When it comes to breakfast, I can hardly decide between which one of my favorites to indulge in on any given day. Oatmeal, pancakes, steel cut oats, french toast – there’s simply too many delicious options to choose from. But if I had to pick just one, besides my true love of pancakes, it’d have to be waffles.
These waffles scream fall in every way: Cornbread, pumpkin, maple syrup, cinnamon – a little taste of autumn in each bite. Plus, both the ingredients list and time required to prepare them remain minimal – just the way I like it.
Oh, and did I mention they’re vegan? I almost left that out. Pumpkin vegan waffles for the win.
What I loved most about these waffles – besides the fact that they were moist and tasted exactly how I’d hoped – is that they have a nice crisp that waffles can sometimes lack. Couple the ideal texture with the rich pumpkin-cornbread flavor and we have near breakfast perfection on our hands.
I topped mine with a little Earth Balance and maple syrup and was smiling bigger with each bite. Just too good to put into words.
If you’re looking for a healthy fall breakfast recipe, give this one a try. You likely already have all of the ingredients on hand, and who can resist a waffle, really?
Note: recipe updated 12/13/2019 for improved texture.
Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread Waffles
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal (to make flax egg)
- 2 ½ Tbsp water (to make flax egg)
- 3 Tbsp dairy-free butter (melted // or sub avocado oil)
- 1 – 1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk* (or other dairy-free milk)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup vegan cornbread mix* (such as Trader Joe's // Jiffy is not vegan)
- 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour
FOR SERVING optional
- Dairy-free butter
- Maple syrup
Instructions
- Prepare flax egg by adding flaxseed meal and water to a large bowl and mixing to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes to develop an "eggy" texture.
- To the same bowl, add melted dairy-free butter (or oil), almond milk (starting with the lesser amount // 1 cup as recipe is written), pumpkin purée, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice and whisk to combine.
- Add cornbread mix and flour and whisk until just combined. Let rest for 5 minutes while preheating waffle iron. The batter should be thick, but pourable. If too thick, add more milk and whisk to combine. If too thin, add additional flour and whisk to combine.
- Spray waffle iron with non-stick pray and pour 1/3 cup measurements onto the griddle (if using a Belgian waffle maker, use 2/3-1 cup batter per waffle). Close and cook according to manufacturer instructions (should be about 3 minutes for thin waffles or 5-6 for Belgian).
- Serve warm topped with dairy-free butter and maple syrup (optional). Non-vegans can opt for real butter and honey or maple syrup.
Notes
*Gluten-free version: we tested this recipe with Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Cornbread Mix and our DIY Gluten-Free Flour Blend and found that it did work, but produced a less favorable, slightly gummy texture. If not vegan or egg-free, we would suggest using a chicken egg instead of a flax egg for improved texture.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate.
Ashley says
These waffles are hella good! They def come out of the waffle iron soft and flimsy, but if you let them rest on a rack for like not even 2 minutes they crisp up beautifully. Not too sweet, so perfect with some maple syrup. Will def be making these again!!!
We’re so glad you enjoy these waffles, Ashley! Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing that tip! xo
Sue says
What would the ratio/quantity of flour, corn meal, baking soda etc be if I make my own cornbread mix instead of buying? I have a vegan cornbread recipe I make often but not sure how to adapt it down to one cup.
Hi Sue, we’re not sure on the proportions in the mix, but this recipe is rather forgiving. See the notes section for how to adjust batter based on consistency. Hope that helps!
Julie A Berg says
I prepared a vegan waffle bar for my fellow ultrarunners a few weeks ago. We went for a long snowy run through the woods and upon arriving home I prepared these waffles along with many toppings (vegan butter, syrup, vegan chocolate chips, nuts, fruit) They were SO good! Everyone had seconds or thirds. The waffles had a crisp layer on top with a lovely soft inside with so much flavor. I can’t wait to do this again! Thank you.
Yay! Thanks for sharing, Julie!
Stephanie says
I deviated from the recipe by substituting canola oil for the vegan butter, and I used 1.25C almond milk. The batter stuck to my waffle maker and glued it shut (even with ample cooking spray), and also stuck to my pan when I tried to use up the rest of the batter as pancakes. I’d sure like to know what I did wrong because the batter is very tasty!
Oh no! What kind of waffle maker do you have? And what cornbread mix did you use? We wonder if it had an ingredient in it that made it more sticky?
Stephanie says
We have a Cuisinart waffle maker for 1/3C servings and we used Jiffy vegetarian cornbread mix. ?
Does the waffle iron have a non-stick surface? We find that works best! Better luck next time!
Deb says
Thank you!!!!! Will let you know how this one turns out. :}
Elizabeth de Rivera says
I just bought a new waffle maker and decided to try this recipe. The results were wonderful! My husband and daughter said I had to make them again. I love the healthy ingredients too. They had the perfect amount of spice and sweetness. I did have to use the darkest setting for cooking. I first used the 3 min setting and they got stuck, when I added a little longer cooking time, they were just right :)
Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Elizabeth! We are so glad you all enjoyed them! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! Xo
Deb says
I couldn’t wait to try the cornbread pumpkin waffles. In one word….DISASTER! Way too much liquid in this recipe. I followed the instructions to the letter and it was wet, messy, stuck to the waffle iron. So, instead of wasting all of this good food, I thought, I’ll make pancakes out of it. Again…..way too much liquid. So, I added baking powder and more flour and finally got some decent pancakes. My husband said, we can eat the crumbs. I am no novice in the kitchen. Something terribly wrong with this recipe. What a waste of time. DON’T MAKE THIS! BTW….it gets a one star because the flavor was good….if you like mushy crumbs.
Hi Deb, so sorry to hear that was your experience! We will revisit this recipe and make modifications, as needed.
Deb says
I look forward to that new one. Happy Holidays.
Hi Deb, we’ve updated the recipe. Hope you have better luck next time!
Anita says
What are some vegan corn muffin mixes? I see someone posted below with vegan corn muffin but it has all the ingredients and I am just looking for the dry ones.
Jiffy actually makes a vegetarian muffin mix that’s also vegan friendly – we’d recommend that as most others tend to have buttermilk powder. The other one we like is by Pamela’s!
CAITY says
I am not vegan and want to try this recipe with what i have on hand. How many eggs is one batch of flax egg?
1 egg!
Celina says
Wonderful! I made them for dinner. No sticking problems at all. I used aerosol canola spray. They turned out super sweet for my taste so next time I’ll omit the brown sugar all together. They weren’t “crispy” but the taste and texture made up for that. My 7 year old, who is a picky eater, LOVED them. I had them with Chocolate hemp milk too. Ahh so good. Family hit.
Theresa says
Just made these but didn’t have cornbread mix so wanted to pass along a successful from scratch balance. (Btw, for those of you like me who are frustrated by opening a can of pumpkin only to use a half a cup, I now freeze the rest in an ice cube tray and then pop them into a Ziploc bag to use in pumpkin pie smoothies with frozen banana. Delicious!). Thanks for a great recipe!
• —-alternate no mix amounts
• 1/2 cup Corn Meal
• 3/4 cup Whole wheat flour
• 3 T Coconut sugar
• 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice
• 1/2 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
• 1 1/4 cup Almond Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1 Tbsp Butter
Sarah says
I made these waffles for dinner as a treat for my dad tonight, and I agree with the comments above: the waffles were floppy when they’re fresh off the iron, but I found that once they cooled a bit on the cooling rack they had a perfect crisp. I also added a teaspoon more of cinnamon in addition to a generous teaspoon of pumpkin spice because otherwise I find the flax egg a bit overpowering! The cornmeal mix in this recipe is unique from other waffle recipes we’ve tried and was overall a delicious success!
Danika says
I made these this morning for my sisters birthday breakfast and found them to be really floppy and wet rather than light and crispy – I think that they weren’t rising enough to meet the top of my waffle iron. I added a bit of baking powder to the recipe and it really helped!
John says
These are the first of many waffles I’ve made that actually turned out crispy on my cheap crap waffle maker! Super good- I added loads of extra cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves… turned out very nice. Great recipe!
Great! Thanks for sharing, John!
Joy says
I love the recipes of yours that I’ve tried, but this one left me frustrated. It stuck so badly to my waffle iron that after the third one, I gave up and make them into pancakes. We did the waffle pieces and they were so delicious, the pancakes couldn’t compare. If you have any thoughts one getting them not to stick, I’d love to hear them. Otherwise I’m not sure I’ll be able to make these again.
Keep up the good work.
Joy says
Oh goodness! I’m sorry for all the typos. We ATE the waffle crummies. :)
Hmm, not sure what happened! I always make sure to generously spray my waffle iron before adding batter. Perhaps that was the issue. Better luck next time!
Jen says
Would an Ener-G egg replacement work as well as the flax seed egg in this recipe? Thanks!
Chelsea says
Ahhhhhh!!!! HAVE to try this!!!
Beth says
I made these today and they were awesome! I did change it up a bit, I am not vegan, so I used a real egg, but I am gluten free so used gluten free corn mix and gluten free flower. I also used olive oil instead of margarine and 1tbs agave instead of sugar. Yum!
Mai says
Tried this recipe and the measurements must be off. My batter was so dry, it looked more like a cake batter than waffle batter. I had to add a lot more liquid. It was also sticking to my cuisinart waffle maker in spite having pam-sprayed it. Was pretty disappointed to have wasted all these ingredients. Taking this off my pinterest wall.
Mai! I actually made this recipe again today using whole corn meal instead of corn mix and a GF flour blend and agreed that it turned out too dry. Not sure if I mis-noted the amounts during my initial attempt or what, but I agree that they were off. I’ve amended the amount of almond milk, as well as noted that it’s discretionary depending on the brand of corn mix you use. Sorry for any confusion on this – I always try to amend a recipe when someone has an issue!
Sarah says
Jiffy cornbread mix is NOT VEGAN!! Therefore this recipe is not vegan (or vegetarian, for that matter since lard=dead animal product), but I’m sure you could replace the Jiffy mix with another that is vegan. Looks like they will be verry yummy! Can’t wait to try.
Tracy says
Hi Dana! I don’t have a waffle maker – do you think I could use this recipe to make pancakes?
Hi Tracy! Yes, I think it would work. Though, I think you might want to add a bit more flour to make them fluffier. And in this case, compensate with a bit more liquid if needed (almond milk/melted butter). Hope that helps!
Rebekah says
I love your coffee cup!!!
Sarah L says
I’d loooove to try that recipe, but I haven’t found canned pumpkin yet here in Finland (pretty seasonal, and often kinda gross, and the fresh ones are mostly kinda expensive), not to mention Jiffy or something similar, but my biggest problem is that I don’t have a waffle iron. Waffles are probably my favorite breakfast food but I think I’ve eaten them once in five years or something. :(
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul says
These look fantastic! I’m glad Mackenzie mentioned that Jiffy isn’t vegan. I was appalled to learn that it contains lard after a lifetime of my Nana making it almost daily for us. Yuck!
I want these waffles for breakfast tomorrow : )
Love you blog Dana!
Vicki says
Your Aunt Susan gave me your blog addy after she made her pumpkin chocolate dutch boy…. I am a vegetarian struggling to go vegan… Im SO excited to see your recipe!! This is a GORGEOUS blog – amazing pictures!!!!!!!!
Vicki! So glad my aunt gave you my site link – she’s always sharing my stuff : ) Let me know if you have any recipes you want vegan-ized or any advice on ingredient substitution. Hope I can help you make the switch to vegan go a bit more smoothly.
Ellie says
what make of waffle iron do you have? mine seems to always make my waffles soggy- gross.
I believe it’s a Cuisinart. The style of iron that gets waffles the most crispy, though, is one that flips the waffle, I think. But this recipe just lends itself to crispiness no matter what brand you have because of the cornmeal. Hope that helps!
Mary says
What’s in jiffy corn mix? I have corn meal – what else do I need to add? These look amazing!
Mary, if you’re just using corn meal, I’d say add a little bit more flour, a 1/2 tsp baking soda and a pinch of salt. You can, of course, taste the batter before cooking since they’re vegan – at that point, adjust sugar/salt as needed. Hope that helps!
Makenzie says
Oh I can’t wait to try this. But if you use the jiffy mix- it contains animal fat- not vegan. However, there are plenty of copycat jiffy recipes that don’t contain animal products. Just FYI.
thanks, Makenzie!