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.
I made these this morning! Fantastic recipe! Turned out perfect. The cinnamon was an unusual addition but was delicious. I’m so thankful to find a recipe that uses 2 CUPS of discard! I can’t make myself throw it out, so I have it running out my ears! 😂
Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
These were very delicious! And so easy to whip up too. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!❤️
These were very delicious! And so easy to whip up too. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!❤️
You’re welcome!
I’ve made these numerous times. They are one of my family’s favorites and they always turn out well even when I’m a goofball and forget the coconut oil or the honey. Today, however, there was no bubbling once I added the baking soda and the batter stayed thick and flat. I added a bit more soda because I’ve gotten to where I don’t precisely measure all the ingredients (except the soda). It did nothing. Soda tested fine. I saw another comment that this only works with 100% hydration starters. Is that true? If so, how could I fix this issue in the future. We’ve moved and at this house my starter doesn’t really work unless my hydration is at about 80%, otherwise activity is compromised. Could I add water or milk at the beginning with my discard? Maybe give it a few minutes to hydrate before I add other ingredients? I will try to test but I would like to know what others have experienced. TY
hmmm I wouldn’t think it really wouldn’t make a big difference between hydrations. You may want to add a little bit of water or milk if your starter is thick, but that shouldn’t change if it bubbles or not. Even with it not bubbling, did it still cook up fine?
I cut the recipe in half since it’s only us empty nesters who don’t want to outgrow our nest. I make them mini and make our breakfast sandwiches with them, they’re perfect. Tangy with just the right amount of sweetness.
Greetings from Europe! I have just baked this waffles with the discards from my first sourdough starter. The smell is great but the taste is… sour and bitter together somehow… What could be the problem? Do you think this means there is something wrong with the starter? Should I continue or should I throw away all my starter?
No. Sounds like this is just fine. Sourdough is typically sour. If you get a black liquid on top, don’t mix it in. That can cause your starter to taste more sour.
Thanks a lot for your reply!
This recipe is amazing. I used starter that hadn’t been fed in a day or two so I added about 1/4 cup additional flour and a teaspoon of corn starch to make sure they were crisp. They came out great! Your sourdough recipes are the GOAT.
Thank you for your feedback!
These waffles are amazing! Honestly, they are my favorite waffle recipe so far (even though my kids swear by Snoop Dogg’s cornmeal waffles).
For those who don’t have success with this recipe, I would suggest making sure that the starter is 100% hydration. We mixed all of the ingredients together except for the melted butter, let it bubble for a couple of minutes, and then added the butter just before cooking. They were incredibly fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside.
My daughter says the vanilla should be doubled, and to use maple syrup instead of honey. My son says he could eat them plain, they are that good .
Thanks for your feedback!
Excellent- I love the subtle cinammon taste along with the fact that the eggs add protein.
Can you freeze these after making them? I don’t know enough about sourdough yet to know if you can or not
Yes!
Lisa, have you tested freezing the batter? We are prepping for baby #6 and I am trying to reduce freezer space. I would love to flat pack sourdough batter for waffles and pancakes.