Savory pumpkin cheddar muffins are unique, surprising, and extremely delicious. They go great with soups and salads.
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: The muffins are rich but not sweet, making them a perfect side for meals.
How long it takes: 10 minutes to prep, 20 minutes to bake, 10 minutes to cool
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowls, muffin tins
Servings: makes 12 muffins
Disclosure: I was sent a free book to review and free brownies to try. However, all opinions expressed in this post are, as always, 100% my own. I was not compensated for this post other than the free book/brownies.
What is the first thing you do when you pick up a new cookbook? Do you read the information on the back? Look at the pictures? Check the table of contents?I’m a flipper. I flip through the pages to see what catches my eye and then I delve in deeper.
One of the first things I noticed about Baked Explorations
by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito was the friendly layout, deep, rich colors and wide variety of recipes.
The recipe I’m featuring from the cookbook is Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins, from the Breakfast section of the cookbook.
About Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins
- The muffins aren’t overly sweet. This recipe is perfect if you’re someone who doesn’t love super sweet breakfasts. Pumpkin cheddar muffins are perfectly balanced: sweet and savory with a touch of cayenne to keep things interesting. They also make a healthy side to serve with soups and salads since they aren’t made with a lot of sugar.
- Pumpkin is a healthy food. Canned pumpkin is 100% pumpkin purée with no sugar added. Pumpkin is good for you with lots of vitamin A, antioxidants, and fiber.
- The muffins are easy to make. You can have the muffins in the oven in just 10 minutes!
Note: The authors suggest topping the muffins with pumpkin seeds (pepitas) which look beautiful and add a great crunch but I used all mine for these recipes and didn’t have any left when I took these photos.
This pumpkin muffin recipe isn’t low-fat, with a whole stick of butter (half cup) plus cheddar cheese, but they are a great treat. I have a good helping of butter on them for the pictures, but they really don’t need it. They are very moist and delicious without it (but a little extra butter is never a bad thing)!
They are excellent with a drizzle of honey, especially hot honey, or a smear of soft cream cheese.
Cool muffins completely on a wire rack before storing them in an airtight container. Like most muffins, pumpkin muffins taste best when they are freshly baked, but they’ll keep on the counter for a few days or in the fridge for up to a week. Freeze them for longer storage, up to 3 months.
To refresh leftover muffins, warm them in a 200°F oven.
More Pumpkin Baked Goods
Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin purée (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
- 3 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 ¼ cups grated sharp cheddar (about 4 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, optional (pepitas)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly spray each cup of a standard 12-cup muffin pan with a little bit of vegetable spray and use a paper towel to spread the oil evenly along the bottom and up the sides of each cup.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and sour cream. Add the eggs and butter and whisk until combined.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, and brown sugar.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well, and fold until just combined. Fold in three-quarters of the cheese.
- Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar and the pumpkin seeds on top of the muffins. Bake muffins for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Let the muffin pan cool on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out the muffins. Serve them warm.
Notes
- Muffins taste best when eaten fresh, but they can be made ahead of time and reheated in a 200°F oven.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
Love this recipe! I made it gluten-free by subbing in 1 1/2 Cup Pamela’s GF Flour and 1/2 cup of Oat Flour however, the batter was more like a dough by the time it was folded so I just added in some milk to get it a little more like a very thick batter (the spoonfuls held their shape when plopped them in the muffin tin.)
Other than that little hiccup, I was able to make these gluten-free pretty easily! So yummy and cheesy and dense.
So glad you liked them! Thanks for sharing your experience@
Could you add bacon or sausage to this muffin?
As long as it’s already cooked, that should work fine!
Cook times way off, raw muffins would not make again!
Hi Patty, have you checked your oven temperature? Usually 20 minutes at 400 is more than enough time to cook muffins. These are a very dense, moist muffin, but they should be fully cooked in 20 minutes.
Super my next favorite as I love pumpkin
Many thanks.Â
So glad you like these! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
These muffins….WOW!! Every word I think of seems an understatement! Absolutely divine texture and flavour and id recommend anyone to make these, go great as a side with meats or for a brunch with maple bacon. I can’t have enough of them. After my first batch which was for tea tonight, people wanted to taste what the beautiful smell was! And by 1pm the whole batch was gone. So I’ve made double the batch for tea tonight now!! Thanks RachelCooks for another timeless faultless recipe x
So glad you like this muffins! :) Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Nine years later….I’m cooking my way through the pandemic and pulled this cookbook off the shelf to try some of the recipes I’ve never made before. I really enjoy the taste of these muffins, especially the spice level. But I find the texture a little dense. I thought I made them wrong, but then from your pictures I see I have about the same texture as you have in yours. I was a little worried about this after seeing how thick the batter was. Any suggestions for trying to lighten it the texture?
They are a very dense, heavy muffin. I like them that way but if you want to try lightening them up, I’d try increasing the baking powder a little. I haven’t tried it though, so I can’t make any promises. Let me know if you give it a go!
Excelente receta. Sencillamente exquisitos.
Thank you!
This book, and the brownies, look amazing!