Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins (Vegan Gluten-Free)

These Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins are light and fluffy, packed with warming spices and lots of chocolate. They are rich and moist, naturally vegan, gluten-free and nut-free and are a simple bake ready in 30 minutes.

I originally had these down as pumpkin chocolate muffins but I tested them with sweet potato puree and can say that they are amazing either way. So, seeing as we are in the run up to Christmas rather than Halloween or Thanksgiving, let’s focus on the sweet potato (but you can use pumpkin, too).

What makes these Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins so delicious?

These are pretty special muffins for a few reasons, they are:

• Light and fluffy
• Chocoaltey rich and moreish
• Moist from the sweet potato/pumpkin puree
• Naturally vegan and gluten-free
• Nut-free and soya-free so perfect for all the family
• Easy to make in one bowl
• Ready in 30 minutes
• Taste like warming chocoalte festive goodness in every bite
• Cakey with the best muffin top!

These Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins are pretty amazing and if you want to skip ahead and make them now, scroll down to the recipe card below. Firstly, let’s see what goes into these muffins.

What ingredients do these muffins require?

The recipe is a simple but delicious one with easy-to-find ingredients:

• Sweet potato or pumpkin puree: these are great with either mashed sweet potato or mashed up pumpkin. Either way, they add a lot of moisture, goodness and vibrant orange colour which makes these muffins more wholesome and so fluffy and cakey. You can find out how to make your own sweet potato puree here or pumpkin puree here.
• Coconut or caster sugar: either sugar works well here and adds a lovely sweetness to the muffins.
• Plant-based milk: any milk will work here like oat, soya, almond or coconut.
• Sunflower oil: or you can use melted and cooled coconut oil but I prefer the lighter texture of sunflower oil. You could also try light olive oil or vegetable oil, too.
• Lemon juice: this helps to bind the batter as it curdles the milk to form a buttermilk. You could replace this with apple cider or white vinegar.
• Vanilla essence: for the sweet flavour.
• Plain or GF plain flour: this keeps the Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins really light and fluffy. If you are using a GF flour, make sure it’s a 1:1 blend that you love and that it is xantham gum to help bind the mixture.
• Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: for the fluffy rise and texture.
• Spices: for these muffins, I chose to go down the pumpkin pie spice route as it’s so warming and comforting. I use a blend of cinnamon, ground ginger and mixed spice. If you don’t have mixed spice for example, make it up with extra cinnamon.
• Dark chocolate: no chocolate muffin is complete without chunks of chocolate throughout the batter and there are plenty of chocolate chunks in these muffins. I use chopped chocolate here for more chocolate goodness in every bite but chocolate chips will also work. You can use dairy-free milk chocolate, too.

The method is very simple as you whisk in all the ingredients in turn starting with the wet then sifting in the dry ingredients before folding in the chocolate and dividing into mufifn cases.

Can I decorate these muffins?

As these are muffins rather than cupcakes, I resisted the urge to top them with buttercream, but you could pipe on some lovely buttercream if you like. Or a drizzle of icing sugar glaze would also be great, or some melted chocolate. I went for some extra chocolate chunks and crushed pecans.
Can I swap the sweet potato for anything else?

These are great with pumpkin puree, too, so if you have a tin of pumpkin at home, use that and they taste amazing. If not, you could try these with mashed ripe banana which I am sure would be amazing but I have not tried this yet. Check out my Dirty Chai Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins, for something banana-y.

Are these gluten-fre and nut-free?

Yes, these are naturally nut-free (check your milk and chocolate) and if making these gluten-free, swap the plain flour for your favourite GF baking flour which contains xantham gum.

How long will these last?

These muffins keep quite well as they are really moist. Store them in a sealed container for 1 week in the fridge although best eaten at room temperature. Or you can store them in the freezer for up to 1 month. Allow the muffins to de-frost at room temperature.

If you are loving these Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins and want some more baking ideas, how about my:

• Mince Pie Apple Crumble
• Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
• Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bread
• Chocolate Pecan Pumpkin Spice Blondies
• Sweet Potato Fudge Brownies

I look forward to hearing what you think of these Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins so please let me know in the comments below. If you do make them, I would love to see your creations so please tag me in them, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With choco sweet potato love x