If you have leftover sweet potato in your fridge – turn it into breakfast with a high protein waffles recipe! All you need is mashed sweet potato, butter, eggs, oat flour, and protein powder for a filling breakfast even toddlers will approve.

Sweet potato is one of those meal prep staples that’s hard to mess up. Anytime you see a gym bro or fitness pro meal prepping they always include sweet potato – and for good reason! It’s a good complex carb that’s filling and neutral so you can pair it with so many different meals. By your second or third day eating it though, it can get a little… boring. 

That’s where this sweet potato protein waffles recipe comes in! Turning dinner foods into breakfast dishes is one of my favorite things to do. So the other day, I had some leftover mashed sweet potato we were all sick of eating so I decided to turn them into waffles! The only thing is waffles are pretty carb-heavy to begin with, so I added some eggs, protein powder, and a little butter to make this a more well-rounded breakfast. It was a huge hit with my toddlers, Marina (3) and Forest (1)!

Here’s what you need:

All you need for this protein waffle recipe is a few basic staples to make 3 large waffles:

• 1 cup baked or steamed sweet potato
• 2 tbsp butter at room temperature – opt for grass-fed when you can. I know some people shy away from butter, I used to be one of those people! But butter in moderation, especially organic, grass-fed butter, is one of the best fats to include, especially in the morning! It also rounds out the recipe so it’s a good mix of carb, protein, and fat! Fat is so crucial for little kids’ developing brains [source].
• 3 eggs 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup protein powder – I really like this brand because they screen their protein for heavy metals. The vanilla is my favorite and works perfectly for this recipe! Use code lifesprettywild+kion for 10% off!
• ¾ cup oat flour
• *optional but recommended* ½ tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1½-1 tsp salt

Equipment needed:

• Large bowl
• Large sifter
• Waffle iron – I did a lot of research before buying one and settled on this one. It’s not perfect, I don’t think an uncoated waffle iron exists, so I found the next best option and it’s just right for us for now. I like that it has ceramic plates and it’s very reasonably priced. It’s also easy to clean, the plates pop right out, and it heats up quickly. The ceramic nonstick grids are four times more durable than traditional nonstick, won’t crack or peel, and are PTFE and PFOA free. 10/10 recommend!

In the future when our budget allows, I’d probably invest in this one! All Clad is an amazing brand and it’s stainless steel and is also coated in PFOA-free non stick material.

How to Make

1. When making this protein waffles recipe (or when I do any baking, really!), I like to start with the wet ingredients first. In a large bowl, mix the sweet potato, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Do not overmix the eggs (over mixing will make them more dense and less fluffy)
2. Then place a sifter over the bowl and add oat flour, protein powder, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Give it a little stir in the sifter, then sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
3. Stir just until combined. Again, do not overstir! You want these to be fluffy.
4. Grease your waffle iron and pour in a large scoop of the mixture. You’ll have enough to make 3 large waffles. Cook according to your iron’s instructions. For mine, they were done in 2 minutes.

Notes

• You can double or even triple this protein waffles recipe to have fresh waffles all week!
• If you make extra batter, just keep it covered in the fridge. Batter keeps for up to a week. Be sure to whisk well before using again. 

Options & Substitutions

Sweet potato: Any variety of sweet potato will work! I bet using purple sweet potato would make these come out a cool color that kids would go nuts for. You could use Beauregard, red garnet, jewel, stokes purple, Japanese white… any will do! You could even use yams. 

Butter: You could also try olive oil in the same amount.

Oat flour: you can sub for the same amount of almond flour

Protein powder: the protein powder I use is a whey protein isolate (more easily digestible than a why protein concentrate). I haven’t tried this with vegan protein powder yet, but if you do, please comment below how they turn out!

Pumpkin pie spice: you could also use cinnamon.

Eggs: I have not yet tried to make these vegan, so I'm not sure how flax eggs would hold up in this recipe.

Photo

Link to similar recipes