Protein Pumpkin & Pecan Muffins

Nutrition

Calories: 229kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 8g | Fiber: 5g

These protein muffins are the perfect pre-workout snack or fall breakfast! With the magic of TVP, they end up at 20% protein without protein powder! Also, they are so quick and easy to make!

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Servings 12

US CustomaryMetric

Ingredients

1/2x1x2x3x4x

US CustomaryMetric

• ▢ 2 cup TVP Textured Vegetable Protein
• ▢ 1 cup Pumpkin Puree
• ▢ 1 cup Flour
• ▢ 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup Soy Milk unsweetened
• ▢ 2 tbsp Ground Flax
• ▢ 1/2 cup Pecans chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips
• ▢ 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• ▢ 1 tsp Baking Powder
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Salt
• ▢ 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

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Instructions

 

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F (177 C).
• Mix 2 tablespoons of flax seeds with 6 tablespoons of water. Let sit for at least 5 minutes (This makes flax “egg” goo).
• In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin, brown sugar, milk, vanilla, and flax “egg” goo.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients – flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Once well combined, stir in TVP very well.
• Add dry ingredients slowly to wet ingredients and combine.
• Add chocolate chips and pecans.
• Evenly distribute the batter across all 12 (lined) muffin cup things on your muffin tray.
• Bake for 15 – 18 minutes. Will come out a little gooey (if you cook too long it will dry out); let sit for about 15 – 30 minutes and they will set up.

Equipment

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Muffin Tray

Notes

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Soy-free Option

• Use Textured Pea Protein (affiliate link) instead of TVP.
• Use a different non-dairy milk other than soy milk – this is mostly to add moisture so it doesn’t really matter which you use in this recipe.

Gluten-free Option

• Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour substitute (affiliate link); this is the one I’ve used and had success with.

Reduced Sugar Option

• Swap the light brown sugar with a 1:1 brown sugar replacement (affiliate link); I’ve had good luck with this monk fruit option!

My personal opinion is that TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) is way better than Protein Powder for adding protein to baked goods. It doesn’t have much of a flavor, so you aren’t left with that weird artificial sweetness, and the texture is similar to baked oats which is (imo) way better than the gritty texture of protein powder. Baking with TVP is actually really easy. I use it dry and just make sure to add enough wet ingredients, like pumpkin puree, smooshed bananas, vegan Greek yogurt, etc., that it softens during the baking process.

If you have a soy-intolerance, this recipe is still for you! They make something called TPP, which just Textured Pea Protein. It tastes about the same as TVP, and can be used the same way as well. You would also need to use a different non-dairy milk!

If you’re looking at this Protein Pumpkin and Pecan Muffin recipe and you’re not in a Fall mood, you should check out these Protein Blueberry Muffins instead!

Ingredients

• TVP – Textured Vegetable Protein – is a shelf-stable vegan protein that you can find at most grocery stores near the gluten-free flour options. You can also buy it online. Many recipes you’ll see will soak the TVP first, but we are using it dry! If you’re soy intolerant, use TPP instead – it’s Textured Pea Protein and it works the same as TVP. I haven’t been able to find it in stores near me, but you can buy it online!
• Flour – I used all-purpose flour, but if you are gluten-intolerant, swap this out with your favorite gluten-free flour! I haven’t made these gluten-free before, so I can’t offer recommendations. If you happen to make these gluten-free, I’d love to hear what you did in the comments!
• Vegan Chocolate Chips – my preferred chocolate chips are the Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips, but you can use your favorite! I like the mini chocolate chips because you get a little bit of chocolate in each bite!
• Chopped Pecans – I think pecans taste really good with the other flavors we’re using. If you have a nut allergy, you can definitely omit this ingredient and you’ll still get a taste muffin!
• Baking Soda and Baking Powder – I think these are must-haves if you want muffins with a nice fluffy texture (not using these could result in much more dense muffins).
• Cinnamon, Pumpkin Pie Spice.
• Salt – adjust to taste.

• Pumpkin Puree – I used canned pumpkin puree, but you could also use fresh! I think sweet potato puree could also work equally nice!
• Brown Sugar – I used brown sugar for this recipe, but I think white sugar would be fine too if you don’t have brown. If you’re trying to reduce your sugar intake, you may be able to sub this for a sugar alternative or maybe sweetened protein powder. I haven’t made these with reduced sugar before, so if you do, please let me know what you did and how they turned out!
• Soy Milk – this is my go-to vegan milk! You could use another non-dairy milk (if you’re soy-intolerant, for instance) since this is mostly just being used to add moisture to the TVP.
• Vanilla extract.

Ground Flax Seed – this is what we’re using for our egg substitute. It’s super cheap, and easy to find at nearly any store! It’s easy to use too – we just add water and wait five minutes – instant vegan egg replacement!

Directions

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 F (177 C).
• In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds with 6 tablespoons of water. Let this sit for at least five minutes. Now we have flax goo!

• Chop the pecans (if you bought chopped pecans, you’re smarter than me – skip this step!)
• In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, soy milk, vanilla extract and the flax goo. These are our “wet” ingredients.

• In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients – flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Once well mixed, stir in the dry TVP. We do not re-hydrate the TVP in this recipe beforehand. The wet ingredients will moisten it in the batter. The reason we mix the dry ingredients separately is to ensure that the smaller amount ingredients like spices, baking soda and baking powder get well mixed throughout the muffin batter.

• Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients, and mix well.
• Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.

• Evenly distribute the batter across all 12 (lined) muffin cup things on your muffin tray. You could also use silicone muffin molds; they even make fun shaped ones!

• Bake for 12 – 15 minutes.
• These will come out slightly gooey – if you cook for too long to where you are passing the toothpick test, you will end up with dry muffins that I don’t think you’ll like very much.
• Let the muffins sit for 15 – 30 minutes and they will set up

Silly Little Haiku

Chocolate and protein

Buffins are muffins but protein

I think I’ll eat five