High-Protein Pumpkin Muffins (No Protein Powder)

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My husband is constantly amazed by my ability to look into a nearly empty fridge and somehow produce a high-protein meal.

To be fair, so am I.

This particular day, I had a cup of frozen pumpkin, a carton of egg whites, some cottage cheese that needed to be used, and a dream.

And somehow, we got muffins.

Not sad "healthy" muffins, either. These are soft, pumpkin-spiced, topped with a sweet cottage cheese glaze, and pack about 12 grams of protein per serving without a single scoop of protein powder.

Because listen, I love protein powder. But sometimes I want a muffin to taste like a muffin and not like I mixed cake batter with drywall.

These high-protein pumpkin muffins get all that protein naturally from cottage cheese and egg whites, with oat flour giving them some actual substance. They're easy, meal-prep friendly, and they pair perfectly with my High Protein Chai Latte.

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The Best Part: No Protein Powder

There are approximately 47 billion high-protein muffin recipes on the internet, and most of them start with:

"Add two scoops of your favorite vanilla protein powder..." We're not doing that today.

The protein here comes primarily from egg whites and cottage cheese, including cottage cheese in the glaze.

That means you get a high-protein breakfast or snack without the chalky texture protein powder can sometimes give baked goods.

Each serving comes in at approximately:

162 calories | 12.6g protein. Including the glaze.

Not bad for something invented because I needed to clean out my freezer.

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Muffins

• 1 ¼ cups egg whites

• 1 ¼ cups pumpkin puree

• 1 ½ cups cottage cheese

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 2 ½ cups oat flour

• ⅔ cup sweetener of choice — I used brown sugar stevia

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ginger

• ½ teaspoon cardamom OR nutmeg

• Coconut oil spray

For the High-Protein Cottage Cheese Glaze

• 1 cup cottage cheese

• ½ cup brown sugar stevia or sweetener of choice

• Cinnamon, to taste

• Vanilla, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven.

Preheat your oven to 375°F and spray your muffin tin with coconut oil (these are my favorite pans!)

2. Mix the dry ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine the oat flour, sweetener, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom or nutmeg.

3. Blend the cottage cheese and egg whites.

Add 1 ½ cups cottage cheese and 1 ¼ cups egg whites to a Ninja blender cup or high-powered blender. Blend until completely smooth.

Don't skip this. We're making pumpkin muffins, not scrambled eggs with aspirations.

4. Make your batter.

Pour the cottage cheese mixture into the dry ingredients.

Add the pumpkin and vanilla and stir everything together until smooth.

5. Fill your muffin tin.

Divide the batter between your prepared muffin cups, filling them approximately halfway.

Depending on your muffin tin and how generously you fill it, you should get about 10 servings.

6. Bake.

Bake at 375°F for about 20 minutes, or until the muffins are set.

NOW LEAVE THEM ALONE

I cannot emphasize this enough.

Do not eat one directly out of the oven and then come yell at me.

Because these muffins get so much of their protein from egg whites and cottage cheese, they're a little eggy while they're warm. They need to cool for at least one hour.

Better yet, put them in the refrigerator and let them get actually chilled.

The texture gets denser, softer, and much more muffin-like once they're chilled. I genuinely think these are best eaten straight from the fridge.

Patience. I know. Horrible.

Make the Cottage Cheese Protein Glaze

Add 1 cup cottage cheese, ½ cup brown sugar stevia, cinnamon, and vanilla to your blender.

Blend until completely smooth and creamy.

That's it.

No powdered sugar. No cream cheese. No protein powder.

Once the muffins are completely cooled, spread the glaze over the tops. Keep them refrigerated and enjoy them cold.

Approximate Nutrition

Using typical nutrition information for 2% cottage cheese, liquid egg whites, canned pumpkin, oat flour, and a low/zero-calorie brown sugar stevia:

Entire Recipe

~1,620 calories~126g protein

Per Serving — 10 Servings

~162 calories~12.6g protein

Exact macros will depend on the brands you use.

I think my favorite thing about these is that there's nothing particularly "fitness recipe" about eating them. There's no protein powder. There's no weird protein frosting concoction. You don't have to pretend a scoop of vanilla whey mixed with water is icing.

It's just pumpkin, cottage cheese, egg whites, oat flour, fall spices, and sweetener.

Blend. Mix. Bake. Chill.