Lightly sweet vegan chocolate beet muffins with plenty of dark chocolate flavour. Even if you’re not a fan of beets, you’ll probably like these dark chocolate muffins. Made with whole wheat spelt flour and coconut oil. Skip to the recipe →
So, vegan chocolate beet muffins! We’re all pretty familiar with chocolate cake with hidden vegetables, but not zucchini this time – because beets are a little more mysterious, don’t you think? Despite being made with whole wheat spelt flour and a pile of veggies, these are definitely chocolate muffins and they don’t taste nearly as healthy as they are.
Clearly I’ve been in Germany for a while when I try to write ‘schokolade’ instead of chocolate for the title. We’re in a bit of a weird season right now, where there is new plant life starting to pop up, but I’m still living off root vegetables that keep well during the winter months.
It’s the strangest thing to have flowers blooming everywhere at the beginning of March – my parents are blocked in by over a metre of snow right now and all the highways have been closed at home for a couple days due to a big snowstorm. Isn’t that what spring is like for everyone? Hah.
Beets are one of my favourite root vegetables. You might remember this vegan red velvet hot chocolate I posted in February, and I feel pretty good about posting another chocolate and beet recipe, because it’s an awesome combination. They’re meant to be. The first bite of one of these muffins might be a little surprisingly beet-y but the chocolate takes over pretty quickly.
If you have a sad lonely beet sitting in the bottom of your crisper, shred it up and make some muffins, then feed the muffins to your children and laugh at fooling them into eating beets. They’ll just see chocolate on top of more chocolate and think it’s a special treat. Make sure to have one of these muffins while it’s still warm to experience the gooey chocolate on top! (And then check your teeth and face after, you’ll be covered in chocolate.)
Despite the bright red colour of the beets, you really can’t see it in these muffins, because they’re heavy on cocoa for a dark chocolate flavour. If you’re looking for a naturally red chocolate cupcake, I recommend Traci’s recipe over at Vanilla and Bean. It’s vegan too.
My friend Ashley and I are going to Stockholm at the beginning of May (right before my wedding) so if you have any suggestions/recommendations please let me know in the comments! I’ve never visited other European countries, other than Germany, so I’m looking forward to it.
There are several notes for this recipe, because I did a few tests with some different ingredients – please read them for extra tips and substitutions.
Let’s connect! If you liked this recipe, make sure to leave a comment below, I love hearing from you! Tag me on instagram @occasionallyeggs and #occasionallyeggs so I can see what you’re making, and stay in touch via facebook, pinterest, and bloglovin.
Vegan Chocolate Beet Muffins
Lightly sweet vegan chocolate beet muffins with spelt flour & coconut sugar. Even if you're not a fan of beets, you'll probably like these muffins.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole spelt flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder*
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 cup oat or nut milk
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted**
- 3/4 cup grated, raw red beet, packed
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F and grease or line a standard muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate, reserving a couple of tablespoons for topping the muffins with.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk together the milk and coconut oil until combined. Mix in the grated beet (everything will turn bright pink).
- Add the wet beet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Measure out approximately equal amounts into each muffin tin and then top with the leftover chocolate.
- Bake on the centre rack for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool for ten minutes in the tin before removing and cooling completely on a rack. Store in an airtight container for up to three days.
Notes
• Don't worry about peeling your beet(s) if they're organic. Just give them a wash, you won't notice the skin in the finished product.
• I now use vanilla powder and chopped chocolate in place of vanilla extract and chocolate chips because extract and chips are prohibitively expensive and fairly rare here. Canadian/American readers, just add extract to the wet ingredients and use chocolate chips if you prefer. That goes for almost all of my recipes.
* I prefer dark cocoa powder in this recipe for a deeper chocolate flavour, but I have tested it with natural cocoa powder (cacao) because I ran out of dark cocoa. They'll be quite a bit lighter with natural cocoa and slightly more red, almost purple. I recommend using dark cocoa if you can, and don't bother using raw cacao in this recipe, it's a waste of money if you're baking it anyway.
** You can use a different type of oil here if you prefer - I usually choose olive oil, but grape seed, sunflower, etc. are all good. They will be a bit denser, which I like, when using coconut oil.
Aimee Mars says
Yes! Another way to sneak veggies into my kids. I love this recipe and I love beets so this sounds like a heavenly mixture.
cakespy says
Deep, dark, and delicious! These muffins look perfect.
Julia says
I love the photos – amazing! They look so rich like paintings! And you are right chocolate and beets is an awesome combination. I am surprised it's not as popular as it should be!
Marie says
I can relate so much to your "schokolade" mistake. I'm living in Spain (from Canada) and often write stuff in Spanish… even when i reread my posts I sometimes don't even realise it… Your muffins are looking divine! I love that you add the beets in there! Nothing like a good chocolate muffin! Great post!
Shantae Daniels says
What is oat or nut milk? Or what's a good substitute?
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Shantae! It's just non dairy milk, like almond or soy milk. You can use regular dairy milk too if you don't have any sensitivities to it 🙂
Alexandra Daum says
Thank you! We love them 🙂
Alexandra Daum says
Hah, exactly! My boyfriend doesn't really like beets at all and he's demolished these muffins every time I've made them.
Alexandra Daum says
Thanks Julia, that's so sweet! Exactly! Beets are so versatile as a sweet vegetable, and I think they're so beautiful.
Alexandra Daum says
All the time, my goodness! I've gotten to the point that when I talk to my (Canadian) boyfriend I forget some words in english and only remember the German! Thank you 🙂
Erika says
AHHH YUM BOOKMARKING THESE SO HARD. My boyfriend is from Australia and has strangely very fond memories of a chocolate beetroot cake his mom used to make, so I want to try these for him!! That last photo is PURE MONEY $$
Alexandra Daum says
Hah, thanks Erika!
Gabrielle says
What tin containers did you use?
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Gabrielle, if you mean the muffin tin, it's just a standard one. You can see it in the third photo.
Vanessa says
I am gluten free – is there a particular type of gf flour that could be substituted in this recipe?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Vanessa, I haven’t tried to make these gluten free, so I can’t give a definite answer. I’m sure a standard GF blend would work, and I imagine buckwheat would as well, but I’m not 100% on that.
Jill says
These are so moist!! I love them and can’t wait to have my grandkids try them this weekend! Thank you so much for sharing!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
So happy to hear that, and I hope your grandkids loved them! Thanks Jill 🙂
Frances says
Made these today, substituted in white flour and regular cocoa. They also worked great in the donut tin. Delicious. I just need a good icing recipe.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Lavinia says
Hi there, these look delicious. Is it possible to make this with canned coconut milk?
Thank you!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Absolutely! If anything it’ll make them even richer and extra nice : )
Lou says
There is an ** next to coconut oil but nothing in the notes. Is it ok to leave the coconut oil out? Or will this ruin the recipe? But looks delicious and will attempt either way!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Lou! This must be something that was missed when I switched recipe cards recently. It’s that you can sub another oil (I usually choose olive) instead of coconut, but they’ll be a bit less cake-like then. I’ve updated the card to reflect that, thank you!
Dan says
Hey – really grateful for you taking the time to post this and your other recipes – thanks : )
Leen says
Hi there! I had to try out your recipe and the cupcakes are in the oven right now!! Smells good, but they are showing a very high dome! What could go wrong? Temperature at 190 C as what you’ve said.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Leen, I’m not sure a high dome is a bad thing? Did they go over the edges of your tin?
Laura says
Made these using homemade oat milk and the leftover pulp as a substitute for some of the flour, and they’re delicious! also added coffee and a tonka bean for flavour. I do wish I had had dark cocoa powder as you recommend, because that must be even nicer 🙂
Thank you for the recipe and the tip on not peeling the beets, I’ve been eating the rest of what I’ve grated raw and wondering why I ever bothered taking the skin off beetroots haha
Cheryl says
can you use cooked beets? I have some precooked peeled beets from Costco.
Alexandra says
I haven’t tried with cooked beets as they’d add quite a bit more liquid and can’t be grated. If you want to use them, I’d recommend pureeing the beets and reducing the milk by about 1/4 cup.
Nienke says
This recipe looks amazing! Can I use these quantities and bake the mixture in a loaf tin? What would you recommend in terms of oven temperature and baking time?
Alexandra says
I think so, but I’ve never tried it – I’d say 180C (350F) and 45-55 minutes. Definitely do a toothpick test to make sure it’s done though (sorry it’s a big range, just because I haven’t tested). But it should work!