Fall into fall with these deliciously light and perfectly flavored vegan pumpkin muffins with Cream Cheese Swirl. An easy, fail-proof, autumnal pastry that will warm up your home and fill up your belly. Made in just 30 minutes!
I hate to be cliché but, friends, PUMPKIN season is upon us!
My first pumpkin recipe of the year is always exciting for me. It means fall has truly arrived with all its autumnal splendor. Last year I kicked off the season with this Pumpkin and Smokey Tempeh Chili and the year before that it was my Peanut Pumpkin Curry. If you want to know my favorite pumpkin recipe from past years, I would have to say this Pumpkin Alfredo Pasta. So creamy and delicious!
But then these vegan pumpkin muffins with cream cheese came along and everything changed.
How to make Vegan Pumpkin Muffins {Video}
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
These muffins are a variation of last year’s Vegan Cheesecake Muffins. Since sharing those on the blog, I have had several requests for a plain and simple vegan pumpkin muffin recipe. And so, per your request, a warm, light and fluffy, pumpkin muffin that is bursting with pumpkin flavor and fall spices.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- All-Purpose Flour – For healthier flour options, you can use 1:1 gluten-free flour blends, buckwheat, or spelt flour.
- Baking Soda
- Spices – You will need cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.
- Pumpkin Puree – Make sure to use canned pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling.
- White & Brown Sugar – Check out my guide to vegan sugars and alternative sugar replacements. For a healthier sugar alternative, I recommend coconut sugar.
- Applesauce – This is the binder of the recipe. You could replace it with ½ mashed bananas, an additional ½ cup of pumpkin puree, or a variety of other egg replacers.
- Coconut Oil
- Vanilla Extract
- Vegan Cream Cheese
Best Vegan Cream Cheese
For the cheesecake filling, I used Go Veggie's classic cream cheese made with coconut.
Go Veggie’s cream cheese is made from coconut for a non-GMO, no cholesterol, vegan alternative. I love Go Veggie, a company dedicated to promoting healthier lifestyles by providing delicious plant-based cheese alternatives. Their cheeses have more calcium, equal protein, less fat and fewer calories compared to dairy cheese. Their mission – to help cheese lovers enjoy all their favorite cheesy foods and feel great about it.
Recommended Equipment
For all my vegan muffin recipes, you’ll need basic kitchen equipment such as a mixing bowl, utensils, a wire cooling rack, and a muffin baking pan. I also recommend using an ice cream scoop to evenly and cleanly scoop your batter. (<<affiliate links)
Check out the full list of my recommended kitchen tools and gadgets.
How to Make Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Step One – Make the Batter
Whisk together all your dry ingredients in a bowl. That’s your flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
In a separate bowl (or liquid measuring cup) mix together your wet ingredients. That’s pumpkin purée, sugars, apple sauce, coconut oil, and vanilla extract.
Combine the wet ingredients with the dry, mixing until you have a uniform batter. Don’t over-mix as this will make your muffins dense and gummy.
Step Two – Make the Cream Cheese Swirl
In a separate bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract with a fork. Stir until smooth.
Step Three - Scoop and Bake
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each mold about ⅔ of the way full. Top with 1 tablespoon of cream cheese mixture and, using a toothpick, swirl to combine.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.
Bake for 20 minutes at 350 F. To check for doneness, insert a toothpick in the middle of a muffin. The muffins are done when the toothpick comes out clean. Pull from oven and let the vegan muffins cool for 10 minutes in the muffin tin before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
Pro Tip: Make sure to let your muffins cool in the muffin tin first. If you flip them out too quickly, the muffins may fall apart.
Serving And Storing
Serve these muffins immediately. They come out of the oven warm, buttery, and hard to resist!
Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also freeze these muffins for up to 2 months. To thaw, pull the muffins from the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature for several hours.
Tips and Tricks
- Make sure not to over-mix your batter. When the batter is over-mixed, it allows gluten stands to form which leads to gummy dense pastries. We’re looking for light and fluffy!
- Spray your muffin tin well! Or, if you’d prefer, use cupcake holders. This will prevent the batter from sticking to the pan.
- Fill up your muffin molds about ⅔rds of the way full. If you do much more, the muffins will spill over as they rise.
- Let your muffins cool for 10 minutes before flipping them out onto a wire cooling rack.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure. If you would like to make this recipe oil-free, simply swap out the oil for additional applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
Can this muffin batter be made in advance?
Yes! If you want to make this muffin batter in advance, store the batter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.
To bake the muffins, preheat the oven and bake according to the instructions. However, these muffins may take a few minutes longer to bake since the batter will be chilled. The muffins will also be slightly denser as the baking soda begins to activate once it’s mixed into the batter, causing it to be slightly less potent.
Can I make this recipe gluten-free?
For sure! For gluten-free muffins, I recommend using a 1:1 baking blend.
More Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
- Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats
- Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gluten-free Pumpkin Date Bars
More Vegan Muffin Recipes
Vegan Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese
Ingredients
Pumpkin Muffins
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin puree
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup apple sauce
- ½ cup coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cream Chesee Swirl
- 8 ounce GO VEGGIE vegan cream cheese
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two muffin tins with cooking oil and set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. In a large bowl combine pumpkin puree with both sugars, mixing to combine. Add apple sauce, oil, and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. Fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- In a separate bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract with a fork. Stir until smooth.
- Fill muffin molds ⅔ of the way full. Top with 1 tablespoon of cream cheese mixture and, using a toothpick, swirl to combine.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Make sure not to over-mix your batter. When the batter is over-mixed, it allows gluten stands to form which leads to gummy dense pastries. We’re looking for light and fluffy!
- Spray your muffin tin well! Or, if you’d prefer, use cupcake holders. This will prevent the batter from sticking to the pan.
- Fill up your muffin molds about ⅔rds of the way full. If you do much more, the muffins will spill over as they rise.
- Let your muffins cool for 10 minutes before flipping them out onto a wire cooling rack.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the 
Mayeli Echenique says
Can I make this into a loaf. Actually doing it now, LOL currently baking time is 1 hr. Do you have a time for a bread loaf pan? I used monk fruit sugar and vegetable oil, organic truth vegan cream cheese and coconut sugar instead of brown as replacements. Smells great!
Natalia says
Just made these, did mini muffins instead of regular sized and they turned out fantastic! Just baked for about 5 minutes less than what was recommended for the regular muffins. Toffuti brand cream cheese is also a great option and worked perfect for these. Thanks for my new favorite fall recipe !
Linda says
I wanted to love these. Seems recipe may call for too much oil? And then the 1 tsp of cheese swirled in made mine a gooey blob :-(. Will see if cooling helps. But right now they are just flat and wet.
Aly says
I just made these for a second time. The first time I loved them, this time they were very wet and flat... I realized it was because the can of pumpkin I used was way more than 15oz, so I added way too much pumpkin. That may have been your problem too. Just an idea.
Christine says
I made these using the Miyokos brand dairy-free cream cheese and they turned out great! I don't think I overmixed the batter but they did turn out more dense than fluffy, and very moist. They're good warmed up in the microwave for breakfast. Thanks for the recipe!
Liz says
I did see the answer I was looking for in the comments but you might to add the can size (15oz) for the pumpkin puree. Excited to try these!
Michelle says
It seems like a lot of sugar is used, are they really sweet? Could I halve the amounts of sugar?
Sarah says
It's a sweet muffin. If you half the sugar it won't only affect the taste but the texture significantly. If you give it a try, let us know how it works for you.
Leekey says
What size can of pumpkin please? Thank you very much and I'm dying to try them out.
Leekey says
Oh sorry I got it. Went to the link and saw 15 oz. thx anyway.
Jasmine says
The combination of pumpkin + cream cheese brings me back to my childhood, these are calling my name!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
How delicious! I bet they are just so moist and such a perfect pumpkin treat!
Mel | avirtualvegan.com says
How strange? I was just thinking about cream cheese muffins after seeing a non vegan recipe on Pinterest, then I noticed these gorgeous ones from you! They look awesome and are so packed with fall flavours. Perfect!
Sarah says
Thanks Mel!
marlena | Where You Get Your Protein says
Those swirled muffin tops! They’re perfect! I must try these ASAP!
Linda from Veganosity says
September has been cool in Chicago this year, although our Indian summer is going to hit us this weekend, just in time for our 20 miler training run. Sweating is about to get real again. I'd love to stuff my face with these muffins after our run on Sunday. I think I need to make a big batch!
Sarah says
Stay cool! It finally just cooled down here! (sighs in relief)
Vanessa @ VeganFamilyRecipes.com says
What a neat idea! I don't believe I've tried go veggie cream cheese before but after seeing this delicious recipe, I'll definitely have to get my hands on a tub. Looks amazing!
Sarah says
I hope you do! It's impressively similar to dairy cream cheese.
Diego Lopes says
Yumm! You won me with that title! It sounds and looks like it's so delicious. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Mary Ellen | VNutrition says
Ooh yum - pumpkin is my favorite. These look absolutely delicious! Can't wait to try them!
Sarah says
Thanks! Pumpkin is my favorite too!
Sarah De la Cruz says
These look amazing! Making them with my boys ASAP!!!
Shari Wexler says
These look amazing and appropriate for my beginner self! The photo shows them in cupcake holders but the recipe says to spray the muffin tins with cooking oil. Does that need to be done if you're using cupcake holders?
Sarah says
I would still spray the cupcake holders just to make sure they come out cleanly.
Jenn says
You should come visit me. The temps have been mostly in the 60's to low 70's. The smell of autumn is in the air, apple festivals are in full force, and even the leaves are starting to turn. I'm in heaven! The only thing that would make it better is if I was wrapped in a blanket in front of a bonfire on a chilly evening shoving these delicious muffins in my face two at a time!
Sarah says
Ah, lucky you! I know my time will come but it was another day in the mid 80s today! I hope I get a few of those dreamy days before the rain starts.
Becky Striepe says
Well these just scream FALL! And they look super delicious!
Sarah says
Thanks Becky!