Learn how to make the perfect homemade sourdough waffles. Crispy golden brown on the outside and nice and fluffy on the inside, this sourdough waffle recipe will become a family favorite.
If you have been following along for a while, you know how much I love my sourdough starter. It has become an amazing, mature starter, and we make so many things from it. Some of our favorite things to make are sourdough bread, homemade sourdough pop tarts, sourdough lemon cake, and these sourdough waffles!
These delicious sourdough waffles are a lot like my sourdough pancakes, just with a few, very slight tweaks. They have the most amazing flavor, and our family loves them! They truly are the best waffles.
Serve them warm topped with blackberry syrup or lavender syrup and homemade butter (YUM). For a more classic flavor, try some pure maple syrup and whipped cream. After loading them with all the waffle toppings, pair them with some fresh fruit and eggs for the perfect hearty breakfast.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy – These easy sourdough waffles are so easy to make and have less than ten ingredients. They are simple to pull together any day of the week, but also make for a very special breakfast.
Sourdough starter – These sourdough starter waffles are a great way to use up excess sourdough starter. One reason I love this recipe so much is that I can just wake up and make it without really planning ahead of time. It’s an easy sourdough discard recipe, and doesn’t need to be started the night before like most sourdough recipes.
Versatile – Everyone loves waffles, and you can make each waffle your own by letting your family pick and choose their favorite toppings. This makes for a perfect kid-friendly meal!
Ingredients for Sourdough Waffles
Sourdough starter – This can be active starter or sourdough starter discard. I prefer active starter, but discard will work. If using discard, make sure it is fresh and recently fed. Learn how to make your own starter here.
Oil – I used coconut oil (I like my waffles extra crispy, so I like to add the extra oil to give them that crispiness). You could also use melted butter.
Honey – I like to use unrefined sweeteners whenever possible. You could also substitute with maple syrup.
Vanilla – Yummy, warm delicious vanilla flavor. You can easily make your own vanilla extract at home.
Baking soda – Make sure there are no clumps. This is the leavening agent and as soon as the baking soda hits the starter you will see it.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Sourdough Waffles
Step 1: Preheat waffle maker. In a large bowl, add sourdough starter, eggs, oil, salt, cinnamon, honey and vanilla. Mix well.
Step 2: Add baking soda and stir.
Step 3: Grease the waffle maker and spoon batter into it making sure not to overfill it. Cook it for 3-4 minutes on one side and flip. Cook for another 3-4 minutes on the other side.
Step 4: Open the waffle maker. If it is sticking at all or seems uncooked, cook for another minute or two and try again. Serve warm with your favorite toppings (see post for ideas).
Tips
- When using a cast iron waffle maker, be sure the iron is well seasoned and before cooking, is preheated on both sides and greased well before placing waffle batter into the hot waffle iron.
- When measuring out your ingredients, measure the oil first, and then measure out the honey in that same tablespoon so the residual oil makes the honey slide out nicely.
- Don’t open the waffle iron until it is done. If it starts to stick in the middle, close it back up quickly and cook it a little longer. You don’t want to flip the waffle maker too often, otherwise you lose that crispy texture on the outside and nice fluffy texture on the inside. Flip it only once.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, these freeze great! Double or triple the batch, make extra, and then freeze the rest. Lay them on a cookie sheet and freeze flat before placing them in a storage container so they don’t stick together. Or just place parchment paper between each one. Freeze up to 3 months. For shorter term storage, place in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 2-3 days. You can reheat them in the toaster to keep them crispy.
Most likely you are not getting crisp sourdough waffles because the waffle maker was not preheated before adding the batter. Also, if you are stacking up the waffles as they cook, they tend to get soft from the steam of the other waffles.
To keep them crispy, add them to a baking sheet in a single layer and keep them in the oven on warm without stacking them. Finally, add oil. The oil in this recipe gives you an end result of crispy waffles.
The topping options for waffles are endless. They can be topped with assortment of syrup flavors (like blackberry syrup, lavender syrup, and maple syrup as mentioned above), fresh berries, bananas, whipped cream, peanut butter, almond butter, and chocolate chips. Use your imagination and get creative!
Yes. They contain healthy fermented grains and whole food ingredients. They are a great way to keep tummies full and fuel the day and are the best sourdough waffles!
There are so many things you can make with leftover sourdough starter discard: waffles, pancakes, pizza, biscuits, muffins, and much more. Check out 35+ sourdough discard recipes on my blog.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Sourdough Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Bread
- Quick Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls
- Easy Sourdough Discard Hamburger Buns
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Waffles
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups active sourdough starter
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon oil, I used coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat cast iron waffle maker.
- In a large bowl, add fed sourdough starter, eggs, oil, salt, cinnamon, honey and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add baking soda and stir.
- Grease the waffle maker and add a bit of batter to it making sure not to overfill it.
- Cook it for 3-4 minutes on one side and flip. Cook for another 3-4 minutes on the other side.
- Open it. If it is sticking at all or seems uncooked, cook for another minute or two and try again.
Notes
- When using a cast iron waffle maker, be sure the waffle iron is preheated on both sides and greased before placing waffle mix in it.
- Don’t overfill it; it will spill over the sides. In my waffle maker, it takes about a cup of waffle batter for one perfect waffle without spilling over.
- Don’t open it until is done. It will start to stick in the middle, close it back up quickly and cook it a little longer.
- Active sourdough starter means the starter was fed with flour and water and let sit at room temperature long enough for it to be nicely fermented and bubbly. Around 4-12 hours.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank you, Lisa. I’ve once again found & am maintaining a sourdough starter. I appreciated your video compilation of what you did for 2 weeks with your sourdough starter.
Thank you for providing so many sourdough recipes- each with comprehensive directions & recipes & a brief recipe that is formatted to print.
I’ve shared your recipes with the 4 friends & neighbors who have also adopted a sourdough starter. (A new neighbor said she appreciated receiving the link to your gluten-free starter recipe too so her daughter can eat homemade sourdough, but also ways to preserve eggs as she also has chickens!!!)
I made your waffle recipe yesterday. It was delicious, crisp & light, just like you said. (I’m going to try to modify for cornmeal waffle by mixing other flours overnight, etc. like some of your other recipes, with the source of the flour not solely derived from discard. (Just found your buckwheat pancake recipe!) Maybe you will publish other waffle & pancake recipes soon. ) I hope to make your cheddar waffles too soon, but sourdough pita
English muffins & rosemary bread might compete.
Like your waffle recipe, your recipes often seem easier to make than other sourdough recipes, though it is good to learn other methods.
You’ve created and posted so many sourdough recipes! If I wonder if something can be made from sourdough, I search your site and the answer is often ‘yes’. You’ve created a compendium of sourdough recipes!!
I may try to make ravioli with your sourdough pasta dough recipe.
A fan!
Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so glad you enjoy all these recipes and love to hear all the ways you are experimenting with them to make them your own. Let us. know how the ravioli turns out!
I just made these and they were delicious!! Thank you Lisa for this recipe. I will definitely be making these often.
Excellent recipe! so much more flavorful than the (non sourdough) one I was using! I’m never going back!
Love this!
This is my go to staple waffle recipe. Once you’ve made it enough, you can just whip it up from memory and it turns out great every time.
I made these the other day and they were so good that my son asked me to make them again today. My starter is young and doesn’t have a strong flavor so I added extra cinnamon and vanilla. I especially love that it is a starter recipe that doesn’t have additional flour. We love them!
That is great! Excited you all enjoyed them so much.
No extra flour is used, just starter? Looking forward to trying these.
Correct! Hope you enjoy them!
Deliciously easy, and the kids gobble them up!
I have always loved waffles and these hit the spot. The only unfortunate thing is that I can’t eat them for every meal. They go very well with ice cream, which if you haven’t tried, you really should.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! And ice cream is a great idea!
I’m amazed!! These waffles are some of the best I’ve ever had.