These pumpkin muffins with quinoa and pepitas make a cozy breakfast on a chilly autumn morning, or a tasty afternoon snack with tea! Plus, you can feel healthy-ish eating them because pumpkin (a vegetable, duh), quinoa, and pepitas tooootally cancel out the butter and sugar. 😉
Try this easy technique for making light and fluffy quinoa! 
Couldn’t wait to take the photos before eating one! 💁🏻♀️
Quinoa Pumpkin Muffins With Pepitas Recipe
Quinoa Pumpkin Muffins With Pepitas
These muffins can be made ahead and frozen, as they freeze beautifully! I do not recommend baking these muffins as a loaf-- the quinoa becomes a bit too heavy, and can sink to the bottom and become dense. Stick to muffins!
Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
- ¼ cup shelled roasted, and unsalted pepitas
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 cup cooked quinoa (1/3 cup uncooked)
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup canned pumpkin puree
- ½ cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup whole milk + ½ tsp lemon juice)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400F with the rack in the center position. Use 1 tbsp of the butter to coat the muffin tin. Melt the remaining 4 tbsp of butter and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well incorporated. Reserve ¼ cup of the quinoa, then add the remaining ¾ cup quinoa to the dry ingredients. Stir the the quinoa into the dry ingredients with a fork.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. (Avoid over-mixing, which can make your muffins dense.) Some lumps are okay!
- Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin tin, and top with pepitas and the reserved quinoa. Bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating the tin once halfway through baking.
