There’s something uniquely comforting about the aroma of warm spices and baking that fills the house on a lazy weekend morning. It signals a slow start, a hot cup of tea, and something delicious on the horizon. For us, that something is very often this Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe. Forget dry, uninspired muffins; these are incredibly moist, tender, and packed with the gentle, earthy sweetness of sweet potato, all beautifully complemented by a whisper of cinnamon and nutmeg. I’ve been making this for over 2 years, and it never disappoints.

What we adore about this particular muffin recipe is its texture. The mashed sweet potato does something magical, creating a soft, tender crumb that stays moist for days. They are substantial enough for a satisfying breakfast but light enough to enjoy as an afternoon snack with a coffee. This recipe is a wonderful way to use up leftover roasted sweet potatoes and turn them into something truly special. It’s a bake that works beautifully for meal prep, school lunchboxes, or simply for a treat when you need a little lift.

Recipe Overview

This sweet potato muffins recipe yields twelve beautifully domed, flavourful muffins. The natural sweetness from the potato means we don’t need to overload them with sugar, and the oil ensures they have a wonderfully soft texture. After testing this recipe five times, I finally got it just right – the spice level is noticeable but not overpowering, and the moisture is perfect every single time. Expect a straightforward baking process that delivers consistently brilliant results.

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Servings: 12 muffins
• Difficulty: Easy

Why You’ll Love This Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe

• Genuine Flavour: The taste is a delicate balance of earthy sweet potato, warmed by fragrant cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg. The light brown sugar adds a lovely caramel note that makes them feel like a proper treat.
• Ready in Under 40 Minutes: From gathering your ingredients to pulling a tray of warm muffins from the oven, the whole process comes together in about 35 minutes, making it ideal for a weekend morning bake.
• Flexible Recipe: This recipe is a fantastic base for customisation. You can stir through a handful of chopped pecans for crunch, add some dark chocolate chips for a more indulgent feel, or top with a simple lemon glaze.
• Great for Breakfast on the Go: These muffins are ideal when you want a nourishing start to a busy day. They pack well and are just as delicious at room temperature, making them a staple in our household for hectic mornings.
• Family Tested: My kids absolutely love these. They see them as a treat, and I know they’re getting a bit of hidden veg in their diet. It’s one of those recipes that always gets compliments when we share them with friends.

Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe

⏱️ 15 min prep  •  🍳 25 min cook  •  👥 12 servings

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Ingredients You’ll Need

For this recipe, we’re using standard pantry staples. The key is to have nicely cooked, smooth sweet potato mash. I find that roasting the sweet potato whole, then scooping out the flesh, gives a much deeper flavour than boiling. When it comes to oil, a neutral-tasting one like sunflower or rapeseed oil works best to let the other flavours shine. I often use Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste for a more intense vanilla note.

• 260g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• 150g light brown soft sugar
• 2 large free-range eggs, at room temperature
• 120ml sunflower or vegetable oil
• 60ml milk (dairy or plant-based), at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g cooked sweet potato, mashed until smooth and cooled
• Optional: 75g chopped pecans or walnuts

Ashley’s Tip: For the smoothest mash, I push the cooked sweet potato flesh through a potato ricer or a fine-mesh sieve. This guarantees no stringy bits and creates the most wonderfully tender muffin crumb.

How to Make Sweet Potato Muffins

The process for making these muffins is straightforward. We’ll use the classic muffin method, which involves combining the dry and wet ingredients separately before gently folding them together. This technique is key to avoiding a tough, dense muffin. You can find a great explanation of the muffin mixing method on BBC Good Food if you want to learn more about the science behind it.

1. Preheat and Prepare: First, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C Fan). Line a 12-hole standard muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Combine Dry Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Whisking helps to distribute the raising agents evenly.
3. Combine Wet Ingredients: In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk the light brown sugar and eggs together until pale and slightly frothy, for about 1 minute. Then, whisk in the oil, milk, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
4. Add the Sweet Potato: Add the cooled, mashed sweet potato to the wet ingredient mixture and whisk until it’s smooth and well-incorporated. The mixture should be a lovely pale orange colour.
5. Fold a few times: Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. What works best for me is using a large spatula to gently fold the mixture together. Stop when there are still a few floury streaks remaining.
6. Add Optional Nuts: If you’re using pecans or walnuts, add them now and fold another two or three times, just until the last of the flour has disappeared. It is crucial not to overmix the batter. Lumps are perfectly fine!
7. Fill the Muffin Cases: Divide the batter evenly between the 12 paper cases. I use an ice cream scoop for this to ensure they are all a similar size. They should be about three-quarters full.
8. Bake to Perfection: Place the tin in the preheated oven and bake for 18-22 minutes. You’ll know they’re ready when they are golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
9. Cool Down: Let the muffins cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. They are delicious warm, but cooling them prevents them from becoming soggy.

Tips From My Kitchen

• Temperature Control: Having your eggs and milk at room temperature is really important. It helps the ingredients emulsify properly, creating a lighter, more uniform batter and a better final texture.
• The Secret Step: The real secret to a tender muffin is under-mixing. I learned that once you combine the wet and dry ingredients, you should fold them together as little as possible. Over-working the batter develops the gluten in the flour, which results in tough, chewy muffins instead of light, fluffy ones.
• Make-Ahead: You can mix the dry ingredients together and store them in an airtight container for up to a month. You can also bake the sweet potato ahead of time; the mash will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. This makes assembly much quicker. For a longer-term breakfast plan, a Creamy Peanut Butter Smoothie Recipe is another great make-ahead option.
• Storage: These muffins store beautifully. Keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. They will become even more moist on the second day. They also freeze exceptionally well for up to 3 months.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Overmixing the Batter: As mentioned, this is the most common mistake in muffin making. A lumpy batter is a good thing! Mix only until you no longer see big patches of dry flour. A few streaks are okay.
• Using Cold Ingredients: Adding cold eggs or milk straight from the fridge to your batter can cause the oil to solidify and the mixture to curdle. This affects the final texture. Let them sit on the counter for 30 minutes before you start.
• Overfilling the Muffin Cases: It’s tempting to fill the cases to the top, hoping for a giant muffin, but this often causes the batter to spill over and create a messy, flat-topped result. Filling them three-quarters full gives them the perfect amount of space to rise into a lovely dome.

Delicious Variations to Try

While this recipe is wonderful as it is, it’s also a great canvas for a few simple tweaks. Here are some of our favourite ways to adapt these sweet potato muffins.

• Pecan Streusel Topping: For a crunchy, sweet topping, mix 50g plain flour, 50g demerara sugar, ½ tsp cinnamon, and 30g cold, cubed butter with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in 40g chopped pecans and sprinkle over the muffins before baking.
• Vegan-Friendly Option: To make this a vegan muffin recipe, use a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tbsp water), your favourite plant-based milk like oat or almond milk, and ensure your sugar is vegan. The results are just as moist and delicious.
• Chocolate Chip Surprise: For an extra-special treat, fold 100g of dark or milk chocolate chips into the batter at the very end. The slight bitterness of dark chocolate works wonderfully with the sweet potato.

What to Serve With Sweet Potato Muffins

These muffins are a complete snack on their own, but they can also be part of a larger breakfast or brunch spread. If you’re looking for other brunch ideas, our Salmon Cakes Canned Salmon Recipe is always a hit.

• A Generous Smear of Butter: There is nothing better than a still-warm muffin, split open with a knob of salted butter melting into it.
• A Dollop of Yoghurt: Serve alongside a bowl of thick Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of maple syrup for a more substantial breakfast.
• Your Favourite Hot Drink: These muffins are the perfect partner for a strong cup of builder’s tea or a frothy latte. My morning often starts with a homemade Instant Coffee Iced Coffee alongside one of these.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sweet Potato Muffins

Moist and fluffy muffins packed with warm spices and the natural sweetness of sweet potato. A perfect treat for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Servings: 12 muffins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Calories: 252

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 260 g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• 150 g light brown soft sugar
• 2 large free-range eggs at room temperature
• 120 ml sunflower or vegetable oil
• 60 ml milk dairy or plant-based, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 g cooked sweet potato mashed until smooth and cooled
• Optional: 75g chopped pecans or walnuts

Method

 

1. Preheat and Prepare: First, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C Fan). Line a 12-hole standard muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Combine Dry Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Whisking helps to distribute the raising agents evenly.
3. Combine Wet Ingredients: In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk the light brown sugar and eggs together until pale and slightly frothy, for about 1 minute. Then, whisk in the oil, milk, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
4. Add the Sweet Potato: Add the cooled, mashed sweet potato to the wet ingredient mixture and whisk until it's smooth and well-incorporated. The mixture should be a lovely pale orange colour.
5. Fold a few times: Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. What works best for me is using a large spatula to gently fold the mixture together. Stop when there are still a few floury streaks remaining.
6. Add Optional Nuts: If you're using pecans or walnuts, add them now and fold another two or three times, just until the last of the flour has disappeared. It is crucial not to overmix the batter. Lumps are perfectly fine!
7. Fill the Muffin Cases: Divide the batter evenly between the 12 paper cases. I use an ice cream scoop for this to ensure they are all a similar size. They should be about three-quarters full.
8. Bake to Perfection: Place the tin in the preheated oven and bake for 18-22 minutes. You'll know they're ready when they are golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
9. Cool Down: Let the muffins cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. They are delicious warm, but cooling them prevents them from becoming soggy.

Notes

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. For best results, serve slightly warm.

I really hope you enjoy baking this Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe as much as we do. It’s a simple, honest bake that delivers on flavour and comfort every single time. If you do give them a try, I would love to hear how they turned out for you. Please feel free to leave a comment and a rating below – it’s always so lovely to see how you make these recipes your own. Happy baking! – Ashley