These vegan waffles are perfectly crispy and flavored with a hint of vanilla! Super easy to make with a handful of pantry staples, and perfect for an indulgent breakfast or brunch.
I take my waffles very seriously. That's because I LOVE my waffles. And that's why it's taken me 7 years of blogging to share a recipe for classic vegan waffles.
After lots of tweaking and adjusting, I think I finally have the perfect recipe. And good news: they're actually really easy to make and you don't need any weird ingredients. These are made from a handful of pantry staples.
Crispy Waffles
There's nothing worse than squishy waffles. Waffles need to be crispy. They need to stand up to syrup and butter! And most of the vegan waffles I've made over the years were lacking in the crispness department. Until I discovered the magic ingredient to crispy waffles: cornstarch! I learned this trick from Inspired Taste.
This totally makes sense. Cornstarch crisps up beautifully when you fry it (I love using it as a coating for crispy tofu). Replacing some of the flour you'd normally find it waffle batter will give you crispier waffles.
For my vegan waffles I replaced ¼ of the flour I might normally use with cornstarch. This, to me, is just the right amount for adding crispness, while keeping enough flour for sturdy waffles that don't fall apart when you try to get them out of the waffle iron.
What You'll Need
Here's the complete list of everything you'll need for these waffles. Hopefully you've already got everything on hand and can get cooking right away!
- Flour
- Cornstarch
- Organic sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon (optional!)
- Vegan milk
- Apple cider vinegar
- Oil
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Vegan Waffles
Lightly oil and begin heating up your waffle iron before you do anything.
Start by mixing your liquid ingredients together in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup: milk, oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Whisk your dry ingredients up separately in a large mixing bowl: flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar. I like to include a tiny bit of cinnamon as well, but that's totally optional!
Make a little well in the center of your dry ingredients, and pour in the liquid. Whisk everything together just until blended. Don't overmix the batter — it's totally fine if you have some lumps!
Use a measuring cup or ladle to pour some of the batter into your preheated waffle iron. How much batter? That depends on your waffle iron. I used ⅓ per waffle for my traditional square waffle iron, which gave me a batch of eight waffles.
Cook the waffles according to your waffle iron manufacturer's directions.
These waffles are best served right away. I like to top mine with some vegan butter, maple syrup, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Vegan Waffle FAQ & Tips
- Can these waffles be made gluten-free? Possibly! Your best bet would probably be to use an all-purpose gluten-free blend like those made by Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur Flour. I haven't tried this though, so no promises!
- Can these waffles be made oil free? Maybe. You might be able to replace the oil with extra non-dairy milk. Again, I haven't tried this, so I can't say for certain if it would work. I suspect that if it does the waffles will be a lot les crispy. Even if you do skip the oil in the batter, I recommend at least oiling the waffle iron before each batch to prevent sticking, even if you iron is nonstick.
- Can I use whole wheat flour? Yup! This will change the texture of your waffles, but it will certainly work. I recommend using either whole wheat pastry flour, or a 50/50 blend of regular whole wheat and all-purpose flour.
- Got leftover waffles? Store them in a sealed bag or container for up to 2 days, or freeze them for up to 3 months. Reheat by popping them into the toaster until hot and crispy.
- Add-ins: Feel free to add your favorite waffle stir-ins like blueberries or vegan chocolate chips to the batter.
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The Best Vegan Waffles
These vegan waffles are perfectly crispy and flavored with a hint of vanilla! Super easy to make with a handful of pantry staples, and perfect for an indulgent breakfast or brunch.
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups unflavored non-dairy milk
- ¼ cup canola oil (or your favorite baking oil), plus a bit more for the waffle iron
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon organic granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
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Lightly oil and preheat your waffle iron.
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In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, stir together the milk, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, if using.
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Use a spoon to form a well in the center of the dry ingredient mixture, then pour in the liquid ingredients.
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Whisk the ingredients together just until combined. It's okay if there are lumps in the batter.
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Pour the batter in measured amounts into the waffle iron cavities. Refer to your waffle iron instructions to find out how much batter to use per waffle - I used ⅓ cup per waffle.
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Cook the waffles according to your waffle iron manufacturer's instructions. Remove the waffles from the iron when finished, and re-oil the iron between batches.
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Serve the waffles immediately with vegan butter, maple syrup, or your favorite toppings.
Recipe Notes
The exact number of waffles this recipe yields will depend on your waffle iron.
Made these this morning for Easter Quarantine breakfast. They came out perfect! I used half whole wheat pastry and half AP flour. I also added the sugar to the liquids, as I feel it dissolves better there and you don't mention which to put it with, although it is listed with the dry mix. Filled my little round waffle maker 4 times.
Recipe is definitely a keeper!
I'm so glad you enjoyed them!! And thank you for the note on the sugar - looks like I missed it in the instructions! I just fixed it. :)
I love your recipe; even without using eggs, they taste eggy to me and my husband.
Thanks so much!
For some reason when i put the waffle batter into the iron whenever i took them off they came out trashed i had to add chia seeds with water ro make them work. Not very happy
Sorry to hear that! Do you mean to say that they stuck to the waffle iron? Did you oil and preheat it first?
These are the best waffles I've managed to make, they taste like what I'd get at a local breakfast cafe. I wanted to try using carbonated water, so I replaced 1/3 cup of the milk with seltzer and it works nicely. I used half whole-wheat flour and half all-purpose flour and they still came out crisp, moist and fluffy. Next time I'll try 100% whole wheat. I also didn't need to use as much oil, I used about 1/8 cup olive oil, and I didn't have any issues with them sticking or getting dried out.
Thanks!
The waffles held up well and looked delicious but they tasted so dry and bland. What can I do to fix them? I used sugar in the raw which may be part of the problem.