Okay, so I remember meatloaf cupcakes being a trend a few years ago or so, but I did not have a vegan food blog back then. Now that I do, this has been on my mental to-do recipe list for awhile, and I finally did it.

These are definitely to be filed under the kid-friendly category. It kind of made me feel like a kid again! For another vegan kid friendly recipe, see here.

The cupcakes feature lots of healthy ingredients like carrots and onions, pinto beans, raisins, quinoa, and pinto beans, among other things. To top it off, there is a mashed potato “frosting” with nutritional yeast and garlic powder. I added some ketchup on top instead of a cherry, and vegan bac’uns as sprinkles.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

For the cupcake loaves:

• Gimme lean ground beef style or other vegan ground faux meat of choice, 14 oz
• 15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp plain almond milk
• 2 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce (Annie’s Organics makes a good vegan version, check your labels because this often contains non vegan ingredients…or you can use a vegan steak sauce if that is easier to find)
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp prepared yellow mustard
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flaxmeal, 6 tbsp water whisked together and let to sit for about 5 minutes)
• 2 cups quinoa
• 1 cup grated carrots

For the mashed potato “frosting”:

• 6 medium white potatoes
• 4 tbsp (1/4 cup) Earth Balance
• 1/2 cup unsweetened plain almond milk or other vegan milk of choice
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

For the cupcake loaves:

1. Cook quinoa before preparing the cupcake loaves. When it’s cooked, let sit to cool while you prepare the rest.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. In a food processor, put the gimme lean faux beef, pinto beans, raisins, chopped onions, almond milk, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, mustard, oregano, and salt in pepper and pulse until as combined as possible. If your food processor is like mine, you’ll need a rubber spatula to push it around to get it mixed together well and scraped down the sides.
4. Add the flax eggs to the mix and pulse until combined.
5. Transfer this mixture into a large bowl.
6. Add quinoa and carrots, fold in with a spoon or rubber spatula until dispersed throughout.
7. Spray cupcake tray with oil and place about 1/2 cup of this loaf mixture into each cup.
8. Heat in oven for about 15 minutes until lightly browned. While cooking, prepare the mashed potato “frosting.”

For the mashed potato “frosting”:

1. Peel and chop the potatoes.
2. I steamed the potatoes in a steamer pot, but you could also boil them. I just put water in the bottom pot and the potatoes in the basket, kept on high heat at first and eventually turned down to medium. It took about 20 minutes for them to be ready to be mashed. You know when a fork can easily go through them and they are soft.
3. Pour the water out of the bottom of the steamer pot, and place the potatoes into it.
4. Add Earth Balance, Almond milk, nutritional yeast, salt, and garlic powder, and mash.

To assemble:

I wanted to pipe the mashed potatoes onto the cupcakes but I was too impatient to wait for the mashed potatoes to cool enough so I could stick it in a large ziploc bag, snip the corner, and make it look pretty with piping it like real cupcakes. So, I just scooped some on with a spoon, and put some ketchup on top, with a little bit of vegan bac’un sprinkled on top–those are definitely recommended if you can find them because they added a really great crunch factor to the dish. These are quite healthy, eat more than one! Probably best to eat with a fork, unfortunately, though…