In my mind, the perfect pumpkin waffles recipe channels all the delicious flavor of pumpkin pie into waffle form. After 90 or so batches that have distilled the recipe through countless variations on ingredient proportions and mixing techniques, I’ve developed a waffle I think is truly exceptional. It uses more pumpkin than literally any other recipe available and is wonderfully rich in spices, thanks to a carefully-balanced blend of cinnamon, clove, ginger, and fresh nutmeg. I hope you love it.
To make a waffle worthy of being called the “ultimate”, I set about combining and then improving upon the best aspects of every recipe I could find, from Gourmet magazine to popular online pumpkin waffle recipes from SmittenKitchen, RecipeZaar, Epicurious, and dozens more.
It’s not meant to be a good recipe. It’s not meant to be great. It’s meant to be the best…
INGREDIENTS
makes 4 round “Belgian” style pumpkin waffles
Click here for the metric version of the recipe.
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg*
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and warm
*Grated and lightly packed into the spoon, use 1/2 tsp. Grated and loosely scooped, this is about 1 tsp. of nutmeg. If you have to use pre-grated, dried nutmeg, use 1/4 tsp.
DIRECTIONS
1. Lightly oil the waffle iron with vegetable oil, and set it to the desired temperature.
2. Combine brown sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl. Whisk together to break apart the cornstarch. Add the remaining dry ingredients, and whisk to blend.
3. Separate eggs: yolks go in a medium sized bowl and whites get set aside in a smaller bowl.
4. Add pumpkin and milk to the egg yolks. Whisk to blend and set aside.
5. Whip egg whites with a hand mixer on high until stiff peaks form – about 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. Set aside.
6. Pour melted butter into the yolk/milk/pumpkin mixture. As you pour, whisk to combine.
7. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix them together until just combined. A little lumpiness is fine. That will smooth out when the egg whites are added.
8. Slide the whipped egg whites out of the bowl and onto the mixture you just prepared. Gently fold them in until no white bits are obvious.
9. Once the waffle iron is heated, you’re ready to pour the batter! In my Presto FlipSide waffle maker, cook time is exactly 2 minutes 30 seconds.
Enjoy! And if you bake these, please leave a comment here. Your feedback is very valuable to me as I continue to refine the recipe 
We roasted/ mashed a pumkin from a local farm which worked very well (night before). We doubled the recipe for thanksgiving brunch and used a belgian waffle iron. It was an unforgetable success. This is a fantastic recipe, highly recommended. This is highly likely to become a thanksgiving tradition for our family and friends.
Had some leftover pumpkin from turkey day, what a great use for it! My husband was thrilled ~ this will become an annual Thanksgiving breakfast! Thanks!
YUMMTASTIC!!! Used mashed sweet potato instead of the pumpkin and they are phenomonal! Very glad I stumbled onto the recipe! THANKS BUNCHES!!!
Thanks so much for the recipe. My 1 and 3-year-olds loved it…as did I. I can’t wait to make them for others.
FANTASTIC! I did a blog post about them!
http://tponz.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/buffalo-burgers-and-pumpkin-waffles-not-together-dont-worry/
[...] up… ULTIMATE PUMPKIN WAFFLES – do you believe that this a whole blog devoted to this recipe? When I saw this…I [...]
These waffles were a huge hit at our Thanksgiving Brunch. We tripled the recipe to make them for a crowd of 30 and made them on a regular waffle maker. So delicious! Thanks for all the hard work putting this recipe together.
these were perfect for this crisp autumn day – utterly delicious waffles – with a little maple smoked bacon on the side and a glass of sparkling … absolute heaven – thank you
Yummy, yummy, yummy!
I linked to your site in my blog post. These were so good… I’m in love…
I love these waffles! I sprinkled chopped pecans over the batter before closing the lid which worked great. Served with maple syrup.
Thank you for sharing the recipe
These waffles were delicious! I had a bunch of cooked fresh pumpkin and was looking for a waffle recipe with real pumpkin, but came across this one. I decided just to try to use one cup of smashed up pumpkin instead of the can and they turned out soooo good. We really didn’t even need syrup!
Very good – my Toastmaster takes a bit of time to get them a little crispy. Thanks for the blog
Made these this morning and they were so so good…they were amazing and I wouldn’t change a thing. Such a perfect fall breakfast. thank you!
Thank you for such a wonderful recipe. I made your Ultimate Pumpkin Waffles last weekend and they were perfectly delicious. My husband and I loved every bite. Your recipe is a keeper. It was a great way to start off our Halloween day. I’ll be posting a photo of these yummy waffles in my own blog.
Thanks again,
Sarah
A wonderful recipe, thanks for creating it! I used a regular, round waffle iron (not a Belgian wafflemaker), and each waffle took about 4 minutes to cook to a crisp, golden brown with a light, fluffy center, mmm. The recipe made 6+ waffles. A personal preference: the cloves gave it a dark aftertaste that I wasn’t crazy about, and I’ll omit that next time.
YOU are truly a devoted man. These are great!!!!!
Looking forward to making these for friends for brunch on Saturday. Have you ever added nuts to the recipe? I think I’ll try some toasted and fairly finely chopped pecans–there was a fabulous waffle place over in Brooklyn we used to go to that made pumpkin walnut waffles. Thanks for putting all the love and soul into this!
This was delicious! I didn’t have enough pumpkin so I used applesauce to make up for the rest (3/4 pumpkin & 1/4 cup applesauce). I also used only half the ginger since my kids were eating them. They loved them though. Wonderful!!
[...] Fall:: No better time for Pumpkin Waffles 3 11 2009 Found this recipe tonight for Pumpkin Waffles [...]
[...] Waffles Recipe from Pumpkin Waffles Blog 1/4 C brown sugar 3Tbsp. cornstarch 1 C all purpose flour 1/4 C buckwheat flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking [...]
How can you improve on this perfection? Thank you so much for doing the research to make this delectable waffle. So perfect for fall and pumpkin season. Truly the best pumpkin waffle recipe ever!
We made these waffles yesterday for breakfast and we loved them. My husband even ate them plain later in the day for a snack. We had tried some at Williams-Sonoma in San Diego so we wanted to try them at home. We will definitely make them again. Thanks
These are seriously good pumpkin waffles! Thank you for sharing the recipe. We topped them with Mediterranean yogurt (10% mf) and maple syrup. Incredible. I love their ginger kick.
I’m making these again for the second Sunday in a row. This time, i’m trying it without the the ginger, and adding a little nutmeg. My daughter doesn’t care for ginger.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Made these on Halloween evening when no one arrived for candy. I love pumpkin everything and I love waffles. This recipe was easy to do and made flawless waffles. They were light and flavorful and truly easy to make. Thanks for the hard work you put in to perfect this recipe!!!
These waffles truly are pumpkin pie in waffle form. They did not disappoint. Delicious! My baby LOVED them. Normally she tosses her food all over her tray, but she ate an entire waffle! I made these on Halloween morning. I now plan on making it a tradition to make them every Halloween morning and my kids will look forward to it every year! Thank you! Great recipe!
I made these this morning to kick off our halloween weekend! So delish. I suggest using buttermilk syrup with it.
[...] fantastic recipe for pumpkin waffles (which is from a blog called the Ultimate Pumpkin Waffles (link). [...]
These are wonderful! My children are cheering me for making them, and they are eating them faster than I can make them in my mother-in-law’s 35 yr old Toastmaster! PERFECT for a ‘breakfast for dinner’ night after 2′ of snow. Thank you!! mmmmm. keeper.
MADE THESE THIS MORNING FOR MY HUSBAND’S BIRTHDAY. IT WAS ALOT OF WORK BUT SOOOOOO WORTH IT. HE LOVED THEM AND SO DID MY DAUGHTER AND I. THANKS FOR A RECIPE THAT WILL BE WITH US FOR A LONG TIME.
Absolutely wonderful and easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
How do these fair in a regular waffler maker? Do any adjustments need to be made?
I think the only adjustment would be to cook them for a shorter time. But I don’t think you’d need to modify the recipe itself.
They were excellent, tasted like autumn.
This is a great recipe. Next time I will double it and freeze some. My hubby and I almost ate all of them. I made some little ones kind of like a cookie. I frosted them while they were still warm. Yum! I plan to use butternut squash from my garden. I haven’t had time to cook them up yet.
Yep – this is the ultimate recipe. Tried it today and it was a huge hit. I added vanilla and used fresh grated ginger to kick up the spice quotient.
For some reason our favorite topping for these so far is vanilla yogurt. Yum.
We made these waffles today and they are as advertised: pumpkin pie in waffle form, delicious. I found that they are also good with a little bit of ginger preserves. Definitely super tasty. Thanks!
Good receipe!
Serve with whipped cream, and it’s like eating pumpkin clouds for breakfast. We will make these again on a crisp fall morning! The perfect way to celebrate a rainy Saturday. Thanks!
Wow! The texture of these waffles was the best I’ve ever had. I doubled the recipe, using just a bit less than twice as much of the baking powder and spices. Our whole family LOVED them! Thank you for sharing the result of your hard work.
These look great.
Your recipe sounds great & everyone seems to love it!! – Rienna
VERY Yummy!!!! I must say, I just dumped everything in my Bosch mixer and it came out FAB!
I made these today. They were so good. I put honey butter on them, and it made them even better. Thank you so much for this recipe.
I hope they are as good using a regular waffle iron because I am dying to try these!!!
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!! I made these for a birthday brunch today (multiple batches to serve 18 people ranging in age from 4 years to 93 years) and EVERYONE – even the so-called pumpkin haters – RAVED about how good they were all afternoon! My 93-year-old, who usually eats like a bird, finished two waffles and my nephew said “if Heaven exists, these waffles are on the menu!” These are DEFINITELY WORTH THE EFFORT. I will be making these again later this week to freeze and have on hand. Thank you for sharing the recipe with us!
These are delicious! I used 2% milk, since that’s all I had and homemade pumpkin puree – and they were delicious!
As a note, anyone who uses homemade pumpkin puree needs to strain/drain it on paper towels to get it to the same texture as canned pumpkin or they’ll have too much water in the batter.
Going to try these today! We have been searching for a pumpkin waffle recipe. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
This recipe, along with your beautiful pictures and descriptions makes me want to quit my day-job as a programmer and just bake and cook instead!
I’m not even a big waffle person but these look sooo delicious. I definitely have to try these.
Thank you so much for this recipe! It looks great. I’d like to make these tomorrow morning. Could you send me the make ahead recipe?
Thank you!
I just e-mailed you, but you can also check out this posting for directions on making waffles ahead of time – http://pumpkinwaffles.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/pumpkin-waffles-make-ahead-instructions/
thanks for sharing such a great and hard-earned recipe! i’m going to have to check out the flipside wafflemaker, too – i hate mine (black & decker belgian-style, not sure of model #, but i’m pretty sure it’s called the supersticky nonreleaser)
these were amazing!!! I have to cook non-dairy but they worked fine substituting silk soymilk for the milk, and earth balance for the butter. (I’m sure they would have tasted better with the milk but they were still delicious this way too). I whipped some coconut cream to top the waffles since the maple syrup seemed a little too strong and covered the pumpkin flavor. Wonder if they’d be good with stewed cinnamon apples or apple preserves? anyways thanks for an awesome recipe!
We woke up to rain and cold weather this morning. Somehow my belly spoke to me and said, “I need pumpkin waffles for dinner tonight to celebrate this here cold weather.”
I always obey when my stomach speaks. I hear these are the bestest of the best when it comes to pumpkin waffles. So we are going to give them a try.
I’m making these right now and they smell and taste wonderful!!! I make a lot of waffles and my 3 kids have been asking for more when I suggested pumpkin they weren’t all there with it, BUT they just got home from school and they say the kitchen smells wonderful!!! My 10 yr old can’t wait until morning so she can have one….I won’t tell her that mom has ate 2 while cooking them
Hi PumkinWaffles, thank you for sharing your recipe, we cannot wait to try them!
Many thanks,
Jules
Getting ready to try these, as my mouth is watering just from the comments.
I plan on making pecan butter syrup to go with them.
We are a waffle and pancake family, and use them not only for breakfast but for a special dinner when the kids are out for a snow day.
My mother used to make us “breakfast” dinners, pie dinners, and omelet dinners when we were children. What a special treat that was.
Very good! I used roasted & pureed blue hubbard squash and subbed whole wheat flour for 1/4 c. of the AP flour called for. Nice balance of spices. Next time I’ll double the batch to have some ready to go in the freezer.
I love waffles. I love my waffle recipe. But, OMG, I love your waffle recipe even better!!! Incredible flavor
Wonderful!
Just made these for breakfast. Delish!! They fluff up so nicely and have great flavor. YUM!!
This man knows his waffles! How about a recipe for gingerbread waffles next.
This recipe is to DIE for! My husband and I couldn’t help ourselves the 1st time we made these. We were gluttons! Thank you so much for your great recipe! I’m a fan!