Ready for more healthy muffin recipes? Try my coconut flour muffins, protein muffins, almond flour muffins, and healthy zucchini muffins next. I’d have a muffin every day if my waistline could afford it. Luckily, I’ve spent a long time honing my craft and developing some tasty yet wholesome muffin recipes. Inspired by my 2 ingredient pumpkin cake, I tried to use as few ingredients as possible without sacrificing the taste. My favorite secret weapon? Boxed cake mix.
Why I love this recipe
Made in one bowl. There is no fancy kitchen equipment needed. Ready in 20 minutes. And most of that time is spent patiently letting the muffins bake in the oven. Full of pumpkin flavor. If it wasn’t obvious enough, pumpkin plays the starring role in this recipe, and trust me, you’ll taste it. The pumpkin adds moisture, sweetness, and compliments the spiced cake mix like a dream.
Ingredients needed
Cake mix. It’s best to use a spice cake mix, like Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker. Both these brands have no eggs or dairy, which are perfect for a vegan diet. You can also use vanilla or yellow cake mix, but you would benefit from adding pumpkin spice. Pumpkin puree. Either canned unsweetened pumpkin or homemade pumpkin puree. Do not use pumpkin pie filling! Walnuts. Optional, but I like the texture they add to the muffins.
How to make 2 ingredient pumpkin muffins
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Step 1- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and line a 12-count muffin pan with muffin liners. Step 2- Combine ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the box of spice cake mix with pumpkin puree and mix until a smooth batter remains. Fold through the walnuts if using them. Step 3- Bake. Evenly distribute the batter amongst the 12 muffin liners. Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out mostly clean. Step 4- Cool. Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Arman’s recipe tips
Avoid overbaking. The muffins will continue cooking briefly as they cool, so remove them from the oven as soon as a toothpick inserted comes out ‘just’ clean. Don’t worry if they crack. Depending on the type of cake mix I use, sometimes the tops of the muffins look cracked and bumpy. Don’t fret–it doesn’t affect the flavor one bit! Keep them vegan. Most cake mixes are made without dairy or eggs, provided they are the ones recommended above. Other cake mixes may contain traces of dairy/eggs, so double-check before using them. Make gluten-free muffins. Use a gluten-free cake mix, like Krusteaz or Namaste. Make cupcakes instead. Just add a dollop of cream cheese frosting or vanilla frosting on top, and voila! You have pumpkin cupcakes.
Storage instructions
To store: Pumpkin muffins will keep at room temperature, covered, for up to three days. If you’d like them to keep longer, store them in the refrigerator and they will keep fresh for up to one week. I love the flavor of these muffins as is, but you can get creative with all sorts of different mix-ins. Here are some suggestions:
Add extra spices. A spiced cake mix should already have spices, but you can add a little extra cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or pumpkin pie spice to amp up the flavor. Make chocolate pumpkin muffins. Don’t knock it till you try it! I love making this recipe with chocolate cake mix. Experiment with mix-ins. Swap the walnuts for pecans, chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries, or toasted sunflower seeds.
To freeze: Place leftover muffins in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months.
More 2 ingredient recipes to try
2 ingredient peanut butter cookies 2 ingredient biscuits Dairy free frosting 2 ingredient fudge 2 ingredient peanut butter fudge
