Add Mashed Sweet Potatoes To Your Waffles And Thank Us Later

Kitchen gadget trends come and go, but there's always room in the cabinet or countertop for a waffle iron. Why? Because waffles are life. They're a crispy, crunchy upgrade to a pancake (also no slouch in the breakfast food department), and they've got all those little pockets to hold puddles of maple syrup and other toppings. Nobody bats an eye when you pile a mountain of whipped cream on your waffles at breakfast. 

To take this breakfast staple to the next level, mix a little mashed sweet potato into your waffle batter. The sweet, earthy flavor of the sweet potatoes matches perfectly with maple syrup and adds some extra vitamins and minerals.

The nice thing about making waffles is that a good, hot waffle iron will cook almost any batter, no matter how thick or thin, so you can add sweet potatoes to any existing waffle recipe and not worry too much about how it'll come out. Whether you have some extra sweet potatoes leftover from last night's dinner or want to make a fresh batch of sweet potato pancakes from scratch, you won't regret giving them a try next time you fire up the 'ol iron.

Waffles are one of the world's most perfect breakfast foods. You can stack them up like pancakes, of course, but they're also pretty strong, so you can use them like bread to make a breakfast sandwich or even as a burger bun. You don't even have to have them for breakfast. Serve them up with a piece of crispy fried chicken and go with it. However, to change your waffle routine, mashed sweet potatoes are ideal because they taste delicious with syrup and spices. Plus, the texture is easy to mix into the waffle batter.

Perhaps the easiest way to incorporate this ingredient into your waffle or pancake batter is to save some mashed sweet potatoes from another meal and repurpose them. Mashed sweet potatoes have a thick, wet texture that will mix well into any waffle batter, and it doesn't matter if you're making batter from scratch or a box. A good rule of thumb for mixing the potato into your batter is to use about ½ a cup of mashed sweet potato for every 1 cup of flour or mix. 

This way, you will get the rich flavor of the sweet potatoes without throwing off the balance of moisture and leavening in the batter. You'll also retain enough gluten structure for the waffles to set up in the iron and get crunchy.

If you don't have any leftover mashed sweet potato on hand for making waffles, don't sweat it. You can cook a sweet potato in the microwave in no time by poking it with a fork, wrapping it in a paper towel, and zapping it for five to eight minutes. Once the potato is soft, scoop the sweet potato flesh out and add it to your waffle batter.

Sweet potato tastes great in waffles, but your breakfast can be even tastier if you add spices to the party. Specifically, sweet potatoes work well with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cumin, turmeric, and even cayenne. Experiment with different flavor combinations to create the perfect signature waffle, either savory or sweet.

One ingredient to add to your sweet potatoes is cornstarch. Mashed sweet potatoes add moisture to the mix, which makes it difficult to achieve a crispy crust on your waffles. A bit of cornstarch will combat any sogginess and result in light, crispy waffles everybody will love. You'd better make extra batter because there's always room for an extra sweet potato waffle.