This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
These Sweet Potato Waffles turn leftover sweet potatoes into crispy little squares of heaven drizzled with maple syrup. The waffle recipe is a low-carb breakfast idea made with a healthy serving of vegetables from the sweet potatoes. It’s very similar to the popular Cauliflower Waffles but with a sweeter taste.
These sweet potato waffles are such a great breakfast option that are low carb and low calories. They can easily be made gluten-free too with some quick swaps. But in general, you’ll only need regular pantry items plus sweet potatoes to make these low carb waffles.
Ingredients to Make the Recipe
- Sweet Potato: Sweet potatoes are a great healthier alternative to regular potatoes as they contain more vitamins and minerals. Peel them before boiling until tender and then you can incorporate with the rest of the ingredients.
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour, or a 1:1 GF flour to make these gluten-free.
- Oats: Oats help to absorb excess moisture. Rolled oats are best as they add a slightly chewy texture, but quick oats can also be used.
- Almond Milk: To keep these waffles dairy-free we use unsweetened almond milk. Other plant based milks like oat or soy will also work well, or use dairy milk if you prefer.
- Eggs: To bind the ingredients together. Use flax eggs to make this breakfast vegan.
- Baking powder: This is mixed into to help the sweet potato waffles become light and fluffy.
- Seasonings: Cinnamon, salt and orange zest.
How to Cook Sweet Potatoes
This recipe for low carb waffles is best if you have some leftover baked sweet potatoes. But if you don’t, you’ll need to cook them. Here are a few different ways to cut sweet potatoes depending on the cooking method you choose. You can cook the sweet potatoes by boiling on the stovetop, roasting in the oven, or baking in the microwave. Here are the three methods in more detail.
- Boil on Stovetop: Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into chunks. Place in a saucepan large enough to fit the sweet potatoes and cover with boiling water. Boil until fork tender, about 15 minutes.
- Roast in Oven: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Pierce the sweet potato all over with a fork, then wrap it in aluminum foil. Place it on the oven rack or on a baking sheet and bake until fork tender, about 45-60 minutes. Grab the full baked sweet potatoes recipe.
- Bake in Microwave: Pierce the sweet potato with a fork to make sure it doesn’t explode. Dampen a paper towel and place the sweet potato on the damp towel on the microwave plate. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Then check that the sweet potato is fork tender, and continue microwaving in 30-60 second increments until it is cooked.
How to Make Sweet Potato Waffles
- After you cook the sweet potato, transfer it to a food processor and add the remaining ingredients.
- Blend it until the sweet potato is completely combined. Then the batter is ready for the waffle machine!
- Pour some of the batter into your preheated waffle iron.
- You want to cook until the outsides of the waffles are golden and cooked through, but try to set the waffle machine and leave it alone for at least a few minutes before checking on it.
Tips for Making Sweet Potato Waffles
- Cook the sweet potatoes until fork tender. This will make them easier to combine with the other ingredients and the batter will have a nice smooth consistency with no lumps.
- Preheat your waffle iron before adding the batter. This will ensure that your waffles come out more crisp on the outside and they are fully cooked through.
- Make your waffles extra crisp. Because of thee sweet potatoes, these waffles are as crispy as regular waffles. But this trick can help with the crisp facto: place them on a wire rack to help them crisp up a little more. This way they will still stay warm in the middles, but the circulating air will cool the outsides and crisp them up.
- Add oil for even more crisp factor. I actually love that these sweet potato waffles are oil-free but adding just a ¼ cup of oil to the batter as some readers have suggested will help make them more crisp.
- Make them savory. For a savory breakfast, skip the cinnamon and orange zest, and add green onions and garlic powder, or, anything else you have to hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Finish off the waffles with some maple syrup and pecans and enjoy these low carb waffles that are only about 80 calories a square. You can serve them sweet or you can even top them off with some fried or scrambled eggs!
To make your mornings even quicker, you can easily make up the batter up to 2 days ahead of time. Blend everything together and then keep it covered in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Yes, these are a great make ahead breakfast. Let them cool fully on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container in the fridge and they will keep well for 3 to 4 days. Reheat them in the oven at 350F for 5 to 10 minutes to warm them through.
More Sweet Potato Breakfast Recipes
- Sweet Potato Pancakes
- Sweet Potato Toast
- Loaded Breakfast Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs
- Huevos Rancheros with Sweet Potatoes
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Sweet Potato Waffles recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
This Sweet Potato Waffles recipe was originally published on November 23, 2018. The post has been updated to include helpful cooking tips, frequently asked questions and step-by-step photos.
Sweet Potato Waffles
Video
Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet potato cooked and peeled (about ¾ cup mashed)
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¼ cup avocado oil optional
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 orange zested
- Cooking spray
- Chopped pecans for serving
- Maple syrup for serving
Instructions
- Set waffle iron to preheat.
- Place the cooked sweet potatoes, oats, flour, milk, eggs, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and orange zest into a blender. Blend until well combined and there are no chunks of sweet potatoes left.
- Spray waffle iron with cooking spray. Pour ⅓ cup batter into preheated waffle iron. Cook until the outsides of the waffles are golden and cooked through, about 6-8 minutes. Serve with maple syrup and pecans, if desired.
Notes
- Any variety milk works well in this recipe. Feel free to keep it dairy-free with almond milk or coconut milk or use regular milk if you prefer.
- To make it gluten-free, replace the all purpose or whole wheat flour with 2 cups of gluten-free oats.
- To make it keto-friendly, substitute the flour and oats for almond flour.
- To use what you have on-hand, you can actually make these using leftover sweet potato casserole or any other type of sweet potatoes you have. They will also work well with pumpkin puree!
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Incredible recipe! I used a little vanilla too. The orange zest is the magic ingredient here. Brilliant!
Yay! Aww so glad you liked it, Charlene!!
I really like these waffles. The flavor is really yummy. I do agree with the person who said that you need to double the recipe to be able to have enough for even 3 people, and that’s only 1 waffle each. My only problem with these is that they don’t get crispy. Every waffle recipe I’ve ever made before has oil in them. I’m going to make these again tonight and add some healthy oil to see if that will help them get crispy.
Thanks for the feedback, Niki, I really appreciate it! I may have to do some retesting on this one to see if oil makes a big difference.
I made these this evening. I tweaked the recipe just a little. I tripled the recipe. I used one cup orange juice and one cup of milk. Also, I made sure I made my oats like flour and added whole wheat flour instead of regular flour. They were a success!!
Yay, so happy you liked the recipe!! Love the tweaks you made—thanks for sharing, Kelly!
I followed this recipe to the T and it was nothing but a waste. The batter wasn’t even good for pancakes. Ingredients did not bind therefore I wasted an entire batch of batter.
Sorry to hear that, I’m not sure what may have happened. I’m happy to help you troubleshoot if you’d like to try it again!
I also couldn’t get these to cook in the middle, even when I gave up on the iron and turned them into pancakes. Maybe too much sweet potato? Not sure what I’m doing wrong.
Hi there! Did you preheat the waffle iron in advance? Also, be sure not to overfill the cavities.
I followed the recipe exactly, including preheating the waffle iron. They never cooked inside…
So sorry to hear you had an issue with these. How much batter did you add the iron? All waffles irons work differently and you’d need to follow your manufacturers directions to see how much batter the iron should be filled with.
Just wonderful!!!! Wouldn’t change one thing.
Yay, so glad you loved them!
Very tasty but anyone getting four servings out of this recipe must be cooking for young children or are serving these waffles as a side dish. We barely got three standard-size round waffles out of this recipe, which was a real problem when you’re trying to feed four teenagers. If you want to serve four adolescents (or older) you really need to double this recipe or somebody’s gonna go hungry.
Thanks so much for the feedback, Eddie!