Gluten-Free Banana Oat Waffles
This incredible gluten-free banana oat waffles recipe requires only one kind of flour—oat flour! The waffles are delicious, easy to make, and healthy, too!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
If the state of my kitchen is any indication of my mental state (it is), I’m a mess. Cookbook launch anticipation is getting to me! I don’t even have a ton on promotional work on my plate yet, but I’m simultaneously nervous, excited and anxious for you to see it in a few short weeks.
About ninety percent of the recipes in the cookbook are brand new recipes that I’ve been keeping from you for the past two years. Man, I hate keeping secrets, but they were all worth keeping!
I wanted the book to be a collection of amazing, everyday recipes that would inspire you to cook every time you flip through it. Or “feel-good favorites,” as it says on the cover. Like fluffy, maple-sweetened blueberry muffins, the best homemade salsa, potluck/lunch-friendly chickpea salad, fresh veggie-packed pastas, mini peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, etc. (For more details about the chapters and special diet info, check here.)
One of the very few recipes from the blog that made it into the book are my gluten-free oat waffles, since they are, hands-down, my all-time favorite waffles, and many of you feel the same. I’ve gotten a number of requests for a banana version. I thought I could replace the pumpkin with banana in my pumpkin oat waffles, but it wasn’t that easy.
Six tries later, I’ve finally nailed it. These waffles are fluffy, light, crisp and infused with banana flavor. They’re also conveniently gluten free, whether you need them to be or not, and above all—delicious. Lastly, if you don’t have a waffle maker, I have a banana oat pancakes recipe that you can make in a skillet.
Gluten-Free Banana Oat Waffles
This incredible gluten-free banana oat waffles recipe requires only one kind of flour—oat flour! The waffles are delicious, easy to make, and wholesome, too. Recipe yields 8 small waffles (as shown in photos; your yield will depend on your waffle iron).
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (200 grams) oat flour*, certified gluten-free if necessary
- 3 tablespoons packed coconut sugar or brown sugar**
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch or cornstarch***
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
- Scant ½ cup melted coconut oil or 7 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Suggested toppings: thinly sliced banana, maple syrup or honey, nut butter and/or toasted nuts, whipped cream or coconut whipped cream…
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, sugar, starch, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Then add the milk, coconut oil or butter, mashed banana and vanilla extract. Whisk until the mixture is thoroughly blended.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture. Stir with a big spoon until combined (the batter will still have a few lumps). 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 iron has a heat setting, set it to medium-dark).
- Once 10 minutes is up, give the batter one more, gentle swirl with your spoon. The batter will be pretty thick, but don’t worry! Using a measuring cup, pour batter onto the heated waffle iron, enough to cover the center and most of the central surface area, and close the lid.
- Wait to check on the waffles until most of the steam has stopped billowing out the sides (this takes 5 to 6 minutes in my waffle maker). Once the waffle is deeply golden and crisp, transfer it to a cooling rack or baking sheet. Don’t stack your waffles on top of each other, or they’ll lose crispness.
- If desired, keep your waffles warm by placing them in a 200 degree oven until you’re ready to serve. Repeat with remaining batter and serve with desired toppings.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my gluten-free oat waffles and banana nut waffles.
*Make your own oat flour: Simply blend old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats (be sure to buy certified gluten-free oats if necessary) in a blender or food processor until they are ground into a fine flour. You’ll need to blend at least 2 ¼ cups oats to make enough flour for these waffles (you will probably end up with a little extra). Once you’ve blended the flour, measure it using the spoon and swoop method to make sure you have the right amount.
**Sugar note: Sugar in waffle and pancake recipes help prevent the batter from burning against the hot skillet. Granulated sugar is key in this recipe, and works better than maple syrup.
***Starch note: The starch helps the waffles turn out extra light and crisp. You can omit it if you don’t have it.
Make it egg free: You should be able to just omit the eggs. That has worked well for me in the regular oat waffles. Please let me know if you try!
Make it dairy free: Use non-dairy milk and coconut oil.
Make it vegan: Use non-dairy milk, coconut oil and omit the eggs.
Freeze it: These waffles freeze beautifully. Just store in freezer-safe plastic bags and pop individual waffles into the toaster until warmed through.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
These waffles were delicious! Made our rainy Sunday morning so much better!
Can I substitute mashed blueberries for the mashed bananas?
Hi Laz, I don’t believe that will provide the same result. If you are looking for a blueberry waffle, you could try adding a few blueberries into my easy gluten free oat waffles .
Greetings Cookie and Kate!
We ate the Gluten-Free Banana Oat Waffles for breakfast this morning. YUM! My daughter Gabriela made them and she was excited about the success after the first one was cooked. We have a Cuisinart waffle maker, which makes 6 3/4″ round waffles.
We yielded 6 waffles with your 1x scale recipe! They were so good that I had to eat a second one! My daughter makes fruit preserves and today my 1’st waffle was crowned with her mixed berry preserve. Now I need to get a copy of your book!
JS Pompano Beach, FL 5/7/2020
I’m so glad you loved them, James! Thank you so much for sharing.
I have tried oatmeal waffles before and I had a bunch of bananas in the freezer so I was looking for something like that but with bananas. I made it just as the recipe said and they were really good. Even though there were bananas in there, I didn’t have an overwhelming banana flavor which was fine for me.
There’s only two of no us so I wrap each one separately in Glad press and seal and then put them in a plastic bag to freeze. It’s nice because then I can take just one out and put it in the toaster. Toasting it them makes it crispier on the outside.
these were delicious, great flavor and very easy. Mine did not get crispy though, and I left them extra long in the waffle maker to try to get that to happen. Suggestions, ideas, thoughts? I made the recipe exactly as written, making my own oat flour in my food processor.
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. Did you let them cool on a cooling rack and didn’t stack them on top of each other?
We ate them straight from the waffle iron. They were delicious, truly, anyway.
These were some of the best waffles I’ve ever had. We added blueberries and pecans inside, and made Belgian. Thanks for this recipe!
I’m glad you loved them! Thank you for sharing what you added in. I appreciate your review, Wendie!
Loved this recipe! I didn’t have coconut oil so used butter and only 3 tablespoons and it turned out amazing still! Yum!
I’m happy it turned out for you, Roise!
I never knew what I was looking for in a waffle until I read your blog, Kate! We (me but also my two young kids) have become obsessed with your oat flour waffle recipes. We have found that the oat flour ones reheat much better than the whole wheat ones (or maybe they just take more abuse if one forgets them on the waffle iron for a bit as the whole wheat ones are great too!).
Absolutely love your recipes, Kate! Another go to one for us are your whole wheat scones….I have that memorized and just add in a cup of whatever add ins (eg bananas, cranberries, nuts, chocolate chips, coconut if I don’t have blueberries on hand). So wonderful to have so many whole grain bread/bakery options. Thank you!!
Thank you for sharing, Kim! I’m happy you enjoy them.
This is the best banana oatmeal recipe I have tried and I have tried them all! I will search NO more!! They are everything I need a waffle to be and they just lift so easily out of my “run of the mill” waffle maker. The taste and texture are superb!!! We have them once a week for dinner!!!!
Hooray! Thank you for sharing, Mary. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hi, would these with with AP flour as well? Also can I use sunflower oil / vegetable oil instead of coconut or butter? Thanks!
Hi Kat, This was designed specifically for oat flour. I’m not sure wheat flour would work. Whole Wheat Coconut Waffles try these instead.
Is there a soul on the planet that doesn’t love waffles??
Thank you!
Hi Kate, would it be ok to omit or substitute the banana?
Hi! If you are looking for a waffle without banana, try my Easy Gluten Free Oat Waffles instead.
I will, thank you!
I made your recipe and it tasted good but did not come out crispy. Could be because of my waffle iron – it is new and non flip style. I have not found a way to get an evenly brown waffle using any recipe yet – the bottom is always browner than the top. Oat flour was made in the blender, I used Demerara sugar instead of brown sugar, 1/3 c coconut oil (liquid form), milk that was 1/2 c evaporated milk and 1/2 c water, 2 medium large very ripe bananas. Everything else was exact to your recipe. The texture of the batter was perfectly viscous after 10 minute wait.
I’m sorry to hear that! I’m glad you found something that worked for you.
Omg…they are so good. I made them with ground steel cut oats and made a fresh blueberry sauce to eat with. My 2.5 year old loved them too! I will make a huge batch to freeze.
Delicious! But mine came out very thin – could it because of non dairy milk and walnut oil ?
Hi, the non dairy milk shouldn’t be the problem. I haven’t cooked with walnut oil, so not sure if that impacted it or not. I’m glad you were still able to enjoy it, some!
Thank you!
Monisha
Delicious breakfast! I made a triple batch so we can enjoy them for more than one day. Excellent use for all the overripe bananas I needed to use. I followed the recipe except for subbing a little over half the eggs since I was short. I used 1Tbsp flax meal plus 3 Tbsp water per egg that needed subbed. Tastes like banana bread waffles! May try reducing oil and sugar next time, but it’s very yummy as written. Takes 7-8 mins per waffle to cook for me.
Thank you for sharing, Emily! I’m happy they turned out.
Just about the most delicious thing I’ve eaten this week and my kids couldn’t get enough of them. Great recipe!
This recipe is to die for, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the inside, not bland at all , I replaced arrowood startch with corn starch, put maple syrup on top and voila delicious healthy breakfast! Even my fussy 2 year old gobbled it up!
I’m glad you think so, Angel! Thank you for your review.
Hi Kate
I just found your website and I’m excited to try your recipes.
I have no dietary or philosophical restrictions, and take enough vitamins and supplements that I’m unconcerned with health benefits of most foods. HOWEVER I’m on Weight Watchers and flour adds points but oatmeal does not. I’ve been searching for waffle and cookie recipes so I’m excited to try these. I’ll probably play with reducing WW points, which go up with any sugar or fat, and down with fruits and fiber.
I hope you love them!
I really liked this recipe! Used fresh yeast instead of baking powder and left the batter in the fridge overnight. Also added a pinch of ground ginger and cardamom plus some frozen blueberries before cooking them up and they turned out great. Love the texture and flavour!
I’m glad it still turned out! I appreciate your review, Yusra.
Oh man, it stuck to the waffle iron and was a nightmare to clean. I used the remaining batter for pancakes, which were tasty but with a bit of a weird gumminess to their consistency. I wish Americans would create recipes with all quantities listed in grams. I put plenty of oil on the waffle iron and it was hot enough, and just last week a different waffle recipe turned out well with no problems with sticking – so there must be something about maybe the amount of banana I used? (I tried 220 grams).
Hi Lindsay, I’m sorry you had a poor experience. I’m not sure if the conversions could have caused since I didn’t try it. But that could have been it. Be sure to spray or grease your waffle iron if you are even concerned. I appreciate your feedback.
These waffles are beyond delicious! They taste better than regular waffles you get in the diner! Mine were a little mushy on the inside so I am wondering if I didn’t cook them long enough or is that the texture because of the mashed banana?
Hi! Maybe cook them longer or adjust your waffle temp.
Amazing texture and flavour. Opted for non dairy milk, coconut oil and coconut sugar for my daughters allergies, and they were perfect! Added to favourites and will be making monthly to freeze for lunches and quick breakfasts or snacks!
Loved this recipe, added nuts too.will adapt to make with yams
Excellent go to for all my riper than ripe bananas!! Delish as ALL YOUR recipes are!! Thanks Kate!XXOO
You’re welcome, Linda! I appreciate your review.
I could not believe how wonderful this recipe is! Delicious. Didn’t have oat flour so I made it. This is the second recipe of your’s that was fantastic. Tofu and Brussels is another staple I make. Now I will add oat waffles as a staple. Thank you.
These are absolutely delicious! I’ve made twice already in less than a week, my kids loved them. I reduced the amount of sugar to 2 tbsp the second time around since I felt they were a bit too sweet for my palate the first time but other than that they come out perfect.
That’s great to hear, Adriana!
I tried this recipe as my first attempt at waffles. I made it egg free since my toddler has a newly diagnosed egg allergy. I did the single recipe and cut the brown sugar back by 1 T, used half coconut oil and half butter, and used arrowroot starch. Another Cookie and Kate success! Thank you for the great recipes!
Unfortunately, didn’t work out for me. I made them egg free. Had to add then chia seeds to improve texture.
Easy to make and kid approved!
I make these waffles all the time using my freezer stash of over-ripe bananas. I grind the oats myself and often play with the ingredients a little bit. Sometimes I use half coconut oil and half butter, sometimes I use chia seeds instead of an egg, sometimes I use oatmilk or kefir, sometimes I throw in walnuts too. These always turn out perfect and delicious! Thank you for a great recipe Kate.
Followed the recipe for the exception of eggs. Used flaxseed instead. They didn’t fluff/rise at all. The blender pancakes Ive made into waffles using flaxseed instead, success every time. Make them in bulk and freeze.
Hi JR, I’m sorry these didn’t turn out for you. My recommendation for this recipe is simply to omit the eggs, rather than substitute with flaxseed. See the Notes section.