Quick & Easy MOIST Vegan Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
These super moist and extra soft & tender vegan pumpkin muffins are the best of fall baking. They’re beautifully spiced with pumpkin spice and cinnamon sugar coating and baked with a dairy free cream cheese filling that readers have noted- is better than Starbucks!! You just need one bowl, a whisk, and a few easy ingredients!
You’re just 30 minutes away from MOIST bakery-style pumpkin muffins- that just so happen to be vegan!
These really need no introduction. They are THAT moist, soft, and ridiculously tender. Filled with an optional creamy “cheesecake” filling (just like Starbucks- but as you saw a reader noted above, even better!). And rolled in a shimmering cinnamon sugar coat.
Basically just autumn just wrapped up in the most perfectly warm spiced bite. And honestly, you’ll never need Starbucks again (especially when paired with my homemade vegan pumpkin spice latte, of course 😉 )
I’m hard pressed as to whether I love my vegan pumpkin bread and vegan pumpkin coffee cake or these more…but I’d say, if I’m in a pinch for time, I’m choosing these pumpkin muffins for sure.
Let’s bake them!!
How to make super moist vegan pumpkin muffins (overview)
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
My biggest tip for baking muffins: Allow the muffins to cool in the pan! This will actually help the muffins from sticking to the muffins liners.
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
Print
Moist & Tender Easy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 22
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These super moist and extra soft & tender vegan pumpkin muffins are the best of fall baking (well, that and pumpkin pie and apple cider donuts!). These one bowl vegan pumpkin muffins are filled with a dairy free cream cheese, and are honestly better than Starbucks!! You just need one bowl, a whisk, and a few easy ingredients!
Ingredients
Vegan Pumpkin Muffins:
- 3 cup (375 g) all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour
- 1 tbsp pumpkin spice blend
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/4 cup (300 g) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 cup (200 g) organic granulated sugar
- 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120 g) dairy free yogurt or applesauce, room temperature
- 2/3 cup (150 mL) avocado oil or neutral oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Vegan Cream Cheese Filling:
- 1 cup (8 ounces) vegan cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Cinnamon Sugar Coating:
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1 tbsp melted vegan butter or neutral oil
Instructions
- Please read through all instructions before beginning.
- Prep: Measure out all ingredients before beginning.
- Make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, pumpkin puree, sugar, brown sugar, dairy free yogurt, and vanilla extract. Then add in the pumpkin pie spice blend, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt, followed by the apple cider vinegar. Finally, add in the flour, and use a silicone spatula to fold the flour into the batter just until the dry is incorporated into the wet.
- Rest the batter: Cover and refrigerate the muffin batter for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
- When ready to bake: Preheat the oven to 400F and line two 12-cup muffin tins with 6 liners each. You want to space out the muffins so that no more than 2 bake in each line (ideally it will go 2, 1, 2, 1, so 6 muffins total per pan. Allowing more space gives the muffin top room to dome properly).
- Prepare the cream cheese filling: Before you’re ready to bake, make the cream cheese filling. In a small bowl, cream together the cream cheese, cornstarch, and brown sugar with a hand mixer.
- Fill the pumpkin muffins. Scoop batter into each muffin liner to the top of the liner. Then fill a piping bag with the cream cheese filling, and use scissors to slice the tip of the piping bag. Place the piping bag tip into a pumpkin muffin just before it hits the bottom of the muffin pan. Then gently press the piping bag, squeezing about 2-3 tbsp of cream cheese filling into the muffin. Allow the piping bag to come up as you fill the muffin (see photos). Then repeat for the remaining muffins.
- Bake the pumpkin muffins: Place the pumpkin muffins into the oven to bake for 7 minutes at 400F, then reduce the oven temperature to 350F, and continue baking for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The tops of the muffins should be lightly golden and set. Remove from the oven once done.
- Serve and enjoy! Allow the muffins to cool for 15-20 minutes in their pan before serving. Then serve and enjoy!
- For the cinnamon sugar topping: If you’d like to coat the tops of the muffins with a cinnamon sugar topping, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon or pumpkin spice together in a small bowl. Then brush the top of each muffin with melted vegan butter or oil. Dip the top of the muffin into cinnamon sugar and enjoy!
- Storage: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days or freeze for up to a month.
Notes
Gluten free: Use gluten free 1:1 baking flour, such as King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour.
If you want to add the cinnamon streusel on top! In lieu of the cream cheese filling, you can top with this easy vegan cinnamon crumble:
-
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour
-
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
-
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
-
- 5 tbsp (70 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
-
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
-
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
I used store bought vegan cream cheese and these were a total disaster! The cream cheese got molten and bubbled up and over the muffins and onto my oven floor. My muffins have craters in them and are soggy. Going to have to compost the whole batch 🙁
I’m so sad because I really wanted to make these! If store bought cream cheese is inadvisable, please put that in the recipe so others don’t end up wasting their ingredients like I did.
Hi Megan! Oh no I’m SO incredibly sorry this happened, I’m not sure why that would have happened to the cream cheese. I’ve used store bought and homemade (for store bought, I’ve used Tofutti and Kite Hill, but this recipe would also work with Violife and Miyokos). What brand of vegan cream cheese did you use? Did you happen to add anything to the cream cheese that would result in it bubbling? I’m thinking accidentally adding baking powder or something. I’ve never had this happen in all my tests, and I know from others reviews, this has not happened either so I’d like to help you try to figure out what went wrong!
I used Open Nature non-dairy cream cheese alternative in plain flavor. Looking at the ingredients of the cream cheese, it’s water, coconut oil, potato starch, salt, potato protein, natural flavor. I’m wondering if I’d need to use a nut or soy based cream cheese? Perhaps the coconut oil + water being the main ingredients is what made it really molten and liquid while baking.
Good to know you’ve used other vegan cream cheeses, I might be brave enough to buy more ingredients and try it again!
Hmm I haven’t heard of that one! But the ingredients sound very similar to violife- though I’m guessing you’re right, that they must have had a higher percentage of coconut oil, plus the water, in their recipe than Violife, because I make cheesecakes, frostings, muffins, etc with a Violife and it works! Please do let me know if you try with another brand!
OK so I got Violife cream cheese and made the recipe again – that seemed to do the trick! I noticed at the very end of baking the cream cheese was getting a little puffy, but it did not boil over or vaporize so I think switching brands was key. Thank you for your help troubleshooting the issue and thank you for sharing your delicious creations with us!
This is AWESOME!! Oh I’m so happy we were able to figure it out!! That’s such great news!! Enjoy, and thanks for being so patient and working with me on this!
Can I omit the cream cheese filling? Thanks in advance
Robin
Absolutely!
Will make it again cause they are delicious! Unfortunatly way too sweet for my taste. Will take the half amount of sugar next time, but it will definitly be a next time. Soon!
Tried these today because I saw the video on Instagram and can’t believe how amazing they turned out! I had one when they were still warm and the cream cheese was so nice and gooey. I thought the pumpkin spice sugar would make them over the top sweet but it was perfect, and made the crispy top even crispier. Such a great recipe and something I will for sure be making again!
Another big winner! My husband prefers gluten-free, and I’m allergic to eggs. These got INHALED by both of us lol!
Thanks again for another easy, delicious winner!
Next up, that pumpkin bread… 😉
I gave the cream cheese the side eye because I wasn’t sure how it could pair with pumpkin spice (I’ve never tried the one from Starbucks because it’s not dairy free) but OH MY GOODNESS, I was so pleasantly surprised! It’s honestly not for everyone (my sister didn’t like the cream cheese and wanted it to be sweeter) but I thought it was perfect. The muffin is SO moist and delicious.
That is AWESOME!! So happy to hear this 🙂 Thank you so much for the review!! So glad you enjoyed!
This has been the first recipe I made from the banana diaries but I will absolutely make more! The muffins turned out great, fluffy and moist , flavourful and nobody believed they were vegan. I left out almost 100 grams of sugar as 300 gr seemed a bit much to me compared to the flour.
Thank you Britt for the amazing recipe!
These are it! THE pumpkin muffin you need. I made 24 mini muffins and had a bit extra batter left so I put it in a mini loaf tin. They rose beautifully, were moist, and the perfect level of sweet and spiced. I have made a lot of vegan recipes and these will be a staple! Feed it to anyone and they will enjoy it. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Amazing!! This just made my day 🙂 Thank you so much for this review, truly! So glad you loved the recipe, and enjoy!!
These are incredible! Can never tell they’re GF/V! Thank you!!!
Omgsh so wonderful!! Thank you so much for the review, enjoy!!
So delicious!! Am I able to sub maple syrup or all coconut sugar instead of granulated?
Oh you can sub coconut sugar or granulated maple sugar for all of the granulated sugar! Stick away from the syrups because it will alter the texture 🙂 Enjoy!!
These are SO good! Yes, it’s August, but to me it’s time for fall 🙂 these are perfect without being overly sweet! And don’t tell Starbucks, but I’ll be having these this year instead 😉
HA I love it!! So so glad you loved them 🙂 And now I think I have to make a batch tomorrow because I’m fully over summer 😂
How would you go about defrosting these?
Hi There! I would just set them on the counter at room temperature for an hour or two. 🙂
I used store bought vegan cream cheese and unfortunately it kind of melted away into the muffins and left a hole. I think the recipe requires your cream cheese recipe so may be helpful to make a note of that. Thank you!
Oh no! Was it by chance Violife? I think that one seems to have issues- both my homemade and a store bought like kite hill and oatly have both worked so I think it might be violife! I’ll make a note, I’m so sorry that happened!
Some things mentioned in the comments are not in the recipe ! Maple syrup, flax eggs
Please update the recipe. Can’t afford failures and really want to try your creative recipes.
Sound yummy
Hi Nina! We actually have updated and improved the recipe! So just make sure you’re following what’s on the recipe card at the bottom of the page! Thank you so much!
So delicious I love baking these! Everyone loves them they don’t even know they’re vegan 😅. I usually make it without the cream cheese and without the cinnamon sugar topping just to reduce calories but I’ve tried with the topping for special occasions and super good (I made them often during the fall) thank you!!!
Love it 🙂 Oh they’re just perfect!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
These are the absolute best muffins I’ve ever had! They taste 10 times better than the Starbucks ones I swear! The only changes I made were that I used regular yogurt and cream cheese. This is a 12/10 recipe, I couldn’t recommend it more 🙂
Made these with my girlfriend and they were incredible! Some of the best vegan desserts I’ve ever had/made (and super easy to make also)! Will definitely be revisiting for my family thanksgiving.
It’s always possible I miscalculated, but I believe the nutrition info is wrong as of now (perhaps from an older version of the recipe?). 400 g sugar across 12 muffins should be more like 30+ g, not 14 g as listed, I think.
Thanks for the great recipe, though!
Hi Eli!! Oh I’m so happy you both loved them!! Thank you so much for the kind words!! For the nutrition info, yes, that was for an older version, I’m so sorry for the confusion!! I’ve stopped calculating nutrition, as it’s so dependent upon the specific brands each person uses, etc. So sorry about that!!
I believe the requirement to post a recipe on Pinterest is to be inconsistent. These muffins are delicious. The filling I find is best warm with the rest of the muffin. Just microwave the whole thing like normal to do this, right?
These are delicious! I halved the amount of brown sugar and cane sugar and they were perfect. I also omitted the cream cheese. These will be great as a snack or quick breakfast. Love all your recipes!
This is wonderful 🙂 WOW! Thank you os much for the kind words!! Enjoy!!
I made these with KA 1:1 and violife cream cheese. They taste good but they look a bit rustic. I weighed the ingredients instead of measuring them. The cream cheese on some of them seemed to disappear. My batter was pretty stiff. I rested it for 30 minutes in the refrigerator before baking. What did i do wrong?
Hi Mary Beth! Oh definitely the violife definitely caused the disappearance :/ for some reason, their cream cheese hasn’t been great for baking I’ve found. For the thickness, that’s very interesting, because I haven’t noticed that when testing (like it’s generally a touch thicker, but bakes more evenly than this). What other products did you use for the dairy-free swaps?
Hi Britt, I love this recipe! However I always find the muffins merge into eachother whilst baking and don’t rise. Any tips?
Hi Esther! Oh no!! So did you use the correct ingredients (plain flour instead of self-raising flour) and nothing else swapped? It could have been just bad baking powder, but resting the muffin batter also helps a ton before baking!
Wonderful recipe! I skipped the cream cheese filling and worked with what I had in my fridge. Ended up folding in some walnuts, white chocolate, and dried berries to add some texture and used half the amount of sugar to balance the sweetness from the mix-ins. So incredibly delicious. Thank you!
Hi Meliha! Ohh excellent additions! Thank you so much for sharing!