These Vegan Gluten-free Chai Spiced Waffles are the most delicious and easy breakfast. These are dairy-free and made with a wonderful blend of chai spices, including cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves. These waffles are healthy and wholesome made from oat flour, walnut butter and coconut milk.
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First, I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to the overwhelming response you all gave me when I announced that I’m writing a cookbook! I was completely moved and the responses on my Facebook page, IG and this blog had me in shock. I am so super happy to hear so many of you are excited about the book. BUT, I have to admit, that makes me more nervous! But my hubby told me this and wow, it is so true. “You can’t please everybody, but you must please yourself!” He is so right. Obviously, I will bust my butt to give you all a wonderful cookbook with the same passion that I deliver here on my blog, but even moreso. But I know that it will be impossible to 100% please everybody
What I can promise you, is that I will do my best and hope for the best and I’m always here for questions!!
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE CHAI WAFFLES
As always, these waffles couldn’t be more simple to make. Just mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another bowl and then mix everything together. Warm up your waffle iron while the batter sits and cook in just a few minutes. So much quicker and easier than pancakes I must say.
I have to say that these are probably the most delicious waffles I’ve ever eaten. The chai spices are so aromatic and so delicious. I absolutely love these spices. I also used 2 key ingredients to give these vegan waffles a wonderful crispy texture and buttery flavor.
WHY DO THESE TASTE SO AMAZING?
Cornstarch and walnut butter.
Cornstarch gives oomph to the crisp factor, whereas just using oat flour makes them more soft and almost rubbery I found. Sorry, but I like my waffles to be crispy, not rubbery. The cornstarch balances out the oat flour in these waffles.
The walnut butter gives an AMAZING BUTTERY flavor. I tested these with both almond butter and walnut butter and while the almond butter ones were certainly delicious, the walnut butter was a taste and mouth-feel that was undeniably better and delicious.
Walnuts are SO MUCH healthier than almonds. They are a great source of omega-3 fats, whereas almonds are not. Optimally, we should have a balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fat ratios in our diet for healthier hearts and most nuts are extremely high in omega-6 and not omega-3. Diets too high in omega-6 fat can increase inflammation in the body, whereas omega-3 is much healthier. Obviously, too much fat period is bad and should be greatly reduced for those with heart disease or obesity according to most plant-based doctors. To learn more about replacing oil with whole food fats, check out How to Cook and Bake Without Oil.
THE BEST INGREDIENTS FOR THESE VEGAN WAFFLES
These vegan gluten-free chai spiced waffles have so much goodness in them and are soooo filling because of the following ingredients:
- Oat Flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking Powder
- Chai Spice Blend
- Coconut Milk
- Walnut Butter
- Maple Syrup
If you do not own a waffle maker, then I have a ton of vegan pancake recipes on the blog!
Other Chai and Spice Recipes:
I hope you all really love these Vegan Gluten-free Chai Spiced Waffles!
Other Vegan Waffles and Pancakes to try:
- Vanilla Cake Waffles
- Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Waffles
- Fluffy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes
- Best Vegan Fluffy Pancakes
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Vegan Gluten Free Chai Spiced Waffles
Ingredients
This recipe will make 2-3 waffles using a 7 inch waffle maker so please double if you have more than 2 people!
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (112g) fine oat flour (I use Bob's)
- 2 tablespoons (16g) cornstarch
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 1/2 teaspoons Chai Spice Blend (Use store-bought or my blend below)
- 3/4 cup (180g) canned "lite" coconut milk (Do not use full-fat. Cashew also works)
- 3 1/2 tablespoons (70g) maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons (48g) walnut butter (See NOTES at bottom)
CHAI SPICE BLEND
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- small pinch ground cloves
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Add the oat flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, pepper and chai spices to a large bowl and whisk very well until thoroughly incorporated.
- In a medium separate bowl, add the milk, syrup and walnut butter and whisk until smooth. Pour the liquids over the dry and whisk just until mixed and smooth. Don't over-mix it, as oat flour can get too thick if overly mixed.
- Now let the batter sit while you heat up your waffle machine. The batter will thicken some as it sits, that is normal. I used a 7 inch round waffle maker and setting 4 for the perfect crispy waffles. I got 3 of the large round waffles. Obviously, this will vary if your machine is smaller. If using the same size as my machine, once your machine beeps that it is ready and hot, spray with nonstick spray on the top and bottom plates. If you don't spray, they will stick. Even though it says "nonstick surface", mine stuck without spray. May also be because I don't use oil in the recipe. You will add about 2/3 cup of batter and quickly spread out the top with a spoon being careful not to spread it too close to the edge to prevent overflowing. With my machine, I used the setting 4 and it beeps when they are done. I always let it go about 20 seconds after the beep and then remove. I get nice and crispy results. They seem soft right at first, but crisp up almost immediately once the air hits them. Yours may totally vary if you have a different machine.
- Waffles are obviously best eaten immediately, as they do soften if they are left out awhile. If I have leftovers, I just pop them into my toaster oven to bring back the yummy crispy texture! I love these with a drizzle of maple syrup.
I just saw this post a decided to make them immediately. I’m a huge pancake lover. I also love authentic Belgium Waffles with yeast. These are nothing like the white flour, buttery, sweet treats you get in the restaurant. The ones we love but are devoid of any nutritional value. (I still love them though). I was intrigued by the addition of walnut butter and liked the idea of whole grains. I thought I would be disappointed but they were surprisingly good. I only use 1 tsp. cinnamon though, not a chai fan. I only had full fat coconut milk (frozen cubes) so I thinned it with plain almond milk. I got 2 waffles from the recipe, which is fine. I actually ate the with my fingers and dipped pieces in a little maple syrup. I especially like the crispy edges. I think this is a nice alternative to a bowl of oatmeal.
Hi Wendy, glad you enjoyed them! Yes, these are not Belgian waffles, so they will not taste like them. They are just meant to be a standard waffle size with chai spices. If you don’t like chai spices, I would make my vanilla cake ones instead. They have a more buttery, creamy flavor. You can always slather vegan butter on top of them too if you like! Here are the Vanilla Cake Waffles, these are my husband’s favorite.
Great flavor! I used sunflower butter that I had on hand and still thought they were great!
Brandi, I can’t wait to make these for my sis- & bro-in-law! And I’m ordering your cookbook immediately! One question- my daughter’s allergic to walnuts; would pecans be as lusciously buttery??
Hi Sunny! Yes, pecan butter would be just as delicious!
These waffles definitely go down as one of my favorites! Your spice blend is perfect! They don’t stick in my waffle iron and I don’t even spray or oil it. To cut down on the fat, I use half lite coconut milk and half soy milk and they turn out perfect every time. They pair prefect with a bowl of fresh fruit. Yum!
Woohoo, so glad to hear that Nina! These are my favorite waffles!
I would love to try these, but I can’t have nut butters because they’re too high histamine and I have a bad reaction. Is there any substitute for nut butters? If not, no worries.
Hi Crystal, can you not have seed butter either, like sunbutter? I would try subbing with 2 tablespoons oil instead.