Healthy & Light Low Calorie Pumpkin Muffins

Delicious, light and fluffy, low in calories, these chocolate pumpkin muffins don’t compromise a thing! I lightened these up by using less sugar, pumpkin puree instead of oil, and non-fat plain Greek yogurt.

Muffins can be dangerously high in fat, sugar, and calories! Often, their nutritional profile is no different than a standard cupcake.

Not only that, some muffins are enormous! From a baker or Costco, they can actually be 4 times the weight of a standard, made at home muffin.

Below I have two bakery muffins. The Costco Muffin weighs in at 600 calories!

The bakery muffin isn’t much better. It has 520 calories! (from my article, “Can you get full by eating less?”)

But, the recipe for this lightened up pumpkin muffin (even with the cool whip on top) is only 114 calories!

Now that’s a trade I want to make!

How to make muffin healthier

For many baked goods, it’s not too hard to make substitutions that won’t really impact your taste or texture. I had great luck making the following low calorie substitutions for these low calorie muffins. (check our my low calorie zucchini muffin here!)

• I used less sugar! First of all, the simplest healthy swap to make is just to reduce the sugar. Many baked goods can be cut in half with the amount of sugar in the original recipe, and it still tastes great!
• Second, I replaced the oil a regular muffin would use and added the canned pumpkin. Oil can be swapped for different fruit purees. Many times I use apple sauce, because it doesn’t change the flavor much. In this instance, I used pumpkin puree, in a can.
• Third, I replaced the full fat milk with skim milk. Cutting back on the fat in milk, also reduces the calories.
• And finally, I added some non-fat Greek Yogurt to the pumpkin muffins! This gives the muffin a fluffy, delicious finished product. It adds protein, and lowers the fat!
• And finally=- totally optional: Light or Fat Free Cool Whip on top!

Let me know if you decide to make some of these pumpkin muffins! Also, I’d love to hear what other recipes you want to see lightened up!

Healthy and Light, low calorie Pumpkin Muffins

Less sugar and fat, these low calorie pumpkin muffins are great for breakfast.

4.72 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: healthy chocolate pumpkin muffins, healthy pumpkin muffins, low calorie pumpkin muffin, pumpkin muffin

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 muffins

Calories: 114cal

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup Greek non fat plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoon fat free cool whip
• 3 tablespoons mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

• Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spices (or a mixture of these spices till you have one teaspoon: cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground ginger)
• Mix egg, sugar, milk, pumpkin puree, yogurt, and vanilla together. Fold wet ingredients into dry.
• Mix in 3 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips (Optional)
• Scoop muffin mixture into prepared baking cups. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Notes

With whipped topping and chocolate drizzle:
114 calories each, 3 g protein, 21 g carbs, 2 g fat
➖
Without whipped topping and chocolate:
92 calories, 3 g protein, 18 g carbs, 1 g fat

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 114cal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g

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