Cake Mix Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin season is here again, which means the base of this recipe will be popping up all over the internet in the next few weeks. It's called  "Easy Pumpkin Muffins", "Cake Mix Pumpkin Muffins", or "Two Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins", and people swear by it.  I'll admit, I was curious.  Two ingredients for delicious muffins?  Sounded too good to be true...

It was.

I made the muffins, and even before popping them in the oven, I knew they weren't right.  The batter was thick. Really thick.

One recipe barely made 12 muffins, and after they came out of the oven, they didn't even look like muffins.  They looked pretty much the same as the batter did before baking.

I'll admit, they were tasty, but they weren't muffins.  I missed the tender crumble of a muffin, the lovely domed top that says "Hi! I am not a cupcake or a mini tart. I am a muffin!"

So I did something radical.  I added a third ingredient to "Two Ingredient Muffins". I know, I know, it seems crazy, like that would defeat the purpose of even attempting to make Two Ingredient Muffins.

I just couldn't help myself; they needed help.  Oh, and the third ingredient? Water.

It's just plain ol' water.

Adding much-needed water to this famous quick and dirty muffin recipe makes them larger, lighter, fluffier, and more moist, all with less calories than the original AND you get an extra six muffins out of the recipe.

Three Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins Were Born

Let's go over that one more time:  Adding a (nearly) free ingredient that you already have in your house makes these muffins LARGER and makes them have have FEWER CALORIES each and you can even get more muffins for your baking troubles!

It also makes them much, much prettier.  You look at these babies and you're like, "Those are muffins".

Even my reluctant-to-use-shortcuts self had to admit they were awesome, and substituting 18 ounces of my homemade Yellow Cake Mix and two tablespoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice for the pre-made Spice Cake Mix is a great way to know exactly what is going in to your muffins.

Other Pumpkin Recipes:

• Pumpkin Coffee Cake
• Pumpkin Gnocchi
• Pumpkin Pinwheels

Better Easy Pumpkin Muffins

My secret ingredient makes these Easy Pumpkin Muffins actually taste and look like muffins, and I guarantee you already have it in your kitchen.

4.75 from 8 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast, Muffin

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 28 minutes

Servings: 18 muffins

Author: Basil and Bubbly

Ingredients

• 1 box 18 oz Spice Cake Mix
• 1 can 15 oz pureed pumpkin
• ¼ cup of water

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix all ingredients until combined and smooth.
• Grease ( or put cupcake liners in ) your cupcake pans.
• Equally distribute the batter between 18 cupcake wells.
• Bake for 25 minutes.

Tried this recipe?Mention @basilandbubbly or tag #basilandbubbly!