Perfect Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
I’ve been making these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for over ten years now, and they continue to be a favorite! Easy, fast, perfect!
There’s nothing quite like a good ol’ classic pumpkin chocolate chip muffin to get you in the mood for fall.
And this recipe is the best of the best.
I’ve been making these muffins for over ten years, and they are still a family favorite. Although, wonderfully, now my kids are actually old enough to make the recipe themselves.
One bowl and super easy, these muffins are soft, moist, and pretty much perfect.
Pumpkin Puree: What Kind to Use
You can use canned pumpkin puree or homemade pumpkin puree for this recipe. Either works great! Sometimes homemade pumpkin puree can be really soft and/or liquidy; drain off any excess liquid before using.
The recipe calls for pumpkin pie spice. Don’t have it? No worries! There is a super easy and fast substitution in the notes of the recipe for mixing up your own pumpkin pie spice blend with a few pantry staples.
You can use any type of chocolate chips OR sub out the chocolate chips for another add-in (please don’t tell me if it’s raisins).
One Bowl Muffins
Just like a few other recipes I’ve posted lately, all the ingredients for these muffins get thrown into a bowl at the same time and mixed up.
This might make you feel panicky, especially if you’ve been lectured in the past about carefully mixing muffin batter so that it doesn’t get jinxed or overmixed.
Deep breaths! The pumpkin helps the muffins stay soft and moist even though we’re disobeying about ten different cardinal rules of muffin making.
You don’t want to over mix, but you also don’t need to baby this muffin batter.
These pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are not as fussy as lots of other muffin recipes, and they turn out great. Like, best-ever kind of great.
You can bake the muffins with paper liners or without – just grease the muffin tin before scooping in the batter.
Look at the perfectly domed top on that baked muffin! Talk about muffin royalty. These muffins are picture perfect and delicious!
I’ve made a lot of pumpkin muffins over the years, and these are the best of the best!
You can leave out the chocolate chips (but why would you??) for a basic pumpkin muffin, and you also might be glad to know these muffins keep well for several days and freeze great.
More rave reviews for these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ :
Angela: I just made these and they are wonderful!! Thanks so much!
Heather B.: My kids just said “Oh, these are so good. Best muffins you have ever made.” And I have made alot! Thanks!
Kristen: My family LOVED these and they all try to say they don’t like pumpkin. (Not to mention it is June and 100+ degrees outside but I am trying to have pumpkin fest around here.)
Brittany: These were absolutely delicious! I ate 3 of them right out of the oven, and then every time I ate more I microwaved them so they were warm like the first ones. Better than any pumpkin recipe I’ve tried! Thanks.
FAQs for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
The recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin puree BUT over the years many readers have reported back that using the entire can of pumpkin (without altering the other ingredients) works great!
They sure do! I slide the baked and cooled muffins in a single layer in a freezer gallon-size ziploc bag and freeze that way.
This recipe works great with all-purpose or whole wheat flour (or half and half). I recommend using white whole wheat flour (red whole wheat flour is darker and might make the muffins more dense).
Yep! They can be left out and/or other add-ins can be added.
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups (190 g) all-purpose or whole wheat flour (see note)
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar (see note)
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (227 g) canned pumpkin puree (works great to use the entire 15-ounce can, if you'd like – see note)
- ½ cup (113 g) salted butter, melted
- 1 cup (170 g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners. Set aside.
- Add all ingredients except chocolate chips to a large bowl and mix until no dry streaks remain. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Scoop batter evenly into muffin tin filling muffin cups about 2/3 to 3/4 full.
- Bake for 18-25 minutes until the tops spring back lightly to the touch. Remove from the muffin tin and let cool completely on cooling rack.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from my friend, Mel B.
Recipe originally published Nov 2008; updated Oct 2020 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
I made these a month ago, forgetting that I don’t really care for chocolate and cinnamon together. I tried them again today with cinnamon chips instead, and they’re so good!!
These were delicious. We used 1/2 cup sugar and that was plenty. No need for more.
Made these twice in one week; used the whole can of pumpkin; they were a huge favorite at my house. Mel, you need to stop with all the wonderful fall baked goods that are going to pack on the perimenopause pounds! 🤪
Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow the perimenopause symptoms will STILL BE THERE, I say.
Can I just leave out eggs? Also am not a fan of store bought egg replacer
Several people have made these without the egg, and while they crumb is just a bit lighter and more delicate, they still work out fine.
I’ve made these loads of times but somehow this morning, I forgot the eggs. They had already been in the oven for 10+ minutes so I just went with it. Checked at 20 min then left them for another 2 1/2 min. They turned out great! Moist, chewy, delicious. Definitely a winner if you need to avoid eggs!
Yummy recipe! I used full can of pumpkin and it made 6 large and 5 regular muffins. Will definitely make this recipe again
These are also yummy with Cream Cheese Chips (Hershey’s makes them), or a combination of cream cheese and chocolate chips. Divine!!
Has anytime ever tried these without sugar and used honey instead? What is the substitution ration?
I haven’t, sorry! You could try 3/4 to 1 cup honey (you might need to increase the flour a bit to compensate)
I made these today and used oil in place of butter and used the full cam of pumpkin. They made 18 full size muffins which turned out great and were promptly eaten by all my children! 😁
Yay, Natasha! So happy they were a win for you and your family.
Could I turn these into pumpkin bars? And how would I adjust the baking time and temperature? Thanks!!
You could try! I haven’t tried it myself so I don’t have a firm recommendation, but I’d still bake at 350 degrees (baking time will totally depend on the pan size you use).
These are my family’s go to pumpkin muffins – they are amazing!
We recently switched to using home milled flour – I was wondering if you use typically use fresh flour for this or if I need to make any adjustments?
Yes, I use freshly ground flour all the time for this recipe – works great.
I used avocado oil instead of butter and dairy free chocolate chips to make these dairy free and they were so yummy! 🙂 I’ve made two batches now. LOVE
As someone who doesn’t love pumpkin flavored things, these were delicious! I think the pumpkin pie seasoning really does wonders here.
What adjustments to baking time is needed if I use a mini muffin pan?
I usually bake mini muffins anywhere from 8 to 10 minutes.
I have made this twice— once as written, and once replacing 1/2 flour with oat flour and it came out great!! My whole family (including toddlers) loved it!
These are to die for! I can’t stay out of them. Thanks again Mel, for another great recipe!!
Thank you, this is a great recipe! The kids loved it and were begging me to make another batch the next day LOL. I did make a couple clean eating swaps and they turned out great! I subbed organic unsweetened applesauce and a little raw honey for the sugar, olive oil for the butter, used Organic Spelt Flour, and added cardamom to my liking 🙂 Thank you again!
I’ve made this exact recipe, with the exception of a little less baking powder, for over 30 years. I got it when working at our little town bakery. My recipe also calls for slivered almonds, in and on top, but hubby prefers no nuts. I also have started just adding the whole can of pumpkin and increasing the flour to 2 cups to accommodate the extra. I’ll increase my baking powder to compensate today and see how that goes. But, as written, the original recipe is absolutely delicious!
These were so good! I made for a fall event and everyone loved them. Thanks so much for this perfect pumpkin muffin recipe!
I stumbled across this while looking for a muffin recipe without oil. I made these with AP flour, cut the sugar by 1/4 cup, and followed the rest of the recipe as is — thanks for the note about pumpkin pie spice! I got 12 muffins and they baked for about 18-20 minutes. Delicious and so moist. The texture is almost velvety.
Yum yum yum! This is an awesome recipe. I decreased the sugar by 1/4 cup, used milk chocolate chips and baked these for 25 as large muffins. This is a keeper!
Is using 1/2 cup butter healthier than using oil?
I adore these muffins! They come out perfectly every time (even that time I accidentally left out the sugar)! They’re quick and simple to make if you need to deliver a treat to someone. My little siblings always request that I make them when I come home to visit from college. They can practically do it themselves. As always Mel your recipes never fail to deliver
Delicious! I used the whole can of pumpkin and added extra chocolate chips.
The flavor was good, but the texture was very pasty.
Shut up Caroline n one asked for you opinion
No one asked baby yoda
How did you get out of your cage yoda
I was looking for a muffin that was light and fluffy, and these muffins exceeded my expectations. They are some of the best I’ve ever had in my life. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
a local bakery has the very best pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, but they’re $3 each and only open on the days I am not driving by. I’ve been wanting my own recipe, but the recipes I’ve tried over the years have not tasted as good as theirs or had the correct texture. so I gave up for awhile. Then I searched again this fall, and the texture in your photo looked like our beloved muffins at the local bakery. I made them this weekend, and my entire family agrees these are so so so close to the local bakery’s favorite treats. Thanks to you and Trader Joe’s pumpkin pie spice, we can make our favorite muffins whenever we want. Thanks for the delicious (and easy) recipe!
These were super easy and delicious! I used the whole can of pumpkin and didn’t have salted butter on hand so I doubled the salt. They came out perfect! Thank you!
I made these this morning using a full can of pumpkin and a little less sugar than called for, and butter was mostly melted. I loved the one bowl aspect – so easy to make! But the thing that clinched it was my 7 year old son’s review: “I thought that they would be pretty good, but they were amazing!”
I LOVE THEM!!!! I used a whole can of pumpkin and in my second batch, I added one pack of brown sugar instant oatmeal, and it was AMAZING!!! Only four stars because I live in Colorado, and I couldn’t find any high-altitude adjustments. Otherwise, my fav recipe so far. ❤️❤️
Wait, i’m super confused. You loved them and said it was your fave recipe but docked a star because of high altitude? I don’t think it’s the blogger’s fault that you live in Colorado and need high altitude adjustments.
Loved these! I used gluten free flour and they still turned out amazing
I would freeze without the glaze and then glaze after thawing.
I’m out of butter. Can I use country crock as substitute? .
I haven’t tried that, Jane – but you could experiment and see how it goes.
Dear future Baker, I used vegetable oil instead of butter and these were gobbled down by my family.
Oh WOW! I thought I was making good pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for the past 15 years… I pitched all the bad oil and decided to only use butter, olive oil or coconut oil.
Butter makes all the difference! The very best recipe and muffin I have ever baked!
I used the whole can of pumpkin and 3/4 sugar.
I used the whole (15 oz) can of pumpkin and baked for 22 minutes. I also divided the batter in half and added chocolate chips to one part and streusel to the other. Made 18 regular size muffins using an ice cream scoop.