Easy Gluten-free Pumpkin Protein Muffins: Quick to Make/Easy to Clean-up
I absolutely love everything pumpkin, and these gluten-free pumpkin protein muffins hit the spot when I want something a little sweet to satisfy my cravings that still works with my nutrition goals. There is no flour or baking powder used, yet they are still delicious and give me the satisfaction of eating yummy baked muffins!
My favorite part about this recipe is that I mix everything in my food processor, so I don’t have a lot of bowls to clean up. Win-win!
If you look at the list of ingredients, you will notice that I use sugar-free syrup as the sweetener. This is because I don’t like the taste of artificial sweeteners, however, if you don’t have any syrup you can substitute with your sweetener of choice.
As far as protein powder goes, I always use casein protein and not whey when I bake. It bakes up more fluffy, and I have found that whey tends to become hard when baked. (Hello protein pancakes that could substitute as a frisbee!) Since there is only one scoop in this recipe, you could probably get away with using whey if you don’t have any casein handy. If you try this, I’d love to hear how it works out, so please leave a comment below and let me know how that goes! I have found that Cinnamon Bun flavored protein powder compliments this recipe the best, but I have used chocolate and vanilla with success as well.
Gluten-free pumpkin protein muffins are easy to make! The first step is to use the food processor to grind the oatmeal down to a fine consistency. You can make it as fine or as coarse as you want. The picture below is an example of how fine I tend to grind mine, and I run the food processor for maybe 45 seconds or so to get that result. Just watch the texture of the oats until it becomes the consistency that you are looking for.
Next add the rest of the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips and nuts, and blend them on a low setting until everything is combined. Then add in the chocolate chips and nuts if you are using them and mix just until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
I used regular sized muffin tins in this example, but I have also used the jumbo sized tins as well with success. Remember, these muffins do not have flour or baking powder. They are not going to rise, so you can fill the tins up to the top instead of the standard 2/3 full. They will also have a different consistency, but they every bit as delicious!
One last note- I have also added 3-4 tablespoons of PB2 on occasion when I wanted to change it up a bit. This adds a creamy peanut butter flavor without all of the fat of regular peanut butter, and also creates a more dense muffin.
If you have any other suggestions for additions, I’d love to hear them, so please leave a comment below!
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 1/2 cups oatmeal (uncooked)
- 1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned or feel free to make your own!)
- 3/4 cup egg whites
- 1/2 container of plain non-fat Greek yogurt (5.3oz container)
- 1 scoop Casein protein powder
- 3 tbsp Sugar-free Syrup
- 3oz chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grind oats in a food processor to a fine consistency. (Approx. 45 seconds)
- Add all ingredients except for the nuts and chocolate chips to food processor and mix on low until ingredients are distributed evenly throughout the mix.
- Add nuts and chocolate chips and blend just until they are mixed in.
- Distribute batter evenly across each muffin well. (Remember, these will not rise much, so you can fill them as high as you like!)
- Bake at 350 for 20 minutes
- Allow to thoroughly cool before removing from the pan (This is important!)
- Enjoy!!
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