I love a seasonal and lightly sweet muffin to have with coffee and since we’re so far out from local fruit, it’s gotta be these vegan sweet potato muffins with pecan streusel. These vegan carrot muffins would also be perfect. I made them with a base of light spelt flour (I use this one from Flourist), roasted and mashed sweet potatoes, maple syrup, coconut oil, and a bunch of other goodies.
The topping is held together with vegan butter (I’ve been partial to this one that’s made in Ontario lately) and coconut sugar. It’s so crunchy with the perfect level of salty and sweet. If you’re looking to substitute the spelt flour or you want to make this as a loaf, I provide some suggestions for you in the recipe notes!
This muffin reminds me a bit of a coffee cake with the cinnamon and crunchy topping. But then there’s that added cozy and satiating goodness of the sweet potato in there. It makes these muffins beautifully orange and definitely a breakfast superhero ;). I have lots of great savoury sweet potato recipes as well.
I also love that this one is a solid 10-ish ingredients. Super simple if you pre-roast sweet potatoes at the start of your week like me! I like to have them on hand for quick lunches, to add to treats like this, or even to chuck into my daily smoothie.
More Sweet Potato Goodness:
- Spiced Sweet Potato Granola with Pecans
- Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Roasted Garlic Tahini Dip
- Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Chile Lime Tahini Sauce
- Sweet Potato Radicchio Salad with Roasted Shallot Dressing
- Ginger Sweet Potato and Coconut Milk Stew with Lentils & Kale
- Sweet Potato Cake Patties with Lemony Slaw
Hope you give these cute little muffins a try! I also hope that you’re all hanging in there and keeping well.
Vegan Sweet Potato Muffins with Pecan Streusel
Ingredients
Streusel
- ½ cup pecan halves, chopped
- 5 tablespoons coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch fine sea salt
- 3 tablespoons cold vegan butter
Sweet Potato Muffins
- 2 cups light spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1½ cups mashed cooked sweet potato flesh
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup melted coconut oil or vegan butter, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk (I used coconut)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Equipment
Notes
- This recipe is based on my banana bread recipe, so feel free to sub mashed banana for the sweet potato!
- I know it seems fussy to have liquid sweetener in the muffin and granulated sweetener in the streusel, but the streusel really does require a granulated sweetener for that crunch and structure.
- Substitutes for the light spelt flour: whole spelt flour (the muffins will definitely be more dense and may require some extra non-dairy milk in the batter), all purpose flour, and gluten-free all purpose mixtures should work (I always recommend the one by Pamela’s).
- If you love cardamom, a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom in the muffin batter would be delicious in this recipe.
- I think this recipe would work fine in a standard loaf pan, but you may have to cover the top with foil to prevent the streusel from burning. For a loaf, I’d bake it covered at 350 for about 35 minutes and then another 15-20 minutes uncovered.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 10 cups of a standard size muffin tin and set aside.
- Make the streusel topping. In a small bowl, whisk together the chopped pecans, coconut sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add the vegan butter to the bowl and mix it in with your fingers, breaking up the bits of butter and working them into the sugar and pecans. Once you have a sandy and crumbly texture, and the streusel sticks together when you pinch it with your fingers, set aside in the refrigerator.
- In a large bowl, combine the spelt flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Stir with a spatula to evenly mix.
- In an upright blender, combine the mashed and cooked sweet potato, maple syrup, coconut oil, non-dairy milk and vanilla. Blend on high until totally smooth and creamy.
- Pour the puréed sweet potato mixture into the large bowl with the spelt flour mixture. Use your spatula to get all of the sweet potato mixture you can out of the blender. Gently stir and fold everything together until JUST combined.
- Divide the muffin batter evenly among the 10 prepared muffin cups. Grab the pecan streusel from the fridge and divide it evenly among the tops of the muffins. Really press it into the muffin batter with your fingers.
- Bake the sweet potato muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are domed and slightly darkened and a paring knife/cake tester inserted into the middle of one comes out clean. Let the muffins cool completely before enjoying!
Thoughts on how successful these would be using canned sweet potato purée?
I think it would work fine! Usually the moisture level in canned purée is similar to sweet potatoes roasted at home.
-L
Could you use chilled coconut oil instead of vegan butter in the topping?
I did test chilled coconut oil for the topping and it just didn’t work. It made the topping extremely weepy after baking and it just oozed all over the pan unfortunately. I’ve never had luck with coconut oil in crunchy toppings like this.
-L
Thanks so much. I’ll probably stick with the butter then.
Just made these with GF flour. So delicious!! Thank you!
Thanks for letting us know how it worked with GF flour, Lisa! Do you mind sharing which one you used?
-L
I used approx 1.75c of Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 and then the last 1/4 or so of teff flour. They were really good!
I’m a muffin lover and these are so incredibly moist! I put them into 7 giant silicone muffin cups and it turned out awesome. Thanks! I’m going to pass the recipe along to my sister.
These muffins are amazing! They’re super easy to make, delicious, and stay soft and moist. They also keep you full, which isn’t always the case with muffins, so I’ve been eating these for breakfast :)
I am into more healthy eating for myself n family so I’d use eggs or even just egg whites to make the batter less dense……, some may use lighter flour like corn starch or potato starch or rice flour… what do you think?
Best Lova wilson
How many eggs?
Could you provide the nutritional/ calorie info for these? They look awesome!!
Can I substitute almond flour for spelt flour?
Hi Leeann,
I don’t think you can do a direct 1-for-1 substitution with almond flour here. It’s more dense and much higher in fat. You would have to change a bunch of other ingredients in the recipe and possibly introduce a stronger binder like a starch or an egg (if you consume them). Even beyond that, I can’t guarantee that it would work. When dealing with grain-free flours like almond or coconut, within the context of substituting for a wheat flour, you’ll always have to switch up other components of the recipe. If you need a grain-free or possibly paleo version of this muffin, might be best to Google “grain-free/paleo sweet potato muffin” or something similar to find a recipe from a site that specializes in those kinds of treats.
-L
I made this with AP flour and used a loaf pan following your instructions in the notes – it turned out great. Thanks for the receipe!
I can’t enough praise to these muffins. Laura, you nail it every time with every recipe!
I was worried, because my sweet potatoes were cold from the fridge and solidified the coconut oil in the blender. The batter looked drier than I anticipated, but they baked out great! I baked them n a scone pan because I don’t have muffin tins, and the portion is lovely.
If your sweet potatoes are cold, maybe set them out get to room temp beforehand.
Not bad!! I somehow forgot to measure my sweet potato, haha. I baked an approx. amount that I figured would be close to what I needed once mashed….then I ended up dumping all of that SP into the blender without measuring. Oops! I baked for 18 1/2 mins at 400F. They are pretty good although some of the topping got just slightly burnt and so some bites are just a tad bitter. I also used whole grain spelt flour as that is what I had, not light spelt. Overall, pretty tasty!! They don’t seem very sweet to me, which I found surprising (and I’m not someone who is used to eating super sugary sweets by any means). I will try these again I think! :) Really interesting. Something different vs usual blueberry or banana muffins, etc.
Couldn’t stop thinking about these muffins since you posted them, so I made a 6am batch when it was zero degrees outside (it seemed appropriate). I dislike making substitutions to the recipes that you work so hard to create, but unfortunately I didn’t have quite enough sweet potato to make the 1.5 cups, so subbed about 1/3 thick applesauce. Didn’t seem to affect the recipe much except maybe a little bit wetter, requiring a few more minutes in the oven than recommended. They were amazing, incredible, so filling and moist, so perfect. Will be making these over and over again, thank you!
these are exceptional! used regular spelt flour and worked like a dream
Would they work with butternut squash? I don’t have sweet potatoes at home atm but would really like to bake these!
I think cooked butternut squash would work fine here! Might be a bit less sweet though.
-L
Delicious! That strudel topping is Devine! Thank so much for sharing!
These look great. A couple things: Bob’s Red Mill seems to have stopped making Light Spelt Flour. Do you have a reliable alternate source? Also, would you be able to add an estimate of number or weight in grams of sweet potatoes needed for 1.5 Cups cooked sweet potato flesh? That would be super helpful to know how much to bake.
Hi Nanda,
I buy the sifted spelt flour (which is basically light spelt flour) from Flourist. They are always well-stocked and ship all over North America. Your sweet potato should weigh around 275 grams before baking.
-L
These were so delicious and cakey! I consume dairy so used butter for the topping and melted butter in the muffins. I was about 1/2 cup short of cooked sweet potato, so I topped up the rest with applesauce. They were perfect. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
These did not turn out as pretty for me. The sweet potato puree was a little thick and the batter was super thick as a result. I ended up adding almost a whole cup of soy milk to make it workable. And sadly despite pressing the streusel into the muffins it still seemed to slide off unto the pan while baking. Ah well. They certainly taste awesome just maybe my amateur baking skills need some help! Love your stuff as always Laura.
Used all purpose flour because I ran out of spelt, and they turned out great. I sometimes remove sweet toppings from muffins because I find them overly sweet, but these were perfection!
Made these the other evening and they are delicious. They are very moist and the perfect treat to motivate me to get out of bed. I will be directing friends to this recipe :)
I followed the recipe exactly but my muffins spread and sank in the middle. I wonder if it’s because of the brand of vegan butter I used (melt brand buttery sticks). What kind did you use?
Hi Amie!
The vegan butters that I typically go to for baking are: Miyoko’s or one by a brand called Nuts For Cheese. Both are cultured vegan butters with a puréed cashew and coconut oil base. I believe Melt is all oil-based, so it is possible that this made a difference! I also find that the “doming” of muffins can really depend on what muffin pan I use sometimes. Did you open the oven at all while they were baking? I also wonder if maybe your sweet potato purée was just more moist than what is typical? Unfortunately, there are a lot of factors at play with baking recipes!
-L
I made this recipe while slightly distracted talking to be people I was about to serve it to. In my distracted state, I accidentally added a 1/2 tsp of salt to the streusel and forgot to add the coconut oil to the batter. Surprisingly, the muffins turned out AMAZING! I don’t think they needed the oil and the extra salt in the streusel was great for those who like a salty-sweet combination. Thank you for this awesome recipe! Definitely going to make it again!
These were sooo delicious and easy to make! Definitely a recipe I will go back to. Thank you for sharing, Laura!
I loved them! I am new to vegan baking and don’t always like the results. These were really great! I bought sprouted whole wheat flour by accident instead of spelt so I used it. I will try them with spelt next time but I really enjoyed them and the house smells amazing. Thank you!
I love this!
This makes a really fantastic muffin! I was worried about the density and the sweet potato seemed to suck up all the wet ingredients as I was pouring the batter into the muffin tins, but they came out beautifully moist with great structure. Thank you!
Hi! How do you roast the sweet potatoes for this?
Preheat your oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Then, wash your sweet potatoes and prick a few holes in the exterior with a fork. Place them on the foil-lined baking sheet. Roast the sweet potatoes until they are tender, about 45-50 minutes. Let them cool completely before proceeding with this recipe.
-L
These are some of the best muffins I have ever tastes. SO moist and delish! I used walnuts instead.
WOW – impressive and de-lish !!!
The muffins are in the oven! Second time making this deliciousness this week. I have never made muffins nor do I like them…you know the store bought ones…too big, too bland, too sweet… My son loves them so much and so does my BFF and her family! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
I made this a week ago, loaf pan instead of muffins; the flavor was divine but the batter was VERY thick and the loaf was incredibly dry and crumbly though we ate every bite it was so delicious. I used TJ’s GF flour and since I didn’t quite have 1.5 cups of sweet potato I used a bit of banana. Any thoughts on what I may have done wrong? Want to make again tomorrow!!!
Hi Dana,
The batter is naturally very thick, but it should not have resulted in a dry end product. I’m guessing that the flours in your GF mix may have just absorbed more moisture than what I used for the original recipe! The banana substitution wouldn’t have contributed to dryness I don’t think.
-L
Wow, these came out awesome! I used a mix of canola oil and coconut oil for the topping and added maybe 1/4 c instant oats. Mine made 12 muffins and were done at 14 minutes. I didn’t measure the sweet potato, so I might have had a little over the half cup.
Just made these. Substituted pumpkin purée for sweet potato, mashed banana for the oil and added pumpkin spice. They are delicious!!! And so moist.
So glad i found this recipe, these are delicious
Yum!
Deliciously most muffins, not overly sweet. I used 1 cup of almond flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. That also worked out very well. The streusel topping is really nice. Will keep making these for sure.
Oh, and I did not put the sweet potato in the oven. I peeled them, cut them in 1 inch cubes and steamed them for about 14 minutes. This shortened the preparation time and worked out well too.
I want to share how much I love these muffins! I have been making them for a while and they never disappoint. I wanted to share I doubled the batter for the first time and it was very successful! I made the streusel topping once, which was delicious of course, but I typically just make the muffin base on its own. They freeze great and they are toddler approved. Thanks Laura!
Would canned pumpkin purée work as a substitute for the sweet potato? Just stumbled upon this recipe and I have all the ingredients already in my pantry barring the sweet potato.
I think pumpkin would work great here!
-L
Would you be able to share the recipe measurements in grams? I’d love to quickly make the recipe with a kitchen scale vs multiple measuring cups. Thank you!
Thank you for the recipe and going to try soon and share it with my friend.