Thanks to my 17-year old son, Blake, I feel confident calling this the best gluten free blueberry waffle recipe I have ever had.
Blake is an incredibly clean eater but he is not gluten free and he’d just as soon have scrambled eggs and fruit for breakfast rather than a gluten free waffle that tastes “off”. But this one has turned out to be just like the Strawberry Shortbread Smoothie Recipe —some days I wish I had never made it in the first place because it’s the only thing he wants for breakfast these days lol. In all seriousness though, if you have been let down with “off-tasting” gluten free waffle recipes in the past, I promise this one will not disappoint 😉
CLEAN Gluten Free Blueberry Waffle Recipe
I’m sure you could improve the flavor of this recipe by adding butter or sugar or by using a refined gluten free flour, but if you are looking for a truly clean gluten free blueberry waffle recipe, I really do think you would be hard pressed to improve on this one.
And what makes a gluten free waffle recipe “clean” ? I’ve bullet-listed six key factors below:
- No refined gluten free flours. One of my biggest problems with so many gluten free recipes is that they use empty calorie, pro-inflammatory refined grain flours, many of which offer no more nutrition than sugar. To keep the nutrient-content high, I use a combination of gluten free oat flour and a root vegetable flour called cassava flour for this recipe. If you are not yet familiar with cassava flour you can read more about it in the blog post I did on my 10 new products to add to your clean eating grocery list for 2018.
- Dairy free. Just in case you are still on the fence as to whether dairy is a health food or not, here’s why we do NOT believe milk does a body good.
- No refined sugar. I probably don’t have to go into a lot of detail as to why refined sugar is not a clean food staple ingredient 😉
- Omega-3 boost. If you are familiar with the anti-inflammatory clean eating food pyramid that appears in our book, Clean Cuisine: An 8-Week Anti-Inflammatory Nutrition Program that Will Change the Way You Age, Look & Feel, then you know I am always on the lookout for how to work more plant and sea omega-3’s into my diet. For this recipe I worked in plant-based omega-3’s from walnuts. But don’t worry, if you don’t like the idea of nuts in your waffles you won’t even taste the walnuts! That’s because I blend the walnuts with water in a high speed blender to make “whole” walnut milk. If you don’t have a high speed blender you can always substitute store-bought “whole” almond milk for the walnuts by eliminating both the walnuts and water from the recipe and using 1 3/4 cup “whole” almond milk. (Note: my favorite brand of store-bought “whole” almond milk is New Barn.)
- No refined oils. Again, just like we discuss in our Clean Cuisine book, refined oils are one of the worst pro-inflammatory/ empty calorie culprits in so many seemingly healthy gluten free recipes. You can read more about our clean eating “oil rules” here!
- Antioxidant boost. And finally, by using wild blueberries over conventional cultivated blueberries you significantly boost the antioxidant profile of the recipe. I first discovered Wyman’s brand of frozen wild blueberries years ago in, of all places, Costco. Although I have yet to find fresh wild blueberries at my local supermarket, Wyman’s brand is available just about everywhere these days. And yes, Wyman’s is still at Costco too! Not only do wild blueberries pack a much mightier nutrition punch compared to their cultivated cousins, their tiny size make them the perfect fit for just about any baked good recipe because they hold their form and maintain their flavor when cooked. You can read more about why wild blueberries are the best blueberries here!
And finally, although I know I have my waffles stacked in the photo, that’s just for appearance purposes! It’s actually better to NOT stack your waffles, or they will loose their crispness.
Ok! Let’s make some waffles. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did 😉
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Crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, these really are the best gluten free blueberry waffles ever!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup cassava flour
- 3/4 cup gluten free oat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 organic (pasture-raised eggs)
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 2 tablespoons raw honey
- 1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
- 3 tablespoons melted extra virgin coconut oil
- 1 1/4 cup frozen wild blueberries (see notes below)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a high speed blender (such as a Vitamix), add the eggs, water, walnuts, honey, lemon extract and melted coconut oil. Stir the wet ingredients in with the dry. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the oat flour has time to soak up some of the moisture. Plug in your waffle iron to preheat now (if your waffle iron has a temperature/browning dial, set it to medium-high).
- Once 10 minutes is up, give the batter one more swirl with your spoon. Pour about 2/3 cup batter onto the heated waffle iron, scatter on about 3 tablespoons of frozen wild blueberries (do not thaw!!) and close the lid. Once the waffle is deeply golden and crisp, transfer it to a cooling rack or baking sheet. (Keep your waffles warm by placing them in a 200 degree oven until you’re ready to serve.) Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm.
Notes
Frozen wild blueberries are PERFECT for making waffles and can be cooked without thawing. Look for Wyman’s brand frozen wild blueberries in your supermarket or natural foods store.
