If you love a comforting, hearty brunch, this recipe is for you. Crisp, golden Parmesan waffles meet a rich, vegetable-packed mushroom ratatouille, finished with a cooling dollop of yoghurt. It’s the perfect balance of savoury, fresh and satisfying — a meal that feels both nourishing and indulgent.
Cheese Waffles with Mushroom Ratatouille
Lazy April family time recipe
Ingredients
Ratatouille:
- 1 aubergine diced
- 1 white onion diced
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 yellow pepper diced
- 1 large courgette diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 400g mixed mushrooms sliced if large, whole if baby buttons
- 1x400g tin diced tomatoes
- 3-5 sprigs fresh thyme
- handful fresh basil leaves roughly torn
Waffles:
- 170g plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 225ml milk room temperature
- 2 large free-range eggs room temperature
- 75g butter melted and cooled
- 75g Parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tbsp fresh chives finely sliced, plus extra for garnish
- 250ml plain yogurt for serving
- olive oil for cooking
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the ratatouille:
- Heat a generous drizzle of olive oil in a large Dutch oven / deep saucepan over a medium heat.
- Add the aubergine and cook until golden and softened, but not cooked through. Add the onion, peppers, courgette, garlic and mushrooms. Sauté until fragrant and the veg begins to soften.
- Pour in the tin of tomatoes, and rinse the tin out with a little water and pour it in too.Add the thyme sprigs. Season generously with salt and pepper. Top tip: if your tinned tomatoes are too acidic add a little pinch of sugar to mimic a deliciously sweet sun ripened tomato.
- Mix well and cover. Simmer over a low heat for 15 – 20 minutes until thickened and all the veg are juicy and tender.
- Taste to adjust seasoning and then scatter over the fresh basil leaves.
For the waffles:
- Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and whisk. In a separate bowl, whisk milk, eggs and butter together. Pour the wet into the dry and whisk until smooth. Fold the cheese and chives into the batter with a spatula.
Preheat waffle maker.
Top tip: If you do not have a waffle maker you can use this batter in a non-stick frying pan with a little olive oil and just make savoury pancakes!
- Depending on the size of your waffle maker, use a ladle or half cup measure to just cover the waffle iron with batter. Don’t be tempted to overfill.
- Cook until golden and crisp. Depending on your brand of waffle maker – around 4 minutes.
- Transfer cooked waffles onto a cooling rack and repeat with the rest of the batter.
To serve:
- Plate waffles and spoon over a generous amount of warm mushroom ratatouille. Finish with a dollop of yoghurt and scatter with fresh chives. Enjoy!
