Roasted Squash Waffles with Spiced Squash Butter

Roasted squash waffles are soft, airy, golden brown and made for crisp autumn mornings. Yes, you have to roast a whole winter squash but it does double duty in the waffles as well as in the creamy, sweet spiced squash butter.

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I love a good waffle. One that’s perfectly crisp on the outside, but soft, light, fluffy, and airy inside.  These roasted butternut squash waffles are exactly that, plus full of fall flavors like sweet roasted squash and warm spices.

But we don’t stop the squash there. I figured as long as we’re roasting a whole squash, we should use as much of it as we can!

Some of the roasted squash puree goes in the waffles and some gets mixed with softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon for a spiced squash butter you’re going to want to smear into every nook and cranny of these waffles.

Tell Me About These Roasted Squash Waffles

• Texture: If you like fluffy breakfast waffles with a crisp exterior, then look no further than this recipe. 
• Flavor: Flavor-wise, they’re SQUASH and CINNAMON and SPICE all over. They are the essence of fall, the best thing to make during squash season.
• Ease: So you do have to roast the delicious organic squash and puree it but you could do that up to 3-4 days in advance.  
• Time: Once the squash is roasted and pureed, you’ll have an entire plate stacked high with homemade, heavenly-scented waffles in less than an hour.

Roasting The Squash

A great way to get maximum fall flavor into these waffles and butter is to use fresh roasted squash puree. Winter squash that has been slow roasted in the oven is thick and sweet, adding big flavor without excess liquid.

Canned pumpkin, is certainly a fine substitute and the easy way, but then you’d have pumpkin waffles, not roasted squash waffles. Besides taking the time to roast your own squash is less expensive and transforms regular waffles into amazing roasted squash waffles and regular butter into spiced squash butter.

If you like to keep things simple in the morning, roast and puree the squash the night before. That will save you cooling time, too, because the squash must cool before you can puree it.

To roast the squash, simply follow these simple steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  
• Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Rub with a little olive oil and place face down on the baking sheet.
• Roast until squash is fork tender.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool before scooping out the flesh and pureeing it in a blender or food processor.

It’s that easy! If you have leftover puree, use it instead of the canned pumpkin in these soft pumpkin cookies.

Here is my roasted squash puree:

Choosing the Right Ingredients: Winter Squash & Softened Butter

• Winter squash. You can use many different types of winter squash for this recipe. I’m using butternut squash but acorn squash, kabocha squash, or hubbard squash would work, you could even use mashed sweet potatoes. The only ones I would stay away from are spaghetti squash (for obvious texture reasons) and delicata squash because it tends to be very small.
• Softened butter. Make sure your butter is at room temperature for the spiced squash butter. It needs to be soft enough to easily mix with the squash and spices. Let it sit on the counter for at least an hour before starting.

Overview: How to Make Roasted Squash Waffles

Leave yourself enough time (at least an hour) to roast the squash before beginning. I like to do this step the day before so it’s ready to go in the morning.

1. Remove butter from the refrigerator to soften.
2. Roast the squash. Heat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Rub the cut side with a little oil and place cut side-down on the baking sheet. Roast until a fork easily goes through. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
3. Make the spiced squash butter. Stir together 1/2 cup of the roasted butternut squash puree, brown sugar, teaspoon cinnamon, and the softened butter in a medium bowl. Set aside.
4. Combine flour mixture together. All purpose flour, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and everything else goes in one bowl.
5. Combine the wet ingredients together, including the roasted squash, vanilla extract, vegetable oil, unsweetened almond milk, and remaining waffle ingredients in a large bowl.
6. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Whisk everything together until smooth and combined. Let waffle batter sit for 10 minutes while you heat up the waffle iron. It will thicken.
7. Cook waffles. Spray waffle maker with cooking spray and ladle about 1/2 cup of batter into the waffle iron. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.
8. Serve! Top waffles with squash butter, maple syrup and fresh fruit like thinly sliced apples and enjoy.

*TO MAKE PANCAKES: Thin the waffle mix with about 1/2 cup more almond milk. Heat a pan over medium heat, pour a tablespoon of oil to grease the pan, then ladle the batter into the pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes per side. Or just make my whole wheat banana protein pancakes.

Look at this beautiful golden spiced squash butter! So much delicious fall flavor hiding in here. Any leftover butter would be amazing on this cornbread with cheddar and rosemary.

I hope you have a nice slow breakfast in your future and it involves this fun fall swap of yummy waffles full of winter spices with spiced squash butter.