If you’re in search of a low carb breakfast OR a sweet treat to increase your protein intake, these low carb pumpkin protein muffins will do the trick. Each pumpkin muffin has 11 grams of protein with just 5 grams of carbs, though you’d never know it. They’re light and fluffy with just the right amount of moisture.
And to top things off, you’ll only need 7 ingredients and a mixing bowl to make these low carb pumpkin muffins!
What You’ll Need to Make These Low Carb Pumpkin Protein Muffins
Like I mentioned above, there are only 6 ingredients on the list. I’ll quickly run through the primary ingredients and touch on any potential substitution questions.
Almond Flour
As one of two primary structural ingredients, the almond flour is tough to substitute for. You could try using other low carb flour options like coconut flour, but the coconut flavor may be hard to mask.
If you have an almond allergy or simply don’t have almond flour on hand, you could substitute with all purpose flour or maybe even something like the graham cracker crumbs I used in my pumpkin banana bread protein muffins recipe.
With these options, I’d start with a gram for gram substitution and add as needed. I’ve provided a couple photos of what the pumpkin protein muffins batter will look like before baking for comparison.
Protein Powder
Our second structural ingredient is protein powder. I used PEScience Select which is a blend of whey and casein protein. It’s a bit thicker than a whey-only protein so if you’re using another protein powder, you may need to adjust slightly.
I originally developed this recipe with a pumpkin spice flavored whey concentrate and used an extra scoop of protein powder and half the canned pumpkin.
You can get an idea of the batter’s consistency from the photos in the recipe card below. As long as you’re pretty close, your protein muffins should be just fine.
Wet Ingredients
Canned pumpkin and eggs—that’s all you need in this department. The only thing I could think of in terms of ingredient substitutions here is if you had an egg allergy or used a vegan protein powder and needed to ditch the eggs.
In that case, you could probably get away with using more canned pumpkin and maybe a bit of unsweetened apple sauce to make up for the 150-200 grams of egg in this recipe.
Final Notes for These Low Carb Pumpkin Protein Muffins
In the recipe notes below, I dropped a link to my Amazon product list where you’ll find silicone baking cups. I can’t recommend these things enough. Nothing sticks to them, meaning no macro goes wasted on the side of paper baking cups or in the muffin tin.
Okay, that’s about it! If you make these low carb pumpkin muffins, I’d love to see ’em. Snap a photo and tag me on Instagram @mason_woodruff or join my free Facebook group and share it with the Proton Party.
Low Carb Pumpkin Protein Muffins
Ingredients
- 3/4 C 84g Almond Flour
- 2 scoops, 62g PEScience Protein Powder, vanilla
- 1/2 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 3 large Eggs
- 1 C 240g Canned Pumpkin
- 1/2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract, optional
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350F and spray 8 slots in a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or place 8 silicone muffin molds on a baking sheet.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Gradually stir in the eggs, canned pumpkin, and vanilla extract. Stir until you have an evenly mixed batter.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin tin or molds, filling each mold about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 23-26 minutes or until the muffins are cooked through and the tops are golden brown.
- Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool and enjoy!
Notes
- Each muffin has 2 Smart Points.
- You can find the silicone baking cups I use on my Amazon tools and products list.
- The original recipe with Bowmar Nutrition pumpkin spice protein used 3 scoops (84g) protein powder and 1/2 cup (120g) canned pumpkin.
We loved these!! I ended up making more than the recipe called for. My husband and I each had some for breakfast one weekend and there were still plenty left over for me to eat for a quick breakfast throughout the week! Great flavor and healthy-can’t beat it!
I made these in a mini muffin tin and added a few chocolate chips. They are perfect to grab before or after a workout. They freeze well, too.
Made these tonight but Blueberry version. Swapped bowmar Punpkin for the Blueberry cheesecake and the canned pumpkin with a tap of applesauce and fresh blueberries. Favorite new protein muffin recipe hands down!
I made these in a mini muffin tin and added a few chocolate chips. They are perfect to grab before or after a workout. They freeze well, too.
Made these tonight but Blueberry version. Swapped bowmar Punpkin for the Blueberry cheesecake and the canned pumpkin with a tap of applesauce and fresh blueberries. Favorite new protein muffin recipe hands down!
Made these and they are so dang good! Only thing is I think I cooked them for too long so just keep an eye on them if you want them more moist. Either way they were still great!
This is an absolute must if your looking for an easy muffin that is high in protien
Made these and they are so dang good! Only thing is I think I cooked them for too long so just keep an eye on them if you want them more moist. Either way they were still great!
This is an absolute must if your looking for an easy muffin that is high in protien
Hi Mason ,
I’m fairly new to your site . Thanks for all of your hard work .
I just made the low carb pumpkin muffins . They do not look anything like your photo . They just look lumpy and no shine on theta like a typical muffin . I followed the recipe exactly including the recommended Protein powder . Any advice for me ?
Thanks !
The usual suspects are measurement errors (measuring cups vs weighing ingredients), over baking, using different equipment (muffin tin vs muffin molds), and ingredient differences (sounds like this wasn’t the issue). If they’re lumpy, I’d say they might be under mixed. Other than that, I’d be guessing at some of the other things.