Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins are soft, moist, delicious and filled with all the nutritional goodness that sweet potato has to offer. Studded with dark chocolate chips and chopped walnuts, they are a perfect healthy breakfast or snack that’s dairy-free and refined sugar-free.
Similar to my Sweet Potato Banana Bread, minus the banana!
When it comes to baked goods, my favorite baking recipes are the ones that incorporate vegetables, fruit and legumes as the base AND turn out not tasting weird. I’ve experimented with many “hidden veggie” baking recipes and have had some epic fails (hello black bean brownies!).
These sweet potato muffins took a couple tries but the final version is absolutely delicious, kid-approved and in case you’re wondering, these muffins DO NOT taste like sweet potato.
If you love the idea of baking with hidden veggies, make sure to also try these flourless Avocado Raspberry Brownies or these Dark Chocolate Chickpea Blondies (trust me, they’re amazing!).
Jump to:
Ingredient notes
-
Sweet Potato: you will need one large baked potato (¾ cup mashed). This recipe is perfect if you have any leftover baked sweet potatoes from dinner. Just stick it in the fridge and use the flesh in these muffins the next morning! See my tips below on best ways to bake sweet potatoes.
-
All-Purpose Flour: my favorite brand is unbleached all-purpose flour from King Arthur’s.
-
Almond Milk: use unsweetened plain almond milk or ant plant or cow’s milk of your choice.
-
Coconut Oil: extra virgin or refined coconut oil will both work. You can also swap it for avocado oil, light olive oil or melted grass-fed butter.
-
Maple Syrup: to add natural sweetness to the muffins. My maple syrup is always from Maine.
-
Vanilla: use real vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
-
Cinnamon: ground cinnamon is full of nutritional goodness and goes very well with sweet potato.
-
Baking Powder and Baking Soda: to help the muffins rise.
-
Egg: free-range, organic egg is best. You can also swap it for egg replacer, if you’d like.
-
Salt: to round up the flavors.
-
Chocolate Chips: dark chocolate works best. For dairy-free, use vegan chocolate chips such as Lily’s.
-
Walnuts: I like adding chopped nuts to these muffins for a bit of crunch but if you prefer smoother texture, you can skip them.
How to cook sweet potatoes
This recipe calls for baked and mashed sweet potato. There are many ways you can cook sweet potatoes before making the muffins. I usually bake mine in the oven the day before but you can use a different method, if you prefer. Scrub the potato well before cooking and poke it with a fork a couple times. It will speed up the process and prevent the potato from splitting.
Oven: bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-50 minutes or until tender.
Air fryer: spray with your favorite oil and cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes or until the potato is tender.
Instant Pot: this method is best when you are cooking multiple sweet potatoes (2-4). Prick potatoes with a fork a couple of times. Add 1 cup of water to your Instant Pot, place the trivet inside and arrange the potatoes on the trivet. Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes (for potatoes measuring 2-3 inches in width), allow pressure to release naturally for 10-15 minutes before manually releasing the rest of the pressure.
Microwave: wrap the potato in a damp paper towel, place in the microwave and cook on high for 4 minutes. Squeeze for doneness and microwave until it's tender and cooked through. For me it's usually 6-8 minutes total but it depends on the size of your potato and the power of your microwave oven.
Step by step instructions
- STEP 1: Start with the potato. It should be cooked and cooled to room temperature or chilled (see above for how to cook sweet potatoes). Cut the potato in half and scoop out the flesh. Mash with a fork in a bowl.
- STEP 2: Mix wet ingredients. Add plant milk, egg, maple syrup and vanilla to the mashed potato and mix until smooth.
- STEP 3: In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients.
- STEP 4: Add dry ingredients to wet ones and stir until just combined. Don't overmix.
- STEP 5: Add the mix-ins: dark chocolate chips and walnuts or pecans (if using).
- STEP 6: Bake for 30 minutes in 345 degrees Fahrenheit.
Storage and freezing tips
Store these muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 24 hours or in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze them – wrap each muffins in plastic wrap and place in an airtight container or a ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to three months. Thaw completely before serving.
Looking for more small batch baking recipes? Try this 2 Banana Muffin Recipe.
Substitutions and special diets
- Coconut oil can be swapped for avocado oil, vegetable oil or melted butter.
- If you don’t like the texture of nuts in baked goods, you can skip them. Walnuts can be swapped for chopped pecans.
- You can use any plant milk in place of almond milk. Soy, coconut or oat milk will also work, as will regular cow’s milk if you prefer dairy.
- Maple syrup can be swapped for agave syrup, coconut sugar, date sugar or organic cane sugar.
- For a gluten-free version, you can use your favorite gluten free flour blend.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can make these muffins vegan by swapping egg with egg replacer and using dairy-free dark chocolate chips.
I’ve tested this recipe with a couple different kinds of flour and though I don’t normally bake with regular white flour, it really does work best with sweet potato. You can experiment with other flours though the texture and flavor will change considerably. For almond and coconut flour, you would likely need to use less flour and more eggs or the muffins won’t rise properly.
I sometimes make these muffins with spelt flour and they are also very good but notably less fluffy. If you experiment with other flours and like the effect, I would love if you share your success with me in the comments below!
Other healthy desserts to try
Strawberry Banana Oat Muffins
Banana Carrot Oat Muffins
Healthy Banana Oat Bread
Dark Chocolate Chickpea Blondies
One-Bowl Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
Recipe
Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- ¾ cup sweet potato baked or microwaved (1 large sweet potato)
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon almond milk
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup walnuts chopped
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- A pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 6-muffin tin with muffin liners and spray lightly with oil.
- Mash the potato with a fork until smooth. You can also puree it in a food processor.
- Add almond milk, egg, maple syrup, melted coconut oil and vanilla and stir until combined.
- In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until combine. Don’t overmix the batter.
- Stir in walnuts and most of the chocolate chips reserving some for the top.
- Place the batter into the prepared muffin tin. I like using an ice cream scoop for this part.
- Top with remaining chocolate chips and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.
- Place on a cooling rack and let cool completely before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
You may also like
Meet the Author
Hi, I'm Agnieszka. I'm a mom of three and recipe developer, writer and photographer behind Wholly Tasteful. I love creating comforting, delicious, family-friendly recipes that you can feel good about.
Bogusława says
Wyglądają bardzo apetycznie. Na pewno zrobię.🤭
Andrea White says
so simple and soooo good! love how they turn out!
Alexandra says
These muffins are so delicious and perfect with my morning coffee!
Freya says
These were so yummy, delicious and moist and perfect!
Kayla DiMaggio says
These muffins are so delicious! I love all the chocolate flavor!
Ana says
These muffins were utterly delicious!
Pam Greer says
I am always looking for healthy snacks and desserts, these are perfect!
Marcellina says
Ooooh so moist! What a great recipe, my family is going to love this!
Brianna says
These muffins are so moist and fluffy, my family loved them!
Natalie says
Yum! These muffins look amazing. I can't wait to bake them.
Natalie says
I finally made them yesterday. They were so delicious. My son ate a few and asked to bake them again. Success. Thanks!
Nora says
Never made sweet potato chocolate muffins before! Now I must try them! Thanks for the idea!
Kayla DiMaggio says
These sweet potato chocolate muffins are so delicious! I loved how easy they were to make and they turned out great!
Jill says
Loved how moist and sweet these muffins were! So good!
Katie Youngs says
Making muffins with a sweet potato base is genius! I love when a sweet treat also contains some yummy nutrition.
Agnieszka says
Same here!
Addie says
These muffins are so soft and fluffy!
Bogusia says
Delicious