Easy 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These 3-ingredient pumpkin muffins are fluffy, moist, and so easy to make! Made with spice cake mix and canned pumpkin puree, these easy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are ready to enjoy in 30 minutes.

Sometimes you just need a quick baking win, and boy oh boy, are these muffins just that! These 3-ingredient pumpkin muffins with cake mix are seriously the easiest pumpkin muffin recipe to make.

Pumpkin cake mix muffins are made with 3 shelf stable ingredients that you can keep in your pantry for any baking emergency. This is also the perfect recipe for when you have surprise visitors pop in this fall season.

Make these muffins for a breakfast treat, when hosting friends for brunch, as a festive fall snack, or for packing in school lunches! Pumpkin spice cake muffins are also a great bake to share with neighbors, friends, and family as a nice little fall surprise.

If you love pumpkin treats as much as I do, you’d also love our pumpkin streusel muffins and pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting! You can also make the most of pumpkin season by enjoying a pumpkin pie protein shake, pumpkin mac and cheese, and a pumpkin cold foam coffee!

Why You’ll Love this 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

The easiest pumpkin muffins to make! You can make your own tasty pumpkin muffins so easily with this approachable and simple recipe. Minimal ingredients need and barely any measuring required. Simply mix, scoop, bake, and eat!

Three simple ingredients. These 3-ingredient pumpkin spice muffins use 3, shelf-stable ingredients to make. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Packed with Fall Flavor. These 3-ingredient pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are packed with warm fall spices and pumpkin flavor! The perfect treat for fall!

Ready to enjoy in 30 minutes! This includes time to mix and bake.

Ingredients Needed

• 1 box of spice cake mix. Grab a box of cake mix from your grocery store’s baking aisle. I love Betty Crocker’s spice cake mix, but there are lots of great options to choose from!
• 1, 15oz can of pumpkin puree. Pumpkin puree is what gives these cake mix pumpkin muffins their pumpkin flavor! And we’ll use the whole can for this recipe (aka no need to worry about a little dab of leftover pumpkin puree in your fridge). You want 100% pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) for this recipe.
• Mini chocolate chips. Mini chocolate chips give these delicious pumpkin muffins their pop of chocolate! Using the minis helps distribute the chocolate nicely throughout the muffin batter, and are just the right size for sprinkling on top too.

See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

Recipe Variations and Substitutions

• Select a different chocolate chip. You can also use full-sized semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips in this recipe.
• Change the mix-in. Not feeling pumpkin chocolate chip muffins? Swap out the mix-in! Substitute chocolate chips 1-for-1 with chopped pecans, chopped walnuts, raisins, craisins, cinnamon chips, or butterscotch chips.
• Top with turbinado sugar. A sprinkle of turbinado sugar on top of any muffin is a welcome addition! Do this in addition to the additional chocolate chips on top, or instead of them!
• Make a 2 ingredient pumpkin muffin. Leave out the mix-in all together and enjoy a moist and fluffy pumpkin spice muffin.
• Make mini muffins! Mini muffins are always a cute option. This recipe will make approximately 36 mini muffins. Follow the same directions, scoop into a mini muffin pan lined with muffin cups, and bake for 12-15 minutes.
• Use a box of yellow cake mix + pumpkin pie spice. If you can’t find a box of spice cake mix, or happen to have a box of yellow cake mix on hand, you can still give this easy pumpkin muffins recipe a go. Just be sure to add 1-2 Tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice to get that pop of fall flavor you’re looking for if you choose this option.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prepare muffin tin by placing muffin liners in each cup or greasing each cup with cooking spray. Set aside.

Place spice cake mix and pumpkin puree in a large bowl.

Combine cake mix and pumpkin by stirring together until a uniform batter has been formed (no pockets of dry cake mix remain).

Add chocolate chips.

Stir to distribute throughout the batter.

Divide the batter between 12 lined (or greased) muffin tins.

Add additional chocolate chips on top before putting in the oven to bake.

Bake for 22-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are ok). Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Modifications for Dietary Restrictions: Gluten-Free

If looking to make gluten free 3 ingredient pumpkin muffins, select a gluten free cake mix. Please note: I have not tried this substitutions myself, but believe it should work well. 

Expert Tips

Use a large cookie scoop to portion your pumpkin chocolate chip muffin batter into your muffin tins. A large cookie scoop is the perfect size to portion out 12 muffins for this recipe. I love using cookie scoops for all kinds of tasks in my kitchen, and find them to be a worthwhile investment if you like to bake a lot.

Storage

Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to one week.

You can also freeze these chocolate chip pumpkin muffins for another day! To do so, allow the muffins to fully cool before storing. Individually wrap each muffin in plastic wrap and place into a gallon-sized freezer bag and freeze for up to 6 weeks. To thaw, remove individual muffins from the freezer and let them sit at room temperature for about 1 hour. You can also warm them up directly from the freezer, removing the plastic wrap and microwaving them for 15-30 seconds!

Helpful Equipment

All you need for this recipe is a large mixing bowl, a rubber scrapper, and a standard sized muffin tin. I prefer to line my muffin tin with standard muffin cups, but you can also grease your pan with cooking spray if preferred.