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Home » Recipes » Breakfast » Pancakes & Waffles » Healthy Chocolate Waffles (with added greens)

Healthy Chocolate Waffles (with added greens)

By Taesha Butler July 4, 2022 (Updated December 30, 2022) 10 Comments

Servings8 waffles
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Jump to Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Add a little fun to breakfast with these healthy Chocolate Waffles. Made with whole wheat flour, 2 cups of spinach, and naturally sweetened with maple syrup, these waffles are easy to make. They are perfect for stocking your fridge or freezer, and will win over even the veggie skeptics with how delicious they are!

Healthy chocolate waffles on a plate with a sliced strawberry on top. There are more fresh strawberries scattered  around the plate with more waffles next to the plate.

My family loves waffles and pancakes. Love love loves them. I mean, I get it. We live in Vermont where maple syrup is abundant for drizzling over all the breakfast food and, truthfully, waffles are just dang tasty.

Which is fine by me. Waffles are also a great vessel for veggies (shocking? Stay with me!) and are pretty easy to make. Like these healthy Chocolate Waffles….with spinach!

These Chocolate Waffles are not only healthy because of the 2 cups of spinach blended into the batter, but because they are made with whole wheat flour and are naturally sweetened with coconut sugar. Add in some chocolate chips to sweeten the deal or enjoy them without! Perfect for making as part of meal prep, since it makes a batch of 8 and store in your fridge or freezer beautifully! Naturally vegetarian and nut free, you can easily make these waffles dairy-free by using your favorite plant based milk.

The wet ingredients for healthy chocolate waffles blended in a blender.
The dry ingredients for healthy chocolate waffles in a bowl with a whisk and a blender with the wet ingredients in the background.
The ingredients for healthy chocolate waffles in a mixing bowl being mixed together with a spatula.

Tips & tricks

If we are going to make waffles, we want them to be perfect. Here are some of my pro tips and tricks for making these chocolate waffles, but are helpful for so many other recipes too!

  • Make sure your baking powder isn’t old. Believe it or not, that stuff expires and becomes inactive. These waffles (and other baked goods) will be flat and sad if your leavening agent is bust. To test your baking powder, put a scoop into a small bowl and add a little boiling water. If it starts to bubble right away, you are good to go. If it doesn’t, it’s time to toss your baking powder.
  • Spoon or pour flour instead of scooping. There is a right way and a wrong way to measure flour. When you spoon or pour your flour, you introduce air that helps it be fluffy…and thus, your baked good will be fluffy. Scooped flour can be packed in and actually result in using too much flour….and thus, having a dry dense waffle.
  • Don’t over mix your batter. For waffles or any baked good. Please! Mixing activates the gluten and can make for dense waffle. Mix until ingredients are just combined. This is truly the secret to fluffy waffles!
  • Cook waffles steaming stops. All waffle makers cook at a different temperature, so how long it’ll take your waffles to cook might be different than mine. The way I always tell a waffle is done is when I stop seeing steam coming from the waffle iron.

Did you make these waffles—and now you have leftover spinach you don’t want to go to waste? Check out How to Store Spinach (and keep it fresh all week long).

The batter for healthy chocolate waffles in a bowl with chocolate chips on top.

Suggested Adaptations

Use whatever milk you prefer. I’ve made these with cows milk, almond milk, and oat milk….all with great success. So you can use whatever milk you typically enjoy when making these waffles.

Make these waffles gluten free by using a cup-for-cup gluten free flour blend in place of the white whole wheat flour. This is a brand that I like. (affiliate link)

Skip the chocolate chips to reduce the sugar in these healthy chocolate waffles.

Healthy chocolate waffles on a waffle iron. There are cooked waffles on the cooling rack next to the iron.

More veggie-loaded breakfast recipes you’ll love!

  • Blueberry Zucchini Waffles
  • Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
  • Blueberry Cauliflower Oatmeal
  • Healthy Chocolate Muffins (with veggies!)
  • Spinach Cacao Smoothie
  • Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal
  • Crustless Spinach Sweet Potato Quiche

Did you try this veggie-loaded waffle recipe and now you’re hungry for more? 

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A stack of healthy chocolate waffles on two plated with a sliced strawberry on top.
Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Healthy Chocolate Waffles (with greens!)

Add a little fun to breakfast with these healthy Chocolate Waffles. Made with whole wheat flour, 2 cups of spinach, and naturally sweetened with maple syrup, these waffles are easy to make. They are perfect for stocking your fridge or freezer, and will win over even the veggie skeptics with how delicious they are!
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegetarian
Keyword: chocolate waffles, spinach
Servings: 8 waffles
Calories: 280kcal
Author: Taesha Butler

Equipment

  • waffle iron
  • Blender

Ingredients 

  • 1 ½ cups milk
  • 2 cups loosely packed spinach
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup olive oil or avocado oil
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup or you can sub honey
  • 2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • chocolate chips optional
  • Oil spray

Instructions 

  • In a blender, combine milk, spinach, eggs, vanilla, oil, vinegar, and maple syrup. Blend until smooth and spinach is completely pureed. Set aside.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and cocoa powder. Whisk together to combine.
  • Pour the contents of the blender into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Do not over mix or your waffles will be dense.
  • Stir in the chocolate chips, if using.
  • Heat your waffle iron on medium-high. Once it’s ready, spray both sides with oil then spoon about ⅓ cup of the waffle batter onto the iron. Cook until you no longer see steam escaping from the waffle iron and waffles are crisp on the outside, about 4 to 5 minutes (every waffle iron cooks a bit differently, so cook times times will vary from waffle iron to waffle iron).
    Carefully remove the waffle from the iron and transfer to a plate or cooling rack. Repeat until all batter is cooked.
  • Enjoy warm or let cool and store in fridge or freezer for future use!

Nutrition

Serving: 1waffle | Calories: 280kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 50mg | Sodium: 226mg | Potassium: 372mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 820IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 163mg | Iron: 3mg

The nutritional information is provided as an estimate only and may vary based on the product type, servings and other factors. If you are following a diet, please consult with a professional nutritionist or your doctor. Stay healthy!

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Filed Under: Nut-Free, Pancakes & Waffles, Vegetarian Tagged With: spinach

Previous Post: « 5-Minute Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing
Next Post: Fluffy Whole Wheat Carrot Zucchini Muffins »

Reader Interactions

    Leave a comment & rate this recipe Cancel reply

    Did you make this recipe? So good, right? It would mean the world to me if you left a comment and star rating so that more people can see how delicious veggie-loading can be. Plus, it helps me to see what recipes you are all loving so I can make more like them.

    Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback.

    Recipe Rating




    Comments

  1. Erin

    July 12, 2022 at 1:18 pm

    5 stars
    Easy and delicious!!

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      July 12, 2022 at 2:14 pm

      So glad you enjoyed them too, Erin! They have been a freezer staple this summer!

      Reply
  2. Melissa

    July 18, 2022 at 2:00 am

    How do you reheat them?

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      July 21, 2022 at 5:56 pm

      I either pop them in the air fryer for a couple minute, in the toaster, or oven because I like a crisp waffle. If you don’t mind them softer, you could microwave them.

      Reply
  3. Stephanie

    September 7, 2022 at 10:08 pm

    In the instructions, step 2, it says to add the baking soda but I don’t see that in the ingredients list.

    And thanks for all of your delicious recipes!

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      September 8, 2022 at 7:13 am

      Hi Stephanie! Thanks for catching that typo. When I was testing them, I had tried them with baking soda and opted to remove it for the final recipe. Clearly, I missed it in my instructions! Fixed and I am so glad you enjoy our veggie-loaded recipes! That always means a lot to hear.

      Reply
  4. Mindy

    November 25, 2022 at 9:05 am

    5 stars
    Yum! No one knew about the greens in these waffles.

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      November 25, 2022 at 11:36 am

      So glad you enjoyed, Mindy!

      Reply
  5. P P

    February 26, 2023 at 4:21 pm

    Can I use oat flour instead of whole wheat flour? 2 and 1/2 cups of oat flour?

    Reply
    • Taesha Butler

      February 27, 2023 at 9:11 am

      Maybe? I haven’t tested these with oat flour, but in my experience, oat flour absorbs the same about of moisture as whole wheat flour does in a recipe….so it might work. If you give it a go, let us know how they turn out!

      Reply

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Hi! I'm Taesha! I help busy people fall in love with healthy eating with my simple, family-friendly, veggie-loaded recipes. I believe vegetables can and SHOULD be delicious. Here, let me show you how!

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