About This Small Batch Pumpkin Muffin Recipe
These small batch pumpkin muffins are super light and fluffy, with tall domed muffin tops with signature sugar crackled tops! Each muffin tastes like pumpkin spice with crunchy sugar. The recipe comes together quickly and easily with just two bowls—no stand mixer required. The best part? This pumpkin muffin recipe is small batch and makes only 4 muffins!
For more recipes that yield small portions, check out Hummingbird High‘s Small Batch Recipes collection! Popular recipes include these Small Batch Almond Flour Brownies and these Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies (Only Makes 4-6 Cookies!).
Ingredients and Substitutions
Now that I’ve convinced you to make this small batch pumpkin muffin recipe, let’s talk about some key ingredients:
- Kosher Salt. I think that Kosher salt is the best salt for baking recipes. But you can replace the kosher salt in the recipe with table salt. Just use half the amount listed in the recipe when you do!
- Canned Pumpkin Puree. In the United States, most grocery stores sell canned pumpkin. Canned pumpkin consists of pumpkin that is de-seeded, peeled, roasted, and pureed. Many American recipes instruct you to use this pumpkin puree in both sweet and savory recipes. My favorite brand of canned pumpkin puree is Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin.
- Canola Oil. While testing the recipe, I found that you can replace the canola oil with other neutral flavored oil like grapeseed, vegetable, and more.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. Make your own! Check out my recipe for Homemade Vanilla Extract.
The Secret To The Very Best Tall and Domed Muffin Tops
In the recipe, I instruct you to fill each muffin pan cavity with 6 generous Tablespoons of muffin batter. That amount goes beyond the conventional wisdom that states that you should only fill muffin pans up to ⅔- or ¾- full of batter! So, a lot of people tend to panic and stop at around that capacity. Many think that, if they follow my instructions, the muffin batter will overflow the pan and onto the oven floor when baked.
And I get that, I really do. But it’s also likely why your muffins aren’t as tall and domed as mine. It turns out one of the secrets to super tall and domed muffin tops is filling the muffin cavities with a generous amount of batter. Don’t worry about the muffin batter overflowing the pan!
One last tip? I like to use a 1-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion out the batter quickly and evenly between the different cavities. But because the recipe instructs you to scoop 6 Tablespoons of batter into each cavity, you can also use a 2-Tablespoon or a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop, too.
Get the Recipe: Small Batch Pumpkin Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
For the Small Batch Pumpkin Muffins
- ⅔ cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup plus 3 Tablespoons (3 ounces or 85 grams) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (2.65 ounces or 75 grams) canned pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup (2.65 ounces or 75 grams) canola oil
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For Assembly
- 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
Equipment
- a 4-, 6-, OR 12-cavity muffin pan
- muffin liners
- a 1-, 2-, OR 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop
Instructions
For the Small Batch Pumpkin Muffins
- Prep the oven and pans. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line four cavities of a muffin pan with paper liners.
- Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Whisk the wet ingredients. In another medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, pumpkin, oil, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
- Make the muffin batter. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Assemble the muffins. Use a cookie dough scoop to fill each cavity with 6 Tablespoons of the batter. Sprinkle the top of each muffin, aiming for the batter and avoiding the pan, with 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar. Pour warm water into the empty cavities of the muffin pan, filling them at least ⅔-rds of the way up.
- Bake the muffins. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the muffins are domed and a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the muffin pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn the muffins out onto the rack to cool slightly.
- Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The muffins can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container or under a cake dome at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Notes
Can I freeze small batch pumpkin muffins?
Technically yes, but I don’t recommend it. If you do, the tops will lose their crispiness—the muffin will still be tasty and soft, with no crunch or crisp from the sugared muffin tops. But if you insist, you can indeed freeze the pumpkin muffins.To do so, follow the recipe instructions to bake the muffins. Once you’ve turned them out of the muffin pan, cool them completely to room temperature. Once cool, individually wrap each muffin in two layers of plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Rewarm by placing the muffins on a parchment-lined sheet pan, and bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.Did you make this recipe?
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Weeknight Baking:
Recipes to Fit your Schedule
Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.
This sounds outlandish being that you don’t have any restrictions attached to gluten, however I would twist your arm to give it a go, to experiment with baking gluten-free. I’m not ‘one of those people’ lol but I swear that you’ll feel clearer, tighter, and know a radiant state of mind 24/7. Most people are allergic but are unaware until kicking it out. This is coming from a traditional baking girl who formerly could eat an entire loaf of bread or an entire cake herself. I love all of your recipes and am never giving up sourcing the blog for more! I would just love seeing gluten-free (and sugar) subs in as many gorgeous things you post as possible. Cheers!!😘😘
Hahah, when I go on Whole30 diets, I skip gluten (along with sugar and dairy). Quite frankly, I don’t have the benefits you talk about! I feel foggier, slower, and weaker in my workouts—so much that my coaches actually notice the decrease in my performance and tease me about it! I do workout a lot though, so maybe that’s why?
I think GF baking is really interesting, but it takes a lot of time and expertise to do it right/not just rely on commercial 1:1 GF flour substitutions. While there’s nothing wrong with using the latter product, there’s so many amazing naturally GF ingredients out there that I’d rather try experimenting with those first! Unfortunately, it’s not my focus with hummingbirdhigh. Because while I do occasionally dabble in GF/vegan baking, my true passion is on using conventional baking ingredients. I also just don’t want to do a half hearted job trying to please a special diets audience when there are already so many amazing and talented bakers out there who dedicate 100% of their time to that kind of baking!
But I appreciate your support anyway—I really do appreciate that you still read my blog, despite being GF!
Gosh, I love these! So good and so easy to make (and filling!); I had no trouble getting everything done for a weekday breakfast, though I did make sure I had everything at least on the counter and mostly ready to go the night before.
The lovely sugar crust was a sweet little bonus to start the day, though I think you could get away with not using it if you wanted a smidge less sugar to kick off your day.
Another wonderfully delicious small batch muffin recipe! As a muffin lover, your recipes have really hit all the high notes for me. I love, love your small batches – they still have all the wonderful taste but don’t leave me with a ton of extras (that I would easily eat!) Thank you for sharing your skills and recipes.
Hi there! Love this recipe! I made it with my intro to foods students but would love to make it as a non small batch. Would I just double the recipe? Thanks!
Doubling the recipe would result in 8 muffins. I would triple it and replace the three egg yolks with 1 large egg for a full dozen.
I tried this recipe last night and had the first one this morning. It was fantastic! Most pumpkin muffin recipes are kind of on the pale side, visually and also in lack of intense flavor. I was looking for one that is darker, like a local bakery who only sells them seasonally. What are we to do the remainder of the year?! My only question is what they might be like if I use butter instead of canola?
I have loved your content and recipes , but I just had to ask this question – I just entered this recipe into MyFitnessPal and was shocked – is it really 546kcal per muffin?? I know muffins are not diet food but expected this to be in the 300-ish kcal. Wondered if I have miscalculated the nutrition info or not.
Do you think it would be possible to make any of your small batch muffin recipes as mini muffins? I love sending baked goods to work with my hubby but the people there don’t have time to eat a full size muffin as it’s a busy emergency department. They need bite sized treats but cookies get boring after awhile. All your muffin recipes sound amazing and I’d love to be able to make them in a form that his coworkers could enjoy! Thanks for any insights and help you can provide!
Hmm, I think so, but I don’t have much guidance beyond that because I don’t often bake mini muffins (I don’t own a mini muffin tray and borrowed one from a friend!). I do have ONE banana choc chip muffin recipe that’s mini though: https://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/2020/05/mini-banana-chocolate-chip-muffins.html
Thanks! I guess I will just give it a go and see how they turn out as minis. I’ll also try the banana chocolate chip mini muffins — they sound delish!
Love your small batch recipes! Grateful that I don’t have to eat them all or find donors for all the baked goods. Quick question about this recipe: have you made it with walnuts? I love the crunchy aspect, but I’m not sure if adding walnuts would displace the batter amount too much.
Yes! I’ve added walnuts before and it’s worked well. The trick is to not add too much because this is a small batch recipe. I would start very conservatively—maybe add a quarter cup of roughly chopped walnuts? That might even be too much, you’ll have a better idea of how much to add when you see the batter!
These muffins look so fantastic! I would like to know if you can substitute almond flour for all or any of the white flour? What would be the ratio?
You can replace up to 25% of the AP flour in the recipe with almond flour!
I made these today just as it says. Wow!!!! are they amazing! Probably the best pumpkin muffin I’ve ever had. It has amazing flavors. The texture is perfect. I’m kinda glad this recipe only makes four. I could easily eat more than I should. They are absolutely beautiful when they come out of the oven. Thanks so much for sharing this joy with us.
I’ve made these twice now and everyone who has them thinks they are the best. I have no use for a small batch, so I quadruple and get about 2 dozen, plenty for family if 5 and some to share with neighbors. They really come together quickly too, with no need for a mixer.
Love this recipe. Came out light and fluffy unlike many pumpkin muffin recipes. I added pecans and fresh cranberries. I sprinkled the top with maple sugar. Yum!
I loved this recipe. It was perfect for my husband and I since there are just two of us.
Your “small batch” recipes are always a hit for me, and this recipe was no exception! I love to bake but I live alone so I always worry about waste, but this recipe made the perfect amount. 4 perfectly soft, delicious muffins with a crackly top – perfect for a snack or dessert. My only modification was more cinnamon (but that’s because I’m a bit heavy handed with it)…I can’t recommend this recipe enough!
Excellent recipe! Very easy and delicious!