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These healthy sweet potato muffins are gluten-free and so easy to make, plus they are made with simple ingredients like oatmeal and chocolate chips. An easy breakfast recipe that can be prepped ahead, too!
If you haven’t noticed by now, one of my favorite hobbies is sneaking veggies into my baked goods. It brings me so much joy because most of the time no one even knows there are veggies in there. Zucchini? I got it into brownies, muffins, and bread.
Now it’s sweet potato’s turn and I’m making some of the most delicious sweet potato muffins you’re going to ever have.
These muffins are the best muffin recipe on this blog because they are so incredibly fluffy and soft. Many gluten free muffin recipes can be dense and heavy but the oatmeal in these muffins is what causes them to be extremely light and fluffy. Trust us on this one.
One of the best parts is that leftover roasted sweet potatoes made this recipe come together in no time. It also no longer leaves you wondering what to do with all of those leftover sweet potatoes after Thanksgiving!
You can also peel and steam sweet potatoes for this recipe, or you can even buy canned sweet potato puree! Whatever floats your boat.
I love cooking with sweet potatoes and wanted to share my Sweet Potato Egg Breakfast Casserole that goes great with these muffins.
Are sweet potato muffins good for you?
These sweet potato muffins are made with some seriously healthy ingredients so don’t feel bad about having one or two for breakfast every day.
First of, sweet potatoes are a nutrition powerhouse. They are packed with beta-carotene which helps with vision and is converted in Vitamin A in the body. They also are an incredible source of fiber, which let’s be honest, we always can use a little extra fiber in our diets.
Ingredients in muffins
The base is made up of ground oatmeal, aka oat flour, and only made with a handful of other ingredients.
Not only are they gluten free (if you use certified gluten free oats or oat flour), but they are made with healthy fats from coconut oil, natural sweetener from the maple syrup, and protein from the eggs.
How to make sweet potato muffins
These sweet potato muffins are so easy to make. You’ll want to start by making homemade oat flour which is way easier than it sounds. No fancy mills or grinding machines here, all you need is a blender!
Just throw some oats into a blender and pulse for 10 seconds or so until your oats are finely ground into a flour. Always measure the amount of oats that you need after you’ve ground your oats up because the measurement can change.
Put the oat flour aside and whisk together your eggs, oil, mashed sweet potato, maple syrup, and vanilla until well combined.
In another bowl, mix together the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until completely combined. Then add in any mix-ins you want! I love adding in chocolate chips or pecans into my sweet potato muffins. I even save some to put on top!
Pour batter into a lined and greased muffin tin, top with a little extra chocolate and crushed nuts if desired and bake!
How to store sweet potato muffins
Yes, you can freeze sweet potato muffins! Meal prep these ahead of time. Then stick in the freezer and pull them out as needed. Perfect for busy people.
Individually wrap each muffin in saran wrap for easy take out, or just place them all in an air tight container. Let defrost on the counter until you are ready to eat and they completely thaw (about one hour).
If you make this recipe, be sure to comment below and let me know how it was! Also tag @erinliveswhole on Instagram and use the hashtag #erinliveswhole so I can see it and feature you!
If you liked this recipe, you’ll want to try these!
Healthy Sweet Potato Muffins
These healthy sweet potato muffins are gluten-free and so easy to make, plus they are made with simple ingredients like oatmeal and chocolate chips. An easy breakfast recipe that can be prepped ahead, too!
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed sweet potato (cooked by either roasting or steamed, then cooled)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups homemade oat flour (measured after grinding in blender)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Optional: chocolate chips and chopped pecans – about 1 cup each.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with liners and nonstick spray.
- Make homemade oat flour by grinding oatmeal in a blender, measuring after blended.
- In a large bowl, whisk mashed sweet potato, coconut oil, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla until well combined.
- In a small bowl, mix oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until combined.
- Pour into muffin tin and bake for about 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Enjoy!
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Marge Teilhaber says
I’m shocked at how much I love these muffins. Sweet potatoes, healthy as they are, are too sweet for me. And add chocolate chips? No way!!! Again, too sweet! Well, I was wrong!!! These muffins are fabulous and really need the chips. The sweetness of the potatoes seems to plummet. The muffins are completely not sweet potatoey!
MY TWEAKS:
1. No way was I going to dump 1/2C oil into the bowl. 1/2C DIY applesauce made with one ingredient — unpeeled apples — is perfect.
2. I used 2 flax eggs and saved my eggs for an omelet.
3. added 1/2C dark chocolate chips
4. added 1C toasted chopped pecans
5. added a splash of organic full-fat half & half to loosen the batter and get it to blend better. If none in the house, DIY unfiltered oat milk will be fine.
The only change I’ll make next time is add 1/2C cacao nibs for the crunch and nutrition.
I peeled & trimmed 3 or 4 sweet potatoes and cooked in IP. 20 ounces total. Half is in refrigerator for the next batch that I’ll make probably tomorrow, so 10 ounces per batch, which is a very generously packed 1 cup. I’d go up to 12 ounces per batch.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Marge, I am so glad you enjoyed them and made them your own! 🙂
Cyndi Klose says
These are my favorite muffin receipt from ELW. Moist and delicious. Have made them several times and they have been fantastic every time.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Cyndi, I am so happy you enjoyed them! Thanks for sharing!!
Gaby Bastidas says
These are sooo good. Followed the recipe pretty much exactly ( except i added a little bit more mashed sweet p and a little bit more oat flour because I had a bit extra) and they turned out so soft, moist, and fluffy. I also used honey instead of maple syrup and butter instead of coconut oil. I think the oil is necessary to keep them moist and also adds a bit of richness (everyone, add the oil. 1/2 cup for 12 muffins is not excessive). Next time, i will add more spices because I feel like the cinnamon is a bit subtle. I recommend adding nutmeg and ginger or even pumpkin pie spice.
They turned out so good though. Not super sweet which is perfect for me since im not of a fan of super sugary things.
Erin says
Hi Gaby, so glad you loved the muffins!! Thanks for sharing!
Sophia F says
Could I substitute coconut oil with applesauce?
Erin says
Hi Sophia, I haven’t tested that substitution yet. Feel free and let me know how they come out!
Marge Teilhaber says
1/2 C of oil seems excessive so I’ll sub 1/2C apple sauce since it seems to be not as sweet as I assumed it would be from the sweet potato.
★★★★★
Frogmountain says
Made these last night and they came out great! Moist, sweet with perfect texture. Used leftover sweet potato mash from Christmas. I couldn’t be bothered to make oat flour, so I used half all purpose flour and half old fashioned oats. Used a bit more maple syrup, about 1/2 c, to make them sweeter and to loosen up the consistency. Baked in mini muffin trays with plenty of spray but no liners. They came out perfect. The coconut oil did want to resolidify during the mixing process but I beat it as best I could before adding the dry ingredients. Next time I might try using room temp eggs and syrup.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi, thanks for sharing! I am so glad you enjoyed it and made them your own!!
Pia says
Sooo yummy! Perfect recipe, works a treat!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Pia, thanks for sharing!!
Suzi says
😋
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Suzi, so glad you enjoyed them!
Monica says
So good! I swapped honey for maple, added 1/4c of PB, 1/4tsp nutmeg, coconut shreds + chocolate chips. I also made it into a loaf since I didn’t have muffin liners. Delicious! I think next time I’ll cut a bit of the honey amount since I added the pb. Hopefully they’ll be equally as delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Erin says
Hi Monica, so happy you made them your own and enjoyed it as a loaf!
Jeff Ediger says
Easy…tasty…a big hit at brunch. My mix-in – raisins.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Jeff, I am so happy you enjoyed them! 🙂
Rosalina Garcia says
Hi Erin. Yes I made. Added raisins and chopped nuts. Used pumpkin pie spice. Found them not to have much flavor. Will make again and add more spice and vanilla. Overall I liked because right now I’m on a restricted diet. Love to bake, have a sweet tooth, but don’t like too sweet stuff. This is a healthy alternative to the over sweet muffins sold. Will continue to tweak recipe.
Erin says
Hi Rosalina, thanks for letting me know! It never hurts to add more spice and vanilla as long as it isn’t too overpowering for you.
Christine says
I’ve made these multiple times with sweet potato and pumpkin and love both! I add extra cinnamon and nutmeg. I love having a healthy fall muffin recipe that’s not loaded with sugar. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Christine, I am so glad you enjoyed them so much!
Audra says
Mine took a lot longer to bake (27-30 minutes) and the tops were a bit crumbly. They aren’t super sweet, so I’m glad I added the chocolate chips. I bet a brown sugar with chopped nuts topping would be awesome on it. I prepped a double batch to freeze almost all of them, and I’m glad to have something for breakfast in my freezer for the future!
★★★★
Gaby Bastidas says
Very good!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Gaby, so glad you liked them!
Linda says
Hi Erin! Can the oat flour be substituted for almond flour?
Erin says
Hi Linda, yes that should be fine! Just check the ratio because not all flours are 1:1. Let me know how they come out!
Jess says
These were very good!! I did do some things different. My husband has an egg allergy so I substituted a flax egg for each regular egg. If he wasn’t having some I would have left the eggs in. I doubled the recipe (because we have a large family) and did half coconut oil and half palm oil. I also substituted coconut sugar for the maple syrup in exact amounts because I have gestational diabetes and hoped it would be lower GI). Muffins were dense and didn’t really rise (but I filled each tin to the top expecting that), but I thought they were delicious!! Definitely something we would make again and again! I’m sure the recipe is perfect as written, but just left ing those who have allergies or need to make adaptations know what worked for me!
Erin says
Hi Jess, thank you so much for sharing! I am so happy you were able to adapt the recipe for your family and enjoyed the muffins!! 🙂
Julia says
Hi! This sounds delicious! Do you think this recipe would be fine as a bread, too? I don’t have a muffin tin! 🙂 Thanks!
Erin says
Hi Julia, thank you and yes of course! Let me know how it comes out!
Patty says
I want to try these, they look delicious! Do you think I can replace the oat flour with almond flour? I’m allergic to oats…
Erin says
HiPatty!
Try this recipe: https://www.erinliveswhole.com/healthy-sweet-potato-muffins/
It uses oat flour!
Mady says
These are awesome! I made them as mini-muffins for hiking snacks for my 3 little kids. I added mini chocolate chips and nutmeg for more flavor. The kids just loved them, and they got us through a big day! Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Mady, I’m so glad you and your kids like the muffins and made them your own. 🙂
Teena says
Tried these today for my 5 yo who was getting bored of the cold sandwiches for his school lunches. Wanted to bake something healthy to satisfy the Mommy in me and interest the child in him too. This hit the mark. The best part is that he doesn’t like sweet potatoes at all, says yukk. And now he’s relishing these muffins with “yum yum in my tum tum”. 😊
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Love and Light
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Teena! I am so happy that he likes them!! Thanks for your kind words! 🙂
Kelly says
Made these today and they were so good! They were moist and well risen. I recommend adding in both the chocolate chips and pecans. To give it a little more fall flavoring and spice, I added extra cinnamon as well as nutmeg, ground clove, and allspice. Would definitely make these again!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Kelly! Thanks for the kind words! I am so happy you enjoyed the muffins and made them your own!
Donna Personeus says
Can almond flour be used in place of the oats?
Erin says
Hi Donna, yes that should work. Let me know how they come out!
Bethany says
These are delicious! One question, though. Maple syrup is a bit out of my price range, so I substituted slightly less sugar than it called for plus a splash of maple flavoring. The only other substitution was raisins instead of chocolate chips.
My muffins are incredibly tasty, but they crumble as soon as I bite into one. I think it might have been the syrup substitution. Any suggestions?
Erin says
If you used less than the required amount, that would alter the recipe. You need the amount of moisture stated.
Yol says
Great recipe! The muffins were moist and very tasty.
I plan to make another batch tomorrow morning. Something to look forward to!!!
Thank you Erin!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Yol! Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so happy you love the muffins!!
Connie says
I followed the recipe to a T and the muffins are crumbly. Do you know what would cause that? They are tasty though.
★★★★
Erin says
Hi Connie, hm, that’s weird! Could be the amount of oat flour if you really packed it in? But besides that, they should not be crumbly!
Teri says
My friend also made them and they were quite dry and crumbly
Erin says
Hi Teri, I’m sorry that your friend did not like the recipe! We’ve heard tons of good things about this one, bummed it didn’t work out for them.
mary says
Hi! My muffins collapsed quite a bit. The same thing happened with banana bread I made from this site. Still tastes great, and it is cooked all the way through. Any suggestions for adjustment?
Erin says
have you checked to make sure your levening agents arent expired?
Erin says
Hi Mary! It is possible you over mixed them, which would prevent them from rising properly. Try to combine the ingredients just until they’re combined and then stop mixing. Let me know if that helps for both recipes!
Christy says
My daughter can’t have coconut oil. Is there another oil you recommend?
Erin says
vegetable, avocado, or light olive oil!
Erin says
Hi Christy, yes you can substitute any oil you prefer. Let me know what oil you choose and how it goes!