Why you’ll love these homemade waffles
Our breakfasts have become fairly routine – toast, dairy free overnight oats or quick scrambled eggs without milk during the week and dairy free pancakes or egg in a hole on the weekend. Sometimes we switch it up with dairy free 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 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.
More dairy free breakfast ideas: breakfast pizza / dairy free breakfast casserole / dairy free crepes / lavender blackberry scones
Ingredient notes:
- 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.
- Egg – Just in case you didn’t know, read this post: are eggs dairy? If you want to make this recipe egg free, you should be able to get away with an egg replacer but the texture may vary slightly.
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.
Melissa’s tips + tricks:
- Don’t open the waffle iron early. I know it’s tempting, but don’t check on the waffles while they cook. 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.
- Find your iron’s sweet spot. Every waffle maker runs a little differently. I would recommend starting somewhere around medium-high when testing, to prevent any burning. We normally keep ours around 3.5/5.
- Keep waffles warm and crispy. I like to place cooked waffles 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.).
More dairy free breakfast options: million dollar bacon / bananas foster pancakes / breakfast tacos / apple cinnamon oatmeal
Frequently asked questions
We used this Belgian waffle maker for this homemade waffles recipe, but you could really use whatever waffle iron you have (or end up purchasing). Technically, these aren’t Belgian waffles, but we’ve were given this waffle maker as a wedding gift so I wasn’t going to run out and buy a new one. If I was going to be a non-Belgian one, it would be this one.
The main difference between the two is that the sugar and fat quantities are higher in waffle mix, which is what allows the waffles to get that crispy exterior.
The secret to perfectly crispy waffles lies in the batter itself. For that ideal crunch, you need the right sugar-to-fat ratio—something different from pancake batter. Another key is finding the right temperature on your waffle iron, which might take a bit of trial and error to nail down. Finally, as you finish each waffle, place it on a cooling rack to let air circulate and keep it from turning soggy while you cook the rest.
You can make your waffle batter ahead of time and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days.
These homemade waffles can be made in advance and reheated in the toaster or the oven when ready to serve. This is a great option for making waffles on weekday mornings.
Homemade Waffles Recipe
Ingredients
For the waffles:
- 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
For the strawberry sauce:
- 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
- Make strawberry sauce for waffles. Add frozen strawberries, sugar and lemon juice to the pan and heat over medium until the strawberries start to soften and create liquid.In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and cold water until smooth. Add to the pan and stir to combine. Simmer until the strawberries break down and the sauce that forms has thickened.Remove from heat and set aside for serving.
- Preheat your waffle iron. Following the instructions provided with your machine, preheat the waffle maker to ensure that it is fully heated when you're ready to cook the waffles.
- Mix your batter. In a large bowl, mix your dry ingredients together. Then, add the milk, canola oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in your wet ingredients and whisk until smooth. Some small lumps in the batter are ok.
- Waffle your batter. Prepare waffles according to waffle maker directions, using about 1/2 cup of batter for each waffle.*Be sure not to open the machine while the waffles cook. If they aren’t crispy on the top when the machine beeps, leave them in a little bit longer.Repeat as needed until all the batter as been cooked.
- Serve waffles as desired with strawberry sauce and/or maple syrup.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
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 😍