AbstractSpiral scanning gradient waveforms can be optimized with respect to blurring from off‐resonance effects by minimizing the readout time. This is achieved by maximizing the gradient amplitude during the scan so that the edge of k‐space is reached as quickly as possible. Gradient hardware constraints are incorporated by considering a circuit model for the gradient coil and amplifier. The optimized gradient waveforms are determined by a set of coupled differential equations. The resulting solutions have shorter readout time than solutions that do not consider the circuit model.