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These easy 2-Ingredient Pumpkin Spice Cake Mix Muffins are made with nothing more than a box of spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree. Moist, warmly spiced and surprisingly satisfying, they’re a longtime Weight Watchers favorite for good reason.

No eggs. No oil. No butter. Just stir together the cake mix and pumpkin, spoon the thick batter into your muffin pan and bake.

I’ve been making these easy pumpkin muffins for years, and they continue to be one of our most popular Weight Watchers recipes.

And I understand why.

They’re inexpensive, easy to keep on hand, freezer-friendly and endlessly adaptable. Make them plain or add a few mini chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, cinnamon chips or chopped nuts.

You can also make them as mini muffins, regular muffins, cupcakes, a loaf or even a simple pumpkin cake.

For a two-ingredient recipe, there’s a lot you can do with it.

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Fresh baked pumpkin spice cake mix mini muffins on small ceramic plate with two small pumpkins in the background.
Fresh baked pumpkin spice cake mix mini muffins

Why You’ll Love These Pumpkin Spice Cake Mix Muffins

  • Just 2 ingredients. All you need is a box of spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree.
  • Quick and easy. No mixer required—just stir, scoop and bake.
  • Moist and flavorful. Pumpkin keeps the muffins tender while the spice cake mix provides plenty of warm fall flavor.
  • Easy to customize. Add mini chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, nuts or cinnamon chips, or enjoy them plain.
  • Freezer-friendly. Make a batch and stash some away for an easy grab-and-go treat.
  • A longtime WW favorite. There’s a reason this simple recipe has remained popular with Weight Watchers members for so many years.

Ingredients

You need just two basic ingredients to make these easy pumpkin muffins:

Spice cake mix – A standard box of dry spice cake mix provides the flour, sugar, leavening and warm fall spices all in one.

Canned pumpkin puree – Be sure to use 100% pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling. You can also use homemade pumpkin puree.

Optional Additions

These muffins are delicious plain, but you can also add or sprinkle them with:

  • Mini chocolate chips
  • Raisins
  • Dried cranberries (Craisins)
  • Cinnamon chips
  • Chopped walnuts or pecans
  • A little icing or glaze
Assortment of plain and mini chocolate chip pumpkin spice cake mix muffins on wood serving platter.
Plain and mini chocolate chip pumpkin spice cake mix muffins

How to Make Mini Pumpkin Spice Cake Mix Muffins, Step-by-Step

Step 1: Gather and prepare all ingredients

Ingredients including box of Duncan Hines spice cake mix and can of organic pumpkin puree on granite.
Ready to make mini pumpkin spice muffins

Step 2: Preheat your oven and prepare your baking pans

Preheat oven to 400F degrees line 24 mini muffin cups with paper liners or lightly coat muffin tin with nonstick baking spray.

Step 3: Combine the Cake Mix and Pumpkin

In a large mixing bowl (affiliate link), stir together the cake mix and pumpkin puree. This will take some effort and the mixture will be very, very thick. (I gradually sifted in the cake mix which made the stirring a little easier.) Stir in any optional mix-ins.

Mixing spice cake mix and pumpkin puree in large mixing bowl with spoon.
Stir the pumpkin puree and spice cake mix until thoroughly combined

Step 4: Fill the muffin cups

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared mini muffin cups. Top with any optional toppings and gently press into the batter.

Mini muffin tin with unbaked pumpkin spice cake mix muffins - half plain and half topped with miniature chocolate chips.
Divide batter among prepared 24-cup mini muffin pan

Step 5: Bake

Bake at 400F degrees, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 10-12 minutes for mini muffins.

Step 6: Cool your baked muffins

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a minute or two in the pan before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin spice cake mix muffins cooling in wire rack.
Remove muffins from pan and cool on wire rack

Step 7: Store your muffins

Store any leftover mini muffins in an airtight container.

Plain and chocolate chip mini pumpkin spice muffins on small ceramic plate.
Mini pumpkin spice cake mix muffins

Recipe Notes, Variations & Substitutions

Make regular-size muffins: You can divide the batter among regular muffin cups instead. Baking time will need to be increased slightly, so bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Make 12 larger muffins: Divide the batter among 12 regular muffin cups for bigger, bakery-style muffins. Keep in mind that the calories and WW Points per muffin will be higher.

Make the tops prettier: Because the batter is so thick, the muffins can look a little rough on top. Smooth the batter with damp fingers before baking if you want a more even appearance.

Make pumpkin cupcakes: Add a small amount of icing or cream cheese frosting for a simple fall cupcake.

Make a cake or loaf: Spread the batter into a prepared cake or loaf pan (affiliate link) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The baking time will vary depending on the pan.

No spice cake mix? Use yellow cake mix and add about 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice. I’ve done this and it works great. Carrot cake mix would be another tasty option.

Add chocolate: Mini chocolate chips are especially good because you get little bits of chocolate throughout without needing very many.

Eight mini pumpkin spice cake mix muffins (half plain and half with miniature chocolate chips) on serving platter.
Mini chocolate chip and plain pumpkin spice cake mix muffins

Storing & Freezing Pumpkin Muffins

Store leftover muffins in an airtight container. Because pumpkin keeps them quite moist, I like to refrigerate them if they’ll be around for more than a couple of days.

They also freeze beautifully.

Let the muffins cool completely, place them in a freezer-safe container or bag and freeze. Then pull out one or two whenever you want an easy breakfast, snack or little something sweet.

Assorted plain and chocolate chip pumpkin spice cake mix mini muffins on small blue platter.
Assorted plain and chocolate chip pumpkin spice cake mix mini muffins

How Many Calories and WW Points?

When made as 24 mini muffins, each muffin has approximately 90 calories.

To see your current WW Points for this recipe, track it in the WW App.

Because cake mixes vary by brand and formulation, your exact calories and Points may vary.

Historical Points reference: 2 PointsPlus per mini muffin on the old PointsPlus program.

If you want to lower the Points, you can substitute a sugar-free white or yellow cake mix for the spice cake mix and add your own spices:

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves or allspice

Or simply add 2 to 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.

Why This Old Weight Watchers Favorite Still Works

Recipes don’t get much simpler than this.

A box of cake mix. A can of pumpkin. One bowl.

And while these muffins have been floating around Weight Watchers circles for years, I think their staying power has less to do with being “diet food” and more to do with being genuinely useful.

They satisfy that desire for something sweet and pumpkin-spiced without requiring a sink full of dishes or a dozen ingredients.

Sometimes the simplest recipes really are the ones we return to again and again.

If you’ve made these low-fat Pumpkin Spice Cake Mix Mini Muffins, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.

3.99 from 295 votes

2-Ingredient Spice Cake Mix Mini Muffins Recipe

Simply delicious with only 2 Ingredients, these spice cake mini muffins are a huge hit every time I make them.
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 12 minutes
Total: 22 minutes
Servings: 24 muffins
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Ingredients 

  • 1 box (15 – 18 ounces) spice cake mix (I substituted a yellow cake mix with 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice whisked in)
  • 1 can (15 ounces) canned pumpkin puree

Optional Mix-ins and toppings:

  • mini chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, chopped raisins or dried cranberries, cinnamon chips, icing, etc.

Instructions 

  • Position an oven rack in the center of the oven.
  • For mini muffins, preheat the oven to 400F degrees and line 24 mini muffin cups with paper liners or coat them with non-stick spray. (You can also use regular muffin tins for smallish regular muffins.)
  • Make the batter in a large bowl by mixing just the two ingredients together, ignoring the instructions on the cake mix. This will take some effort and the mixture will be very very thick!
  • Divide the batter evenly among the mini muffin cup tins.
  • Bake at 400F degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 10- 12 minutes for the mini-muffins.
  • Remove and place on wire racks to cool.

Notes

Serving size: 1 pumpkin spice cake mix mini muffin
WW Points: 4
Check the WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app.
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
2 PointsPlus (Old plan)
This time I decided to make mini muffins, dividing the batter among 24 mini muffin cups. If you don’t have mini muffin tins, divide the batter among 24 regular muffin cups to keep the WW Points at 4.
Or you can make bigger Pumpkin Spice Cake Mix Muffins by using all the batter to make 12 regular size muffins. In this case, each regular size muffin would have 4 PointsPlus and 7 WW Points.
Turn them into kid-friendly cupcakes with a little icing.
Fill muffin cups using a small ice cream scoop for more uniform looking muffins. I used two spoons and since the batter is very thick, my muffins didn’t turn out as smooth on top—but they still tasted great!
You could also spread the mixture into a cake or loaf pan and just adjust your baking time, cooking until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
This is a very flexible recipe so go ahead and experiment.
The last time I made it I didn’t have spice cake mix, so I used a yellow cake mix with 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice whisked into it which worked great too. Which is what Katie Lee did on the Today Show Thanksgiving Morning to make this quick pumpkin cake. Carrot cake mix would also work well.

Nutrition

Serving: 1mini muffin, Calories: 90kcal, Carbohydrates: 18g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 1.6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 142mg, Potassium: 110mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 2757IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 25mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Tried this recipe?Mention @simplenourishedliving or tag #simplenourishedliving!

Here’s a great video from Hungry Girl showing How to Make these Pumpkin Spice Cake Muffins…

More Easy WW-Friendly Baked Treats

If you enjoyed these easy pumpkin spice cake mix muffins, you might also like:

Discover More WW-Friendly Recipes

Make dinnertime and dessert easier with my Slow Cook Yourself Slim Ultimate eBook Bundle. It’s packed with simple, satisfying WW-friendly recipes designed for busy cooks who love comfort food without the guilt.

About Martha McKinnon

Weight Watchers Lifetime Member, Yoga Practitioner and Blogger who loves to share her passion for trying to create a happy, healthy, balanced life in what often feels like an overwhelming out of control world.

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3.99 from 295 votes (269 ratings without comment)

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113 Comments

  1. I put the ingredients into the recipe maker and I ended up with 9 pts per muffin if I made 12 muffins. What spice cake mix did you use? I used Dunkin Hines Signature Spice Cake mix.

  2. When I added the recipe in using Duncan Hines Spice cake mix, it shows there only 1 point in a serving of 12 regular muffins… is that right?

  3. 5 stars
    These muffins are delicious and so moist. I took them to a family gathering, and everyone who likes pumpkin, thought they were scrumptious. Another perk: they are easy to make!

  4. I just joined weight watchers yesterday so I’m still learning. I used my app and scanned 1 box of the spice cake mix, and 1 can of the Libby pumpkin 15 oz. I created the recipe on the app and set the serving to 48 muffins. I was able to make 2 pans of 24 mini muffins. According to the app they are zero points.

    Do you know what I did wrong?

    1. Hi. Was just looking at the info on the cake mix and pumpkin and was going to ask how she came up with 90 calories each? Also I had enough batter to make 48 as well. According to my calculations at a yield of 48 minis it would be only 38.3 calories each. That’s great news in my opinion!