Unlike most recipes for sweet potato muffins, this one uses grated raw sweet potato instead of cooked mashed sweet potato. This allows the muffins to have a better rise, while maintaining just enough moisture. They’re a bit like carrot cake muffins, but with sweet potato. And there’s no pre-cooking required!
Dairy-Free Sweet Potato Muffins adapted from a Restaurant Favorite
This dairy-free sweet potato muffins recipe was shared with us by Denise Hall back when she wrote for the blog, Fit Fare. We’ve since updated it!
While scanning through one of my favorite old cookbooks, Enola Prudhomme’s Low Calorie Cajun Cooking, I came across a recipe for sweet potato muffins I wanted to try.
I had the good fortune to eat this very item at her restaurant, Prudhomme’s Cajun Cafe, in Carencro, Louisiana. While we waited for our meal, servers bought out homemade cornbread, rolls, and muffins to our table for sampling. According to Enola, the recipe from the cookbook is a lower fat version of the muffin offered at the restaurant. But there wasn’t any sacrifice in the taste or texture. I served my muffins at a gathering to great reviews.
Recipe Substitutions & Tips
- Sugar –Â These dairy-free sweet potato muffins would be equally delicious with brown sugar or coconut sugar! I don’t recommend swapping a sugar-free alternative, as this will affect the tenderness of the muffins. A liquid sweetener might work well, but it hasn’t been tested.
- Sweet Potato – You can use any root vegetable if you don’t have sweet potato on hand. Carrots or parsnips would be delicious!
- Butter Alternative – Your favorite baking oil will work well as a direct substitute for the buttery spread, if needed. This will be a little less salty, so feel free to add another pinch or two of salt, if desired.
Photo by Markus Spiske.
Special Diet Notes: Sweet Potato Muffins
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegetarian.
For nut-free sweet potato muffins, you can omit the nuts, or substitute more raisins.
For egg-free and vegan sweet potato muffins, I would substitute 1/3 cup aquafaba for both of the egg whites. But please note that we have not tested this substitution. See our Egg Substitute Guide for more options.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and grated (about ¾ cup)
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 cup unsweetened or plain dairy-free milk beverage
- ¼ cup dairy-free buttery spread, melted
- 2 egg whites
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease 6 muffin cups or line them with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the sweet potato, raisins, and nuts and whisk well to combine.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk beverage, buttery spread, and egg whites. Slowly add the milk-egg mixture to the other ingredients, stirring just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Fill each muffin tin two-thirds full with batter. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the pan immediately and let cool on a wire rack.