Chocolate Beet Muffins (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free)
Soft, moist, crumbly, and chocolatey, these vegan chocolate beet muffins are everything you want in your chocolate desserts, with the added bonus of being vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, and containing no oil. They’re a delicious breakfast, and the perfect excuse to get a little more chocolate in your life. If you’re looking for a chocolate muffin recipe you’re going to want to make again and again, this is the one for you! No eggs? No problem. No flour? No need! Go nuts for some great vegan and gluten-free baking!
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Adventures in Gluten-Free Baking
I’m not gluten-free, and I don’t really eat a lot of gluten-free foods (aside from naturally gluten-free foods like apples or rice). In December I took a stab at trying to make my Vegan Santa Lucia Buns with Saffron and Cardamom gluten-free, but they were quite frankly pretty terrible. But the other day I found a pretty good deal on almond flour- a brand that I usually saw priced around $8 a bag was being sold at $4.99, so I took it as a sign that my ventures into gluten-free baking had begun. Almond flour in hand, I cluelessly made up my first batch of these muffins. They were bitter, wet, and never fully baked all the way through. Delicious! The next week was filled with subsequent batches, each batch getting closer and closer to an actual muffin you would want to eat. What I learned- you need less liquid when cooking with almond flour. Like, a lot less. My final recipe contains only beet puree and a bit of vanilla extract to balance out the dry ingredients and they’re still perfectly moist. I’m sure other gluten-free flours are different, but I think I’m well on my way to understanding how almond flour operates.
Chocolate and Beets: A Match Made in Heaven
When you think “chocolate”, beets might not be your first thought in complementary flavors, but it’s actually a delicious match! Beets are sweet and earthy, and really compliment the bitterness in chocolate. Their moisture adds to chocolate cakes or brownies, making them fudgy without adding fats. Overall, they add the type of complexity and depth of flavor to chocolate that really helps your baked goods stand out- I’ve seen people use espresso powder or tomato puree to achieve similar results! Plus, beets add a little nutrition to these muffins, giving you some of their health-boosting properties while still enjoying the indulgent, chocolate muffin greatness. Protein, fiber, vitamin C, folate, potassium, and manganese are just some of the players beets bring to the party. Chocolate and beets are so delicious and healthy, it’s almost like you can have your cake and eat it too!
Looking for Beet Recipes? Try one of these!
- Easy Minestrone Soup with Beets
- Avocado, Persimmon and Beet Tartare
- Golden Beet & Kohlrabi Recipe: Root Vegetable Latkes
- Wood Sorrel, Jicama, and Beet Slaw
- Bouquet of Roses Beet & Radish Salad Pizza
- 50+ Vegan Beet Recipes, for Every Occasion
- Seaside Vegan Beet Salad
- Vegan Meatballs (Beetballs) & Seitan and Beet Meatballs
Making Chocolate Beet Muffins
One trick I have to making the recipe a lot easier feeling is to make the beet puree up ahead of time. It’s very simple- just boil whole beets until their fully cooked, remove the skins (they just slide off once you’ve cooked them), and blend until smooth. If this is a recipe you enjoy and want to make often, it’s nice to have a large container of puree made up and ready in the fridge. After that, it’s pretty much a simple, one-bowl process. Combine all the dry ingredients (for best results, weigh the ingredients) and whisk together. Add the vanilla and beet puree, and stir until fully incorporated, add some extra chocolate, and then just bake to finish it off. This recipe will make 10 chocolate beet muffins, although it can also easily be halved if you’re cooking for a smaller group. Perfect for breakfast, you can’t beet it as a way to start your day.
Chocolate Beet Muffins (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free)
Ingredients
- ¾ lb. whole, raw beets
- 2 1/3 cups (224g) almonds flour
- ½ cup (50g) brown sugar
- ½ cup (50 g) Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (2 oz.) vegan chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Prepare the beet puree by boiling whole beets until tender. Run under cold water until you can comfortably handle them, and then rub off the skins. Place the beets in your blender, and blend until smooth, stopping and scraping down the sides as needed. You should end up with around 1 cup of beet puree.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line with muffin liners or grease 10 muffin pans and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until well combined. Add the vanilla extract and 1 cup (244g) beet puree and mix well. It will be a fairly dry mixture. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips or chunks. Evenly scoop the batter into the 10 prepared muffin tins, and place in the preheated oven.
- Bake for around 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool fully, and enjoy!
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