Sweet Potato Muffins

These sweet potato muffins get even better with a sugary, buttery crumb topping and a maple icing drizzled over them. Move over pumpkin, it’s sweet potato’s time to shine!

I don’t know about you but I’ve had a bit of a hard time finding cans of pumpkin puree this year. Like when I tried to find some to make this pumpkin cream cheese bread. No luck.

So I turned lemons into lemonade – and this butternut squash bread was born instead! And so I decided to do the same when I wanted to make my pumpkin muffins again. I decided to make a sweet potato muffin version instead. 

With crump topping. Because well all muffins need one. And then a delicious 3-ingredient maple icing. Move over pumpkin, there’s other tubers in town.

Why You Will Love These Muffins

• 100% Whole Grain 1- I’ve been pretty obsessed lately with baking with whole grains. I used whole wheat pastry flour, which is uses 100% of the whole grain, but is lighter in protein content so you end up with a light, fluffy texture.
• Quick To Whip Up – I love making muffins because you don’t need a mixer. Just a couple bowls, a whisk, and a spatula. 
• Easily Make Ahead And Can Freeze – I love making muffins, but I always have way more than I need. So I love making them and freezing them for later!

Ingredients Needed

For the muffin batter:

For the crumb topping:

For the icing:

Ingredient Notes

• Whole wheat pastry flour – This is my flour of choice, but you can also use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 all-purpose flour, or you can use 100% whole wheat white flour. Or use AP flour (but replace it by the same volume).
• Oil – I used organic canola oil which makes the muffins very moist. If you want less fat content, you can also do half oil and half applesauce. Or try another neutral-tasting oil, such as vegetable oil.
• Milk – I used almond milk in these muffins, but you could easily swap out for low-fat, whole, or soy milk. 
• Sweet Potatoes – I cooked and mashed up two sweet potatoes to make these muffins. But you could use canned if you can find it. 
• Maple Syrup – Real maple syrup for the icing is where it’s friend. I used organic maple syrup, but as long as it’s real it will work!

Homemade Sweet Potato Puree

Now first of all, you might get lucky and find a can of sweet potato puree. And that’s cool, do you. Grab it and make these muffins now. But fresh puree is always the best. And really, so simple.

Just peel the potatoes and then dice them up small. Throw them in a pot of water and let them boil away. Once they are soft, strain out the water and mash them. Or throw the cooked sweet potatoes in your food processor and let the machine do all the heavy lifting.

Make Your Crumb Topping

Ok homemade crumb topping. It’s what all muffin dreams are made of. And it’s so simple! Start by combining the flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt. Just a quick whisk and you’re all set. Then go ahead and cut in your butter. 

You can cut in the softened butter by hand, or with a pastry cutter. Just cut the butter in so it’s a sugary, crumbly mess. 

Whip Up The Batter

First start by prepping your pans with muffin liners. And don’t forget to preheat that oven yo!

Then whisk together your dry ingredients in your mixing bowl – properly measured flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

And in a second bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients – eggs, pumpkin puree, canola oil, milk, and vanilla extract.

Pro Tip: Use room temperature eggs so everything is incorporated easily. Bring them to room temperature quickly by placing them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes. 

Now the BIG moment… combining the two! The key is to NOT over mix. It’s one of my 6 secrets to perfect muffins. Just pour the wet into the dry and stir it together with a spatula until the last of the flour is mixed in. Lumps will happen. Lumps WILL happen. And should happen. You don’t want to a smooth muffin batter or you will end up “tunnels” in your muffins. 

Scoop, Sprinkle, And Bake!

Once your batter is ready, it’s time to get the batter into the pans. Go ahead and divide up the batter. This recipe will make 14 muffins – so you will have 2 leftover to make a second batch.

Then pinch the streusel into clumps and sprinkle onto each muffin. And then go ahead and bake these for about 18-20 minutes. 

Make the icing.

While the muffins are baking, go ahead and whip up this super easy maple icing. It’s just powdered sugar, maple syrup, and milk.

You can always adjust the consistency if you need to. And if it’s not a strong enough maple flavor you can always add a maple extract – 1/4-1/2 teaspoon.

When the muffins are cool, go ahead and drizzle on the icing.

Recipe Tips

• Measure your flour accurately. The best method is to use a kitchen scale and measure your flour in grams. If you don’t have a scale, use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup, then level it off gently with a butter knife. For more details, read my post on How to Measure Flour Correctly. 
• Don’t overmix the batter. Once you add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix until everything is just combined. Don’t worry if it is still lumpy. Overmixing can lead to tough muffins or cause tunneling, which is essentially large air pockets (holes) in the muffins. So no overmixing!  
• Portion your muffins evenly. Nowadays they make awesome LARGE ice cream/cookie/muffin scoopers that are perfect for getting even sized muffins. 

Recipe FAQ’s

Other Muffin Recipes

• 20+ Cupcakes To Make This Fall
• Whole Wheat Apple Crumb Muffins
• Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins
• Easy Pumpkin Muffins