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.
One Year Ago: Chicken Cordon Bleu Panini {My New Favorite Sandwich}
Two Years Ago: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Streusel Cake
Three Years Ago: Instant Pot Cheesy Potato Soup
Four Years Ago: Hawaiian Brownies {Chocolate + Macadamia Nuts}
Five Years Ago: Cheesy Bacon and Garlic Butter Smashed Red Potatoes
Six Years Ago: Stir-Fried Chicken and Vegetable Lo Mein
Seven Years Ago: Green Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter
Eight Years Ago: Chicken and Butternut Squash Quinoa Stew
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.
Followed the recipe except I reduced the sugar by a quarter of a cup. The muffins were moist but I found them too sweet. I will give the recipe another try but reduce the chocolate chips to a half a cup and continue with a quarter of a cup of less sugar.
Curious if anyone here (or Mel herself of course) has tried this recipe with gluten-free flour? And if so, what adjustments did you make, if any?
We have a celiac in the house now so it’s changed everything with food. Still adjusting to the baking, which has a steep learning curve 😉
Hi Kelli, lots of people have reported back that these muffins work great with a 1:1 GF flour blend. Someone recommended once in a comment that their rule of thumb for using GF flour in place of all-purpose flour is to use 10% less GF flour than all-purpose and that has helped them produce really good GF baking results.