Crispy and Tender Ube Waffles

These ube waffles are the perfect combination of crispy, soft, and ube flavor. Filled with ube extract and ube halaya, they will make any breakfast or brunch menu super special. And the best thing is they are easy to make – coming together in just over 20 minutes!

I heard once that people are usually a pancake, waffle, or French toast person. Well if I had to choose between the 3, I am most definitely a waffle person. Give me a waffle any day, any meal and I’ll be happy. So today, I want to share with you one of my favorite breakfast item (the other being cinnamon rolls like my ube cinnamon rolls) combined with one of my favorite Asian ingredients – ube! These are the crispiest, most tender ube waffles.

What makes my ube waffles different

I have to tell you; these waffles are amazing. They’re both crispy on the outside and fluffy and soft on the inside. I adapted my pandan waffle recipe for this waffle recipe, replacing the pandan juice and extract with ube halaya and ube extract. (I only needed to test this recipe once since I was adapting it from a recipe I’d tested multiple times.)

Like in many of my ube dessert recipes, the ube ingredients provides the color and flavor, but the key to the amazing texture of these waffles is the combination of corn starch and sweet rice flour. Corn starch makes the waffle crispy, and sweet rice flour gives it that tender, fluffy interior. The texture plus the color and ube flavor make this one of my favorite waffles of all time.

Key Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments

• Coconut milk – Coconut milk is one of the core ingredients in this waffle recipe. Not only does coconut pair well with ube, but the fat content of the coconut milk helps create that soft texture on the inside. Because the fat content is so important for this recipe, I would highly recommend using full fat coconut milk. Personally, I like to use Thai coconut milk because I find it has the optimal fat content. Some Western coconut milk brands like Trader Joe’s tend to be more watery with less fat, so I would try to steer clear of more Western brands if possible.
• Ube extract – Ube extract is more responsible for the ube flavor and purple color of the waffles than the ube halaya. I would recommend using Butterfly ube extract to replicate the same results. This is the one I use, and I have found that many ube extracts from other brands don’t have the same quality.
• Ube halaya – This is a ube jam that can be found at Filipino grocery stores or on Amazon. I also have a recipe for homemade ube halaya on this blog! This ingredient is important because it adds more complex ube flavor to the waffles. If you only use ube extract, the waffle ends up tasting more artificial in flavor. However, you can make these waffles without ube halaya by substituting another 1/2 tsp of ube extract.
• Corn starch – This is THE KEY ingredient when it comes to the crispy texture. Through testing my waffle recipe many times, I found that corn starch is the ingredient responsible for the crispy outside, so I wouldn’t recommend substituting this ingredient with another one.
• Sweet rice flour – While the corn starch is responsible for the crispy outside, this ingredient is responsible for the soft inside. I also don’t recommend substituting this ingredient for any other ingredient for that reason.

How to make the easiest ube waffles

How do you store and reheat these ube waffles?

Store waffles in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. To reheat, I would recommend using a toaster oven, air fryer, or regular oven, so you can get that crispy outside. If you use the microwave, it’ll be soft.

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If you made this dish, I would love to see!

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