These Keto Gingerbread Waffles make the perfect holiday breakfast! Sweetly spiced and easy to make, they will make your days merry and bright. This post is sponsored by Swerve Sweetener.
I have gone seriously gingerbread crazy, my friends! Don’t worry, it’s not contagious. Or maybe it is. Maybe my love of warm, cozy ginger spice will have you going crazy too.
At least it’s not life-threatening. In fact, it’s quite an enjoyable condition and I highly recommend it. And easy low carb Gingerbread Waffles are my latest obsession. Along with my Keto Gingerbread Cookies and Gingerbread Cream Cheese Pound Cake, they make the holiday season feel complete.
Why you want this recipe
Many of us enjoy the coziness of a leisurely brunch with family during the holidays. And these Keto Gingerbread Waffles are a perfect addition for a few reasons.
For one, they are light and a little crispy, and so tasty. They have that sweet gingery bite that you want in gingerbread. I attribute some of that perfect flavor to Swerve Brown, which really mimics the flavor of brown sugar. And they are absolutely dreamy with some whipped cream or butter melting on top.
It’s also easy to whip up a batch ahead of time. They store well and reheat well, so you can do them in a day or two in advance. Then simply pop them in a warm oven to re-crisp and serve!
Ingredients
- Almond flour: This is an almond flour recipe, but if you need to be nut-free, you can try using sunflower seed flour. Just remember to add a tablespoon of lemon juice to offset the green reaction.
- Swerve Brown: Brown sugar replacement gives these waffles a deeper, richer flavor more like gingerbread. And Swerve Brown is by far the best brown sweetener, in my opinion. I don’t recommend any allulose or BochaSweet in these waffles as they won’t crisp up properly.
- Protein powder: Whey protein or whey protein isolate is your best bet for these waffles. I have found that egg white protein makes them rubbery when cooked in a waffle iron so I can’t suggest it here. Plant-based protein may work but collagen will not as it makes things like this gummy.
- Cocoa powder: A little cocoa powder gives these keto waffles a darker color, more like gingerbread, but it doesn’t make it taste like chocolate. You can leave it out entirely if you wish.
- Spices: Ginger, cinnamon, and cloves for the classic gingerbread flavor!
- Low carb milk: I use unsweetened almond milk but you can also use a mixture of half cream and half water. Don’t use heavy cream alone as it will make the batter too thick.
- Pantry staples: Eggs, butter, baking powder, vanilla, salt.
Step by Step Directions
1. Blend the batter: In a large blender, combine the eggs, almond milk, butter, and vanilla. Blend 30 seconds to combine. Add the almond flour, sweetener, protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, spices, and salt and blend again until smooth. Let the batter rest 5 minutes.
2. Add to waffle maker: Meanwhile, preheat the waffle iron and grease it lightly. Add about ⅓ cup of the batter to the center of the iron and gently spread to the edges
3. Cook the waffles: Close the lid and let cook until puffed and golden brown on both sides. The time will vary depending on your waffle iron. Remove the waffles and repeat with the remaining batter.
4. Garnish: Dust lightly with powdered sweetener. Serve hot.
Expert tips
Using a blender helps make the batter more cohesive, as well as lighter and fluffier. You can also do this in a food processor.
Waffle irons come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, which means that how many waffles you get and how long they take to cook depends on the iron. Classic waffles are thinner and usually come in 8-inch rounds. Belgian waffles are deeper and can come in squares or circles. Then there are the little Dash mini waffle irons which make 4-inch rounds. So keep your eye on the waffles as they cook!
The addition of protein powder in this keto waffle recipe helps the texture and makes them lighter. I do recommend it, but if you decide to skip it, you need to add another ⅓ cup of almond flour. For this recipe, I do not recommend egg white protein as it can make them very rubbery.
The waffles come off the iron very soft but they crisp up as they cool. For extra crispy waffles, place in a warm (200F) oven for 10 minutes after cooking.
Frequently Asked Questions
These gingerbread waffles have 8.8g of carbs and 4g of fiber per serving. So they have a net carb count of 4.8g.
You can make keto waffles with a number of different nut and seed flours. I find that almond flour with a little added protein powder makes really great light and fluffy waffles. I have not been able to get a good crispy waffle with coconut flour.
Store these waffles in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days, or in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze them for several months. Re-warm them in a low temp oven to get the crispy again.
What to serve with Gingerbread Waffles
Now that you’ve made them, how do you serve them? You’ve got lots of tasty options!
- Keto maple syrup: I found that these almond flour waffles went spectacularly well with a little sugar-free maple syrup.
- Keto caramel sauce: I love drizzling a little of my sugar-free caramel over gingerbread flavored treats!
- Whipped cream: Lightly sweetened whipped cream is a perfect topper for anything with ginger.
- Peanut butter: Need a quick breakfast as you head out the door? Add a quick smear of peanut butter (or any nut butter) and away you go!
Keto Gingerbread Waffles Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk (or other low carb milk)
- 3 tablespoon butter melted but not hot
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅔ cup almond flour
- ⅓ cup Swerve Brown
- ¼ cup unflavored whey protein powder (or plant based protein)
- ½ tablespoon cocoa powder (optional, for color)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large blender, combine the eggs, almond milk, butter, and vanilla. Blend 30 seconds to combine. Add the almond flour, sweetener, protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, spices, and salt and blend again until smooth. Let the batter rest 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the waffle iron and grease it lightly.
- Add about ⅓ cup of the batter to the center of the iron and gently spread to the edges. If using a Dash mini waffle iron, you will need about 3 tablespoons per waffle. If using a large, deep Belgian-style waffle maker, you will need more batter.
- Close the lid and let cook until puffed and golden brown on both sides. The time will vary depending on your waffle iron.
- Remove the waffles and repeat with the remaining batter. Dust lightly with powdered sweetener.
Susan says
This is a very nice recipe that comes together easily. I cooked mine in a regular Dash waffle maker for 3 minutes, and they came out soft, as described. The one issue I have with them is that they seemed rather dry when eating them. I followed the recipe exactly, except for using some Finnish gingerbread spice I had made up instead of the individual spices listed. Are regular waffles a bit dry? I haven’t made them very often – these days I seem to mostly make chaffles. Maybe they need some kind of syrup?
Lynn says
I followed the directions exactly and this was phenomenal! The batter was the perfect thickness for the waffle maker and so easy to make in the blender. I used the Dash mini waffle maker and made 14 waffles, but a few of them were kind of skimpy, so next time I won’t be so stingy with the batter and try to end up with 12.
I also want to say how much I appreciate all your persistence and creativity in using different ingredients to come up with recipes that are as good as or better than their non-Keto equivalents. I have had successful results with every recipe I’ve tried from your site. Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Alana says
batter was fragrant and delicious! cooked waffle was bland. title says “CRISPY”… so I musta done sumpthin wrong cuz I didn’t get anything crispy… firm I guess… but not crispy. Baffled… cuz her recipes are amazing 95% of time… so the other 5% must be me?!? I also thought sweeteners prevented crispiness, and this has brown swerve, so… how was it supposed to get crispy?
Carolyn says
Please read the blog post as I give additional instructions to make them crispier! Also… bland? I think your ginger powder is probably older and losing flavor so I recommend adding more.
Joanne says
Would these be able to be made into pancakes if you don’t have a waffle iron?
Carolyn says
Yes.
Murphy says
THESE ARE FANTASTIC!! (Yes, I am shouting!) Thank you so much, this is the best keto waffle recipe I’ve ever used, and they cook up perfectly. 
❤️🧇❤️
Stephanie says
I made these again today for breakfast, so delicious! They come out nice and fluffy in my mini Dash waffle maker. And the texture is perfect. So good! I love gingerbread that I enjoy these anytime of the year. I make 1/2 of the recipe since I’m the only one in my house that loves gingerbread.
Carolyn says
So glad you enjoy them!
RebeccaJ says
Looks wonderful! I just bought a waffle iron for my daughter, and I’m going to bind up some recipes for her to make for us. This will be a winner!
Carolyn, Would you please ask your tech people, to look at the way your site displays on an iPhone? I can barely read the article or the recipe because the banner on the top, the ads, on the bottom, and then the pop-up video of the recipe leaves me about an inch of space to see the article itself. It’s very frustrating!
Carolyn says
I have an iPhone and I dont’ have this issue at all. All of the ads have an x to close out of it. I suspect you need to update your browser. Are you using Chrome?
Lauralee Oster says
I notice you are using Brown Swerve more often in your recipes (a good thing!). Traditionally brown sugar is packed in the measuring cup. Do you pack the Swerve? Perhaps can you give me the measurements (or a sample amount i.e. 1/2
cup equals ? grams) in grams? Thank you for great recipes, always.
Carolyn says
It tends to cling together anyway so it’s really what I call “lightly packed”. In other words, don’t jam it in there hard but don’t fluff it up either.
Janice says
I made this exactly as instructed, including the recommended products.. The texture was kind of mealy(?). Any suggestions on what would cause it to be like that, or is it supposed to be that way? Thank you for your recipes!
Carolyn says
Absolutely not supposed to be that way. Did you use a blender?
Gina says
It’s the almond flour that gives it that texture. It is my least favorite of the flours but the recipe tasted very good.
Carolyn says
If that’s the case… you’re not using almond flour that’s finely ground enough. 🙂
Cindy says
These looks delicious! Can they be made without the protein powder?
Carolyn says
Please read the blog post as I addressed this! 🙂 Expert Tips section.
Susen says
I have a ton of protein powder but it’s flavored. I have vanilla do you think it would be over powering or would that work?
Carolyn says
Hard to say without trying it! Maybe up the spices a little to offset? And of course, don’t add any more vanilla.
Tannis Baker says
I want to thank you for the wonderful recipe. Those were absolutely delicious. My husband and I had them with whipped cream and sugar free maple syrup drizzled over. Glad the recipe makes alot (15). Some for tomorrow.yay.
Carolyn says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Carmella Goodman says
I think I’m way too used to the texture of Chaffles so not a huge fan of these. I found them too soft and they fall apart easily. I did make one error in my ingredients and that was instead of a half a tablespoon of cocoa powder I accidentally used a whole tablespoon of cacao powder. I know cacao powder is more moist and that may be the reason that it was falling apart but I’m not sure. Overall the taste was good I think I would prefer not to put any chocolate in at all. I greased 3 different ways and moderate is best. Lightly greased my waffle completely stuck I’d love to show pictures, moderately it came out perfect, heavily To a little longer to finish cooking and was a bit softer. Thank you for the holiday flavors!
Carolyn says
Sounds like something went very wrong and I do think the cacao was a huge issue. These are light and crispy, and definitely do NOT fall apart easily. Here’s what I think went wrong…
1. Cocoa powder is darker than cacao, and it’s not the moisture that’s the issue… it’s that cacao does not blend in well with other ingredients.
2. A full tablespoon would indeed make the waffles taste like chocolate, whereas 1 teaspoon would not. It’s not for flavor at all and done right, you wouldn’t taste it.
3. Cocoa and cacao have more fiber and dry out and thicken the batter, making the final result heavier, denser, and more likely to stick.
Tammy Galarneau says
Can I substitute coconut milk.
Carolyn says
Make sure it’s not just the thick white stuff at the top. It may make your batter too thick.