Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins

• servings: 24-27 servings
• active time: 20 minutes
• total time: 38 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups (456 g)pumpkin puree, canned or homemade (see note)**15 oz can =425g

1 cup (227 g) sourdough starter, unfed/discard (see note)

1 cup (212 g)granulated sugar

1/2 cup (98 g) neutral-flavored oil like canola or vegetable or unsalted melted butter or coconut oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups (284 g) all-purpose or whole wheat flour (see note)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda **

1 teaspoon table salt

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350**degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sourdough starter, granulated sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until well-combined.

Add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips (if using) and mix until just combined and no dry streaks remain. Don't over mix.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling the muffin cups 3/4 full. If desired, sprinkle a few regular or mini chocolate chips on top of the muffins.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops spring back lightly to the touch and/or a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

Notes

**10/2025: add 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger , 1/8 tsp ground cloves, reduce baking soda by 1/8 tsp for altitude. Sprinkle coarse sugar & cinnamon over tops if not using chocolate chips. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes, then reduce to 375 for 7-10 minutes for better rise. It made 27muffins.

Mel lives in Idaho but altitude only 2500. The only adjustment I made was reducing soda.

Pumpkin Puree: make sure to use single ingredient pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. If using homemade pumpkin puree, you might want/need to drain excess liquid before using as homemade pumpkin puree tends to be more watery than canned pumpkin.

Sourdough Starter: this recipe calls for unfed sourdough starter (also known as discard). I have not tried it using recently fed sourdough starter – my guess is that will work fine as well.

Whole Wheat Flour: whole wheat flour works well in these muffins (as does 50/50 white flour and whole wheat flour). I have only ever used white whole wheat flour. Different varieties of whole wheat will produce different results (for instance, red whole wheat is a bit more dense and heavy in baked goods).

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 muffin
• Calories: 138 kcal
• Total Fat: 5 g
• Saturated Fat: 1 g
• Cholesterol: 23 mg
• Sodium: 211 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 20 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Total Sugars: 9 g
• Protein: 2 g