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If you have been riding the vegan pumpkin muffin train for too darned long, and want another autumn muffin in your life, this vegan sweet potato muffin recipe has maple pecan streusel and is a favorite with my recipe testers. Alarmingly moist, bursting with warming spices, and topped with a crunchy, chunky maple pecan streusel. They're silly-easy to make!
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You probably already know how good sweet potatoes are for you if you are looking at this recipe. But your fussy friggin family? How on earth will you get them to go full yam? You just sneak the veggies into their life in the Trojan horse of these muffins!
Serve ’em up with smoked vegan breakfast sausages, blue corn pancakes and apple cider donuts, and indeed, your plant-based fall-themed brunch just got whisked away to the upper echelons of the flavor nexus.
So grab your ingredients and let's make some magic happen in your kitchen!
Jump to:
- 🥰Why this is the best vegan sweet potato muffin recipe
- 🍠 Ingredients for vegan sweet potato muffins
- 🤯Variations
- 📖 How to make vegan sweet potato muffins
- 👉Top vegan sweet potato muffin tips
- 🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
- ✌️My faves to serve with these sweet potato muffins:
- Vegan Sweet Potato Muffins with Maple Pecan Streusel
🥰Why this is the best vegan sweet potato muffin recipe
✊Vegan AF: Like all my vegan breakfast recipes, not one adorable creature will be harmed to make these healthy sweet potato muffins. And the hidden benefit of that is that these are cholesterol-free, too.
🍠 Yam Hack: The sweet potatoes in this recipe get cooked by steaming, which keeps them extra juicy, and makes the recipe nearly impossible to mess up!
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide. After tweaking and perfecting it, I shared this recipe with a massive team of recipe testers who replicated it successfully all around the world. That’s what I do with all of my vegan recipes before sharing them, so there’s no chance they don’t work beautifully.
🍠 Ingredients for vegan sweet potato muffins
Sweet Potatoes
There are a zillion types of sweet potatoes and this recipe works well with almost all of them. Skip the purple sweet potatoes, and use those for vegan Malaysian recipes like bubur cha cha instead. I prefer to make this recipe with orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, like the ones you would use to make shakarkandi chaat, rujak serut and other more “mainstream” (yawn) sweet potato dishes. While you can use pureed canned sweet potatoes, don't use any that have stuff added to them, especially sugar.
Cinnamon
It’s not gonna be a shocker to you that ground cinnamon adds warmth and depth of flavor to the muffins. But it also comes with some anti-inflammatory properties and the ability to regulate blood sugar levels. I usually prefer Vietnamese cinnamon, which I use in vegan Vietnamese recipes like banh flan, and also in my vegan apple fritters, and vegan apple pie recipe! If you want to give these a Middle Eastern vibe, use some homemade baharat!
Cardamom
Making this recipe with quality cardamom, like the green cloud forest cardamom from Burlap and Barrel makes a noticeable difference in the flavor and aroma of the baked muffins. I use their cardamom in everything from vegan shawarma and vegan biryani to sweets like my Persian vegan baklava.
Using these spices gives you more of an opportunity to fine-tune the flavor than using pre-made pumpkin pie spice.
Vanilla
Either make these with a good quality vanilla extract or take these muffins to the next level by using vanilla bean powder. I use that stuff in the speckled custard filling for my bomboloni, coconut panna cotta, and Filipino vegan recipes like buko pandan, Turon, and suman. It’s an easy way to get more intense vanilla flavor without having to fuss with shucking out pods and wasting any precious stuff within.
Some Type of Sugary Stuff
The natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes needs a widdle widdle boost. Brown sugar might already be in your cupboard and that’s 100% cool to use in this recipe. Otherwise, if you want a less processed sweetener, this recipe works great with both coconut sugar, and palm sugar, which is sorta my go-to sweetener for making desserts like karioka, klepon and kuih dadar. That’s a whole heck of a lot of sweets that all start with the letter K if alphabetizing your diet is something you always dreamed of doing…
Plant-Based Yogurt
Plant-based yogurt in the USA used to suck, and it all tasted like sweet pudding. But it’s come a long way, and it is the perfect stuff to add moisture and body to batters (no wonder I also use it in my vegan carrot cake). I love the unsweetened almond milk yogurt from Kite Hill, but Trader Joe’s cashew-based yogurt also works great for baking and is usually cheaper.
Using an unsweetened variety allows you to use the leftover yogurt in savory recipes too like my Punjabi soya chaap sabji, vegan kofta with tzatziki sauce, and tofu tikka masala.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Cream cheese frosted:
Bake the streusel separately from the muffins on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet for 7-8 minutes until golden. After the muffins cool, spread this vegan cream cheese frosting onto them, and sprinkle with the streusel topping.
Chocolate hazelnut sweet potato muffins:
Add a handful of chocolate chips to the batter, and use hazelnuts instead of pecans in the topping. While the muffins are still warm, drizzle them with vegan Nutella that you have warmed in a double boiler.
📖 How to make vegan sweet potato muffins
Show your whole family how dedicated you are to yams by either leaving them to elope with a sweet potato with arms and legs, or by simply following these step-by-step photos with helpful tips. Want to just print without the photos? Scroll down to the bottom of this page for the easy-to-print recipe card.
Step One
Ready, Set, Bake!
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a muffin pan with paper liners.
✅ Alternatively, you can grease the muffin tin with melted vegan butter and bake directly in the tin.
Step Two
Sweet Potato Spa Time:
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into small pieces, then steam them for 15-20 minutes until fork tender. Cool the cooked sweet potatoes under cold running water and let them drain dry. Mash them in a bowl with a potato masher or in a food processor until smooth. Measure out one and a half cups of mashed sweet potato for this recipe.
✅Any extra leftover mashed sweet potatoes a tasty treat for your fluffy doggo who you love with all of your heart! Or, if you sadly have no dog to kiss (why???), you can make these Peruvian sweet potato donuts with 'em.
Step Three
Mixmaster Mike:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed sweet potatoes, canola oil, brown sugar, unsweetened plant-based milk, and vanilla extract. Stir until the mixture is smooth and the oil is no longer separately visible.
Step Four
When Sift Hits the Fan:
Into the bowl with the wet ingredients, sift the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt. Gently fold the ingredients together with a rubber spatula until just combined, being careful not to overmix.
✅If you are going to add chocolate chunks or mini chocolate chips, simply fold them in gently once the batter is mixed.
Step Five
The Streuss Goose:
In a small bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, chopped pecans, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and melted vegan butter until the mixture forms a crumbly, chunky texture.
Step Six
License to Fill:
Using a lightly oiled quarter-cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin cups in the prepared tin, about three-quarters full, with the sweet potato muffin batter. Evenly sprinkle the maple pecan streusel over the top of each muffin.
Step Seven
For Goodness Bake:
Bake in the preheated oven for 22-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Step Eight
Cool, Don’t Drool:
Allow those delicious muffins to cool in the tin for five minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
👉Top vegan sweet potato muffin tips
- Accurate Sweet Potato Measurement: Whether you make homemade sweet potato puree or use the canned stuff, an even 1 ½ cups of mashed sweet potato is key for consistency.
- Don't Overmix: Mix the batter just until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the wet mixture. Overmixing will lead to tough sweet potato muffins due to the development of gluten.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure that your ingredients, especially the plant-based yogurt and any liquids, are at room temperature before mixing. One tester tried to mix everything cold, and her muffins turned out wonky and wacky.
- Proper Cooling: Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for about five minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. This helps set their structure, makes it easier to pull them out of the papers, and prevents soggy bottoms.
- Don’t Use the Baking Soda and Powder You Inherited from Grandma: Despite what you might think, these leavening agents do lose their potency over time. Old or expired leavening agents can result in flat, dense muffins.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Let the muffins cool completely before placing them in an airtight container, so they don’t sweat. They can be stored at room temperature for 3 days, in the refrigerator for up to a week, or in the freezer for 2-3 months if individually wrapped.
Yes, you can use a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour instead of all-purpose flour. Keep in mind that gluten-free muffins might have a greater tendency to stick to paper, so you may want to bake them directly in the oiled muffin tins instead.
Pumpkin can be used as a substitute for sweet potato in this recipe. Because pumpkin cooks differently , I recommend using canned pumpkin puree. But if you want a killer vegan pumpkin muffin recipe, I got a banger that you can follow instead.
For sure! As I do when I make whole wheat kuboos bread, I suggest using equal parts all-purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour to give these a little more fiber while preventing them from being dry, too dense or heavy. Whole spelt flour and oat flour both work great in these, too, if used 50/50 with regular flour.
Canola oil is perfectly safe to cook with, don’t get all wacky. But if you are not convinced, that’s cool. Vegetable oil, sunflower oil, melted coconut oil, and olive oil can all be used as healthy fats to substitute for the canola oil in this recipe.
✌️My faves to serve with these sweet potato muffins:
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Vegan Sweet Potato Muffins with Maple Pecan Streusel
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups peeled diced sweet potatoes (1 ½ cups cooked and mashed)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup canola oil vegetable oil, or sunflower oil
- ⅔ cups brown sugar coconut sugar or palm sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened plant-based milk
- ½ cup unsweetened plant-based yogurt
Maple Pecan Streusel
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup pecans chopped
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into small chunks, then steam them for 15-20 minutes until they are soft. If you are using canned sweet potato puree, you can skip this step and the next one too!
- Cool the steamed sweet potatoes under cold running water, and let them drain dry. Mash then a bowl with a potato masher, or inside of a food processor until smooth. Measure out 1 ½ cups of mashed sweet potato to use for this recipe. Give any leftover mashed sweet potato as a well deserved treat for your doggo (or use them as a bed to serve some vegan fried chicken over).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed sweet potatoes, canola oil, brown sugar, unsweetened plant-based milk, vegan yogurt, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
- Sift in the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt. Stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- To prepare the maple pecan streusel, in a small bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, chopped pecans, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and melted vegan butter until the mixture forms a crumbly texture.
- Using a lightly oiled quarter-cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop, spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about three-quarters full. Sprinkle the maple pecan streusel evenly over the top of each muffin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 22-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for five minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
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Katie says
These muffins were so tasty & easy to make. I shared them with some of my neighbors and got rave reviews! I will definitely be making them again.
KRB says
can't wait to make these - i'm a sucker for a streusel topping!
Lindy says
Love these so much! The whole family did, kiddoes included. We had them for snacks, after school, breakfast, gorgeous 🥰😻
Adam Sobel says
Super-glad to hear your whole crew loved 'em all up!