Gluten Free Chocolate Beet Muffins

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These delicious gluten free chocolate beet muffins are a crowd pleaser and an easy way to sneak in beets without anyone even knowing.

If I’m being completely honest, I don’t love beets. I will eat them and have even learned to like them. Especially when they are prepared certain ways – like sliced thin and roasted with salt. But, in general, there are other veggies I definitely prefer. However, beets take the cake when it comes to pairing with chocolate in my opinion.

Sure, I’ve tried sweet potato brownies and avocado pudding, but something about the sweetness of the beets melding with cocoa just works and these chocolate beet muffins are proof of that.

How the Chocolate Beet Muffin Came to Be

I love growing root veggies. They are by far my favorite things to grow so we generally grow ample amounts of them. Thankfully, they store well too. So here we are in March, pulling bags of beets, carrots, and potatoes from basement fridges and storage shelves in March. When we found ourselves with hundreds of pounds of beets this past year, it was time to start getting creative. I’d heard of various chocolate recipes calling for beets but had never given it a shot.

After some experimentation, we landed on this recipe that has become not only a breakfast favorite but also a special after dinner treat. We even used these on our son’s first birthday as a cupcake!

Chocolate Muffins for Breakfast??

This decision is totally up to you. Certainly, I’m not claiming that these muffins are the healthiest of all the breakfast options, but we do enjoy them every now and again as a breakfast treat. 

I’m a huge proponent of a nutrient rich breakfast. Specifically, a breakfast filled with a balance of high-quality fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Starting your day off this way will help keep your family satiated and avoid the mid-morning crash and is especially helpful in fueling growing brains and bodies.

This recipe is filled with health promoting beet puree, coconut oil, eggs, cacao powder and is naturally sweetened by honey. While definitely still a treat, when it does end up on our breakfast table it is accompanied with shouts of joy.

Baking without Gluten or Grains

While we don’t strictly follow a gluten or grain free diet, we have in the past at different points. Specifically, we found eliminating grains when facing unique health challenges was very helpful. You can read more about my healing journey here. Now, we do incorporate some traditional grains, like einkorn, as well as include sourdough on occasion. However, we still do a lot of gluten and grain free cooking and baking and have really come to enjoy those items just as much and often more.

Baking without gluten and grains can be tricky. Specifically in the area of texture and consistency. I have found that combining coconut flour and arrowroot starch (or tapioca starch) together creates our favorite baked treats with the best texture and consistency.

How to Make Beet Puree

This recipe calls for 2/3 cup of beet puree. We have another post and video that shows you exactly how we make beet puree that you can find here. But the short of it is to cook your whole beets (we like doing this in the instant pot) and then blend them in a high-powered blender (we use a Vitamix) or food processor. Besides making these chocolate beet muffins, you can add beet puree into soups, sauces, or mixed with some mashed potatoes or squash as a side.

What about substitutions in these chocolate beet muffins?

Coconut/Arrowroot starch – You can substitute tapioca starch for arrowroot starch in this recipe but beyond that, I have not experimented with using alternative flours to these.

Cacao powder – Cocoa powder can be used interchangeably with cacao powder but see below for the differences.

Honey – Maple syrup can be used instead of honey.

Coconut oil – You can substitute butter or ghee for coconut oil here if you prefer.

Cacao Powder versus Cocoa Powder 

Cacao is the raw and unprocessed form of chocolate. It contains abundant antioxidants and is a rich source of magnesium. It is the traditional form that has been used across cultures for years and is specifically noted for its health purposes. Cacao powder has more nutrients in tact from the whole cacao bean.

Cocoa powder is the heated form of cacao that is much more standard on grocery store shelves. While cocoa powder is inferior in nutrients to cacao powder, it still retains antioxidants despite its heating. When buying cocoa powder, be sure to look for a product with cocoa powder being the only ingredient as mixes often contain added sugar. Dutch-processed cocoa powder is a cocoa powder that has been treated with an alkalized solution making it less acidic and richer in taste than regular cocoa powder.

Chocolate Beet Muffins Recipe (gluten and grain free)

Yield: 12 Muffins

Equipment used:

Silicone Muffin Molds – While not necessary, I love these reusable and non-stick silicone muffin molds for making these and any other muffin or cupcake. They make it so easy while reducing waste and sticking to the paper liners.

Ingredients:

½ cup coconut flour
1/3 cup cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
¼ cup arrowroot starch (or tapioca starch)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup beet puree
4 eggs
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
½ cup chocolate chips (plus a few extra for topping if desired)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine your wet ingredients in a mixing bowl (beet puree, eggs, honey, and coconut oil).
3. Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients (coconut flour, cacao powder, arrowroot starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).
4. Mix everything together thoroughly.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Spoon into muffin cups until 2/3 -3/4 full.
7. Top with additional chocolate chips if desired.
8. Bake at 350°F for 18-22 min.

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We hope you will give these super simple one bowl chocolate beet muffins a try! For a few other favorites from our homestead, we’d recommend the chocolate pudding or soaked baked oatmeal.

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