Start the morning on a high note with a lovely stack of homemade buttermilk waffles. This recipe allows for making it ahead as a mix or your own frozen waffles.
Waffles are all too often relegated to high priced weekend breakfasts and brunches at fancy pants restaurants. Or picked up in the freezer section and reheated in the toaster.
Both options deny the versatility, ease, and affordability of the homemade waffle. Time to change that!
Homemade Buttermilk Waffles
I’m not sure where or when I started making this yummy breakfast. But, it is one of our favorites. When the kids were little, I wrapped up the week by serving berries and waffles on Friday mornings.
These days we start the week off with them!
It’s so easy to bake up a batch of waffles on Sunday afternoon and then serve them throughout the week, reheated until crisp and toasty. It’s a step up from your frozen waffle but with all the same ease.
Bonus: you can still cook them fresh at home and do it up big for brunch.
What should you serve with waffles?
My favorite way to serve waffles is with whipped cream and berries. Waffles are also good with butter and maple syrup.
If you want more than waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, and fruit are also great with waffles.
How do I make waffles from scratch?
Making waffles from scratch is super simple. Combine the wet ingredients in one bowl, the dry in another. Combine them both gently and then bake waffles in a waffle maker.
I highly recommend this Cuisinart waffle maker for making a lot of waffles at one time.
Can I make homemade waffles in advance?
If you’re not in the mood to mix up these from scratch every time, you can prepare the recipe as a homemade mix or make your own frozen waffles.
To make a mix:
- Place the dry ingredients in a jar or other airtight container.
- Label what wet ingredients need to be added later.
- Store the mix in a cool, dry place until you’re ready to prepare the mix.
To make frozen waffles:
- Bake up the batch of waffles.
- Cool the waffles on a rack.
- Wrap them for freezing.
- To serve: reheat in a toaster or toaster oven.
Do I have to use buttermilk?
Buttermilk is what makes these buttermilk waffles.
However, if you don’t keep buttermilk on hand regularly, you can easily prepare one of the following substitutes:
- Pour one tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar into a one-cup measure. Add milk to fill the measuring cup. Allow to sit for five minutes. Use in place of 1 cup buttermilk.
- Combine equal parts of yogurt and milk to replace the buttermilk in the recipe.
How much does it cost to make buttermilk waffles?
We often assume that homemade will cost less than the commercial brand. It typically tastes better and you can control the ingredients, but does it save you money?
Let’s see how much these buttermilk waffles really cost, shall we?
Made from some basic ingredients, ingredients that when bought at regular, non-sale prices the costs break down as follows:
- flour – $0.30 ($2.69/5#)
- baking powder – $0.09 ($1.49/8.1 oz)
- baking soda – $0.01 ($0.99/16 oz)
- salt – $0.02 ($2.99/26 oz)
- eggs – $1.00 ($2.99/dozen)
- buttermilk – $1.60 ($3.19/32 oz)
- oil – $0.32 ($1.99/48 oz)
A batch of homemade buttermilk waffles costs $3.34 or 21 cents a waffle. By contrast, check out these commercially-made equivalents:
- frozen buttermilk waffles $2.59/10 or 26 cents a waffle.
- dry buttermilk waffle mix $3.49/32 oz or 25 cents a waffle.
So, technically, homemade costs less than the frozen waffle equivalent as well as a commercial dry mix. Tastes better, too!
How can you make this more economical?
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the price of flour, oil, and buttermilk can help keep the price down.
- Cultivate your own buttermilk – Buttermilk is one of the more expensive ingredients in this recipe. You can cultivate your own buttermilk with just a bit of buttermilk and regular milk. Once you get it going, you can continue to make more from what you have, cutting your cost from 80 cents/cup to 19 cents/cup!
If you prepare this recipe, be sure to share a picture on social media and hashtag it #GOODCHEAPEATS. I can't wait to see what you cook up!
Homemade Buttermilk Waffles
Ingredients
- 2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cup buttermilk
- 4 egg , beaten
- 1 cup neutral oil
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the buttermilk and oil. Whisk well.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir well to combine.
- Bake in a hot waffle maker.
- Serve with butter and maple syrup or freshly whipped cream and berries.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on November 28, 2008. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Beth
1 cup of oil seems like a lot. Is that a typo?
Jessica Fisher
Nope. These are really rich waffles.
Leslie
I doubled the waffles to make 16, rather than 8, and ended up with 36 waffles (!?) I’m just wondering if the difference is size of the waffle maker?
Jessica Fisher
You can reduce it by half if you prefer. The recipe will still work.
Elsi
The link to “homemade mixes” (https://goodcheapeats.com/2010/7/make-your-own-mixes/) gets an error. It looks like a reorganization of the site has changed the links. I found it at https://goodcheapeats.com/make-your-own-mixes/
Jessica Fisher
Thanks for letting me know!
Jamie Snyder
What’s the difference between using bleached or unbleached flour? Will it hurt to use bleached if unbleached is called for??
Jessica Fisher
It’s a nutritional difference. Unbleached hasn’t been chemically treated in the same way. The recipe should work out fine with bleached.
Nia Hanna
I just wanted to say that these are hands down the best waffles I’ve ever made and eaten. We stayed at a hotel with a breakfast bar that included a waffle iron to make your own waffles; my babies loved them. When we got home, they asked if I could make waffles like the ones at that breakfast bar ( I know they were from a boxed mix) and I didn’t think I could pull it off. I looked up your recipe and remembered reading about your yummy Friday A.M tradition of waffles and decided to try your recipe. I’m so glad I did because the family thinks they taste very close to the ones at the hotel, and we now have them frequently. So delicious!
Jessica Fisher
So glad that your family is enjoying them! I just made a whole grain version of these today. Will be sharing soon.
Patty
Love that I have stumbled on this site!! This recipe has many eggs in it, so I am wondering if you have prepared it eggless and how that was best achieved. Thanks! My son also has an egg allergy, so I make waffles in batches and freeze them, so he can pop them in the toaster in the morning before school. I’ve been meaning to find a recipe that would let me ditch the mix!!
Jessica Fisher
I don’t think I’ve made this since she was diagnosed. But, per the doctor’s instructions, I do let her have baked goods with some eggs in them and she seems to be fine. I also have substituted flax seed meal for the eggs in pancakes before.
Leslie
I doubled the waffles to make 16, rather than 8, and ended up with 36 waffles (!?) I’m just wondering if the difference is size of the waffle maker?
Danielle
Please help! I have 4 kids who must all be going through growth spurts! How do you feed your 6 hungry kids waffles? Multiple makers? Certain brand of waffle maker? We eat as a family, but I’m over in the kitchen while everybody eats. My old waffle maker that broke took 5 min per waffle. Do you make them ahead? Help! I knew you would have the answer. 🙂
Jessica Fisher
I feel your pain. Recently I bought this Cuisinart waffler and it has transformed our waffle eating. It makes ginormous waffles that can quickly feed my kids. I freeze the leftovers.
Kathy Anthony
I heat our oven to 200 degrees… put a cooling rack in baking sheet so air can circulate. That will keep them warm so you can eat as a family.
Stephenie
About how many waffles does this make?
Jessica Fisher
@Stephenie, it depends on the size of your waffle maker. I’m going to say about 8 in the small, round Belgian waffler size.
Shari
We are totally addicted to this recipe of yours. When are you publishing your full and unabridged cookbook? STill loving your ebook, but I’m ready for another. I’m so glad you gave a reminder about preparing a bunch at once. We have company coming and I can do this ahead of time to save a little kitchen time. Thanks!
Jenna
we love waffles, we eat ours with sour cream and strawberry jelly! can’t think of a better breakfast.
Jamie
Wish I was with you guys eating them. Yum! Bust out the vanilla bean ice cream!