Best Waffle Recipe

Hey, I’m John Kanell and today we’re making crisp and delicious waffles, so let’s get started.

Ingredients and Preparation

First off, plug your waffle iron in so it starts to preheat because this recipe is very fast, as it should be for a morning breakfast treat.

Dry Ingredients

In a large bowl, I’m adding 2 and 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour (270 g). Now I want 1/4 cup (50 g) of granulated sugar—sprinkle that right in. If you’re wondering, is there any difference between a waffle recipe and a pancake recipe? Generally, it’s just about the proportions; a pancake recipe will have less baking powder because they don’t have to puff up as much. For contrast, I’m adding 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt (1/4 teaspoon if you’re using super-fine or iodized salt, because iodized salt is harsher and super-fine has more salt that fits in a teaspoon than regular salt).

Grab a whisk and give that a good mix.

Wet Ingredients

Set your dry ingredients aside. I have a big measuring cup here with two cups of whole milk; I microwaved it so it’s room temperature because ice-cold ingredients are not your friend when you’re using melted butter. To my milk, I’m adding two large eggs—no shells, please. Give it a mix right now just to break the eggs up. To my milk mixture, I’m adding half a cup of unsalted melted butter. If you don’t feel like melting butter in the morning, you could use vegetable oil, and if you want the best of both worlds, use 1/4 cup of each (1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup oil). That way, you’ll have a beautiful taste of butter but the crispness that oil gives you. Any of those three ways is delicious. Pour that in, a little more mixing, and we’re finishing this off with two teaspoons of vanilla. Add that in and give it a mix.

Combining and Cooking

Grab your dry ingredients and combine them with the wet, mixing until it is just combined. This makes a good-size batch of waffles. I don’t make this every single weekend; what I’ll do is make a big batch of waffles and then freeze the rest for later. If you freeze your waffles and then put them in a toaster, they are good as new, and it’s like a delicious breakfast in seconds. Wrapped up, they keep in the freezer for up to 2 months and in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Mix-ins

You have a choice right now: you could add some mix-ins, or, if you’re like my family and you’re becoming a short-order cook, add your mix-in waffle per waffle. Do just a bit of mixing to try and get some of these lumps out and look for any hidden pockets of flour. These are like a traditional, glorious American waffle. The other variation that’s really famous—and the original—is the Belgian waffle. Belgian waffles come from the 1800s; they’re puffier, fluffier, and they usually have all sorts of delicious toppings on them. The difference is it’s either a yeasted dough or a batter that has fluffed egg whites folded in. It’s also made with pearl or nib sugar, which keeps its shape during the baking process and has a nice caramel note to it.

Cooking the Waffles

Grab a 1/3-cup triggered scoop or a measuring cup. Scoop up the batter and add in one big scoop. If your waffle iron has a timer, great; if not, it’s going to be done when the steam is mostly gone. There’ll be a ton of steam as all that water and the milk evaporates, but once it goes away, your waffle is on the nice golden-crisp side of things. Also, your first waffle is going to take the least time because your waffle iron will be the hottest, so just be warned: if you don’t give it less time, it’s going to be extra dark and crispy.

Keeping Waffles Crisp

When your first batch of waffles is done, you need to have a wire rack at the ready. This will allow all the steam to kind of go away and keep your waffles crisp because you’re going to be on a waffle assembly line. You have several sets of waffles to make, and you don’t want the first set to be all soggy and soft and the last ones to be crispy and perfect—they should all be crispy and perfect.

Serving

Pour some syrup on those waffles. We need a little bit here; we’ll add some extra later on. One bite for you, one bite for me. So, do we have a winning recipe? Yeah! I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.