Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chunk Muffins

These Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chunk Muffins are everything you love about fall, with the bonus of rich chunks of chocolate in every bite. Even better, they’re a cinch to make. Total win!

I know we hate the word moist, but for real: these muffins are so moist. That’s one of my favorite things about baking with pumpkin, aside from the amazing smell of pumpkin spice filling the house. Pumpkin puree gives muffins, cakes, and quick breads a tender crumb, and it also adds a little bit of earthy sweetness. And that earthy flavor is a match made in heaven with warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

Like most muffins, these come together quickly. Ten minutes of prep time, about 25 minutes of baking, and in under an hour, you’ve got a batch of warm pumpkin spice chocolate chunk muffins ready to be devoured. If you’re looking for the perfect recipe to kick off fall baking season, this is it!

What You’ll Need

I’m guessing you probably have most—if not all!—of the ingredients for pumpkin spice chocolate chunk muffins on hand in your kitchen already. Here’s what you’ll need to grab:

• All-purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Pumpkin pie spice – Here’s how to make your own.
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Eggs – It’s always best to bake with room temperature eggs, so take them out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you plan on starting the recipe.
• Pumpkin puree – You’ll need plain, pure, unsweetened, unspiced puree—not pumpkin pie filling. Sometimes the cans look pretty similar, so make sure you have the right one!
• Unsalted butter – Melt it in the microwave or in a small saucepan. (I prefer the saucepan method because I’ve had one too many sticks of butter pop and splatter all over the microwave. Not fun to clean up!)
• Semi-sweet chocolate – You can use chocolate chips, but I like chopping up a bar of chocolate instead so there’s a mixture of BIG chunks and little pieces in the muffins. 

How to Make Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chunk Muffins

You’ve got your ingredients ready—now it’s pumpkin time! Here are step-by-step instructions on how to make them:

Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350ºF, then line your muffin tins with baking cups.

Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Make the batter. Use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the eggs, pumpkin and butter. Slowly add the dry ingredients and continue to mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the wet ingredients. Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chunks.

Bake the muffins. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, then pop them into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool and serve. Remove the muffin tins from the oven. Let the pumpkin spice chocolate chunk muffins cool for 5 minutes, then carefully remove them from the muffin tins and let them finish cooling on a wire rack.

Tips for Success

This recipe is pretty straightforward, but here are a few hints and tips that I’ve learned along the way:

• Using a hand mixer. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use an electric hand mixer instead, or make these muffins by hand. The only change I’d make to this recipe if you’re not using a mixer is to whisk the eggs first, then combine them with the pumpkin and melted butter.
• Don’t overmix. This is really important with muffin recipes! If you’re a perfectionist, it might bother the heck out of you to see streaks of flour or lumps of sugar in the batter, and I get it! But if you stir the batter too much, you’ll end up with tough muffins.
• Use the center rack. When baking, I recommend using the center rack in your oven. This ensures that your Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chunk Muffins bake evenly every time.

Can I Freeze Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chunk Muffins?

For sure! Muffins are almost always good for freezing, and this recipe is no exception. Let the muffins cool completely, then pop them in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 2 months. You can let them thaw at room temperature overnight, or heat them in the microwave 15 seconds at a time, until they’re warmed through.

How Should I Store This Recipe?

These muffins should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They’ll last for up to 4 days this way; if you’d like them to last longer than this, freeze them according to the instructions above.

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chunk Muffins Variations

The pumpkin-and-chocolate combination in these muffins is perfection, but if you want to play around with the mix-ins a bit, here are some ideas to try:

• Add chopped pecans to your muffins.
• Swap the semisweet chocolate for a high-quality white chocolate.
• Lean into the fall flavors by using cinnamon chips instead of chocolate.
• Scatter pepitas over the tops of the muffins before baking.

OTHER PUMPKIN DESSERT RECIPES TO TRY THIS FALL:

• Pumpkin spice latte cupcakes
• Maple pumpkin cheesecake bars
• Pumpkin blondies
• Pumpkin spice sheet cake
• Pumpkin cheesecake swirl brownies

Photography by Jamie Vespa