Low carb vegan waffles
| Tags: | Proteins, Quick recipes |
|---|---|
| Time: | Preparation time , cooking time , total time |
| Serves: | 2 persons |
I have tried many times to make vegan low carb pancakes, but its extremely difficult if you can't use eggs or any kind of starch. I haven't found any low carbohydrate vegan flours that make a liquid batter that sets when heated. Some flours like soy or almond meal absorb very little water and others, like flax, that do absorb water start to thicken almost immediately so they don't make liquid pancake batter. If someone has a solution for this problem I'd sure love hear about it!
After some brooding, I had a small Eureka moment. Waffles! In a waffle iron the batter gets squeezed between two plates, so it doesn't matter if it's more like gooey dough than actual liquid batter. After some experiments, I came up with this delicious recipe. The waffles are easy to make and very high in protein, so they are perfect for a quick filling meal.
This recipe makes four square waffles. Depending on the exact nutritional values of the flours you use, one waffle has about 4 or 5 grams of carbohydrate. If you replace the soy flour with protein powder the carb count is only 2 or 3 grams per waffle. That's really low, especially for such a traditional carb food like waffles!
Four waffles are sufficient as a big breakfast or lunch for two people. If you're on your own, you can easily halve the recipe. You can top the waffles with fruit, erythritol or sugar free syrup. If you want savory waffles, you can leave out the sweetener and cinnamon.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (40 g) soy flour or protein powder
- 1/2 cup (70 g) vital wheat gluten
- 2 tablespoons flax meal
- 2 tablespoons almond flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup unsweetened soy or almond milk (or just use water)
- 1/2 teaspoon concentrated liquid sweetener (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil + extra for greasing the iron
Instructions
Preheat your waffle iron to medium high heat (this depends on how hot your iron gets, our cheap ass iron barely gets hot enough on the highest setting).
Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Add the milk, sweetener and oil and stir with a spoon until it forms a thick dough-like batter (a few small lumps are okay). Do not add additional liquid, even if you think the batter is too thick.
Grease your hot waffle iron with a little oil. Scoop a portion of the batter onto the center of the iron. You can spread it our a bit with a spatula or spoon. Close the iron so the batter spreads out all the way to the edges and corners.
Wait patiently until the indicator light say that your waffles are done (it can take a while). Don't peak before they're done, because the waffles will tear or split in half if you open the iron before they are all the way done. These are more delicate than carb-filled waffles. When the waffles are done and have turned golden brown, you can carefully pop them out with a fork. Bake the remaining batter the same way.
One waffle (of 4) contains about 193 kcal, 10 g fat (1 g saturated), 4 g net. carbohydrate, 3 g fiber en 20 g protein.
18 comments
Is vitam wheat gluten the same as VITAL wheat gluten? I noticed it is called for in the vegan waffle recipe so I googled it and could only find Vital wheat gluten
Hi Pamela, vitam is a typo, it should say vital. I'll go an fix that, thanks!
Hi Martine, Do you have a pancake recipe? We all love the waffles and have made them for months but my daughter's favorite has always been pancakes. I've tried to use a similar flour mixture as these but I can never get the pancakes to cook through entirely without smashing them really flat. Thanks!
Hi Scott, pancakes are really hard. I've been experimenting with this mixture: 1 tablespoon yellow flax meal, 2 tablespoons coconut flour, 4 tablespoons plant milk, concentrated liquid sweetener to taste. This forms a thick doughy batter that you can shape into 2 inch diameter, 1/4 inch thick pancakes with your hands. These fry up pretty nicely. The texture is a little on the grainy side though. I want to try adding a tablespoon protein powder to see if that improves the texture.
DH recently (6 months ago)diagnosed with diabetes so have been eating Nutritarian (a la Dr. Fuhrman)but he missed his Saturday morning waffles. This recipe is great. Had vital wheat gluten and almond flour in my cupboard. Ground my own bean flour from dried Great Northern Beans to use instead of the soy flour. A squirt of Agave syrup for the sweetener. It made two nice waffles on my round iron. These came out fluffy and delicious; he was so pleased. Thank you!
Glad your husband liked these so much Angie!
Hi- just checking what could we use instead of wheat gluten? especially for a vegan coeliac? tough cause Iknow this is what binds it together...any suggestions?
Hi Louise, unfortunately I haven't figured out yet how to achieve a similar texture on low carb waffles without using gluten. You could maybe experiment with psyllium fiber and more soy and almond flour?
Followed to the letter, except used fresh cashew milk. Recipe tasted okay but stuck to the iron really bad.
Hi Susan, too bad the dough stuck to your iron! It helps to grease it well and to really wait until waffle has cooked and browned before opening the iron.
I love this waffle recipe! It's helped me stick to a vegan keto diet - having a batch of these in the freezer to pop in the toaster weekday mornings is a miracle! Closest thing to a real carb I have on a regular basis. Regarding sticking: I tried making this recipe twice with a light duty panini/waffle iron with thin, removable nonstick waffle plates and the batter stuck horribly - the waffles weren't salvageable at all. Then a friend gave me her large heavy duty Cuisenart waffle maker that has heavy, non-removable waffle plates. I was hesitant to try this recipe in it, because a stuck waffle mess like the ones I had experienced so far might be impossible to clean out of this, but I figured use it or lose it. So glad I tried it, they come out beautifully!!! Milk makes a difference too: I've been making waffles every week for about 6 months now! I usually use unsweetened soy milk and have no issues with sticking. However, I have sometimes used an unsweetened almond milk, and I do get a bit of sticking with that - I sometimes have to pry a corner off and peel the waffle off - still no stuck mess though!!
That's wonderful Trina. I'm so happy this recipe is helpful to you. Thank you for chiming in on the sticking issue.
I just made these,they are really scrumptious. T H A N K Y O U so much for sharing
Thank you Zon! Glad you like them.
Just tried these and they are great! And so easy and inexpensive to make with things I keep in the pantry. It is difficult to find high protein, low carb, AND vegan waffles. This gave me life! Thank you. Looking forward to experimenting with add-ins. I made the waffles with my dash mini waffle iron and it made 8 perfect waffles to freeze and pop in the toaster for breakfast.
Awesome, glad you like them April!
Delish. I used a chocolate protein powder and they came out salty. If I use this powder again (ripple). I may just omit the salt. Other wise, they were good
That's great Colleen! I've also noticed some protein powders taste pretty salty.
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