These tasty Chocolate Beet Muffins are moist, easy and have hidden veg! Beetroot is a secret healthy ingredient in the recipe and nobody will guess it is there. You'll love these nutrient-dense and kid-friendly muffins for breakfast, dessert or a snack.
Trust me on this one. You'll love how moist, rich and tasty these Chocolate Beet Muffins are!
I love my vegetable dessert recipes and these are delicious hidden veg muffins. So rich, moist and tasty!
Plus, they're really easy to make. Whiz the cooked beetroot and wet ingredients in the blender until smooth. Pour into a bowl, sift in the dry ingredients, stir, pour into a muffin pan and bake! See? Easy peasy.
Chocolate muffins are such a comforting dessert. Everyone loves chocolate, amiright?
These Chocolate Beetroot Muffins can be eaten as breakfast, dessert or even as a snack.
To make them more nutritious, I’ve added cooked beetroot to the muffin batter for a veggie dessert the whole family will love!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
It combines chocolate with a vegetable for secret healthy nutrition. A tasty hidden vegetable dessert.
You can eat them as breakfast, dessert or snacking throughout the day.
Kids love these chocolate muffins and will have no idea they are made with beets!
They contain simple baking ingredients that can be found in most grocery stores and corner stores.
This recipe can be doubled for a party.
They freeze well for later enjoyment.
They are moist and fluffy with the addition of yogurt in the batter to replace some of the oil.
These muffins have the perfect amount of sweetness and chocolate.
The vegetable muffins can be made start to finish in around half an hour!
Beetroots are a healthy vegetable full of antioxidants, fiber and vitamins. Find out more about the health benefits of beetroots.
Ingredients & Tools
Cooked Beets - Beets give the muffins a deep dark color and add great nutritional value, moisture and richness.
Vegetable Oil - Needed to bring the batter together.
Eggs - Help bind all the ingredients together when baked.
Vanilla Extract - Adds a light vanilla flavor that pairs well with chocolate. There's extra vanilla in the recipe so they have less sugar and are still sweet. I love this trick to reduce sugar.
Granulated White Sugar - This is what will make the muffin sweet.
Plain Yogurt - Gives the muffin a dense and moist texture that is very enjoyable. It replaces some of the oil, so they're lighter and healthier.
Plain Flour - Makes up the base of the dry ingredients in the muffin and gives them structure.
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - Gives the muffins a classic chocolate flavor. Use unsweetened baking cocoa, not hot chocolate powder.
Baking Powder - Helps the muffins rise and become nice and fluffy.
Tools
A blender or food processor
Mixing bowl
Sieve
Muffin pan
Oven
Step By Step Tutorial
Follow this step-by-step photo tutorial, then scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients list and method.
Preheat the oven to 355F/180C.
Grease a 12-cup muffin tray or line with paper liners.
Add the beets, oil, eggs and vanilla to a blender or food processor and pulse to purée.
Add the sugar and yogurt and whiz to combine.
Pour it into a large mixing bowl, then sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix to combine.
Pour the batter into each muffin cup until it’s about ¾ full.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Tips
Make sure muffins are cooled for at least 5 minutes in the muffin tray before removing and transferring to a wire rack. This helps prevent them from crumbling.
Allow the muffins to cool or, as with all muffins and cupcakes, they could stick a bit to the muffin papers. Though if you can't wait that long, I don't blame you!
You can cook beets yourself or use vacuum-sealed or canned beets that are drained. Just make sure they are in water and not oil, vinegar or any seasonings.
Do not overfill the muffin liners. Fill them up to ¾ full. If there is too much in the muffin liner, the muffin will burst out of the sides and not have a classic dome shape.
Serving Suggestions
- Bring to a party with these Chocolate Covered Beet Chips.
- Serve at breakfast with these Walnut Granola Parfaits.
- Make a basket of muffins as a gift along with these savory Kale Green Muffins, Persimmon Muffins or Mango Muffins.
- Pile them high on this Pancake Board to feed a crowd for breakfast.
- Serve along with Cinnamon Twists.
Variations
Add some milk or white chocolate chips to make double chocolate chip beetroot muffins.
Use slightly less cocoa powder if you’d like the muffin to be a bit more red in color.
Dust with powdered sugar on top.
Add in some shredded carrots to the batter for an extra dose of veggies.
Sprinkle some dried strawberries over top before baking.
Make them in a mini muffin tin to make smaller muffins that are great snacks.
Special diets
To Make Gluten Free: To make this recipe gluten free, use a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend that is suitable to substitute 1:1 in baking recipes.
To Make Vegan Chocolate Beet Muffins: For vegan beet muffins, use an egg replacer and substitute the yogurt for a dairy free yogurt or one cup of mashed banana.
NOTE: I am not a certified nutritionist and make no claims to the contrary. If you have a food allergy or intolerance you should determine whether the ingredients in each recipe are suitable for you.
Storage
Storing: These muffins will store on the countertop in an airtight container for 5-7 days.
Freezing: To freeze these muffins, wrap them in a layer of plastic wrap, then a thin layer of foil and add to a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Thaw on the countertop before serving.
FAQs
The best way to make a muffin that is moist and fluffy is to use yogurt in the batter.
Likely not! The chocolate flavor is strong and the beets offer a nice natural sweetness that will cancel out any earthy taste.
Yes! While everyone’s definition of health varies, these muffins contain a high dose of nutrients and antioxidants that most store-bought muffins do not have. This recipe has less sugar and oil than typical chocolate muffins.
Vegetable Desserts
If you can't tell from my blog, I love getting creative and making desserts and cakes with vegetables. In fact, I've even written a book about them! Check out the Veggie Desserts Cookbook.
Here are some more vegetable cakes and desserts that you'll be sure to love.
And I have many more Vegetable Desserts recipes too!
More Beet Recipes
We hope you love these Chocolate Beet Muffins as much as we do! Be sure to use up more beetroots with these tasty beet recipes.
Beet Soup
Beet Hummus
Zoodles and Beet Balls
Beet Pizza with Beet Leaf Pesto
Slow Cooker Beetroot Chocolate Cake
Finnish Beetroot Salad
Beetroot Chocolate Cake
Check out the Veggie Desserts + Cakes cookbook on Amazon
Check out the Veggie Desserts + Cakes cookbook on Amazon
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Beet Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 ½ oz (250g) cooked beets (cooked, canned or vacuum-sealed in water with no oil, vinegar or seasonings)
- ½ cup (100ml) vegetable oil canola, sunflower etc...
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- ½ cup (120g) plain yogurt
- 1 ¼ cups (170g) all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- ¾ cup (75g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 355F/180C. Grease a 12-cup muffin tray or line with paper cases.
- Add the beets, oil, eggs and vanilla to a blender or food processor and purée. Add the sugar and yogurt and whiz again briefly to combine. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into the bowl and lightly mix to combine. Pour the batter into the muffin cases ¾ full.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until risen and an inserted skewer or toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool for 5 minutes in the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
- Make sure muffins are cooled for at least 5 minutes in the muffin tray before removing and transferring to a wire rack. This helps prevent them from crumbling.
- Allow the muffins to cool or, as with all muffins and cupcakes, they could stick a bit to the muffin papers. Though if you can't wait that long, I don't blame you!
- You can cook beets yourself or use vacuum-sealed or canned beets that are drained. Just make sure they are in water and not oil, vinegar or any seasonings.
- Do not overfill the muffin liners. Fill them up to ¾ full. If there is too much in the muffin liner, the muffin will burst out of the sides and not have a classic dome shape.
- Add some milk or white chocolate chips to make double chocolate chip beetroot muffins.
- Use slightly less cocoa powder if you’d like the muffin to be a little bit redder in colour. Note that natural beet colour often cooks out, so leaving out the cocoa completely won't make them pink muffins.
- Dust with powdered sugar on top.
- Add in some shredded carrots to the batter for an extra dose of veggies.
- Sprinkle some dried strawberries over top before baking.
- Make them in a mini muffin tin to make smaller muffins that are great snacks.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors, so is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietician for special diet advice.
Blaky
Hi!
I’m super excited to try these!
Do you think if I skip cooking the beets, but instead grate hem, the recipe would still work? I prefer not to cook anything out of the beets.
Is the reason you cook them first so that they process easily in the blender? I was thinking if I grated them (with my food processor attachment), that would be fine. Thank you!😊
Michelle Boule
This was such a great recipe! I love beets and it was a great way to have a lightened up recipe too!
Sunrita
Just love how delicious and indulgent these muffins are. So good!
Heather
These turned out pretty yummy; a little more dense than I prefer. However, my picky 7-year-old (who will complain about being served the wrong brand of macaroni and cheese) LOVES them! I'm frankly shocked. But extremely pleased that they're a hit! I've got another pack of beets (farm share box) and I now know what I'll be making with them!
Michelle
I love that there are beets in these! Such a perfect way to get in extra veggies, especially for my kids, and none of us would even guess it was in there!
Michelle | Sift & Simmer
These chocolate beet muffins look amazing -- so moist and fluffy! Thanks for sharing your tips!
Beth Sachs
These muffins look so moist and delicious. I love baking with beetroot, it goes so well with chocolate.