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) creamy plant-based milk, I used and recommend the malk brand almond milk, it's creamier than traditional watered-down milks and has no added gums or additives OR light coconut milk
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- 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 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 simmering, stir with a rubber spoon/spatula for a full couple of minutes or more until it thickens up and coats the back of the spoon/spatula. 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
Wow is all I can say about this sweet potato caramel… Really, I’m in love with it!
I made it two days ago as a topping for my nanaicecream, because some friends came home for a girls dinner, and they loved it so much that they ate it from the jar where it was hahahahahahaha!
Thanks again Beverly for sharing those awesome and delicious recipes!
Big hugs from the Mediterranean sea in Spain!!
Thank you so much Vanesa for the amazing, awesome feedback!! I’m so glad you loved it so much, we are pretty obsessed with it around here too! Eating it straight from the jar sounds like a success to me, haha! Thanks again, love getting the feedback on my recipes!
Sweet potato CARAMEL?!?!?!?!?!?! UHHHHHH sign me up! I will try with butternut squash and maybe stevia instead of coconut sugar. HAPPENING!
Oh, it should definitely work with stevia I think!! It won’t be nearly as dark in color (because the coconut sugar makes it dark) and it might be less caramel-ish without the coconut sugar, but it should technically work, so please let me know if you get a chance to make it with stevia!
Well I can only say that I am glad these are muffin size and not cake size or i would have to eat the whole cake! What a great idea. They look mouth watering. Just going to check again to see if you need a taster for all your recipes 😉 Oh wait I think you have a lovely child and husband that has that job….my loss. 🙂
i have never had a sweet potato muffin before.. definitely missing out on something seriously delicious. they look great – and that sweet potato glaze looks amazing (i could probably just eat it straight!)
Thank you so much Thalia! They are heavenly, especially the caramel! Especially on ice cream!
Sweet potato caramel! now THAT’s something I want to try! This looks delicious!
These muffins look so delicious! I love sweet potatoes and think I need to make a batch of these for us asap!
Yes, do it!! Let me know!
wow these look amazing. i think I’m going to have to give them a try tomorrow. i really love this blog and am soooo glad i just found it! mind checking out mine?
Thank you so much Lilah for stopping by!! Please tell me…did you make them?!! I’m going to check out your blog right now 🙂
Wow! I am going to make the sweet potato caramel and combine it in another recipe! This seriously is such a neat idea! I also think that “date caramel” is a bit ovverated too! This looks exactly like real caramel, so thick and lucious! MMMMMMMM! Can’t wait! 🙂
Thank you so much!! Yes, I don’t want any of the date caramel lovers to get mad at me, haha, but it just doesn’t taste like real, authentic buttery caramel to me, if you know what I mean? It has it’s place for sure, but I wanted that silky, thick, smooth, creamy melt-in-your-mouth caramel and THIS IS IT!!! I can’t wait to see what you drizzle it over…love your recipes girl! xoxo
WOW. These look sinfully good. I’ve been craving sweets recently… I think I’m going to go with these. Thanks for putting such an awesome idea out into the world!
Thank you so much Kristen!! They are super delicious and with amazing feedback so far, so I hope you love them! Even if you just make the caramel sauce, others have made it on top of ice cream…yum! Let me know when you do! 🙂
With a tiny bit of tweaking and I could totally eat these!!! EXPERIMENT TIME! 🙂
Girl This caramel sauce has gotten RAVE reviews everywhere, you will LOVE it! I made a batch for my parents today and they about died!
Woah! These look amazing. I love sweet potatoes, muffins and caramel. HEAVEN!
Thanks Melanie! The caramel sauce definitely is heaven!
Oh be still my beating heart!!!! I just made it and I could swoon! This is by FAR the best caramel sauce I’ve ever tasted. I modified it slightly by using half the amount of cinnamon and double the amount of vanilla. Made a double batch and I’m going to attempt to freeze some. (IF it makes it to the freezer!) I’m making my banana ice cream now by running frozen bananas through the blank screen on my Greenstar juicer and will top it with the sauce. Oh YUM!!!
Thank you so much Kathryn for the AMAZING FEEDBACK!! What a compliment!! Thanks so much for sharing your photos on facebook too, I really appreciate it! So glad you loved it so much!
Sweet potato is one of my favorite ingredients to use in both sweet and savory dishes – and boy, you sure put it to delicious use here, Brandi!
Thank you so much Annie!
This is amazing, droolworthy stuff! I’m 100% going to make that caramel for a kitchen tea splash cake this weekend – looks too good not to try it out ASAP!
Yay Margaux!! I’ve been getting amazing feedback from others making it today so I hope it’s a success with you too! Please come back and let me know, thank you!!
That caramel sauce is TOO easy not to make. HOLY COW. I am in need of some more muffin/bread treats for my mornings. MUST MAKE THIS.
Seriously, girl, get ON IT!! It’s magical!!
A sweet potato caramel? That is absolutely crazy! But in the best way possible 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Crazy delicious, crazy!!
Brandi! I’m impressed! These muffins sound amazing and they look so yummy!!!
Yesterday I bought lots of sweet potatoes…I might try to make them over the week end or so :)! I’ll let you know if i magare to make them. I’ll save this recipe in my to make list for sure :)!
Thank you for sharing these two great recipes :)!
xox
Ema
Thank you so much dear Ema!! The feedback has been amazing as several have already made it, so I hope you love it too!! ❤️❤️
Thank you Ema! You won’t regret it…the feedback on the caramel has been nothing short of awesome. It is truly delicious! I hope you enjoy it!
Entinhleging the world, one helpful article at a time.
These look so dense and decadent, what a great flavor to put into a muffin!
Thank you Mary! They were incredible, especially the caramel!!
Two of my favorite ingredients here….sweet potatoes and caramel of course. Way to go Brandi. You’re becoming a real muffin expert!!
Aww thanks Angela! Definitely a different type of muffin than I’ve done before by only using 2 “flours” which is so rare for gluten-free, but they turned out amazing. I was so happy!
Brandi those muffins and caramel are fantastic. I bake sweet potatoes all the time in foil and love the sticky sweet syrup that oozes out. Great recipe.
Thank you Suzanne! I know, me too…and creating a truly authentic caramel sauce with the coconut milk and coconut sugar just tastes like a dream!!
This is so brilliant! I have to try them!
Thank you so much Raechel!! It truly was a wonderful surprise how delicious it turned out! Let me know if you make it!
Another winner from Brandi! The muffins look phenomenal but that caramel! I would never have thought to use sweet potatoes but it makes a lot of sense. I love it when I bake sweet potatoes whole and they ooze out their natural caramel…:)
Pinned!
Thanks so much Emma!! I had to repurpose the sweet potato in a glaze, so my idea to do caramel turned out even better than I imagined!! Sooo dreamy. I discovered I’m not the first person to think of it, but my version is definitely different
Thanks so much Emma!! I have to admit, the idea in my head was surpassed by the most amazing caramel, for real, truly amazing. No clue there was sweet potato in it if I hadn’t put it in there myself and hubby was blown away!
Wow delicious muffin:-)
Thank you so much, so glad you enjoyed it!
Why low fat coconut milk? Yummy
Hi Saniel! I use low fat coconut milk because it has some fat in it to provide creaminess and richness to the muffins and helps keep them soft, moreso than almond milk, whereas full fat coconut milk would be TOO creamy. There is also fat in them from the almond flour. It’s a great combo
I will make these tomorrow for sure! Quick question though about the coconut milk…do you shake up the can and use the cream AND water? Or only the cream?
Thanks!
My mouth just filled with saliva. I am ALL OVER this caramel glaze. All over it. I can already picture myself licking it from the bowl. 😉 I’ll be on the lookout for potato starch the next time I go grocery shopping.
You are so funny girl!! Seriously, I’ve been getting rave reviews already! This is better than any caramel ever! No pretend caramel here! 🙂