Easy Sweet Potato Muffins

Made using a cinnamon swirl muffin mix and infused with sweet potatoes and pecans, these quick and easy sweet potato muffins are moist, tender, and bursting with some of my favorite fall flavors.

Sweet Potato Muffins

Dearly beloved,

We are gathered here today to join together these muffins and our bellies. I would like to thank each of you for coming to be a part of this union and promise that it will be a wholly satisfying endeavor. Because your belly and these sweet potato muffins were meant to be. Some might call it destiny, some might call it happenstance, I call it a blessing.

I whipped up this sweet potato muffin recipe a few weeks back out of my love for the Krusteaz cinnamon swirl crumb cake and muffin baking mix and my desire to start my personal sweet potato season off as soon as possible. The two seemed like they were made for one another so I tested out an idea and struck gold.

These muffins are moist, tender, and bursting with some of my favorite fall flavors. The best part though, to me, is how incredibly simple they are to mix together. I mean, you don’t even have to measure anything except for 1/3 of a cup of water. There is much to be said for made from scratch muffins, but there is sure praise left to go around for the shortcuts as well!

I encourage (urge) you to make this muffin recipe as soon as possible because I just know it will become a favorite among everyone who tries it.

Sweet Potato Muffins ingredients.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Krusteaz cinnamon swirl mix or a similar mix
  • Canned sweet potatoes, not yams (see the end of the post about using fresh sweet potatoes)
  • Egg
  • Chopped pecans (optional)
  • Water 

How to Make Sweet Potato Muffins

Mix together the mashed sweet potato, egg, and water.

Drain your sweet potatoes and place them in a medium bowl. Mash them up a bit with a fork to make pureed sweet potato of sorts. Then add the remaining wet ingredients (the egg and water) to the mashed sweet potato.

Stir until it’s all nice and blend-able. (new word alert!).

Add muffin mix to bowl.

Pour in the muffin mix—just the mix, not the cinnamon sugar packet.

Mix together until no dry lumps remain.

Stir that up until well combined and no dry spots remain. It will be a little lumpy and that is okay.

Many of us are a little lumpy at various times in our lives and we are still very much loved as well. 🙂

Place batter in lined muffin tin.

Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups. I like to use paper muffin liners in these, especially if I’m going to be taking them places because it makes serving and handing them out so much easier. 

You can get this pretty blue muffin pan in blue or lavender by clicking here.

Top with cinnamon-sugar mix and pecans if desired.

Sprinkle the top of each muffin with about a tablespoon of the cinnamon and brown sugar streusel topping that came in your muffin mix box.

Top with a little sprinkling of pecans, if desired. 

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the center springs back when lightly pressed. 

Note: after 20 minutes at 350 degrees these muffins will be hot. 

Sweet Potato Muffins

Oh my goodness!

Can we all just meet up inside my computer screen for muffins and coffee?

Sweet Potato Muffins

Hurry! Hurry! Sit down while they’re still warm. 🙂

Storage

  • Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week.
  • You can also freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature and you can quickly reheat in the microwave.

Recipe Notes

  • Here are some add-ins you can mix into your muffin batter:
    • Chocolate chips
    • Chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds (you can also just add these to the streusel topping as I did).
    • Raisins
  • You can easily use a mini muffin tin to make 24 mini muffins too. The cooking time should be similar.
  • These also taste great when served with nut butter; either peanut butter or almond butter.
  • Double-check the box cake ingredients, but these muffins are naturally dairy-free. To make them vegan, use a flax egg instead.

Recipe FAQs

Can I use fresh sweet potato instead of canned sweet potato?

If your fixin’ to use fresh sweet potatoes instead of canned sweet potato for your sweet potato muffins keep this in mind:

  • Prepare the sweet potatoes (this can be done a day or so before if you like).
  • Pierce the potatoes all over with a fork and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet.
  • Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the inside is soft when stuck with a fork.
  • Remove and let cool.
  • When the potatoes cool off, peel and mash the roasted sweet potato (fork or masher will do) until any big ole lumps disappear.
  • Measure approximately 3 cups of mashed sweet potato puree.

Why do you use sweet potatoes and not yams in this muffin recipe?

Well, ya’ll, the recipe is sweet potato muffins, not yam muffins LOL. But seriously, keep in mind many sweet potatoes are incorrectly labeled as yams.  This happens even more so in the South. Yams are not very common in the US. They are truly pretty rare. You definitely want to use sweet potatoes (pretty copper-colored veggie) in this sweet potato muffin recipe since yams are typically starchier than sweet potatoes and they tend to cook differently.  So check the labels like in the picture below. 

Check out these other sensational sweet potato recipes:

Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

Sweet Potato Pie, Southern Plate-Style

Vegan Sweet Potato Cake With Maple Cashew Icing

Easy Candied Sweet Potatoes

Loaded Sweet Potatoes With Marshmallows

Sweet Potato Bread With Cinnamon Swirl

Sweet Potato Muffins

Made using a cinnamon swirl muffin mix and infused with sweet potatoes and pecans, enjoy these quick and easy sweet potato muffins.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: muffins, sweetpotato
Servings: 12 muffins
Calories: 169kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 box Krusteaz cinnamon muffin mix
  • 1 can sweet potatoes/yams 16-ounce, drained
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup water
  • chopped pecans for topping, optional

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, place the drained sweet potatoes. Mash them up with a fork. Add the egg and water and mash/stir until well combined. Add in the muffin mix, reserving the topping packet for later. Stir until well combined and no dry spots remain. The muffin batter will still be lumpy but that is fine.
    1 box Krusteaz cinnamon muffin mix, 1 can sweet potatoes/yams, 1 egg, 1/3 cup water
  • Line a muffin tin with muffin papers.
  • Divide batter evenly among 12 prepared muffin cups (grease with cooking spray or use muffin liners). Sprinkle about a tablespoon of brown sugar packet (that came with the mix) over the tops. There will be topping left but you don’t have to use it all. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the top of that, if desired.
    chopped pecans for topping, optional, 1 box Krusteaz cinnamon muffin mix
  • Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until lightly brown and they spring back when you gently press the center.

Nutrition

Calories: 169kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

 

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Gratefully,

Stacey Lynn 

P.S. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

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70 Comments

  1. Christy

    Sounds wonderfull! If I am using fresh sweet potatotoes, how many should I plan on baking? Any other changes I would need to do? Thank you so much.

  2. I’m so excited to see this new recipe, Christy! I make Krusteaz “cinnamon cake” all the time at my house. I love how with minimal effort I get a coffee cake that looks like I spent a lot of time on it. Now, my cinnamon cake is getting a fun variation!

  3. We love sweet potatoes, & these muffins look like a YUMMY way to have them in a different way! 🙂 Thank you for all the great recipes Christy!

  4. I actually think I have a couple cans of “yams” in my cupboard that I got with a food basket gift and I have never known what to do with…this is a GREAT idea!!!! I’m going to give them a whirl! Thanks!

  5. Well, looks like I’m making a trip to walmart tonight after all… Didn’t need to this morning, but for some reason, I really do now 😉

    Thank you for this recipe!!!

      1. Can’t wait to get ingredients for making this. I love anything with sweet potatoes . This does sound scrumptious. Thank you, Christy for your humor and very interesting postings. You are my kind of everyday friend. Keep on keeping on!!! Love you girl…..

      1. I think canned pumpkin would work great. To compensate for the lighter sweetness you could take 1/4 a cup of the topping included with the mix and stir that in as well 🙂 (There is plenty of topping to do this with and still top the muffins). But the sweetness may be fine as it also. Please report back if you try it 🙂

        1. Christy. I just made thes muffins & I had a hard time getting them done. I used fresh sweet potatoes. My logic was 16 ounce can would equal 2 cups of fresh sweet potatoes. If you would give me your thoughts I would appreciate it very much. I want this recipe to work. They look & smell wonderful. Thank You for your input.

      2. If using canned pumpkin instead of the sweet potatoes, would you still use the same amount as called for in the recipe?

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