Sweet Zucchini Waffles Recipe

Use grated zucchini and an overripe banana to make these delicious homemade sweet zucchini waffles. They’re golden on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and sooooo good! They are also a fun way to use up your zucchini and only take just over half an hour to make.

This zucchini waffle recipe is pretty easy to make and uses inexpensive ingredients that you may already have in your kitchen cupboard. It’s also a fab way to use an overripe banana—even one with a black peel! You begin by grating the zucchini and squeezing out the excess water. Next, you add it to the wet ingredients, stir in the dry, and let the mixture rest for five minutes. Pour the batter into a waffle maker and cook it until it’s golden. In all, it takes just over half an hour!

As you make the waffles, keep them warm in the oven, then serve them with your choice of toppings. We’ve been having them with just plain maple syrup, and they are DELICIOUS. We’ve also had them with generous pats of real butter, toasted walnuts, whipped cream, banana slices, and berries. If you have fussy kids, they will have no idea these waffles have veggies in them—especially if you use a yellow summer zucchini.

Ways to Use a Zucchini Glut

Every year I vow to grow only one, maybe two, zucchini plants, and then I usually end up with about four. Every gardener knows to sow spare seeds as a precaution, but when they all come up triumphantly, I can’t bear to send the extras to an early end in the compost pile. So, into the garden they go, and then comes the next vow—to keep on top of picking them before they get too big.

Easier said than done, and by mid-summer my kitchen countertop features an artistic composition that I mentally refer to as zucchini mountain. There are big ones and little ones, green ones, and yellow ones. I suspect that you have something similar going on and are here looking for ways to use yours up!

Zucchinis, called courgettes where I live in the British Isles, are incredibly versatile and are great in a lot of recipes. There’s zucchini bread, stuffed zucchini, roasted zucchini, chutney, and the ever-popular zoodles that you make with a spiralizer. I also recently found out you can use shredded zucchini in zucchini pancakes and the most delicious waffles.

Using Fresh Zucchini in Waffles

Fresh zucchini is full of nutrients, fiber, and water, and because the flavor is mild, it’s one of those veggies that’s pretty easy to hide in food. For this recipe, we squeeze out as much juice as possible, but the grated zucchini still adds the perfect amount of moisture. Using it this way is a delicious way to add tenderness and moisture to waffles, without making them soggy.

One last thing… Savory zucchini waffles are more well-known than sweet, probably because of the stereotype that you’re cooking what’s seen as a “vegetable.” Honestly, though—you cannot taste zucchini at all in these. Instead, you taste sweet banana and fluffy waffle goodness. So go on, and try it out. You’ll be really happy that you did!

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