Easy Pumpkin Waffles With Pancake Mix (Ready in 17 Minutes)

These easy pumpkin waffles with pancake mix take one bowl and 17 minutes, with crisp edges, a fluffy middle, and enough warm spice to make the whole kitchen smell like fall.

My waffle iron comes out of the cupboard the first week of September and it does not go back until January. This is the recipe that keeps it out there.

Pumpkin waffles with pancake mix are waffles made by stirring canned pumpkin puree, egg, milk, and pumpkin pie spice into a store-bought pancake mix. They take 17 minutes start to finish, dirty one bowl, and use six ingredients you can find at any grocery store.

I’ve been making these since 2024 and I have not touched the ratio once. Every fall I try to fancy them up, and every fall I go back to the boxed mix, because the boxed mix already has the leavening and the salt figured out. That’s the part people skip when they scratch-make waffles at 8am and end up with sad flat ones.

I use Bob’s Red Mill pancake mix. One batch gives me six mini waffles, which is breakfast for two or a stack of three for me on a Saturday.

The thing nobody tells you about pumpkin spice waffles is that pumpkin puree behaves differently than plain waffle batter. It’s heavier, it holds more water, and it browns faster because of the natural sugars in the pumpkin. Almost every problem people run into with this recipe traces back to one of those three things, and all of them are fixable with technique rather than a different ratio. I’ve covered each one below.

If you want more fall breakfast in your life, my Pumpkin Baked Oats and my 3 Ingredient Protein Waffles are on the same rotation.

Why You’ll Love These

• 17 minutes, one bowl. Five to mix, twelve to cook, zero to wash beyond the one bowl and a whisk.
• They freeze better than they keep. I make a double batch on Sunday and eat them out of the toaster all week.
• The boxed mix does the hard part. Leavening, salt, and ratio are already dialed, so there’s very little to get wrong.

What You Need

Full amounts are in the recipe card at the bottom. Here’s what each thing is doing.

Pancake mix. I use Bob’s Red Mill. Any boxed pancake or waffle mix works here, including Bisquick. If you want gluten free pumpkin waffles, swap in a gluten free pancake mix and everything else stays exactly the same.

Canned pumpkin puree. Pure pumpkin, nothing added. This is your moisture and most of your flavor, and canned is more consistent than fresh because the water content is controlled.

Egg. Structure. Without it the waffles tear when you lift the lid.

Milk. I use unsweetened almond milk. Dairy, oat, soy, whatever is in your fridge. It thins the batter enough to spread across the iron.

Melted butter. Fat is what crisps the outside. Skip it and you get soft, pale waffles that taste fine and look sad.

Pumpkin pie spice. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves already blended. A waffle iron cooks hot and fast, and that direct heat mutes spice, so this is doing more work than it would in a muffin.

Vanilla extract. Rounds off the edges of the spice so it tastes warm instead of sharp.

Pumpkin Puree vs. Pumpkin Pie Filling

These are two different cans that sit next to each other on the same shelf, and grabbing the wrong one is the fastest way to ruin this recipe.

Pumpkin puree is cooked, blended pumpkin. One ingredient. This is what you want.

Pumpkin pie filling is puree that already has sugar, spices, and thickeners mixed in. If you use it, your waffles come out too sweet, too wet, and they’ll scorch on the iron before the middle sets.

Check the ingredient list, not the picture on the front. Both cans have a pie on them.

How to Make Pumpkin Waffles With Pancake Mix

1. Heat the waffle iron all the way. Wait for the ready light. A cold iron is the reason waffles stick.
2. Whisk the wet ingredients. Pumpkin, egg, milk, melted butter, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla in one bowl until the color is even and there are no orange streaks.
3. Fold in the pancake mix. Stir until the dry disappears and then stop. A few lumps are what you want. Overmixing develops gluten and gives you chewy waffles.
4. Let the batter sit for 2 minutes. The mix hydrates and thickens slightly, and the leavening gets a head start.
5. Grease the iron and pour. Fill about three quarters of the way. Pumpkin batter puffs more than you expect.
6. Cook 2 to 4 minutes, until the steam stops. Not the timer, the steam. When the cloud coming out of the sides slows to almost nothing, the outside is set and golden.

How to Get Crispy Pumpkin Waffles

The most common mistake with pumpkin waffles is stacking them on a plate straight off the iron. Trapped steam has nowhere to go, it condenses on the waffle underneath, and by the time you sit down the whole stack has gone soft.

Cool them in a single layer on a wire rack instead. That one change does more than anything else on this list.

A few more things that help:

• Let the iron fully preheat. Every batch after the first is better than the first for exactly this reason.
• Hold them in a 200°F oven on a rack if you’re cooking for a crowd. They stay crisp for 20 minutes easily.
• Resist opening the lid early. If it resists, it isn’t done. Give it another 30 seconds and try again.
• Run the iron one notch below where you’d put it for plain waffles if yours has a browning dial. Pumpkin has natural sugars in it, so this batter colors faster than pancake batter does, and a dark waffle that’s still wet inside is a heat problem rather than a timing problem.

Deep Belgian irons and thin classic irons also behave differently here. A deep pocket holds more batter against less surface area, so it needs the full 4 minutes and comes out softer and more cake-like. A shallow iron pushes more of the batter against the plates and gives you a crisper waffle in closer to 2 minutes.

Neither is wrong, just watch the steam rather than the clock and you’ll land in the right place on either one.

Variations and Substitutions

• Chocolate chips or chopped pecans. Fold in at the very end, after the mix.
• No pumpkin pie spice. Cinnamon on its own works. You lose a little depth and nobody at the table will notice.
• Make them pancakes. Same batter, no changes. Ladle onto a greased skillet over medium and flip when the edges look dry.
• Bigger waffles. This batch fills a mini iron six times. On a standard or Belgian iron you’ll get fewer, thicker waffles and they’ll need closer to the 4 minute mark.

What to Serve With Them

Warm pure maple syrup, a pat of butter, and a handful of toasted pecans is the version I make most. Toast the pecans in a dry pan for two minutes first, it takes no time and it’s the difference between a nut and a topping.

When I want them to feel like more of an event, I fold pumpkin pie spice into whipped cream and pile it on. And if you put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a warm one, it stops being breakfast, which I fully support.

For a plate that holds you through the morning, I put a fried egg and a couple of breakfast sausages next to them. The waffles lean sweet on their own, and something salty on the side keeps the whole thing from tipping into dessert before 9am.

Storing and Freezing

Fridge: Airtight container for 1 to 2 days, with parchment between the layers so they don’t fuse.

Freezer: Up to 3 months. Freeze them flat on a sheet pan first, then transfer to a bag once they’re solid. Freezing them in a stack gives you one large waffle brick.

Reheating: Toaster or air fryer, always. 350°F for 2 to 4 minutes from the fridge, a couple of minutes longer from frozen. The microwave will heat them through and turn them rubbery, which defeats the point of the wire rack you just used.

Doubling for the week: This scales straight up with no adjustments. I double it, cook the whole thing in one go while the iron is already hot, cool them on the rack, and freeze them flat. Weekday mornings turn into dropping two in the toaster, and they come out closer to fresh than anything I’ve reheated from a box.

The iron is the bottleneck, not the batter, so cooking a double batch takes about twice as long, and the mixing takes the same five minutes either way.

Pumpkin Waffle FAQs

Why are my pumpkin waffles soggy? Almost always steam, not the recipe. Stacking waffles on a plate traps moisture against the surface and softens them within a couple minutes. Cool them in a single layer on a wire rack. If they’re still soft, your iron likely wasn’t fully preheated, or you pulled them while steam was still pouring out the sides.

My batter looks thick. Is that right? Yes. Pumpkin batter is noticeably thicker than plain pancake batter and it should mound on the spoon rather than pour off it. If it’s so stiff it won’t spread across the iron, add milk one tablespoon at a time.

Can I use any pancake mix, including Bisquick? Any boxed pancake or waffle mix works, Bisquick included. Complete mixes that only need water are fine too, since the egg and milk here just make them richer.

Can I make these gluten free? Yes. Use a gluten free pancake mix and change nothing else. The pumpkin keeps them moist, which helps a lot, because gluten free waffles have a habit of drying out.

Can I use fresh pumpkin instead of canned? You can, but drain it well first. Roasted fresh pumpkin holds more water than canned, and that extra liquid is what makes waffles gummy in the middle. Press it in a clean towel until it stops releasing water.

Can I make these with only 3 ingredients? Pancake mix, pumpkin puree, and milk will get you a waffle. It won’t be as rich or as crisp without the egg and butter, and you’ll want to lean harder on the spice.

Can I mix the batter the night before? You can, and it’s my move when I’m feeding people early. Cover it and refrigerate for up to 12 hours. It thickens overnight as the mix keeps absorbing liquid, so stir in a splash of milk before you cook and expect slightly less lift, since the leavening starts working the moment it gets wet. If you want them at their fluffiest, mix the wet ingredients the night before and fold in the pancake mix in the morning.

More Pumpkin Recipes to Try

• Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
• Pumpkin Baked Oats
• Pumpkin Pie Protein Cheesecakes
• Copycat Pumpkin Perfect Bars
• Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam Copycat
• Pumpkin Pie Protein Ice Cream

If you make these, leave a star rating and tell me in the comments how they turned out. And if you post them, tag me @basicswithbails so I can see, or save this one to Pinterest for when the craving hits in October.