Moist, Fluffy Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Muffins

These moist cinnamon spiced gluten-free sweet potato muffins are dairy-free, fluffy and have no cane sugar. Sweetened with maple syrup or agave they are perfect for a winter holiday breakfast. I topped them with my icing without powdered sugar – yes you read that right! That pretty icing has no powdered sugar (see link below).

Be sure to check out my other gluten-free muffin recipes including my Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Banana Muffins with cinnamon crumb topping and gluten-free coffee cake muffins.

Gluten-Free Flours

There are so many options for gluten-free flours for baking so I will give you some recommendations and options to chose from. I have used several different gluten-free flours for this recipe and they all worked well.

If you prefer a store bought blend, I recommend King Arthur’s Measure for Measure gluten-free flour. It is the most affordable of the gf flours I’ve tested and is available at most grocery stores. Be sure to check out my collection of King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour recipes.

Cup4Cup (contains milk powder) and Pamela’s Artisan Blend are also good flour options which are both 1-to-1 flour replacements. All of these flours are certified gluten-free. Omit the xanthan gum from the recipe if your flour blend contains it or other binders like inulin and guar gum.

If you avoid rice, try my gluten-free rice-free flour blend recipe. It works well in cakes, cookies, pancakes as well as these muffins.

Muffin Ingredients

Sweet potato puree is available in cans like pumpkin puree at some markets. It’s usually found with the pumpkin puree and mostly available in the fall. You can also order sweet potato puree online if you can’t find it in the market.

Otherwise, you’ll need to bake a yam/sweet potato. My preference is for garnet or jewel yams. A medium-large sized yam (about 10-12 ounces) will give you the right amount. You can even bake it in the toaster oven if you have one with temperature controls. Bake the sweet potato on a sheet pan (to prevent drips on the oven) at 400F for about one hour or until very soft in the middle.

If you are baking your own potato, you will need to puree it in the blender, food processor or with an immersion blender to assure that it is completely smooth. The immersion blender is my favorite way to do it because I can do it right in the mixing bowl which means no extra dishes to wash. Puree it with the oil and sweetener for best results.

Cinnamon – The best source for certified, gluten-free spices is Spicely Organics. You may have seen them at your market in the little green boxes.

These muffins have no cane sugar. Agave or maple syrup make them moist and perfectly sweet.

Tools

My absolute favorite tool for cupcake and muffin making is this Wilton Perfect Fill Batter Tip. It’s a tip that fits into a piping bag and allows you to fill paper liners with out the messy drips and glops of batter all over the pan. It has a silicone tip that opens and closes with pressure on the piping bag. I NEVER make muffins without it. Unless of course there are blueberries or something that would clog it up – it must be a smooth batter like this muffin batter.

My other favorite muffin making and baking item is 4-cup measuring cup. This allows me to measure and mix all the wet ingredients in the measuring cup without using an extra bowl. If you hate doing dishes as much as I do, this is a great tool.

Optional Additions and Toppings

These muffins are amazing on their own but sweet potato and cinnamon go well with so many different flavors. Here are a few fun additions toppings and to these gluten-free muffins:

• Try my icing without powdered sugar which uses coconut cream as the base.
• Drizzle with plain white icing or orange icing. Mix 1/4 c powdered sugar with 1 1/2 tsp water, milk or orange juice.
• Top with my Sweet and Spicy Candied Pecans
• Add the zest of one orange. Need a quick tutorial on zest? Check out my post on How to Zest a Lemon. Stir the zest into the liquid ingredients.
• Stir 2/3 c chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter
• Pineapple-place 1 cup canned crushed pineapple in a strainer and drain well. Press down on the pineapple to squeeze out the liquid. Stir into the liquid ingredients.
• Add 3/4 cup shredded apple – stir into the liquid ingredients
• Add 2 tsps freshly grated ginger. Grate the ginger on a microplane for a super fine shred that will incorporate and flavor the muffins nicely.
• For a little kick, omit the vanilla and add 1 Tbsp rum.

Moist, Fluffy Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Muffins

Author: Janet Harlow

Course: Baked Goods

Cuisine: American

Servings: 14 muffins

These fluffy gluten-free sweet potato muffins are dairy-free, sweetened only with maple syrup and melt-in-your-mouth moist.

5 from 2 reviews

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Recommended Products

• Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour

Ingredients

  

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• 1 c sweet potato puree
• 6 Tbsps oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 c maple syrup or agave
• 1 1/3 c gluten-free flour blend*
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Glaze

• 3 Tbsps powdered sugar
• 1 tsp water

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat the oven to 325°F and prepare muffin tins with paper liners.
• If you are baking a yam/sweet potato for the puree, it is best to puree it in the food processor, blender or with an an immersion blender once baked. Otherwise it will be chunky. Puree it with the oil and maple syrup for best results.
• Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
• Add the oil, eggs, vanilla and maple syrup/agave and mix well.
• Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
• Fill the liners about ⅔ full.
• Bake 18-20 minutes or until the top is set and bounces back from a gentle tap.
• Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

*If using a gluten-free flour blend that contains xanthan gum, guar gum inulin or other binders omit the xanthan gum called for in the recipe.

For an easy DIY gluten-free flour blend, combine:

2 c brown rice flour
2/3 c potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch

Be sure to check out my collection of King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour recipes

Did you make this recipe?Let me know how it was! Tag @chefjanetk on Instagram.