This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Pakora Waffles! Chickpea Flour Waffles are a fun savory vegan breakfast treat or snack! Veggie Pakora fritters are a staple at most Indian restaurants and now you can have them for breakfast – unfried! Gluten-free too!
So it was definitely time for me to come up with another creative savory use for a waffle iron. Enter Pakora Waffles.
Table of Contents
What are Pakoras?
Pakora is a spiced fritter originating from the Indian subcontinent, often sold by street vendors and consisting of vegetables such as potatoes and onions, coated in spiced gram flour and then deep-fried.
These waffles are a fun play on the popular Indian snack. Light crispy waffles made with chickpea flour with plenty of veggie goodness and spices in them!
They are Glutenfree, soyfree, Nutfree and high protein. Great for snacking or breakfast.
Is gram flour the same as chickpea flour?
Besan (gram flour) and Chickpea flour are not the same! Besan or gram flour is a flour of chana dal or split brown chickpeas. Chickpea flour or garbanzo flour is ground up white chickpeas. Similar flavors, but not the same flour. Besan is Brown Chickpea flour, is finer and milder flavor. Garbanzo bean flour (white Chickpea flour) is coarse, dryer, more bitter flavored and needs more moisture. Read this blog post for differences and where to use which flour.
MORE CHICKPEA FLOUR RECIPES
- Chickpea flour tofu – firmer and sturdier with chickpea flour
- Omelet with Chickpea flour
- Chickpea flour frittata – no soy
- Socca is better with chickpea flour.
- My Gluten-free Naan is better with chickpea flour
- Breakfast Scramble with Chickpea Flour
- Gluten-free flatbread
- Cheese slices! no nuts.
MORE SAVORY VEGGIE SNACKS
- Zucchini Carrot Chickpea Fritters
- Baked Broccoli Pakora
- Apple Fritters
- Veggies in spiced chickpea flour sauce. – Sindhi Kadhi
- Baked Dal Samosa.
Pakora Waffles – Savory Chickpea Flour Waffles
Ingredients
- ½ cup finely chopped cauliflower, or use more onion or other seasonal veggie. Grate the veggie if they are not quick cooking eg sweet potato, root veg etc)
- ½ cup chopped bell pepper
- ¾ cup finely chopped onion
- 1 hot green chili, finely chopped
- ½ inch of fresh ginger, minced
- ¼ cup Or more cilantro, chopped
- ⅛ tsp carom(ajwain) seeds or cumin seeds
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp cayenne or red Indian chili powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp rice flour, or use fine semolina flour
- 1 cup chickpea flour, or use 1 cup +2 tbsp besan
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup water
- oil as needed
Instructions
- Chop all of your vegetables and add them to a bowl. Or use a food processor to make a coarsely chopped mixture
- Add the rice flour, chickpea flour, salt, spices, cilantro, baking soda and mix everything well.
- Add in 1 cup of water to the mixture, stir well until combined. Add more water if needed – I need just about 1Tbsp more water when I make this, it really just depends on the amount of moisture leaking from your vegetables as well as the chickpea flour you use.
- Let this mixture sit for 5 minutes before starting to make your waffles.
- Oil and preheat your waffle maker – I usually drizzle some oil onto my waffle iron since I like my waffles to get nice and crispy and brown.
- Pour and spread the thick batter on your waffle maker, spread evenly with a spatula. keep the batter amount to a medium thick layer for crispy waffles. Too thick will take long to cook and soften faster
- Drizzle a few drops of oil on the top as well before closing the lid.
- Cook until golden brown and crisp, to preference. (These waffles take a while to crisp up so account for all the inactive time when planning. )
- The waffle maker timer for mine is pretty short, you may have to experiment to see what’s best for yours. Just make sure you cook it to a golden crisp brown to ensure the vegetables are fully cooked and the waffles get crispy.
- Remove the waffle from the waffle maker, repeat for all of the batter.
G
Video
Notes
- For eggy waffles, omit the whole spices(cumin) and add in 1 tbsp nutritional yeast and 1/4 tsp Indian sulphur salt (kala namak)
- These waffles are freezer friendly. Freeze and reheat in toaster or oven
- Use any veggies of choice. Or use just onion and peppers for an onion pakora waffle!
- Make the batter ahead and refrigerate in a closed container. Check consistency before using as veggies might have leaked some moisture and add a tsp or more chickpea flour if needed. Use to make waffles or pancakes! Batter keeps for upto 3 days
- Pancakes: This batter also makes great pancakes. The thick batter will make thick pancakes that you can use as patties in a sandwich. Thin out the batter with more water and make thinner crispy pancakes and serve with chutney or ketchup
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients for Chickpea Flour Waffles:
- Chickpea flour is the base of our waffle batter. It’s the flour of white chickpeas and is labeled as chickpea flour or garbanzo flour. You can also use besan, you will need a few tbsp more flour
- Rice flour makes these extra fluffy, light and crispy on the outside. If you can’t find rice flour in your local supermarket, try a shop where they sell Indian or Asian food. They’ll probably have it.
- Veggies: your typical veggie pakora add-ins like cauliflower, bell pepper, onion, green chili, fresh ginger, and cilantro.
- Spices: cumin seeds, turmeric, cayenne or red Indian chili powder, and obviously salt
- water
Tips & Substitutions:
- Like other types of flour, chickpea flour and besan should be stored in a sealed container in a cool place. It stays fresh for up to 6 months, and longer if refrigerated.
- I usually drizzle some oil onto my waffle iron since I like my waffles to get nice and crispy and brown just like pakora fritters
- These waffles are served best when they are warm and crispy, they will soften a bit as they cool off after about 30 mins or so.
How to make Savory Chickpea Flour Waffles:
Chop all of your vegetables and add them to a bowl. Add the rice flour, chickpea flour, salt, spices, cilantro, baking soda and mix everything well.
Add in 1 cup of water to the mixture, stir well until combined and more water if needed. I need just about 1Tbsp more water when I make this, it really just depends on the amount of moisture leaking from your vegetables as well as the chickpea flour you use.
Let this mixture sit for 5 minutes before starting to make your waffles.
Oil and preheat your waffle maker. Pour and spread the thick batter on your waffle maker, spread evenly with a spatula.
Drizzle a few drops of oil on the top as well before closing the lid. Cook until golden brown and crisp, to preference.
Tip: The waffle maker timer for my iron is pretty short, you may have to experiment to see what’s best for yours. Just make sure you cook it to a golden crisp brown to ensure the vegetables are fully cooked and the waffles get crispy.
Remove the waffle from the waffle maker, repeat for all of the batter.
CAN I MAKE CHICKPEA FLOUR AT HOME?
Yes! If you have a high-speed blender, blend dry chickpeas until a preferred fine consistency. Blend chana dal to make besan. It might not be as fine as store-bought.
Made your pakora waffles. They were awesome. I am going to try the semolina waffles next week.
Thank you very much for your kind contribution. Much appreciated.
So glad you liked them!
Tried these for the first time today. I made them with carrot as i didnt have any cauliflour left. Absolutely gorgeous! Had them with some minted soya yoghurt and some home sprouted beans on top. Wonderful. This will become a regular in our house.
Yum!! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
For a party .. how much ahead of time can I make the waffles and can I heat them in an oven to serve them hot/warm ??
Brush with oil and reheat in the oven for 5 mins or longer or air fry for 3 mins and serve
Very healthy and tasty to way to make waffles.
I’m not sure what the issue was, but I could NOT get the waffles to release from the waffle iron. and where it stuck- it stuck like glue. So I tried to fry them in hot oil, and they just never fully cooked on the inside. Not something I’ll make again. The sad thing was that I had promised pakora waffles to friends for lunch and brought everything to their place to make them hot and fresh. Thank goodness they had some sumbar and rice in the fridge:)
Hmm. I think the batter might have had too much moisture. Did you use chickpea flour or besan? In either car if the batter was too thin and/or had more veggies with generally have more moisture, you’d need to add more flour so it’s thicker and it works out. 100s of people have tried these and they work out just fine. Some issues that people run into are the moisture ratio because of several reasons like the veggies or brand or type of the chickpea flour, and old waffle irons. If you cooked them on the skillet they should have cooked completely. They prob just needed longer cook time. Sorry things didn’t work out. Hope you’ll give these a try again! make a thicker batter.
Hi! I didn’t understand the difference between chickpea flour and besan…arent they the same thing?
Also in point 8 above you said Cook until golden brown … Also keep them thin else the batter gets bready…
What does this mean? What needs to be thin? The batter?
Thankyou! Look forward to trying this!
Besan is flour of brown chickpeas/ Chana dal, chickpea flour in the us is flour of white chickpeas. While chickpea flour needs more water that besan to make similar consistency batter. Either will work here. You’ll just need to add a few responses more water. I meant keep the batter thinner as too thick a. Batter will make drier bready waffles.
Awesome pakodi waffle recipe!
Yay!!
This is a fantastic, delicious healthy breakfast! It’s on rotation at our house. I put the veggies in my small food processor which makes the prep super easy.
Another winner, Richa! Thank you!
Yay! So good to hear!
This is the most amazing recipe!! absolutely delicious! I am a Travel Nurse and I always make a big batch of these before I leave home for a new contract so my wife can sustain herself easily lol but I make them into pancakes and freeze them and reheat them in the toaster oven. Perfection!!!
So good to hear!