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Oh, the beauty of whole grain pumpkin chocolate chip muffins! When you hear “whole grain” do you immediately imagine chewing a dry and crusty piece of cardboard? It’s totally fine if you do, but despite sounding like a late-night infomercial… you don’t have to endure that any longer!!!

When done right, whole wheat, and any whole grains for that matter, are absolutely delicious. Even my Wonder Bread-loving husband can attest to that. These healthy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are sure to please the pickiest eater. 

Love those whole grains!

If you’ve stopped by the blog before, you may have noticed I love, love, love whole grains. I mean, if I’m going to eat fresh pear cake or peach cobbler, I want all the fiber that goes with whole grains, so I can feel better about that fat slice for dessert. (Find my recipes for Fresh Pear Cake and Cast Iron Peach Cobbler!)

Our family started eating whole grains twelve years ago, when a friend did a mini bread workshop at her house. She went through the merits of not only eating whole grains, but also of milling those grains at home. Say what?? True story. We have a grain mill bought second-hand, and it has withstood massive amounts of grain milling since we’ve owned it.

I won’t go into all the details in this post, but freshly ground whole grains are more nutrient dense. (And they taste phenomenal, not heavy and bland like store-bought whole wheat items.) Flour begins to break down nutritionally within 24-48 hours after milling. (The Pleasant Hill Grain shop is a great place to look for grain mills. 

I’m not sure how long the bag of whole wheat flour has been sitting at the grocery store, but I know it wasn’t milled 24 hours ago. Most of the education I’ve received about whole grains has come from the awesome folks at The Bread Beckers.  I’ve heard them speak on several occasions, and I recently bought Sue Becker’s new Home Ground Flour book, and it totally rocks. Whole wheat pepperoni pizza roll anyone? My kids love it. I digress.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These healthy chocolate chip pumpkin muffins are an adaptation from a recipe I found eons ago on Moneysavingmom.com. We weren’t using whole grains at the time, but after we made the switch, I tried to convert as many recipes as I could. I obviously wanted to adapt it to be 100% whole wheat, as well as use less sugar and oil. The original recipe called for a whole cup of oil, yikes!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 16 oz can pureed pumpkin (or make your own in the Instant Pot!)
• 1/2 cup Oil (we use unrefined coconut oil)
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce (or make your own homemade applesauce in the Instant Pot!)
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (also called soft white wheat)
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 tsp baking powder aluminum-free
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg (or use my homemade pumpkin pie spice instead of the cinnamon and nutmeg.)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pumpkin Chocolate Muffin Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine eggs (beaten), sugar, pumpkin, oil, and applesauce in large bowl and stir until smooth. 

2. Add dry ingredients and mix until there are no flour “pockets” left. Do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips. 

3. Spoon batter into greased or lined muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool for several minutes in pan, then finish cooling on a rack. 

4. Store in airtight container and/or freeze to enjoy at a later time.

Pumpkin muffin substitutions

• Substitute sweet potato for the pumpkin.
• Leave out the chocolate chips for a less sweet (and perhaps more healthy) muffin.
• Swap out the sugar for coconut sugar to lower the glycemic impact and use Lily’s stevia-sweetened chocolate chips for even less sugar.
• Use all-purpose flour if you don’t have whole wheat.

Over the years, this recipe has become one of our favorites, even after all things pumpkin and fall have faded. You can even substitute sweet potato for the pumpkin when needed, and they’re delicious! So welcome in the fall season this year with these tasty and healthy muffins!

If you can’t eat them all in a few days, put the extra in the freezer and pull them out as needed. 30 seconds in the microwave gets them warm and steamy. The perfect accompaniment to a fresh cup of coffee. Enjoy!