Homemade Waffles Recipe
This homemade waffles recipe is so easy to make. They’re crispy on the outside with a light and fluffy center, perfect for all of your favorite toppings. Plus, these dairy free waffles made without milk or butter. Makes 8 waffles.
Why you’ll love this homemade waffle recipe
Our breakfasts have become fairly routine – toast, overnight oats or quick scrambled eggs during the week and dairy free pancakes or egg in a hole on the weekend. Sometimes we switch it up with my cheddar and chive waffles or no milk french toast on the weekend, but we are creatures of habit after all.
But, lately, we’ve been loving this homemade waffle recipe, and it’s been a really great change of pace. I love that they’re just as easy to make as pancakes, but totally more fun.
Plus, we’ve been topping them with all sorts of fun stuff – like this beautiful strawberry sauce which would be perfect for Valentine’s Day breakfast in bed. They would even be a great option for Mother’s Day brunch.
What is the difference between pancake and waffle mix?
I did a ton of testing for this recipe. I didn’t want to just throw pancake batter into a waffle iron and call it a day – although, I’m sure it would turn out just fine.
I really wanted to get perfectly crispy waffles that were light and airy in the center. I think we ended up eating waffles 2 times a week for the past month or so. Not that I’m complaining.
After doing a decent amount of research, I learned that the sugar and fat quantities are high in waffle mix, which is what allows the waffles to get that crispy exterior. So, I experimented with different sugar/oil ratios until I found one that made the ultimate homemade waffles.
If you like this recipe, you have to try these chocolate chip waffles, and this whole wheat pancakes and these lavender blackberry scones.
Searching for more breakfast recipes? breakfast pizza / oatmeal banana bread / tater tot breakfast casserole / scrambled eggs without milk
Ingredients:
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
- Dairy free milk – To make this recipe dairy free, I used almond milk instead of dairy milk. If you don’t want to use almond milk, you can swap it for a different nut milk (I love using cashew milk) or any other dairy free alternative, like oat milk or coconut milk. Just stay away from the full-fat canned coconut milk for this recipe. It just won’t work because it’s too rich and thick.
- Canola oil – I used canola oil instead of melted butter, I like to use vegetable oil rather than coconut oil or vegan butter because it’s just easier. There’s no need to melt anything and it’s really easy to measure, but you can use any of those options as long as it has been melted. Read this post if you want to know more about dairy free substitutes.
- Egg – Just in case you didn’t know, read this post: are eggs dairy?
The following is a detailed overview of the recipe steps with added tips and tricks for recipe success. For a simplified and printable version, including ingredient amounts and more formal instructions, see the recipe card below.
How to make homemade waffles
Preheat your waffle iron. Following the instructions provided with your machine, preheat the waffle maker so it’s ready to go when you’re batter is ready. You will want to experiment to find what heat setting you like best for your waffle iron. We keep ours at 3 1/2 (out of 5), but each machine will be different.
I would recommend starting somewhere around medium-high when testing, to prevent any burning. You can always cook your waffles longer if needed. And, be aware that even though the signal beeps or the light says the waffles are done, you can keep cooking if needed.
Mix your batter. In a large bowl, mix your dry ingredients together. This helps evenly distribute the leavening agents (baking powder). Then whisk in your wet ingredients, one at a time, until smooth. Some small lumps in the batter are ok, but you don’t want to leave any major clumps.
Waffle your batter. I use a 1/2 cup measuring cup or a ladle to transfer my batter to the waffle iron. Fill each section and close the lid. Don’t be give into the temptation of opening the iron to check on the waffles. Just let the machine do it’s job and check when it beeps. If they aren’t crispy on the top, leave them in a little bit longer.
To keep cooked waffles warm and crispy, I like to place mine on a cooling rack inside a cooking sheet to keep the air circulating and prevent them from losing their crispiness. I will either pop this in the oven on a warm setting or just keep it next to the waffle maker (it depends on how many batches of waffles I’m making or if we’re eating them right away, etc.).
Make strawberry sauce for waffles. To make this easy strawberry sauce, I used a 1 pound bag of from strawberries that I thawed in the fridge. They were slightly frozen still, but enough to cut through. I halved each of the strawberries and placed them in a large skillet, but you could easily leave them whole or cut them small if you want.
Add 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the pan and heat the strawberries over medium heat until they start to soften and produce juice. In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water. Add to the pan and stir to combine. Simmer until the strawberries break down and the sauce that forms has thickened.
Serve your waffles. I love to serve my waffles with this homemade strawberry sauce, but you can serve your waffles with whatever you choose. Just be sure to serve them immediately or keep them warm using the method I mentioned to keep your homemade waffles nice and crispy.
More dairy free breakfast options. million dollar bacon / bananas foster pancakes / breakfast tacos / apple cinnamon oatmeal
FAQs about homemade waffles
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 1/2 cups almond milk
- 6 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 lb bag frozen strawberries (thawed in the fridge (still slightly frozen is okay))
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp cold water
Instructions
- Preheat waffle oven.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and coarse salt.
- Add milk, canola oil, eggs and vanilla extract – one ingredient at a time – whisking until smooth.
- Prepare waffles according to waffle maker directions, using about 1/2 cup of batter for each waffle.*
The recipe calls for milk? Is this almond milk?
Yes! Sorry. We used almond milk, but you can use whatever dairy free milk you like (just not canned coconut milk).
This recipe is really good! The waffles are nice ans fluffy inside and crispy on the outside. The taste is very nice too. Definitely a keeper!
Tastes just like regular waffles! These are my favorite breakfast and I love that all the ingredients are things that were already in my kitchen! Definitely recommend making these. Tomorrow I’m going to make them again, but with olive oil instead of canola and see how it goes.
I just made these for my dairy free teens!!! They are hard to please and they loved these. Thank you for sharing!! ?
An excellent recipe! I used oatmilk instead of almond(allergies) and it came out great. I only needed 1 cup.
I just made these! I used olive oil because I didnt have any other kind. Also added about 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. Delicious!!!
My wife made brownies once with olive oil (we love olive oil) but they were terrible!
Unfortunately, the recipe doesn’t call for olive oil. Even if you love it, the recipe wasn’t developed with that so there isn’t enough to compensate for the strong flavor of olive oil. I’m sorry you didn’t care for them, but it was probably because of the change you made.
Hum, I replaced the 6 Tbsp of canola oil with extra light olive oil and they came out great. To each their own I guess.
Love these waffles! My 3 year old needs dairy free and this is definitely the best recipe I have found. He loves them!
Hesitant because the batter is super runny. However, they were amazing!
We inherited an under-used waffle iron from my parents recently and I couldn’t wait to bust it out for my son and his cousins who are visiting over the holidays. Trying to please two picky 7 yo and one picky 4 yo had me as nervous as a groom at the altar, but with this recipe I absolutely nailed it! The recipe performed perfectly and all the tips helped me through my jitters. The texture was light and airy inside and the outside browned perfectly with just the right amount of crunch. I think we got about 10 waffles out of the recipe which was enough to freeze for another breakfast. I’m no expert but the vanilla seemed a little light to me, though it could have been because the vanilla was a bit long in the tooth. Well done!
My family loves this recipe! The waffles come out perfect every time. Have you tried turning them into chocolate waffles? Do you think adding, say, 2 tablespoons of cocoa would do the trick? Thanks again for this and your other recipes – never a disappointment.
What oil could I use instead of canola oil?
Any light flavored oil. Vegetable, olive oil, melted coconut oil, they will all work.
My very frank and picky father just said these were maybe the best waffles I’ve made. I used 3 medium eggs because that’s all we had and a blender. Thanks!
Avocado works great!!!!
Excellent recipe, we used soy milk and didn’t have any eggs so made a substitute using coconut oil, baking powder and water, they were absolutely delicious. My son says they are delicious. Thank you !!! Kelly and Hiero
Didn’t change a thing. Perfectly light waffles. Good pareve recipe for those of us who are kosher. Thank you for this recipe.
Loved them. Came out great. I only used 4 tablespoons of oil so my batter could be a little thicker. Can you use self rising flour for these?
Love these waffles!
Muy daughter is intolerant to dairy and sugar, so I just substitute the sugar for a sweetener and they come out great. She gets so excited when I make these as a special weekend breakfast. 😊
Thank you so much!
Good stuff! I added strawberries and they turned out yummy.
Can I substitute with whole wheat flour? Chickpea flour? Avocado oil?
You can substitute any liquid oil you would normally use, just make sure it doesn’t have a strong flavor, but I’m not sure about the flour substitutes. I can’t guarantee that they would work since I haven’t tested them.
I used avocado oil, turned out perfect! I frequently use avocado oil in recipes because it really doesn’t have flavor that interferes with the taste.
Please let us know when you have tested the recipe with whole wheat flour
Unfortunately, I won’t be testing it with whole wheat flour. I don’t typically re-write recipes that I’ve already published, but feel free to subscribe so you’ll be notified when I publish new recipes! I have a lot of great breakfast recipes coming out in the new year!
Can you freeze them? I was thinking of doing a big batch for my little one.
I think so! We keep an extra batch in the fridge all week and they toast up just fine!
Can I make the batter the night before?
Yes!
Can you freeze these waffles?
Absolutely!
I made this but used oat milk and Carrington farms coconut oil. I added chia seeds. I used a mini waffle maker so we had extra. Later we threw it in a pan with butter to heat up, put a layer of Nutella, roasted marshmallows and made waffle s’mores. They were so good!!
Can you bake these in the oven using a waffle stick pan?
I honestly don’t know. I don’t own one of those and I’ve never used one. I’m sorry!
I did this on the Pampered chef waffle stick pan. I baked at 350 for 25 minutes and they were wonderful.
How can I make the recipe egg free?
This waffle recipe is superb! Our 9.5 month son can’t have dairy so we’ve been looking for a dairy-free recipe. We just bought a waffle maker and I’ve made this recipe twice in the last 2 days — about to be 3 days in a row. My wife and I were extremely surprised and pleased how good these were. We could not tell at all they were dairy free. I do all the cooking as I love food and love to cook. I almost never write recipe reviews but I had to for this because it was THAT good —— plus I can see that you put a lot of time and effort into perfecting your recipe. Thank you so much for doing the research/trials to get the ratios right and then being kind enough to share to with us. The waffle was perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Don’t think I’ve had waffles that were crispy and fluffy at the same time! It was fantastic!
So me being me, I can’t help but leave well enough alone, so I took it a step further yesterday and add cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter and it was even better. Also experimented and added blueberries to some — those were excellent as well — my wife’s favorite. Since. I can have dairy, i added some chocolate chips to mine and that was my favorite — didn’t even need any syrup or anything. Thanks again for recipe — this will definitely be our go to recipe going forward — I’ve already memorized it lol
This is my new go-to waffle recipe. I far prefer this to dairy version.
Just did this with cup-for-cup gf flour and worked great!
Made fantastic Belgian style waffles! Used oat milk and doubled the vanilla.
I followed the recipe but used oatmilk instead of almond milk. I also added chopped walnuts, banana, and choc chips. Boy, it was scrumptious! Great recipe! Will use again! Thank you!
Hi thank you for this wonderful recipe! Can I use this for Belgian Waffle maker too or just regular waffle maker? Thank you 😊
Thank you for this recipe!
We just got a waffle maker and this recipe was perfect. Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. This will be our recipe to go at home. I used coconut oil. Thank you!
Absolutely delicious! I’ve made these several times and they come out perfect. I use canola oil and homemade cashew milk. Thank you for such an amazing recipe!! These have become a new house favorite.
This recipe is amazing!! Only had avocado oil but they still turned out perfect! Waffles were light and fluffy and perfectly crisp!! My daughter absolutely loved these as well, this will be a new family regular! Thanks for sharing 😍
This recipe is great. I substituted pumpkin and water for the milk. Added cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Waffles turned out so soft and airy. Definitely a keeper.
I’ve tried a lot of dairy free waffle recipes and mixes. This far exceeds all of them. The waffles were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Thank you!! I’m looking forward to trying other recipes on your page 🙂
I love this recipe! I’ve been using it ever since I seen it. I use olive oil, walnut milk & cinnamon in it. Works perfectly every time! I have a 4 waffle maker & this recipe makes 14 regular size waffles in it! Absolutely love it.
We have made this recipe several times with plain and vanilla almond milk. It turns out perfectly every time.
My older kids who aren’t dairy free prefer this recipe to store bought frozen waffles 🙂 I have stopped buying frozen waffles and just make & freeze piles of these. The toaster wakes these waffles up perfectly from frozen!
made it with avocado oil, otherwise exactly as written and they were light and crispy and delicious