Love pizza? Try these deliciously savoury healthy pizza muffins. How can this be healthy? The base ingredient is actually sweet potato! Add to that sun-dried tomatoes, olives, cheese, ground chia seed  & ground flaxseed, you have high protein, high fibre, nutritious muffins with slow release carbs from the sweet potato to keep you going throughout the day. To further boost the nutritive profile, my recipe includes the option of using protein powder too. (I use soy or pea-derived).

These muffins encapsulate all the flavours from pizza but in a healthy form, great for the health conscious including those on paleo diets, but also a way of encouraging less healthy eaters to eat more nutritiously! By using gluten-free flour, this recipe is also suitable for coeliacs.

These muffins are highly portable, making them ideal for grab-and-go breakfasts & lunch-boxes. You can make these as standard size muffins which just need a little more baking time or as cute mini-muffins (which i love!), which always go down a treat at for buffets, BBQs and parties.

36 mini muffins or…

…12 large muffins

What is more, these muffins can be whipped up in about 20 mins, require only one mixing pot (so less washing up!), a blender/ food processor (which reduces chopping time!) & they freeze well.

Makes 12 large muffins or 36 mini-muffins

Preparation time: approx. 20 mins

Baking time:  30 mins for mini muffins, 45-50 mins for large muffins

Ingredients:

A little melted coconut oil or spray coconut oil for greasing

640g Sweet potato, peeled & roughly cut into chunks

2-3 Red Chillies (depending how hot you like it!) coarsely chopped & some sliced finely for decoration (the red or green ones are fine, with the red ones being hotter!)

3/4 tsp dried mixed herbs

18 Black olives, finely sliced

100g Sun-dried tomatoes, blotted to remove excess oil, sliced finely

3 tbsp Cottage cheese

40g Feta cheese diced into small cubes

70g Parmesan, finely grated

1 tbsp Coconut oil

6 large eggs, beaten

1 tbsp Milk

230g Wholemeal flour or gluten-free flour

20g Ground flaxseed (if you wish to omit this, replace with 20g more flour)

20g Ground chia seed (if you wish to omit this, replace with 20g more flour)

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp baking powder

Optional: include 2 tbsp protein powder & reduce the flour by 20g. (I use soy or pea-derived).

To garnish: 50g grated cheese

Optional: 1/2tsp dried chillies if you like more heat!

Method

Preheat the oven to 175ºC. Grease the muffin trays with a little melted coconut oil or line with bun cases if you prefer.

Place the sweet potato chunks in a blender & whizz to roughly chop up.

In a bowl, mix together the chopped sweet potato, the coarsely chopped chilli with the mixed herbs, finely sliced olives & sun-dried tomato slithers.

Stir in the cottage cheese, feta cubes, grated parmesan, coconut oil, eggs & milk.

Then mix in the flour, baking powder, ground flaxseed, ground chia seed (if using), salt & pepper. If using, stir in the dried chilli flakes & protein powder

Spoon portions of the mixture into the prepared greased muffin trays/ muffin cases. Sprinkle the top with the sliced chilli & grated cheese.

Bake in the oven for 30 mins for mini-muffins & 45-50 mins for large muffins, until golden brown on the surface & a skewer comes out clean…

Enjoy!

Don’t forget you can find my favourite recipes in my FREE eBook here.

Variations:

Bacon Pizza muffins add small pieces of cooked bacon along with the spring onions to make these even more savoury. (Vegan bacon works a treat!)

You can garnish with ground flaxseed & pumpkin seeds if you wish