Vegan Gluten-free Sweet Potato Muffins with Sweet Potato Caramel and cinnamon! They are just 8 ingredients, dairy-free, grain-free and oil-free. These are light, fluffy, moist and refined sugar-free.
VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE SWEET POTATO MUFFINS
Oh my goodness, I am SO excited to share these Vegan Sweet Potato Muffins with you today! Seriously, I contemplated dedicating an entire post just to this sweet potato caramel sauce. It is certainly worthy of it. You haven’t lived until you have had this caramel, this tastes like REAL caramel.
I have quite an obsession with using sweet potatoes in my baking. Evidence of that here on my 12 Vegan Desserts Using Sweet Potatoes. Also, try these Vegan Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins!
I love sharing muffin recipes, as they are one of my favorite types of vegan desserts to create. Another vegan muffin recipe was in order after all the absolutely, amazing feedback I keep getting on my Best Vegan Blueberry Muffins. They have been wildly popular, so I was itching to create another amazing muffin recipe for you all and it be completely different and grain-free for those who can’t have oats! If you are a muffin lover like me, check out my collection of my best 15 Vegan Muffin Recipes Without Oil!
4 SWEET POTATO MUFFIN VERSIONS TESTED
I created 4 vegan sweet potato muffin versions for you!
These muffins are really soft and light. Think…clouds of muffins with a wonderful cinnamon flavor and sweetness from the sweet potato and pure decadence from the caramel. Pretty flippin fantastic, to be honest with you.
Full disclosure: Out of all 4 versions, my favorite version is definitely the almond flour/potato starch combo, so if you aren’t grain-free or nut-free, then choose that one, it’s the best as far as textures go. The result is light, soft and moist. Also, with the sunflower flour, just know that it does give a sunflower taste to the muffins. If you are used to baking with sunflower, this probably won’t bother you. Nothing that a lot of caramel wouldn’t make up for!
SWEET POTATO CARAMEL
So, let’s talk about this sweet potato caramel. I created a dairy-free, vegan, corn syrup-free, easy, amazing, creamy caramel sauce…..using sweet potatoes! Yes, sweet potato caramel.
What’s even more exciting is that this Sweet Potato Caramel is low-fat! You can eat an entire 1/4 cup of caramel (if you wanted to) and it’s only 3 grams fat!
If you are vegan, you have probably had caramel one of these ways:
- Date caramel ( I actually am not a big fan of date caramel…or dates for that matter…sorry!)
- Almond butter and syrup combined have a caramel-like taste
- Or, one of my favorites is melted coconut butter with syrup and vanilla and salt. YUM! It is what I created to drizzle over my Vanilla Cheesecake Ice Cream
Regardless of all the caramel recipes you’ve tried, now it’s time for you to try this sweet potato caramel!
OTHER VEGAN MUFFIN RECIPES TO TRY:
- Best Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Gluten-free Double Chocolate Muffins
- Whole Wheat Chocolate Muffins
- Bakery-Style Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
- Caramel Crusted Pumpkin Muffins
- Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Cinnamon Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins
Vegan Sweet Potato Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (140g) superfine blanched almond flour (for nut-free, see NOTES at bottom)
- 1/2 cup (80g) potato starch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup (96g) coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (120g) cooked mashed sweet potato
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (20g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240g) canned lite coconut milk, shaken well first
SWEET POTATO CARAMEL (makes about 6 tablespoons)
- 1/4 cup (60g) cooked mashed sweet potato
- 1/2 cup (120g) canned lite coconut milk, shaken well
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons (48g) coconut sugar (do not sub with another sugar)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed. You never need cups, just the scale and bowl.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- First, cook your sweet potato by placing a large sweet potato (with skin on) on foil and roast for 50-60 minutes at 405 degrees. You want it to be overcooked basically and incredibly juicy and tender, so it mashes very well. Let it cool before preparing the muffins.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C)and line a muffin pan with foil liners. I use Staybrite by Reynolds because they keep muffins really moist and do not stick at all like the paper ones. Add the almond flour (or sunflower), potato starch, baking powder, sea salt, coconut sugar and cinnamon to a large bowl and whisk very well, breaking up any lumps from the starch.
- To a large bowl, add the almond flour (or sunflower), potato starch, baking powder, sea salt, coconut sugar and cinnamon and whisk very well, breaking up any lumps from the starch.
- In a small bowl, peel the sweet potato and mash it very well, so no lumps remain. Measure out 1/2 cup, making sure to fill the cup and then level off with your finger, so there is not excess potato. Add the potato to a small bowl with the vanilla and coconut milk and whisk or blend really well. You want it 100% smooth so there aren't unmixed chunks of potato.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until well mixed and thickens some. The batter should be similar to the consistency of cake batter, not thin, but not as thick as traditional muffin batter. However, if you are subbing with oat flour in place of the potato starch, the batter will be thicker. Just gently smooth out the tops.
- Divide the batter between 8-12 muffin liners, depending on how tall you want them to be. Bake for 22 minutes (unless you are baking with the oat flour, which it will be 20 minutes) or when a toothpick comes out with a few dry crumbs still on it (but not wet batter) and it lightly springs back when touched. When the muffins come out, they will still be slightly under-cooked, but will finish cooking over the next 20 minutes. So, do NOT eat them until they have cooled at least 20 minutes. They will then be incredibly soft, light and moist. Drizzle caramel sauce on top following directions below. The muffins are best eaten within 24 hours, as the starch will cause them to start to dry out after a couple of days. I stored mine in the fridge and preferred them that way.
SWEET POTATO CARAMEL
- Add all of the sweet potato caramel ingredients (except the vanilla) to a food processor and blend until completely smooth, scraping the sides a couple of times during. Taste and add any more sweetener, if desired.
- Add to a small pot over a stove and turn to medium-low heat. Once it starts boiling, stir with a rubber spoon for a full couple of minutes or so until it thickens up. This should only take a few minutes. Immediately remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Note that the caramel will thicken up much more as it cools, so don't worry if it's not as thick as you want while it's still warm. It will thicken up more in the fridge as well. Pour into a container and drizzle muffins when they are ready. This caramel sauce would be insane also on ice cream, pancakes, etc.!
Notes
- For nut-free, omit the almond flour and grind 1 cup (145 g) of raw, unsalted sunflower kernels into a fine flour in your food processor for a couple of minutes, being careful not to over process into nut butter. Please note that it does leave a sunflower taste to the muffins.
- For starch-free, sub the potato starch and use oat flour instead, but use 1 cup oat flour (128g) (instead of 1/2 cup of the starch). All the rest of the ingredients remain the same. Please note that the muffins are a bit more dense with the oat flour, but are still moist and delicious.
- Nutrition per muffin: 146.2 calories, 6.9 g fat, 2.6 g protein, 19.8 carbs, 9.2 g sugar
Nutrition per tablespoon of caramel: 39.6 calories, .8 g fat, .1 g protein, 8 carbs, 6.5 g sugar
Hi! Can I sub coconut flour for the potato starch? If so, how much?
Thanks!
Hi Lissa! I really don’t think coconut flour would work…it is very, very absorbent definitely will change the texture of the muffins. I am not a huge fan of how coconut flour bakes. I wouldn’t know how much to suggest to use since I haven’t tried it. If you try it, you are looking for a cake batter type of consistency. Coconut flour is so absorbent so I would just start out with 1/4 cup and go from there. Just please be warned they will taste entirely different with a different texture and probably very dense, so I would definitely suggest the potato starch or even subbing with cornstarch in place of the potato starch! Potato starch works best because it helps lighten and soften the muffins just like all purpose flour, which is why I use it 🙂 Let me know if you try them 🙂
I have been intrigued by the sweet potato cinnamon muffins and caramel sauce ever since it was posted. I finally made the muffins and the sauce…a double batch for a dinner party. Not only were they tasty, they received rave reviews from everyone. I did substitute oats for the potato starch and it worked great. I also added chopped walnuts on top to serve them. Amazing! I took leftover muffins to a small gathering of friends the next day and again, they received accolades. The last muffins will be used for a dinner dessert tomorrow for a gluten free friend. These store well in the refrigerator and I suspect they would freeze well. The only issue is keeping my husband out of them. Great recipe Brandi!
PS: The sauce is delicious on ice cream. I am going to make some with reduced sugar for my diabetic mother who loves caramel!
Thank you so much Peggy!! I’m so happy to hear they were such a huge hit with everybody! Thanks for leaving feedback and yes, I agree, it is delicious on ice cream!!
Wow they look delicious! I have been reading a lot about sweet potato caramel, I was a little hestitan to make it but after seeing this muffins I think I will have to try it. Pinned!
Thank you Azu! I have only seen one recipe ever (which I link to above) of sweet potato caramel! I hope you give this a try, there isn’t a recipe like this one on the internet and it truly fools everybody that it’s regular caramel…no clue there is sweet potato in it!
This looks absolutely heavenly! I can’t have coconut sugar, so do you think this would work with honey or maple syrup? If the taste is altered a bit, that should be fine, I just want to make sure the coconut sugar doesn’t affect the thickness!
Hi Hayley! Do you mean for the muffins or the caramel? For the muffins, you can try by reducing the amount of coconut milk and using maple syrup in it’s place. I would try using 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Since you won’t be using 1/2 cup of coconut sugar, which is a dry ingredient, then you won’t need as much liquid. I would then add just 2-4 tablespoons of coconut milk and add more if the batter is too thick. It should be a smooth pourable batter, not too thick. It’s hard to give you accurate measurements without testing it myself, but I would try that. As far as the caramel, again, this is just a guess, but you wouldn’t need to cook the caramel very long since you won’t need to dissolve the sugar, and quite honestly, it’s not going to have the same result as using coconut sugar. Can you sub with regular sugar? If you try it with syrup (wouldn’t suggest honey for either recipe), then reduce the coconut milk to 1/4 cup and add 2-3 tablespoons of syrup, just heat it through. It should thicken quickly I would think since syrup cooks down quickly. Just as it’s starting to thicken, remove it from the stove. Please, please come back and let me know how these subs work!! I need to try them myself!
My husband, after watching the documentary “Forks Over Knives”, made these for us with their recipe and they were delicious.
Your recipe is basically the same as the “Forks Over Knives” but I like your variations.
It has just come to my attention that Forks Over Knives placed my recipe on their Forks Over Knives App, so that explains how you found my recipe. Just to be clear, it is MY recipe, not theirs. They got it from right above and had asked me how to make a lower-fat version, but I had not known it would be on their app, so now that I know, I will contact them.
Hi Olive! I’m not sure what you are referring too, my recipe is not on the Forks Over Knives website, not to my knowledge anyways. I googled a sweet potato muffin and Forks over knives and could not find one on their website. I’m even more confused at how you found my recipe if you said you found their sweet potato muffin recipe after watching their documentary. How did you find me?? lol! I’m so glad to hear you liked them though!
These were the most amazing things I’ve ever had! The perfect thing for fall! Thank you so much! (((hugs)))
So awesome to hear Gina! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback!!
These are so delicious moist yummy!!! Now you have my Craving your life changing pancakes! I will have to make some today!
Delicious!
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Tiffany! I’m so happy you loved these!
This sounds great! I was wondering if ground cinnamon and coconut palm sugar and vanilla extract is what’s used in this recipe? Or are the ingredients you listed different??
Also I was wondering if you just use just the liquid coconut milk from the can or with the actual creamy thick coconut milk substance in the can too?
Yes, those are all the ingredients and just shake the can of coconut milk before measuring and you’ll be fine 🙂
Do you use orange or white sweet potatoes for this?
I use orange!
I made these today and most of them are gone already but sadly, not in my belly for 2 reasons. We have new neighbors who are veg-curious and I can’t think of a better way to be an ambassador than with delicious food, right? Then we got redonk levels of snow last night and my husband couldn’t get out of our street to go to work. A neighbor dug him out and then snow blowed our driveway and when we still couldn’t get out, gave him a ride. We have amazing neighbors and amazing neighbors deserve amazing food so…
I fully plan on making these when I can keep all of them!
Aww yay Elyse! So happy you and your neighbors loved these so much! Thank you for the wonderful review!! Definitely make them again so you can have some more 🙂
I hope this is not a dumb question, but can you taste the coconut milk in the carmel? I know sometimes you can’t taste it, and that is what I am hoping. Thank-you so much for all your work.
Thank-you again,
Suzie
Hi Suzie, no not dumb at all! Nope, the light coconut is very mild and it is masked anyways by the sweetness. I don’t taste any coconut at all!
I am going to try this now then. Thank-you for getting back to me. Suzie
I tried baking these today as a last minute treat for my daughter’s class. They were so delicious! And no one knew they were healthy or vegan!!
That is so awesome to hear, thank you so much for the wonderful review!
Ha Ha! i love that you anticipated all the questions re subbing! These look totally yum!
Ha! Yes, it alwayssss happens, lol!
i think my computer is glitchy cos i was sure i wrote here to say…yay for giving all the available subs in advance!! And i loved how you said you didn’t have any more rabbits!! 😀
oh gosh i’m so sorry, now it has popped up so i look like an idiot who can’t see what’s in front of her!
Haha! I couldn’t resist, lol!
Yum! This will go in my favorites file right along with your zucchini brownies. I accidentally undercooked the muffins so they fell as they cooled and were a little gummy, but still delicious. And that caramel—wow!!! I think I’ll try my next batch with the oat flour because of my undercooking issue with the potato starch. Plus, I don’t mind my muffins a little denser. Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes. I can’t wait for the cookbook!
So glad you loved these Candy and the caramel sauce! Oh yes, just make sure to cook them longer if needed until there is just dry crumbs on the toothpick or yes, the oat flour version is delicious too 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind words!
The caramel sauce is to die for. I just made it. I doubled the recipe.
I baked the sweet potato in the microwave but I think I might get even more flavor if I actually bake it. But it is too hot to turn on the oven here so maybe in January
Thanks again for all that you do
Diane
Oh, that is so wonderful to hear how much you loved the caramel sauce Diane, thank you so much for leaving feedback, I loved reading it!
These sweet potato muffins are perfection. My husband and son loved them too! The only thing I was confused about was using low fat coconut milk vs lite coconut milk! Do they have the same fat content? I had a can of light coconut milk and a can of full fat coconut milk so I used 1/2 cup of each. It worked great although it could have raised the fat content for the recipe. Either way it tasted amazing! It didn’t need the caramel sauce. They were great without it! I am a caramel lover so I can’t wait to make the caramel sauce next time or to put it on pancakes or just eat a spoonful of it! Thank you for the muffin recipe. I made an exception today to stay away from saturated fat and it was worth it!
This looks delicious. I’m going to make it as a cake for my son’s 1st birthday. Just wondering if it’s OK to use normal canned coconut milk (I cannot find the lite or low fat versions). Thanks for this recipe!
Hi Kala! The lite coconut milks are usually always on the shelf directly next to the full fat ones. You really need the lite for these, the full fat is 3 times as much fat and is way too thick. I do not think it would work well in these muffins and would likely make them too dense.
Hi Brandi, these look fantastic! I would love to make them to take on Easter to family. How well would all of this travel? Would I need to keep the caramel separate? Thanks a bunch!~
Hi Summer! I would definitely keep them caramel separate or it will make the muffins soggy. I’ve never traveled with them, so I really don’t know, but I’d imagine they’d be fine!
Wondering if you can use the same canned coconut milk for muffin and caramel? One called for lite and the other low-fat….thanks , can’t wait o try them!
OH yes, they are the same, sorry for the confusion!
Just made the caramel for some apple nachos! We’re having a fall themed birthday party for my daughter and now I’m wondering if we need cupcakes at all because this caramel is amazing and super simple! Thanks!
Wonderful Karen, I’m so glad you loved it, thank you for making it! Would you mind leaving a star rating, it helps me out so much! (you have to comment in order to do it fyi) Thank you so much!
My kids hate all things coconut with a passion and can always pick out the flavour when I’ve tried to sneak it in a recipe 😬 So do you have any suggestions as to what I could use instead of the canned coconut milk in your caramel and muffin recipes please. I really want to make them. Thanks
Hi Anne! You can try cashew milk. It will be slightly less creamy and less fluffy but I think should still work. Just FYI though, lite coconut milk leaves zero coconut taste in the finished product. That’s why I love it so much. The cinnamon really takes over. But let me know if you try the cashew milk!
Thanks so much for replying Brandi. I’ve just ordered the lite coconut milk and think I’ll make 2 batches, one with cashew and one with coconut milk and see what they say. I’ll give them the coconut ones first…really hoping I can outsmart them 😈 😂
Hahaha! You really can’t taste it so I would be shocked! My hubby is a self-professed coconut hater and he has no idea it’s in there!
I made these muffins today, and they are fantastic! I made the original version and used the lined foil cupcake papers. The muffins are moist and flavorful, and the caramel topping is perfect. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe!
Yay, so glad you loved these Carol, thank you for making them!
Brandi, these muffins are delicious! I wasn’t sure about using so much cinnamon, but I am glad I trusted you…these are perfect!
BTW, I used cashew flour in place of the almond flour and it worked just fine.
Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes!
Hi, I just made the sweet potato caramel sauce today, and I think milk might be missing from the ingredient list. (I added nut milk while cooking, and it’s delicious.)
Hi Brandi,
I want to make these muffins for my cousin. She has cancer so can’t est any sugar. Will the recipe fail if I omit the sugar? Can I add raisins or dates instead? Thanks for any help you can offer.
🤤🤤🤤 Soooooo delicious!!! My new favorite treat! 😍 Thank you!!
So happy to hear that Kai!
This caramel is insane !!! I am in love !!!!!
I didn’t have potato starch on hand; I have arrowroot and tapioca starch. Based on this https://bakeitwithlove.com/potato-starch-substitute/ I used 2/3 as much of the arrowroot as a replacement for the potato starch, or 53.3 grams (who am I kidding-somewhere between 53 and 54 since that’s all the more accurate my scale is). Still too wet at 20 minutes so I went to 22, at which point they passed the toothpick test. But they then collapsed pretty spectacularly in the pan. This made nice little wells to hold lots of the caramel so I’m not completely sad about this, but is this possibly a side effect of the arrowroot substitution? (I didn’t forget to put in the baking powder; experienced baker and I always triple-check my ingredients before things go in the oven, but I’m new to vegan baking that doesn’t involve a flax egg.) They were also still pretty gooey inside after the 20 minutes of wait time/carryover. No complaints from the taste-testers about the slightly pudding-y quality for sure–delicious flavor–and I’m going to keep making these and see if it works differently with tapioca starch and slightly longer baking.
The caramel sauce is Utter Amazeballs. I’m going to make this and give it as gifts to people with a link to the recipe just to blow their minds.
So glad you loved the sauce Barb! Yes, arrowroot tends to make things much more gummy, whereas potato starch has a very fluffy drying effect when baked, so that would be why yours turned out like that. I would definitely do the potato starch next time, you’ll notice a difference 🙂 I order mine off Amazon. Linked in my ingredient list.