Pumpkin Muffins with Cake Mix

Pumpkin Muffins with Cake Mix are made in one bowl with a box of yellow cake mix and pumpkin puree. They're moist and flavorful and are topped with an optional cinnamon sugar for extra sweetness!

Jump to:

• 🎃 Why this recipe works
• 🗒 Ingredients
• 🥞 Recipe tips
• ⏲️ How to store
• 🎉 Variations on recipe
• 🍂 More pumpkin treat recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Craving muffins on a Tuesday, but short on time? These super easy pumpkin muffins start with a box of yellow cake mix combined with pumpkin puree and a few fall spices. They legitimately couldn't be easier.

And major bonus points for the fact they're made in one bowl, which also means cleanup is a breeze!

These cake mix pumpkin muffins are soft, tender, and just sweet enough to feel like a treat with your afternoon coffee. Pumpkin spice coffee, anyone?

The optional cinnamon sugar on top gives them a little sweet crackly bite before you even get to the pumpkin flavor.

🎃 Why this recipe works

The cake mix does a lot of the work: the leavening and sugar are already added in, so you get a reliable, tender crumb without measuring flour, baking powder, or salt. Just dump in a box of mix and you're halfway there.

Pumpkin adds moisture: a full cup of pumpkin puree adds moisture and that unmistakable fall flavor, so the muffins stay soft for days instead of drying out.

The spices make it homemade: cinnamon plus pumpkin pie spice covers up any boxed mix flavor and makes your kitchen smell just like fall should.

It only requires one bowl: whisk the dry ingredients, make a well, add the wet right on top, and stir. I love one-bowl recipes because they make cleanup so much easier!

An optional cinnamon sugar topping is so delicious: the topping bakes into a lightly crackly, sweet top that makes these feel a step above a plain muffin.

🗒 Ingredients

Here's everything you need to make these easy cake mix pumpkin muffins (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

• Yellow cake mix: I recommend yellow, but you can experiment with other flavors if you want
• Pumpkin puree: as always, be sure it's not "pumpkin pie" mix as that will make the muffins way too sweet
• Large eggs
• Vegetable oil
• Whole milk
• Vanilla extract
• Ground cinnamon
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Sugar and ground cinnamon: optional for topping

🥞 Recipe tips

• Make the batter in one bowl. I recommend whisking the dry ingredients first, making a well in the middle, and adding all the wet right on top.

• Be careful not to over-mix your batter. Once the wet and dry ingredients come together, stir just until you no longer see streaks of cake mix. A few lumps are fine, and over-mixing is how you get tough, dense muffins.

• Fill each muffin tin cup about ¾ of the way full. This gives the muffins a nice domed top with room to rise without spilling over.

• Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on right before they go in the oven so it sets into the top as they bake.

• Start checking for doneness at 18 minutes. Ovens vary, and pumpkin batters can go from perfect to dry quickly. A toothpick inserted should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

• Let the muffins rest in the tin for a few minutes before moving them to a rack to cool completely. Warm muffins may be delicate and the couple of minutes in the tin post-baking helps them firm up.

And your super easy fall muffins are ready to enjoy! Nobody will even know they were made with cake mix... Unless you tell them, of course!

The pumpkin and fall spices are prominent and the crackly top makes them feel extra homemade.

They're incredibly moist and stay moist and fresh even after being stored a couple days.

⏲️ How to store

Store cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. Because of the pumpkin puree, these muffins actually stay moist really well, even after being stored.

To freeze the baked and cooled muffins, wrap them individually in plastic wrap or layer them in a freezer bag with parchment paper between them and freeze for up to 3 months.

When ready to enjoy frozen muffins, thaw them at room temperature or warm one in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds.

🎉 Variations on recipe

There's actually not much I'd change about these cake mix pumpkin muffins. But if you love fully-loaded muffins or are looking for some twists, here are some fun ideas:

• Try making the muffins with spice cake mix instead of yellow. This already has the fall spices added in, so you should be able to cut out the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice from the recipe, making these even quicker and easier.
• If you use a white cake mix, your pumpkin and spices may shine even more, but will lack some of the sweet vanilla flavor.
• Add chocolate chips or white chocolate chips into the muffins.
• Add cinnamon chips, butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips into the muffins.
• Add chopped pecans or walnuts for nutty flavor and crunch.
• Add the dried fruit of your choice, like dried cranberries.
• Add toffee bits into the muffins.
• Instead of the cinnamon sugar topping, make a simple vanilla icing and drizzle it over the muffins.
• Add a spoonful of sweetened cream cheese to the center of each muffin before baking for a fun cheesecake like surprise.
• Add a little espresso powder to the muffins for some pumpkin spice latte flavor.
• Swap the pumpkin pie spice for chai spice for a different kind of warming.
• Top the muffins with frosting to turn them into something closer to pumpkin cupcakes.

🍂 More pumpkin treat recipes

I absolutely love baking sweet treats with pumpkin puree and am so happy to share some of my favorite pumpkin treats with you!

And for another super easy shortcut, you need to try my pumpkin pancakes with pancake mix!

I also have lots of lots of other cake mix recipes that making baking treats a cinch!

Don't get me wrong; I love a homemade pumpkin muffin (these pumpkin banana muffins are the best!), but when you're short on time and happen to have a box of cake mix in your pantry, these couldn't be easier or more delicious!

A sort of cross between sweet treat and breakfast item, make a batch of these on a Sunday and you have breakfast, an afternoon snack, and a very good reason to keep the pumpkin spice coffee coming all week!

📖 Recipe