A few weeks ago, my boy and I went up to Maine to visit my family and peep some Fall foliage (that we sadly don’t get here on Nantucket-our fall is mostly lovely shades of brown brown and brown thanks to scrub oak forests). For some reason we did not get to go apple picking (I know…) but we loaded the car with farm goodies on our way home, including some beautiful Maine grown sweet potatoes. They sat looking pretty in the the potato basket for a time until last week when I went sweet potato crazy, making these scrumptious muffins and also some super delicious 3-Ingredient Sweet Potato Gnocchi, which will be coming to the blog soon.
But let’s talk about these muffins, shall we? Sweet potato not only gives them a wonderful rich flavor but also ensures the muffins have a perfectly moist texture and crumb. You could also swap the sweet potato with roasted pumpkin for the same effect. Laden with fragrant warming spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger and vanilla, these are a welcome addition to our fall breakfasts and Iley’s school lunches. Lets’ be honest though, the thing that makes these real winners is that pecan streusel topping, amiright? Like seriously, can’t everything have some streusel on it?
These are pretty easy to throw together, and if you’re roasting sweet potatoes for dinner, make sure to do some extra for these muffins. You could freeze the mashed sweet potato in 2/3 cup portions to have ready to go for these muffins whenever you get the hankering–think lazy Sunday mornings.
More Delicious Easy Muffins and Quick-Breads
- Easy Vegan Pumpkin Muffins Recipe
- Vegan Wild Blueberry & Huckleberry Muffins
- Easy Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Pecan Muffins Recipe
- Recipe: Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Wheat Bran Crumb Top Muffins
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread Recipe – Vegan Option
- Guinness Brown Bread
- Olive Oil Honey Cake – Vegan Friendly
- Wild Elderflower Honey Lemon Drizzle Cake – Vegan Friendly
Easy Vegan Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe with Pecan Streusel
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 lb sweet potato becomes about 2/3 cup when cooked and mashed
- 210 g all-purpose flour 1-1/2 cup, or whole wheat pastry flour
- 50 g whole cane sugar 1/4 cup, or brown sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1-1/2 teaspoon flax meal
- 120 g unsweetened non-dairy milk 1/2 cup, such as soy milk or almond milk
- 170 g maple syrup 1/2 cup
- 50 g extra light olive oil 1/4 cup, or any neutral cooking oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
Streusel Topping
- 35 g all-purpose flour 1/4 cup, or whole wheat pastry flour
- 50 g whole cane sugar 1/4 cup, or brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter or shortening
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt omit if butter is salted
- 55 g chopped pecans 1/2 cup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425˚F and bake sweet potato with skin on (with tin foil underneath sweet potato to catch juices and drippings) until fork tender, about 20-30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and when it is cool enough to touch, remove skin and mash sweet potato with a fork. Set aside.
- Reduce oven temperature to 400˚F and grease a standard 12 portion muffin tin with vegan shortening or coconut oil.
- Whisk to combine flour, rapadura sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a mixing bowl.
- Whisk milk and flax meal together until frothy, then whisk in maple syrup, oil, mashed sweet potato and vanilla until evenly combined. Keep wet and dry mixtures separate while you prepare the streusel topping.
- Combine struesel topping ingredients together with fingers into a crumbly texture with lumps. Set aside to top muffins.
- Add wet mixture to dry and stir with a rubber spatula until evenly combined. Do not overmix. Divide batter evenly into the muffin tin. Top each muffin with a spoonful of struesel topping.
- Bake at 400˚F for 20 minutes. Tops should be golden brown and toothpick inserted into centers of muffins should come out clean.
- When done remove muffin tin from oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of muffins and release them from the pan, and allow them to cool to room temperature on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Notes
- Muffins will keep covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- To save time, you can roast and mash sweet potatoes in a larger quantity ahead of time, and freeze them in 2/3 cup portions to defrost and use at a later time. Measure out mashed sweet potato into 2/3 cup portions and freeze on a parchment lined sheet until solid, then transfer sweet potato portions to freezer safe containers or bags.
- You can swap sweet potato for pie pumpkin or buttercup squash. Remove seeds and roast until fork tender, scoop out and mash flesh with a fork. Use the same 2/3 cup measurement for the recipe.
- You can also replace the sweet potato with canned pumpkin puree.
Kaity Farrell
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