'Tis the season for sweet potatoes and nothing tastes better than these moist, rich sweet potato muffins with their crunchy cinnamon pecan crumb-topping. They make a great breakfast, snack, or a fantastic addition to your Thanksgiving table.
Who said holiday food is bad for you? These healthy sweet potato muffins are made with real sweet potato puree, have just a little sugar, and are sweetened with applesauce. Moist, rich, and indulgent muffins with all the flavors of your favorite pumpkin pie.
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Fall Muffins
These fall muffins are the perfect way to bake your way into the season. They taste incredible as a fall breakfast with your coffee and just as good as a dinner side. Or, do what I do, and make a huge batch of these streusel muffins and serve them for Thanksgiving dinner. The flavors will remind you of your favorite sweet potato or pumpkin pie. Yum, dessert for dinner!
If you're a sweet potato lover, there are so many delicious dishes you can make with them. Start out a meal with rich and creamy sweet potato soup, form them into fun sweet potato puffs for a surprise holiday side dish and you can't forget about the deliciously classic sweet potato casserole for the ultimate Thanksgiving treat.
Why This Is The Best Sweet Potatoes Muffins Recipe
These sweet potato muffins are moist and satisfying with the perfect balance of sweet and spicy flavors.
Easy to make completely from scratch - no boxes or filler ingredients here!
You'll love the sweet warm aromas coming from your kitchen as they bake.
The cinnamon and nutmeg spices mix with the sweet potatoes to create the ultimate muffins.
The pecan streusel topping with its crunchiness and cinnamon crumbs puts these muffins over the top!
Ingredients
There are two parts to this recipe. The first, of course, is the muffins. The other is a crumbly brown sugar cinnamon streusel topping.
Here's what you'll need for the muffins:
- Sweet Potatoes - usually about 3 medium-sized potatoes
- All-purpose Flour
- Sugar
- Unsweetened Applesauce - gives moisture without the extra sugar
- Vegetable Oil
- Milk
- Eggs - use large eggs for any recipe calling for eggs unless specified differently
- Vanilla Extract
- Baking Powder - is the leavening agent
- Salt
- Cinnamon/Ginger/Nutmeg - gives these muffins that warm fall flavor similar to pumpkin pie
- Orange Zest
Here's what you'll need for the pecan streusel crumb topping:
- Butter
- Light Brown Sugar
- Flour
- Pecans
- Cinnamon
How to Cook Sweet Potatoes for Mashing
There are 4 ways you can cook sweet potatoes for this muffin recipe:
- Bake at 400°F for 1 hour, or until easily pierced with a fork.
- Boil peeled and diced sweet potatoes in water for about 15 minutes or until fork-tender.
- Microwave whole sweet potatoes that have been pierced with a fork for about 20 minutes or until tender. Flip the potatoes halfway through microwaving.
- Steam peeled and diced sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes or until fork-tender.
2CM Tip: Cook the sweet potatoes a day in advance to allow plenty of time for them to cool.
How to Make Sweet Potato Muffins
You should make the streusel topping first so it is ready to sprinkle on top of the muffin batter.
How to make pecan streusel topping:
- In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
- Mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Toss in nuts and stir.
Simple steps for making muffins:
- In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, sugar, milk, oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Whisk until blended.
- In a medium bowl, place flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
- Whisk until well mixed.
- Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
- Whisk well.
- Divide batter among muffin cups.
- Scatter crumbs on top of each muffin.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes at 400°F.
- Let them cool for 10 minutes in the pan then gently lift them out of the pan and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.
To make sweet potato mini muffins, use mini muffin pans and bake them at 375°F for 10 to 15 minutes.
Recipe Variations
Flour Substitutions
- Almond Flour Sweet Potato Muffins - substitute the all-purpose flour 1:1 with almond flour and add 1 egg.
- Coconut Flour Sweet Potato Muffins - substitute the all-purpose flour 4:1 with coconut flour (use only ½ cup) and add 1 egg.
- Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Muffins - substitute the all-purpose flour with 1:1 gluten-free baking flour.
- Sweet Potato Muffins Whole Wheat - substitute a quarter or half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is a great option.
Flavor Variations
- Sweet Potato Banana Muffins - substitute ½ cup of mashed sweet potato with mashed banana.
- Five Spice Sweet Potato Muffins - substitute the cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg with five spice powder.
- Sweet Potato Maple Muffins - substitute vanilla extract with maple extract.
- Sweet Potato Pumpkin Muffins - substitute half of the mashed sweet potato with pumpkin puree.
Mix-In Variations
The great thing about muffins is how easy it is to add and mix in fruit, nuts, and chocolate to the batter. Here are some ideas:
- Sweet Potato Apple Muffins - ½ to 1 cup of finely chopped apples.
- Sweet Potato Blueberry Muffins - 1 cup of blueberries.
- Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Muffins - 1 cup of regular or mini chocolate chips.
- Sweet Potato Coconut Muffins - ½ to 1 cup of coconut flakes.
- Sweet Potato Ginger Muffins - ½ cup of candied ginger.
- Sweet Potato Pecan Muffins - 1 cup of chopped pecans. Walnuts are great too.
Other Variations
- Sweet Potato Sour Cream Muffins - substitute the milk with sour cream.
- Sweet Potato Yogurt Muffins - substitute the milk with plain unsweetened yogurt.
How to Store, Freeze, and Reheat
- Store muffins in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freeze muffins in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter for a few hours or in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheat muffins in the microwave on high for 30 seconds.
More Savory Muffin Recipes
Jalapeno Corn Muffins are moist and delicious, flavored with buttermilk and honey, with a little added zing.
Savory Cheese Muffins are easy to make and packed with the flavor of two cheeses.
Pumpkin Muffins with Chocolate Chips are moist, delicious, and full of pumpkin flavor.
Tomato Basil & Parmesan Muffins from Divalicious Recipes
Check out more easy bread and muffin recipes on 2CM!
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Sweet Potato Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 15 oz mashed cooked sweet potatoes (about 1-½ cups)
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon orange peel
Streusel Topping
- 3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- powdered sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Whisk together sweet potatoes, sugar, milk, oil, applesauce, eggs and vanilla.
- In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Whisk into liquid ingredients.
- To make streusel topping, mix all ingredients together until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Divide batter among muffin cups, sprinkle with streusel topping, and bake until golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes.
- Remove from oven and place on wire rack. Let cool in muffin pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and place back on wire rack to finish cooling. When cool you can sprinkle with a little powdered sugar or leave as is.
Notes
- Store muffins in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freeze muffins in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter for a few hours or in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheat muffins in the microwave on high for 30 seconds.
Nutrition
This post has been updated with new photos, more information, and step-by-step instructions. It was first published on November 15, 2015.
Catherine says
Very good recipe. I used a 15 ounce can of sweet potatoes in light syrup snd puréed the whole can and simmered to reduce down the liquid. About 30 minutes and result was about 1.5 cups . I cut the sugar to 1/4 cup since the syrup had sugar. Great texture. Next time I’ll add nuts or raisins.
Linda Warren says
What a great idea! They sound delicious.