nor nut free). If you don't know what tigernut flour is and want to learn all about it, you can read my post What is tigernut flour.
If you are on AIP and still in the elimination phase, you have to use tigernut flour (because almond flour is not AIP compliant). Those who are not on AIP nor allergic to nuts can use almond flour instead of tigernut flour.
For the complete list of ingredients for these gluten free pumpkin muffins, please see the recipe below.
💭 Substitutions
- Arrowroot substitutions. If you are not cassava intolerant, you can substitute it with tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour). If you are not on AIP nor Paleo diets: you can use potato starch or corn starch instead of arrowroot.
- Spices. This recipe has been created to be suitable for people on the autoimmune paleo diet which doesn't allow all spices. Although I am not an AIPer myself I love this recipe the way it is. But if you are not on an AIP diet feel free to use a pumpkin spice blend of your choice. Also, feel free to adjust the spice quantities to your own taste and omit one of them if you are intolerant.
🔪Step by step instructions
- In a blender combine the maple syrup, pumpkin puree, lemon juice (or ACV) and vanilla. Blend until combined.
- In a large bowl, combine the tigernut flour (or almond flour), arrow root, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Stir.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined.
- Line or lightly oil a muffin pan. Fill each muffin cup with batter, you should get about 6-8 muffins depending on your pan.
- Bake for about 25 minutes.
👩🏻🍳Top tips
- Tip #1. In order to create tall muffin tops, I fill my muffin tins all the way to the top.
- Tip #2. Never open the oven door before the end of the baking time (unless, of course, in case of a danger or problem with your oven). If you open the oven door during the baking time, just to "check how they look", you paleo pumpkin muffins will fall down or won't rise.
💬 Recipe FAQs
Unfortunately there are no possible substitution for the tigernut flour if you are on AIP and still in the elimination phase. Why? Because all the other AIP compliant flours have very different texture and they all need their own amount of liquid. So it is not possible to replace the tigernut flour with another flour without altering the entire recipe.
Yes! If you don't have a muffin pan or simply don't feel like having muffins, you can make this as a loaf instead of muffins.
Use a rectangular 4x8 inches baking tin to make a pumpkin bread. Then follow the instructions in the recipe card below for the bread.
Yes! They freeze extremely well. Which is so convenient!! So nice to have a delicious snack or dessert that is ready to be eaten in the freezer (well, it just needs to be thawed).
About thawing one of these delicious muffins, you can either take it out of the freezer a few hours ahead or pop it in the microwave oven (if you still have one, like me, and yes I know that they are very controversial health wise but nobody's perfect lol) for 1 minute or pop it in the oven for a few minutes.
Good news if you have a nut allergy and need a nut-free version, you can make these muffins with tigernut flour. Because tigernut is not a nut!
If you want to reduce the maple syrup quantity in this recipe, I suggest replacing it with the same quantity of oil of your choice or coconut milk. For example: ⅓ cup (80 ml) maple syrup + 3 tablespoon oil instead of ½ cup maple syrup.
🍪Other gluten free baking recipes you might also like
Did you like this recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 on the recipe card and leave a nice review below! Tag @gohealthywithbea on Instagram and hashtag #gohealthywithbea! Also, let's stay connected on social media and continue to cook together! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
📋 Recipe / Recette
Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins (Paleo, AIP, vegan)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 150 grams (1 cup + ⅓ cup) tigernut flour if you are not on AIP nor nut intolerant, you can use almond flour instead of tigernut flour
- 250 grams (1 cup) pumpkin purée
- 50 grams (¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon) arrowroot see notes below for substitutions
- 125 milliliters (½ cup) maple syrup see notes if you want to reduce quantity
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract make sure it is AIP compliant if you're on AIP
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
Video
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 360° F (180° C)
- In a blender combine the maple syrup, pumpkin puree, lemon juice (or ACV) and vanilla. Blend until combined.
- In a large bowl, combine the tigernut flour, arrow root, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Stir.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined.
- Line or lightly oil a muffin pan (or a rectangular 4x8 inches baking tin if you are making a pumpkin bread). Fill each muffin cup with batter, you should get about 6-8 muffins depending on your pan.
- Bake for about 25 minutes for the muffins (or about 35 minutes for the bread). To make sure that they are cooked, insert a thin bladed knife into the centre of one muffin, the knife should come out clean. And voilà! Let them cool down before removing them from the pan. Bon appétit !
Ryley Phillips
For some reason my mix ended up super dry and crumbly !? Can anyone tell me why?
I replaced the Tigernut flour with equal parts coconut flour
I’m new to baking
But I followed the directions and used a scale
Bea C.
Your muffins were dry and crumbly because you didn't follow the recipe. This recipe uses either tigernut flour or almond flour not coconut flour. Gluten free flours are not interchangeable. I give all the substitutions that can be made. If you don't follow the directions given, it's not surprising that you don't get the same result.
Julia
Coconut flour requires a lot of moisture. You can't use it for a1:1 ratio for most flours. If you need to use coconut flour then you need to find a different recipe with eggs or moisture.
Chantal
Delicious fall desert and so easy to make!
Elyse
These are delicious! I made them exactly as written using a food scale for measuring ingredients. These are such a treat. My husband who is a real critic when it comes to food, especially AIP baked goods (which honestly often are a disappointment), said, “Those are actually really good, those really are AIP? Yeah, I like those.” So well done Bea! Another recipe that wins a 5 star from me. Thank you for your recipes!! You’re saving my sanity while I heal my body. Blessings to you!!!
Bea C.
Oh wow! Thank you so much for your amazing comment!! I wish you could see the big smile on my face right now!!! Hearing that people love my recipe is nice but when they tell me that they are helping them while they are healing makes it incredible!! This is the whole purpose of this blog so I can't thank you enough to have taken the time to write it! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Kim
Hi, thank you for the recipe! I’m surprised that my first batch turned out because I experimented a little by adding pumpkin protein and some salt like another commenter suggested, and a little more canned pumpkin due to the dryness of the batter. I did forget the arrowroot powder! My batter wasn’t thin it was doughy (I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be like that or not?)
If I could say one thing it would be that your ingredients list went in the order of the step by step directions…it would make it easier. But other than that, I will definitely make these again!
Krista
Wonderful recipe and consistent results! We add some chocolate chips and they are a great treat. Thanks for sharing!
Bea C.
Hi Krista. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. I'm thrilled to hear that you love those gluten free pumpkin muffins! 🥰
Pamela
Oh my gosh, this tastes delicious! And what a moist, tender crumb! I replaced the maple syrup with oil, and the muffins were plenty sweet for my liking. This is the second muffin recipe I’ve tried from you, and I continue to be impressed and grateful. Even my gluten-loving boyfriend enjoyed these!
Leslie B
These muffins are delicious!! My husband (non AIP) loves them too.
However, they are very crumbly, have to eat with a spoon. I did the substitution of 3 Tbsp Coconut Oil and 1/3 cup maple syrup. Otherwise followed the recipe exactly. Any suggestions on what went wrong? Thank you!
Bea C.
Bonjour Leslie. Thank you so much for your message. I'm glad you and your husband like these muffins. It's hard to know from a distance what could have gone wrong that you had to eat those muffins with a spoon. For best results, I highly recommend using a scale to weigh ingredients instead of using cups: a slight change of the dry/liquid ingredients could end up with a problem with your muffin texture. Overcooking them might also dry them out and make them crumbly. Hope that helps! Let me know if you try that out.
Liz
These are a staple for me on AIP! The only suggestion I have is to add 1/4 tsp of fine salt. It truly makes a difference in the flavor. Thank you for this yummy recipe!
Bea C.
Bonjour Liz. I'm thrilled to hear that these pumpkin muffins are a staple for you on AIP. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a nice comment! ❤️
Carly
So good! It tastes like a really good slice of pumpkin pie!
Bea C.
Thank you so much Carly for your nice comment! I'm so glad you like these muffins 🥰
Andromeda LeTourneau
There's no taste from ACV after baking??
Bea C.
No, you won't taste the apple cider vinegar after baking. But if you're too scared of that, you can use lemon juice instead.
Kimberly
These are absolutely delicious! One of those rare AIP recipes that I will continue making wayyyy after I’m done with the AIP. My kiddos (who usually turn their noses up at anything even remotely paleo) can’t get enough either. Thank you for the fantastic recipe!
Sally
Thank you for the recipe, these are amazing! I've made them three times, once as posted, once with less syrup and more oil, and once substituting honey for the syrup and every time they've come out great! I even shared the recipe with my daughters. <3
Bea C.
Bonjour Sally. thank you so much for your wonderful comment! I'm glad to hear that you love these muffins and that you shared it with your daughters ❤️❤️❤️
Kelly
I see a lot of comments about oil and something in the notes about it but there is no oil in the ingredients list.
Bea C.
Yes there is no oil in the ingredient list because if you follow the recipe as it is written, the recipe is oil free. But if you want to reduce the maple syrup quantity (for health or taste reason) you can use oil instead of maple syrup. I explain everything about it in the maple syrup substitution notes.
Heather
These look so good, and judging from the reviews, they are going to taste good too! I just may have to make these for my Thanksgiving pumpkin treat. It’s so refreshing to see an AIP baked good made without coconut flour—since I cannot have it!
Bea C.
Bonjour Heather! Thank you so much for your nice comment. I have a ton of AIP coconut free baked goods. You can easily find them in my coconut free AIP recipe category. Hope you will love those pumpkin muffins. Let me know how they turn out for you. And happy Thanksgiving!
Julie
Hi. I’m struggling with figuring out the US measurement conversions. For the 150g tigernut, I see you stated it’s equal to 1 cup plus 1/3 cup. When I looked online I’ve gotten three other conversions for 150g. Happy to go with what you said but I’m now trying to figure out the correct amounts for pumpkin purée and arrowroot. Can you help?
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Julie. Like I say in my notes, for best results I highly, highly, highly recommend using a scale to weigh your ingredients. That being said, I convert everything myself each recipe in my kitchen (nothing automatic here). Just click on the "cups" button on the recipe card to get all the measurements in cups. But please note that with the cups I'm using: 1 cup = 250 ml. I know cups are not the same size in every country they are being used (we don't use cups in France.)
Meko meko
Success! My first aip muffin recipe..which I tinkered with on first try as I wanted less sugar and was shirt on pumpkin. I followed advice and subbed most of sugar with coconut cream. Added two wee bananas and tiny amount of pumpkin I had on hand. Accidentally added far too much ginger. Added 5 tspns of honey. My batch ended up making 9 muffins. Baked 25 Mon on 175 fan. Next time I ll do 20 min as tops got a tiny bit too baked. These are sweet fluffy came out of the muffin pan with no issues. I luurve the result. Thank you for a recipe with such strong bones tinkering didn't affect it!
Brooke Sinkler
Very good recipe. I certainly appreciate this site. Keep writing!