Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Muffins with Chocolate Frosting

Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Muffins with Chocolate Frosting are a delicious vegan treat, sweetened 100% with fruit! These tasty muffins sneak in tons of healthy foods.

Thought frosting couldn't be healthy and plant-based? Think again.

Honestly, I used to think that I could eat most foods on a plant-based diet. But there were certain foods, like frosting, that I thought would be impossible to replicate.

You can easily make unhealthy vegan frosting. Actually, it's pretty easy - just mix powdered sugar, your flavoring of choice, along with some non-dairy milk.

While I eat that type of unhealthy food on occasion (because balance) I don't want to make a habit of eating sugary frosting.

So how do you make plant-based frosting? It's easy. But let me tell you about the entire recipe first. After all, you gotta have something to put the frosting on.

Jump to:

• Recipe Features
• Ingredient Notes
• How to make Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Muffins with Chocolate Frosting
• Preparation and Storage
• Recipe Prayer
• More vegan muffin recipes
• Tried this recipe?
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• 💬 Comments

Recipe Features

• Dietary needs - this recipe is plant-based, oil-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, and completely fruit-sweetened
• Perfect treat- these muffins have tons of good-for-you ingredients with fiber and nutrients for a healthy and tasty breakfast, snack, or dessert
• Quick and easy - mix the dry, mix the wet, combine, bake, done!

Ingredient Notes

Chocolate Chip Muffins

• Banana: Mashed banana adds sweetness and moisture to these muffins. Make sure to use ripe bananas for maximal sweetness.
• Almond Butter: I chose almond butter, but any neutral nut butter such as cashew or walnut butter will work.
• Baking Powder: To help the muffins rise.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: The ACV adds some acid, which reacts with the baking powder. It also balances out the less-acidic banana.
• Oat Flour: I used homemade oat flour - to make your own, simply blend quick oats in a food processor until you achieve a flour.
• Almond Flour: Adding just a bit of fat to these muffins via almond flour helps develop the flavor. More fat = more flavor.
• Cocoa Powder: A necessary ingredient for chocolate muffins.
• Ground Flaxseed: Flax helps with binding the muffins together, so they're not all crumbly.
• Vegan Chocolate Chips: You can find vegan chocolate chips in the natural foods section of most grocery stores - try to find chips with no added sugar or dark chocolate, which would have minimal added sugar.

Chocolate Frosting

So how do you make plant-based frosting that actually tastes good?

The secret is to use naturally sweet ingredients.

• Japanese Sweet Potato: Also known as Asian sweet potatoes, these gems are deliciously sweet, especially when baked. Throw your sweet potato in the oven (don't forget to poke some holes to allow air to escape) and bake for 45-60 minutes. The potato will become super soft, creamy, and sweet. This is the base of the frosting. We'll blend it in a food processor to make it even creamier.
• Cocoa Powder: For chocolate flavor!
• Vanilla Extract: For some depth of flavor.
• Non-Dairy Milk: We'll add milk to thin out the frosting. Without it, the sweet potato and cocoa mixture would be very thick and grainy.
• Maple or Date Syrup: You may find that you enjoy the taste of sweet potato and cocoa powder - the Japanese sweet potatoes are VERY sweet. But if you'd like to add some more sweetness you can drizzle in a couple tablespoons of maple or date syrup until you reach your desired taste.

How to make Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Muffins with Chocolate Frosting

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with liners.

Step 2. In a large bowl, mix the mashed banana, almond butter, baking powder, and apple cider vinegar until combined.

Step 3. Add the oat flour, almond flour, cocoa powder, and ground flax. Mix thoroughly until all the dry ingredients are evenly incorporated.

Step 4. Stir in your desired amount of chocolate chips.

Step 5. Scoop ¼ of batter into each cup of the lined muffin tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.

Step 6. Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool completely.

Step 7. Meanwhile, add the mashed sweet potato, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract to a food processor.

Step 8. Blend, adding the non-dairy milk until the frosting is smooth. Taste and add date syrup to sweeten, as desired.

Step 9. Pipe or spread the frosting on each cooled muffin. Enjoy!

Preparation and Storage

Preparation: There are a few pieces of this recipe that need to be prepped ahead of time, and others that can be prepped beforehand.

Must Prep

• Ripe Bananas - make sure you buy bananas a few days in advance to ensure they are nice and ripe. Your bananas should have plenty of brown spots.
• Baked Japanese Sweet Potato - for the frosting, you'll need to bake your sweet potato. I like to bake it the night before, so I don't have to worry about trying to make frosting with a piping hot potato.

Can Prep

• Frosting - If you'd like, you can make the entire frosting recipe a day or two before. It holds up well in the fridge.

Storage: For best results, store these Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Muffins and the Chocolate Frosting in the fridge. Since they're made of completely whole food ingredients they will go bad quickly if left at room temperature.

Recipe Prayer

Thank you God for the gift of fruits that You made naturally sweet for us to enjoy. We praise you for your abundance.

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