These Gluten-Free Vegan Purple Sweet Potato Ube Muffins are beautifully coloured, fragrant and perfectly moist! They're easy to make and refined sugar free too. Perfect for spring and Easter!
Purple sweet potatoes are a popular ingredient in Japanese desserts, and I have used them for a variety of different recipes, including ice cream, mochi, cheesecake, smoothie bowls and milkshakes. I adore their natural sweetness, perfume-like flavour, and of course their beautiful colour! They're also really healthy.
Purple sweet potatoes (also known as ube) are a type of sweet potato that naturally has a bright purple flesh, and dark purple skin.
You can buy purple sweet potatoes in some local supermarkets, grocery stores or Asian grocery stores.
Yes! If you can't find purple sweet potatoes, you can use normal sweet potatoes instead!
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Cook the purple sweet potatoes.
- Place the cooked purple sweet potatoes and plant-based milk in a food processor or blender.
Tip: Make sure to use a measuring jug to measure out the exact amount of plant-based milk!
- Blend until completely smooth.
- Mix together with all the other ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Divide the batter between muffin cases in a muffin/cupcake tin.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
How long do these keep for?
Though these muffins do taste best when fresh, they keep well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds with ground sunflower seeds and use a nut-free plant-based milk.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free.
- If you can't find purple sweet potatoes, you can use normal sweet potatoes instead!
More gluten-free vegan muffin recipes
- Carrot Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Muffins
- Apple Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Orange Muffins
- Lemon Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Gingerbread Muffins
- Orange Poppy Seed Muffins
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Gluten-Free Vegan Purple Sweet Potato Ube Muffins
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) raw purple sweet potatoes (ube) (about 1 medium-sized sweet potato)
- 150 ml (⅔ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar * (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) **
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Cook the purple sweet potatoes by boiling, steaming or roasting them until very soft and tender.
- Discard any skins, and place in a food processor or blender, with the milk.
- Blend until completely smooth - you might have to mix it around a few times.
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the blended sweet potato mixture to the same bowl along with the maple syrup, vinegar, salt and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Transfer the mixture between muffin cases in a muffin tin.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Anonymous
So beautiful!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!