Simple Sweet Potato Muffin Recipe: Made from scratch
This Sweet Potato Muffin recipe is easy and kid-friendly. Sweet potatoes are available almost all year long, but because their peak season here in the United States is September through October, I make them more frequently in the fall and winter. This easy muffin recipe makes a perfect healthy breakfast (when paired with protein), a delicious brunch, or a nutritious afternoon snack. Doubling the recipe and freezing the leftovers helps me stay prepared and always ready to provide my family with a nutritious breakfast or snack.
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It’s pure goodness right out of your own kitchen!
My priority is to prepare and provide only quality and nurturing ingredients for my family. When I started making sweet potato muffins, the recipe called for twice the amount of sugar. The sweet potatoes add a naturally sweet flavor without adding more sugar. Feel free to substitute the sugar with coconut sugar or brown sugar. The brown sugar will give the muffins more of a molasses flavor. If you want more of a dessert muffin, try adding chocolate chips.
Simple Ingredients Breakdown for Sweet Potato Muffins
Sweet Potatoes
This root vegetable is high in fiber, antioxidants, vitamin C, vitamin A, magnesium, and potassium. Antioxidants protect your body from free radicals, unstable molecules that can wreak havoc on your body, causing inflammation and damage to your DNA.
Eggs
Eggs are an excellent source of protein and contain selenium and vitamin D.
Flaxseed
We call flaxseed sprinkles in our home. I will add them to yogurt, oatmeal, granola, pancakes, and muffins. Flaxseeds contain calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, manganese, selenium, biotin, and folate. They had a little texture and a little crunch. If your child or other family members are unfamiliar with flaxseed, start with a small amount.
How to get Kids Involved in the kitchen?
It can be a bit nerve-racking to invite your kids to work alongside you in the kitchen. But teaching kids to cook is a valuable life skill and a great way to bond with each other. A great way to get your kids in the kitchen to help is to start with one task.
Here is a list of tasks for kids in the kitchen in this sweet potato muffins recipe:
- Wash the sweet potatoes
- Prepare the baking sheet
- Set a timer
- Gather ingredients
- Measure ingredients
- Learn to work kitchen gadgets such as a hand or electric mixer*
- Prepare the muffin tin
- Pour batter into muffin tin
- Sprinkle flaxseed
- Serve family
- Wash dishes
*Supervise and consider age appropriateness for the task.
What if I have leftover sweet potatoes?
Serve extra sweet potatoes with butter and pumpkin pie spice for a side. My toddlers can make a meal of mashed sweet potatoes, especially if I take the time to season them. The best way to cook is to prepare something today that you can use tomorrow. I will bake my sweet potatoes the day before making the delicious muffins to make a whole lot and use them for sides for the week.
How to make Healthy Sweet Potato Muffins?
Equipment
- mixer (electric or hand)
- large bowl for mixing
- muffin pan
- parchment paper (optional)
- cooling rack
- muffin liners or parchment paper to prepare pan (optional)
Ingredient List
- 3/4 cup melted butter (or coconut oil)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (approximately 3-5 sweet potatoes)
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 1/8 tsp ground cloves (optional)
- 3-4 tbsp flaxseed (optional)
Step-by-Step Instructions for Sweet Potato Muffin Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 400º F. Wash and prepare sweet potatoes for baking. This recipe takes about 3-5 sweet potatoes. Bake for 45-60 minutes. This step can be done up to 2 days before making the sweet potato recipe to reduce time. Remove peeling from sweet potato and set aside or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to make sweet potato muffin recipe.
- Preheat oven to 325º F. First cream melted butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl (for a fluffy texture). Then, combine the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Next, combine the dry ingredients including the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon to the wet ingredients (add additional spices if you prefer). Then, combine sweet potatoes.
- Prepare a muffin tin and spoon the batter or use an ice cream scoop to fill each of the muffin cups halfway with the batter. Sprinkle flaxseed onto each muffin.
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the muffin. Once the toothpick comes out clean, the muffins are done.
Tips For Making This Sweet Potato Muffin Recipe
Take Time to Cream the Butter and Sugar
Cream the butter and sugar for 6-8 minutes at medium to high speed. I always melt my butter in my glass mixing bowl, add sugar, and let the electric mixer run while I prepare the rest of the ingredients. Creaming the butter and sugar allows for an even dispersion of the sugar and a fluffier texture of baked goods.
Storing Muffins
Store at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container with a tea towel or paper towel in the bottom of the container. Sweet potato muffins are very moist, so this prevents the muffins from becoming too sticky. Store the muffins in the refrigerator for up to 5-6 days in an airtight container, but this does tend to dry them out.
Freezes Well
These easy muffins freeze very well. Place baked and cooled muffins on a tray and put them in the freezer for one hour. Remove the muffins and add them to a freezer bag. This allows the muffins to freeze without clumping together, so you can easily remove them individually when ready to reheat.
Reheating Baked Goods
If time allows, preheat the oven to 350ºF and bake for 12-15 minutes until cooked through. If you must, microwave with a moist paper towel for 45 seconds. I do my best to limit the use of the microwave because the nutritional value is greatly decreased from this method of cooking. As stated, nutrition is one of my biggest priorities when serving my family. I find it frustrating to work hard and budget for quality ingredients, only for them to be zapped in the microwave. However, moderation is key. This is not to say that we do not use a microwave in our home. We try to limit its usage.
Other Easy Ideas and Nutritious Options for Breakfast:
Homemade French Toast
A delicious and comforting food that is kid friendly and a sure winner for the whole family. Get the recipe HERE.
Homemade Strawberry Applesauce
Three-ingredient instant pot applesauce recipe without any added sugar. Get the recipe HERE.
Mini Dutch Baby Pancakes
A spin on a traditional dutch baby. This mini pancake has the perfect little hollow to fill with fresh fruit. Get the recipe HERE.
Thanks for stopping by!
Finally, I want to thank you for stopping by! Please say Hi in the comment section and share with me your favorite muffin. These sweet potato muffins are a great recipe for any time of the year. If you make this deliciously simple sweet potato muffin recipe, please leave a comment and give this recipe a star rating.
– with great Joy, Katie
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Simple Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- mixer electric or hand
- large mixing bowl
- muffin tin
- parchment paper optional
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (approximately 3-5 sweet potatoes)
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger optional
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves optional
- 3-4 tbsp flaxseed optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Wash and prepare sweet potatoes for baking. This recipe takes about 3-5 sweet potatoes. This step can be performed up to 2 days prior to baking muffins. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Allow to cool and then remove peeling from sweet potato and set aside or place in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 325ºF. First, cream the melted butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Then, combine the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Next, combine all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon to the wet mixture (add additional spices if you prefer). Then, combine mashed sweet potatoes.
- Prepare a muffin tin and fill each cup with 1/2 cup of the batter. Sprinkle flaxseed onto each muffin.
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the muffin. Once the toothpick comes out clean, the muffins are done.
Notes
- Cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 6-8 minutes for best results. This equally distributes the sugar and gives baked goods a fluffy texture.
- Store at room temperature for up to 4 days in an airtight container with a tea towel or paper towel in the bottom of the container to prevent muffins from becoming too sticky.
- Freeze and store for up to 2 months.
- Reheat by preheating the oven to 350ºF and bake for 12-15 minutes until cooked through. Microwave wrapped in a moist paper towel for 45 seconds until cooked through.
Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing!
I bet my little guy would love these! I’ll have to try them.
These look delicious! I love sweet potatoes.
Saving this for the weekend yum!
Perfect for the little one. Healthy & tasty too!
This recipe looks yummy. I love sweet potato but I’ve never tried a muffin before. I can’t wait to make them. Thank you very much for sharing!
Where I grew up, we had a big sweet potato festival. So, sweet potatoes were plenty. And you get creative 🙂
Looks delicious and I can’t wait to try them! Thank you for sharing!
I am a sweet potato lover! I mostly use them in savoury recipes, but I can’t wait to try this one; it sounds very yummy! Thanks for sharing 🙂
These sweet potato muffins look delicious. Not too sure about the flavor of the flax seeds. But I do know that it adds a number of nutritional values to the muffin snack. Thanks for sharing.
I can’t wait to try these with my kids- looks great!
Looks yummy! 🙂
I’ve been looking for some recipes with sweet potato in it. Definitely book marking this one. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I hope you enjoy it! This is one of our favorite sweet potato recipes.
These look delicious! I’m not sure if my kid will eat them though – I’d probably have to omit the seeds on the top for him. I. on the other hand, love all things sweet potato. So I’m definitely keeping this recipe on my list.
I completely understand. I gradually exposed my kids to flaxseeds. We called them sprinkles. Now, I can add more and they don’t seem to mind.
I wonder how this would turn out without eggs for my allergic son?
I am so sorry. Preparing food can be so stressful when your little ones have allergies. We have a nut allergy in our house. I have not tried it yet. But I wonder if you could substitute it with yogurt. I have replaced eggs with applesauce or yogurt when making banana bread.
Katie, many years ago, I had a sweet potato dinner roll and I can almost taste it if I try to think about it. These muffins are pretty much up there with those dinner rolls and I loved the addition of flax.
I try to sneak in as much nutritional value as I can with my kiddos. We call the flaxseed sprinkles and now they ask for them. It just adds little bit of crunch.