These delicious muffins are the perfect way to use leftover sweet potatoes from dinner or special occasions like Thanksgiving.
Incredibly moist and tender, they're a hybrid of my cinnamon streusel muffins and sweet potato bread. With less than 30 minutes of prep time, these fluffy muffins make the perfect easy breakfast, brunch, or afternoon snack.
🧾 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make this easy muffin recipe:
Ingredient Notes
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Sweet Potatoes: Roasted sweet potatoes have an intense natural sweetness. You will need approximately 2 medium or 1 very large sweet potato.
- Non-Dairy Milk: This is mixed with apple cider vinegar to form a dairy-free buttermilk substitute and gives the muffins a fluffy texture. Soy milk works best, but you can use almond milk, oat milk, or even pea milk if needed.
- Vegan Yogurt: An egg replacer in vegan baking that keeps the muffins beautifully moist. I use Alpro Greek-style protein yogurt, but you can also use vegan sour cream or skyr.
- Pure Maple Syrup: Pure is key here, you don't want maple syrup blends that are laced with other syrups.
- Olive Oil: This is my go-to oil for baking, but you can also use vegetable oil such as canola oil or sunflower oil.
- Brown Sugar: For sweetness, moisture, and a wonderful caramelized flavor. You can also use coconut sugar.
- Ground Cinnamon: This enhances the fall flavors and adds warmth. You can also use pumpkin pie spice if you like!
🔪 Instructions
Here are step-by-step images showing how to make these easy sweet potato muffins. Please refer to the detailed printable recipe card at the end of this page for full measurements and written instructions:
Step 1: Add the roasted peeled sweet potato, vegan buttermilk, light brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, olive oil, and vanilla extract to a food processor. Blitz until smooth, then pour into a large mixing bowl.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 2 parts, and fold until there are no pockets or streaks of flour.
Step 3: Add the chopped pecans, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter to a medium bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients, resulting in a crumble consistency.
Step 4: Distribute the muffin batter amongst the muffin liners and fill them over the top for high muffin tops. Crumble some streusel topping on top of each muffin and bake.
Once the muffins have cooled completely, you can drizzle them with a quick and easy maple glaze like in these vegan pumpkin muffins.
💭 Expert Tips
Lightly grease the muffin pan to prevent the muffin tops from sticking to it.
Let the batter sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, this promotes gorgeous high muffin tops.
Leave a gap between each muffin cup, as you will only fill every second cavity to promote even baking.
Bake at high then reduce the temperature. Baking muffins at a high temperature for the first 5 minutes helps them rise incredibly tall. Just remember to turn down the heat for the remaining baking time!
💬 FAQs
Leftover muffins can be stored in an airtight container or ziplock bag at room temperature for 5 days, or in the fridge for up to a week.
Absolutely, pop any leftover sweet potato muffins into a ziplock bag and freeze them for up to a month. To defrost, let them sit at room temperature for a couple of hours before serving.
I haven't tried this recipe using gluten-free flour. That said, if you want to try them I would suggest a GF measure-for-measure AP flour blend such as King Arthur cup-for-cup. Single flour like almond flour or oat flour will not work.
🧁 More Vegan Muffins
📖 Recipe
Description
Ingredients
Muffins
- 350 g (12.35 oz) sweet potatoes, cooked, *see note 1
- 160 ml (⅔ cup) soy milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 160 g (¾ cup) light brown sugar
- 60 ml (¼ cup) pure maple syrup
- 120 g (½ cup) vegan Greek-style yogurt, *see note 2
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) olive oil, *see note 3
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 300 g (2 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Streusel Topping
- 50 g (½ cup) pecans, roughly chopped
- 25 g (3 tbsp + 1 teaspoon) all-purpose flour
- 25 g (2 tbsp) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 teaspoons vegan butter, room temperature
Maple Glaze (optional)
- 80 g (⅔ cup) powdered sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Roast the potatoes: Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F). Wrap the sweet potato/potatoes in foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes until softened. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. You can cook the sweet potato/potatoes a day in advance and store them in the fridge if you'd like to save time. I often pop them into the bottom of the oven while I have it on for cooking dinner!
- Prepare: To make the vegan "buttermilk" add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar to a medium bowl, stir, and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Blend wet ingredients: Once cooled, peel the sweet potato and weigh out the flesh - you need 350g. Add it to a food processor with the vegan buttermilk, light brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, olive oil, and vanilla. Blitz until smooth, then pour into a large mixing bowl.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a separate medium bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Make the batter: Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 2 parts, and fold until there are no pockets or streaks of flour. Do not be tempted to overmix!
- Rest the batter (optional): Let the batter sit at room temperature for 30 minutes - this promotes high muffin tops.
- Prepare the oven/pan: Preheat your oven to fan-forced 190°C(375°F) or conventional 210°C(410°F). Lightly grease the top of 2 muffin trays and line them with 10 muffin liners - leave a gap between each one as you will only fill every second cavity.
- Make the streusel topping: To a medium bowl, add the chopped pecans, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter, and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. You'll be left with a crumble consistency. Set aside in the fridge.
- Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, distribute the batter amongst the muffin liners and fill them over the top for high muffin tops. Crumble some streusel topping on top of each muffin.
- Bake at fan-forced 190°C/375°F or conventional 210°C/410°F for the first 5 mins. Then turn down the temperature to 170°C/340°F or conventional 190°C/375°F and continue to bake for another 15 minutes.Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes, then carefully lift them out of the tray and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool further for 30 minutes.
- Make the glaze: Mix together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until smooth. You can add more or less sugar depending on whether you want it runny or thicker. Drizzle the maple icing on top of the muffins once they have cooled.
- Storage: Place the muffins in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to a week. Let them sit at room temperature for an hour before serving if stored in the fridge.
Notes
- Sweet Potatoes: I use 2 medium raw unpeeled sweet potatoes (≈400g) which yield 350g after peeling and cooking.
- Greek-Style Yogurt: Sub with soy yogurt, vegan sour cream, or unsweetened applesauce.
- Olive Oil: Or neutral oil like canola (rapeseed oil) or sunflower oil.
Nutrition
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I saw this recipe in the morning and was very glad that I had just purchased two sweet potatoes the night before. I baked those and then got on to bakery-mode! We LOVE your Pistachio Muffins and were hoping that these would be in the same category. The muffins are DELICIOUS! Full of sweet potato flavor and really moist! I will be baking these again, and again, and again!
Hi Lisa,
I'm so happy you enjoyed them, thank you so much for your wonderful feedback!
Can you please confirm these ingredients: Thank you!
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
▢3 teaspoons baking powder
▢½ teaspoon baking powder
▢¼ teaspoon baking soda
Oh, thanks so much Lisa! It should be 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt, the list is updated now 🙂
Looks delicious Christina, I wondered how it will bake up as a loaf cake though and will I need to make any alterations other than the cooking time for these? (45-50 mins?)
Thank you as always! X
Thank you so much! I love this idea, I would suggest trying my sweet potato bread instead as it has all the right measurements etc for a loaf pan 🙂
https://addictedtodates.com/sweet-potato-bread/
Thank you! Xx