Healthy Turmeric Chai Spiced Pumpkin Muffins
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A super easy and healthy gluten-free pumpkin muffin recipe loaded with good for you spices, like turmeric, clove, and ginger and sweetened with maple syrup. The perfect healthy fall treat!
The search ends here. The best ever healthy pumpkin muffin recipe has arrived. Perfectly spiced, perfectly pumpkin-ey, perfectly fall. Everything you want in a healthy muffin recipe. Bonus: this muffin happens to be gluten-free and super easy to make! Oh, the wins just keep coming.
I currently have a quickly dwindling batch of these babies sitting on my kitchen table. Not only am I obsessed with the deliciousness of these muffins, but Jordan also loves them (the ultimate critic who naturally turns his nose up at anything gluten-free #annoying). Penelope gives a little howl each time her snout catches a sniff of this fall masterpiece. I can’t blame her, they are that good.
Ready to get cooking? Here is what you need:
Ingredients
- Organic Rolled Oats: You will pulse these in your food processor or high-speed blender to make oat flour.
- Brown Rice Flour: I love mixing oat flour with brown rice flour, it lends the perfect chewy texture to this muffin which is something I am always looking for in a gluten-free baked good.
- Organic Pumpkin Puree: I keep this stocked all season long in my pantry.
- Turmeric Chai Spice Mix: I made my own with spices I had on hand. If this looks like too daunting of a spice list then you can easily substitute pumpkin pie spice and add turmeric.
- Unsweetened Oat Milk: I wanted to keep with the oat theme and I am currently on an oat milk kick! You can easily substitute almond milk, coconut milk, or any other plant-based milk or cows milk if you prefer.
- Maple Syrup: You could easily substitute honey, but I love the maple flavor in these muffins. I just purchased a 1-gallon jug of maple syrup from a farm near my Mom’s house so I will be using maple syrup in ALL of my baked goods this season 😉
- Coconut Oil: Only a few tablespoons are needed, you could easily sub butter or ghee.
- Eggs, Baking Soda, Salt, Vanilla and Almond Extract: You can use only vanilla or only almond extract, I like the combo of both.
Ingredient Spotlight
- Turmeric – The gift that just keeps giving. Turmeric is a potent anti-inflammatory. The clinical data on this bright yellow spice is mind-boggling, in fact, curcumin (the active constituent in turmeric) has been shown to be as effective as many anti-inflammatory drugs!
- Pumpkin – A rich source of vitamin A, which has been shown to be beneficial to a strong immune system
- Maple Syrup – Unlike white sugar, maple syrup is rich in minerals like manganese (an important mineral for immunity and anti-oxidant activity) and zinc. So although it is still a sweetener and should be treated as such (a-hem moderation) maple syrup is certainly a better option than plain white sugar.
I used these adorable parchment paper muffin cups, which now look like “The Handmaids Tale” to me 😉 I love them anyway! I bought a pack of 100, which clearly means there are 100 muffins in my future and I am here for it!
How to Make
This is a simple straightforward recipe. My favorite kind.
1. Make your oat flour by blending or processing your oats in a food processor. I processed until the oats had a silky flour texture
2. Combine all of your dry ingredients
3. Combine all of your wet ingredients
4. Fold the dry ingredients into your wet ingredients
5. Fill your muffin cups – you can sprinkle the top of the muffin with a little coconut palm sugar or demaura sugar, totally optional.
6. Bake
7. Decide whether or not you want to share the muffins or keep them all to yourself. I think the choice is pretty obvious.
More Healthy Pumpkin Recipes to Love:
- Pumpkin Cauliflower Chickpea Curry
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Quick Bread
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
- Pumpkin Turkey Chili
Check out my healthy Christmas recipes, pumpkin recipes, anti-inflammatory recipes, healthy fall recipes, and recipes using turmeric roundups for similar tasty dishes!
If you make this recipe tag your photo with #AbrasKitchen so I can drool over your masterpiece 🙂
Healthy Turmeric Chai Spiced Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tbsp turmeric chai spice
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup oat milk or any plant or cow milk
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
Turmeric Chai Spice
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp clove
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with parchment liners or lightly spray with coconut oil spray. Set aside.
- To make turmeric spice combine all spices and stir together (you can make a double or triple batch and use for other recipes). Set aside.
- Prepare oat flour by placing rolled oats in a food processor or high-speed blender and processing until they are the consistency of silky flour.
- In a medium bowl combine oat flour, brown rice flour, baking soda, salt, and turmeric chai spice. Whisk to combine.
- In a larger bowl combine pumpkin puree, eggs, milk, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla and almond extract. Whisk well to combine.
- Pour dry ingredients into wet and stir together until just combined (do not overmix).
- Fill your muffin cups with the batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool on wire rack for 10 minutes
- Serve warm or room temperature. Store in a sealed container for 5 days or freeze for 3+ months.
Notes
- You can replace the turmeric chai spice with 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice plus 1/2 tsp of turmeric
- You can also make the recipe using all oats and remove the brown rice flour, I liked the texture better with the mixed flours.
- Oat milk can be replaced with any milk
Nutrition
Meet Abra Pappa, MS, CNS, LDN
Abra is a licensed nutritionist, seasoned home cook, and forever flavor-chaser. She’s spent more than two decades exploring the connection between food and health—and just as long obsessing over what makes something truly delicious. Abra’s Kitchen is where those two loves meet, with recipes that celebrate vegetables, follow the seasons, and make you excited to cook.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
I tried making these twice — they taste wonderful but they are underdone, even after 40 minutes in the oven! What am I doing wrong?
I have no idea! That is so strange. Is your oven temperature accurate? Maybe try bumping it up 20 degrees? I had a suspicion a few months ago that my oven was running hot but we just tested it and its spot on.
Yum! Last fall, I bought a 4′ long banana squash from a local farm and canned it. I only used a few quarts over this past year, and I’ve started working through the others as our pie pumpkin plant is giving us a lot of pumpkins. I’m looking forward to trying this, but I’ll be using freshly-ground wheat instead of brown rice flour. Any modifications you’d suggest because of the wheat flour?
Amazing! Does a banana squash have a similar flavor profile to pumpkin? As for the flour switch, I would do an even 1 for 1 swap with the brown rice flour. I think that should work fine. Report back and let me know 🙂