I am SO excited to share these waffles with you guys! Stoked. You know why? Because they are amazing. Potentially the best I’ve ever made. Woot!
When I told AJ I wanted to make sweet potato waffles, he looked at me like I was a crazy person. His eyebrows went up, he got a little smirk on his face, and I could see him thinking, You want to use sweet potato? In my waffles? Are you insane?
My answer: Yes. To all of the above.
Now, I know I’m not the first person to ever do this. Plenty of people have done this. But telling my dear fiance that people on the internet all think it’s ahh-mazing is not necessarily convincing to him. So, I decided to convince him with his taste buds.
And convince I did! I’m pretty sure we both agreed that these may be the best waffles I’ve ever made – and I’ve made a lot of waffles.
And they have some healthy vegetables in them! The sweet potato is naturally (get this) sweet, so the amount of added sugar is pretty low. I bet you could even replace the brown sugar with maple syrup and then these would be made with 100% natural sugar.
Why did I not think of that when I was making these…? Whoops. If you try that, let me know how it turns out!
All those natural sugars lend to this being a rather sticky batter, so there is a half cup of margarine in this recipe as well. BUT, it makes a ton of waffles, and if you use lactose-free margarine (like I did!) then you’ve got yourself a totally vegan recipe here. Cholesterol free, too! But don’t let that discourage you – these are fantastic.
We used sweet potato puree the first time, and pumpkin puree the next. They are similar, but ever so slightly different in terms of flavor and texture. We’ve used sweet potato puree before, with our blondies and brownies, but we love pumpkin just as much. I can’t decide which ones I like better!
Pumpkin may be easier to find in the grocery store (especially if you start with a canned puree), so if that’s all they’ve got, then go for it. BUT, if you can find the sweet potato version or have the time to make your own from scratch, then I encourage you to try it. Don’t be scared!
Does breakfast get any better than this?
Print
Vegan Sweet Potato or Pumpkin Waffles
- Total Time: 46 minutes
- Yield: 6 Waffles 1x
Description
A delicious recipe for sweet potato waffles – and they’re just as good with pumpkin! Healthy veggies in my decadent breakfast? And they’re vegan? Yes, please!
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp ground flax seed
- 5 Tbsp water
- 1 cup sweet potato or pumpkin puree
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 cup vegan margarine, melted (I used Earth Balance)
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- Cooking oil spray
Instructions
- Combine the flax seed and water in a small bowl to make a flax egg, and set aside to thicken for a couple minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the sweet potato (or pumpkin) puree with the almond milk and whisk well. Slowly pour in the melted margarine while whisking vigorously. Add the brown sugar and the flax egg, and whisk until combined.
- In another bowl, combine the flours and the rest of the dry ingredients. Stir until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined – you should have a slightly thick batter.
- Heat your waffle iron to medium. Grease the iron with cooking oil spray and add an appropriate amount of batter, spreading it around as necessary (this may take a time or two to get the hang of it).
- Cook until the waffle is no longer steaming profusely. This took about 6 minutes per waffle in my Belgian waffle maker, but it may take more or less time depending on the shape and size of waffles you make.
- Serve immediately with some extra margarine and maple syrup on the side.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 36 minutes
- Category: Waffles
- Method: Waffle Maker
- Cuisine: Breakfast
Keywords: sweet potato, waffles, pumpkin, vegan, comfort food
Be sure to let us know your thoughts on these in the comments below, and please give the recipe a rating if you’ve made it!
If you loved this recipe, don’t forget to check out these fabulous waffle variations:
- Cornmeal Honey (with vegan options)
- Vegan Flax Seed
- Gluten-Free Buckwheat Buttermilk
- Banana Bread Yeast
- Fluffy Belgian Spelt
- Crispy Homestyle
Photos by Raquel Smith, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published on November 3, 2014. Last updated: September 20, 2020 at 13:15 pm.
Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Raquel Smith
Raquel is a whole foods enthusiast, an avid mountain biker, and a dog lover. She works by day at Food Blogger Pro and formerly maintained her food blog "My California Roots" (now merged into Foodal).
I have never tried sweet potato or pumpkin waffles before! Definitely think I have been missing out on something delicious… Craving a stack of these to devour right now. Pinned!
Thanks, Thalia! You’ve totally been missing out – they are amazing!
All i gotta say is yum yum! Im newly vegan and so excited to find such amazing recipies! Although I used 1/4 c. coconut oil instead of margarine and 1/2 c. coconut flour instead of wheat flour because I didn’t have the others. I don’t know if that’s why I had to cook it longer but it made it a little crispy and that was fine with me. Thank you!
★★★★★
Yay! I’m so glad you liked these, Natalie! Good to know that those substitutions worked, though I could see that making it take a little longer to cook. Thanks so much for coming back to comment – you made my day! 🙂
Hi! Can you please tell me what waffle maker you used? My iron can handle traditional batter, but ruins every attempt I make at being more creative. Judging from your pictures, you do not have this issue… Thanks!
Hey Julie – I think this the closest thing is the Cuisinart WAF-F20 Double Belgian Waffle Maker. They don’t make the exact one I have any more… but a newer version should work just as well. Either way, the waffles might stick a tiny bit but with just a bit of convincing with a fork they come out really easily. I do add additional nonstick spray after every 3 waffles or so. Hope that helps!
Like others who reviewed, I substituted coconut oil. Unfortunately it didn’t work out at all. crispy outside (bordering on burnt) and the middle still sticky and wet. I tried to salvage the batter as pancakes and didn’t fare much better. Not wanting to put it all to waste I put the remainder in muffin cups and still no good. I suspect the ratio of sweet potato to flour is off, but to be fair I did make the substitution.
★
Sorry the recipe didn’t work for you, Kim! Coconut oil has a high smoke point, so it’s strange that they would burn while the inside remained raw. Did you use the correct amount of batter for your waffle maker? And was this perhaps a Belgian-style appliance with deeper grates? Sweet potatoes can vary in their moisture content, so some tinkering may be required if the batter seemed too watery. There’s a chance that your waffle maker could also be at fault.
1/2 c vegan butter? Waay too much!
Try a splash of oil. Still works – fat content too high!
My kids and I can’t get enough of these. I’ll try oil next time although the butter flavor is amazing. Best waffles ever!
★★★★★
We loved these! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
I really wanted these to come out right for me but the waffles were a no go. Then I tried to make pancakes with them, that was also a no go. So now as a last stitch effort I’m trying muffins. We shall see. They smell great but won’t hold together for anything.
When you say they won’t hold together, can you describe what’s happening in detail? Are they sticking to the waffle iron, crumbling when you cut into them, or something else? Happy to try to troubleshoot for you!