Light and fluffy sourdough waffles are easy to make and blow away regular waffles with their flavor. It's a great way to use up your starter, too.
One of my favorite things to make with the sourdough starter I keep alive by storing in the refrigerator is sourdough waffles. When I first started out growing and using sourdough starter, I had a pretty rough start to making artisan bread, which got a little better here and then achieved sourdough artisan bread perfection here (it's such a good recipe!).
What that taught me was that sourdough starter takes time to grow strong enough to raise a loaf of bread. Okay, so I learned to wait - but what to do with all the starter that's growing in the meantime? The best thing I've found is to use it in foods that don't need a lot of rise - things like crackers and english muffins (both so yummy) - not just throw it out. I also tried a blackberry muffin recipe that was...ummm...let's just say "hearty."
And then I made Belgian sourdough waffles with the starter.
Oh my goodness, how I LOVE them! I cannot tell you how much. And guess what? They are 100% whole wheat, yet light and airy with crispy edges.
Um...yeah, can you tell I'm still a little smitten?
What's weird about that is I'm not a big waffle/pancake fan normally. But these sourdough waffles were crisper than any others I've tried (and I always make yeast Belgian waffles when I do make them), and had a wonderful flavor that is hard to describe. Yes, a little sourdough, but not too much. In fact, I was the only one of our family that said I could taste the sourdough.
Sourdough Waffles Recipe
Can I just tell you what a thrill it is seeing all this action in sourdough starter I grew myself? It's beyond cool and I just do a little happy dance when I see all those bubbles working after sitting out overnight.
It's sorta the same feeling I get when I see the first seeds sprouting or when I serve a meal made only with our garden produce. There's the feeling of accomplishment and amazement, for sure, but also that I used something in nature (in this case, wild yeast) to create food and feed my family.
Little miracles, right?
While I show the waffles with strawberries and whipped cream (love), they are equally good with traditional maple syrup. Our family likes to smear peanut butter on first and then drizzle it with real maple syrup - it's a great flavor combo that ups the protein count, too.
How do you like your waffles?
Amazing Sourdough Waffles Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 2 cups warm water just tap-water warm
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup melted butter you can use oil, but butter or ghee tastes better
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon water
- For serving: fruit whipped cream, maple syrup, etc.
Instructions
- The night before you want to make the waffles, combine first three ingredients in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Cover and let stand overnight at room temperature.
- In the morning add the eggs, oil, honey, and salt. Stir the baking soda in the tablespoon of warm water, stir quickly and then pour right into the batter.
- Mix together gently and let stand about 15 minutes while the waffle iron heats up. Cook until done, lightly greasing the iron after each waffle.
Notes
Nutrition
Other Sourdough Recipes You May Like:
Sourdough Whole Wheat Crackers
Easy Homemade Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins
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Donna says
These waffles are the best! I like to chop apples, add blueberries and aronia berries in a sauté pan with butter to top these awesome waffles.
Jami says
That sounds delicious, Donna - thanks so much for the review!
Mary R Sweeney says
I'm hoping I can get a quick answer even though I know it's a long shot! I just mixed up the first 3 ingredients so it will be hours before I go to the next step. I'm a little concerned because the first 3 ingredients mixed together come out like a dough a loose dough for sure but it's not runny like a batter. Did I do this right or should I add more liquid?
Jami says
Your starter may be a bit dryer, Mary. I'd wait until adding the remaining ingredients, though, to see if you need to add water to get a consistency good for pouring into your waffle maker.
Becky says
Hi, does this recipe use 2 Cups discarded starter or active starter? Thanks
Jami says
Hi Becky! This recipe uses 1 cup of starter, and I usually use a fed discard (vs. the discard from the fridge), though it could be many hours from feeding. Since this sits overnight and uses a bit of baking soda, either fed or unfed works.
Dotty says
I haven't made the waffles but I did make your sourdough bread and it was great. Much easier than the first I tried that had too many steps. Thank you! My question is can I make pancakes from this waffle recipe?
Jami says
I haven't, but I don't see why not! Glad you liked the bread recipe, Dotty. 🙂
sara says
These were AMAZING!!!! Next time I plan to try and make a double batch to have extra to freeze. I made one adjustment and added vanilla to them. Have you ever made them with milk instead of water? I am new to sourdough recipes and like to find different ways to increase protein content...thoughts?
Jami says
Thank you - now you know why the title says that. 🙂
Go for the milk - I haven't done it, but I think it would be good. And we love to have these in the freezer!
Nancy from CA says
Jami, I love your blog and just finished my starter. I’m excited to try these waffles. Thank you so much for being open and sharing all your experiences. It’s encouraging to the baking new-comer (me!).
Also going to try the crackers a little later today.
Main reason I began the starter was to make the artisan sourdough bread Recipe you posted. I am on a six week mission; Dutch oven is ordered and en route from Amazon. I am so glad I found your site!
Jami says
Yay - this is awesome, Nancy, so glad I could be of help! I know you're going to love these recipes. 🙂
Diane says
Thank you Jami for sharing your tried-and-true knowhow! As a firt time sour dough starter my initiation was a success! Delicious waffles for breakfast and a few in the freezer. On to project #2 the english muffins.
Jami says
Yay!!
Lisa J Carpenter says
I have a 10 year old starter, I come and go with new science looking for how to make my sour dough have more sour flavor. Nothing like the taste of San Francisco or Alaska sour dough bread, I live in Michigan and have little success with the increase of flavor, some say it is the difference in natural yeast cell. I have tried vinegar in the dough to amp things up, also citric acid powder from King Arthur. Wondering if you can help?
Jami says
I'm with you, Lisa - I always want more sour flavor, too (I've read some don't want any sour flavor!). I've had luck leaving the bread mixture to sit overnight, either in the fridge or counter, after mixing it all up. It takes more planning, but the bread is usually more sour. Have you tried that?
Amber M Dimico says
I've read that more flour than water ratio makes it more sour. Maybe something worth looking into?
Ella says
Just make the waffles! So good. My picky 5 year old declared them the best waffles ever! And he normally will not touch whole wheat waffles. My question is that I have a very large family and these do not go far. Does the recipe double or even triple well?
Jami says
Yay - that's great, Ella! I've doubled them with success before, but not tripled - you're on your own there. 😉
meryl logue says
Do you have any insights as to why the baking soda in every sourdough recipe for waffles, but not a quick-acting yeast recipe? thanks!
Jami says
I don't know - I always thought it was to help the rise and texture and they are a quick bread, so to speak. But I do use a yeast-based recipe for regular waffles (non-sourdough), so now you've got me thinking...
meryl logue says
Well, I'm about to experiment. This a.m.s batch was a whole wheat starter, but King Arthur unbleached white, organic. Today I mixed a new batch with 1 part whole wheat, 2 parts KA white. (I'm halving your recipe... it's just me.) The whole wheat (Bob's Red Mill) is because it tends to trigger the yeast better. Tomorrow morning, I'm making a batch without any baking soda at all. I'll update here. BTW, I'm in PNW as well. So happy the rains have started!
Jami says
Oh, thank you - I will be curious to know the outcome! And yes - it was nice that the rain was able to put out much of the major fires. I think this weekend's forecasted rain may put out the smolders that are left!
meryl logue says
I did experiment today. My recipe from another site is very similar. Obviously, we need a "fed" starter that has been allowed to fluff up overnight. But I did omit the baking soda completely.When I folded in the "morning" ingredients, I was careful to not deflate the risen starter. The waffles were as fluffy as they were with the soda. That was what I was hoping for!
Now on to sourdough bread!!! Thanks for the insights and encouragement.
Jami says
This is great to know, Meryl - thank you!
Sandie says
These waffles are very good; I've made them numerous times. They aren't, however, 100% whole wheat. The starter would have to be whole wheat in order for them to be 100% whole wheat. I recommend that you try them - they are truly delicious.
Jami says
I'm so glad you like these, Sandie - they are so good and a great way to use up starter. My starter has always been made with whole wheat, so these are 100% whole wheat when I make them.
Sandie says
Thanks for responding. I use regular sourdough starter so mine aren't 100%, but am working on a whole wheat starter. These are sooooo good!
Anastasia says
I just mixed up the batter for these waffles, and I'm wondering what the consistency is supposed to be? Is it supposed to be a batter you can pour onto the waffle iron? Like regular waffle batter? Mine is insanely thick... Like as I mix it it just stays a ball of dough.
Jami says
Thats probably because our sourdough starters are different consistencies (some hydrate 100%, some less, some more...)- feel free to add more water (or milk) to get your batter to a pourable consistency, Anastasia.
Aimee says
Hi! Making my first batch of these waffles! They look super tasty! Do you cover and leave the batter sit out at room temperature? Or do you cover and place in the refrigerator overnight?
Jami says
You leave it on the counter so the sourdough yeast can work it's magic (putting it into the fridge will make them go to 'sleep'). Enjoy!
Jenny says
If I were to halve the recipe, would you recommend using 1 egg or 2? I never know what to do with eggs. Alternatively, do these freeze well? I have a week-old apple sourdough starter that I'm dying to try in a recipe. I'm glad I read your tips not to attempt bread with it until a few weeks of feeding! I would have been devastated if my first bread attempt had fallen flat!
Jami says
I usually don't have luck with halving recipes that call for an odd number of eggs, Jenny, but if you really wanted to, I'd probably do 1 egg and the whites of another egg. These do freeze wonderfully, though, and my kids love to reheat them in the toaster oven on school mornings.
Oh, and I would've stopped baking long ago if I let baking failures get in the way, they happen all too often on your way to learning -or at least they did for me, ha!
Jenny says
Thanks for responding so quickly! I'll probably end up making the whole recipe and freezing some. It's only me and a 2-year-old eating breakfast, so we can only eat so many waffles in one sitting! If they turn out well (better than my last whole-wheat waffle attempt...) maybe hubby will eat some this weekend. =)
Jenny says
Ok, I made them, and they turned out just as you promised, airy and crispy, but I think my starter is WAY too sour....They were definitely not your average waffle. I am going to try again once I get my starter a little more balanced. =)
Do you think they would turn out less sour if I mixed half of the flour into the starter overnight and mixed in the other half in the morning? Or would that backfire and just make it more acidic?
Jami says
Wow, my daughter always complains that my starter is never sour enough, lol. Using newer starter usually means less sour, so your idea may work - give it a try!
Lonnie says
I have been enjoying my first experience with sourdough, following your blog! I am on day 8 right now, and put two cups of starter into the fridge, used two for a double batch of waffles tomorrow, but there is still more, maybe 3-4 cups? What should I do with that? Why do I have so much left over? 🙂
Jami says
Many starter recipes have you throw out much of the starter before feeding, Lonnie, which I have a hard time doing and why you have a lot. 🙂 You can throw yours away if you can't make anything else. Do you want pancakes or crackers? They are a good way to use this starter (the sourdough crackers on my site are easy and fabulous!)
Nadine says
I had the same thing! I wasn't expecting to have so much leftover and I definitely didn't want to throw it out. I ended up doing a modification to the crackers recipe, just mixing 3/4 cup of starter with 2 tablespoons of butter and seasoning and throwing in the over for a couple batches of crackers. They were tasty! My boyfriend thought I was crazy staying up to 1 am making crackers unexpectedly.
Jami says
Good save. 🙂
Lana says
These were delicious! This is the first recipe I made with my starter and it was really easy. I made my waffles vegan, substituting 3 tablespoons of ground flax and 1/3 cup of water for the eggs, and the waffles turned out very light, crisp, and delicious. This is definitely replacing our previous waffle recipe. Thank you! 🙂
Jami says
So glad to hear it, Lana! And thanks for the vegan substitutions, too.
[email protected] An Oregon Cottage says
Rachel- Yes, I keep my sourdough kinda thick so it's not as strong (at least that's what I've read :-). Too bad your hubby won't switch (but your buttermilk one does sound good!).
Rachael R. says
We just ate these waffles for breakfast this morning... they seemed a little darker than what you pictured and we could deffinately taste the sourdough flavor (maybe honey would have softened it more than the sucanat? or perhaps my sourdough is just STRONG), still they were pretty yummy with some good butter and real maple syrup. All in all a good waffle, however my husband isn't ready to switch from our usual buttermilk recipe (using sprouted spelt and rice flour). Which is too bad because this recipe is so much easier! Thank you for a lovely and enjoyable blog!
[email protected] An Oregon Cottage says
Melinda- I'll be waiting to hear how it goes for you!
[email protected] says
Yum. That waffle looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing your recipe and linking to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.
Melinda says
Sourdough is one of those things I really want to master - my husband loves it! I've bookmarked this recipe - stay tuned!