Classic Buttermilk Waffles

Authentically “Classic” Buttermilk Waffle Recipe

Waffles are a serious business in my breakfast-loving household, and I recently set my sights on the mother of all maple-drenched ambitions: The Classic Buttermilk Waffle. This is such a simple and timeless breakfast that I figured it would be easy-peasy to come up with a good waffle recipe.

Do a little digging for buttermilk waffle recipes and you can find all sorts of “classic” recipes that use everything from cornstarch to coconut flour. I’m sure those recipes are great, but I wanted to make real buttermilk waffles. The kind my grandma would have made, with 100% buttermilk and no surprising add-ins or zany substitutions. Just the basics for this waffle recipe, please and thank you.

Two bags of flour, a few dozen eggs, and several cartons of buttermilk later, and I think I’ve got an easy waffle recipe winner! Crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and a rich buttery flavor, these buttermilk waffles just beg for jam and syrup.

Easy Waffle Recipe? Depends on Method.

This is an easy waffle recipe. But even with just buttermilk, flour, eggs, and melted butter as the main ingredients, there are a surprising number of ways to put these buttermilk waffles together. Seems as if there are a half dozen ways of how to make waffles. Who knew? How hard or how easy your waffle recipe is, depends largely on whether you beat eggs, separate eggs, and so forth.

Experiment: Best Method for Making Waffles

After much deliberation, I decided to try the following waffle recipe tests:

1. One-Bowl Method: Mix the dry ingredients, make a well in the center for the liquids, then stir everything together. Why? So easy you can make them while still half-asleep.
2. Two-Bowl Method: Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the liquid ingredients in another, then stir the wet into the dry. Why? This way, the liquid ingredients get thoroughly mixed before going into the dry, giving you a more uniform consistency throughout. This is also the method used by the majority of buttermilk waffle recipes that I found.
3. Separate the Eggs: Same as the two-bowl method, but separate the yolks and whites. The yolks get mixed with the liquids, and then the liquids go into the dry ingredients. Finally, the unbeaten egg white is folded into the batter. Why? I first discovered this unusual method in a pancake recipe on The Kitchn. It turned out to be a brilliant trick and less fussy than beating egg whites, so I thought I’d give it a try here.
4. Beat the Egg Whites: Same as above, except beat the egg whites in a mixer until they hold soft peaks before folding them into the batter. Why? Many a waffle recipe swear up and down that this makes loftier, lighter, fluffier waffles or pancakes.

And the Winner is…

The results were really surprising. All the buttermilk waffles emerged from the waffle iron with a nicely golden crust and tender interior – no complaints there. The only problem was that the batches were also nearly identical.

I had expected to see some significant differences between the buttermilk waffles, and I had particularly high hopes for the waffles made with beaten egg whites. But truthfully, I had a hard time telling the batches apart. Take a look for yourself!

How to Make Waffles: My Conclusion

If you want to get nit-picky about it, the one-bowl method made perfectly fine waffles, but they had an ever-so-slightly denser and less even texture than the other methods. Both egg white versions, beaten and unbeaten, had an ever-so-slightly lighter texture, but personally, I didn’t feel like it was worth the effort. If I’m going to pull out the mixer and fuss with egg whites, I’d better be getting some extra-super-duper-lofty waffles for my trouble.

For me, I’m sticking with the two-bowl method for my buttermilk waffle recipe. This is the Goldilocks option: the perfect compromise of ease versus effort. You end up using two bowls, but the results are worth the extra clean-up.

How to Make Waffles Crispy

I did have one lingering problem with my buttermilk waffles: the crispy factor. Straight out of the waffle iron, the waffles had a golden, lightly crispy exterior that I loved, but this quickly faded as the waffles cooled.

The solution is to toast the waffles in the oven for a few minutes – something I discovered while trying to keep a batch warm before serving. This cooks off some extra moisture, giving you a crunchy outer shell that stays crisp even once the waffles cool. Five to ten minutes at 250F will do the trick; much longer and they start to get tough and dry.

• Read more! 3 Tips for Making Crispy Waffles

How to Serve Waffles to a Crowd

The oven trick also neatly solves the problem of serving your whole family at once. Transfer each batch of waffles to the oven as they’re ready, let them get crispy, and then serve. You can even make these buttermilk waffles a day or two ahead and crisp them in the oven (or a toaster!) just before serving.

One final note: if you want extra-extra crispy waffles, replace half of the buttermilk with whole or 2% milk. I tried this swap in one final test batch, and even though it breaks my 100% buttermilk rule, by golly it makes some crispy waffles.

More Classic Breakfast Ideas!

• French Toast
• Fluffy Scrambled Eggs
• Buttermilk Pancakes
• Crispy Hash Browns
• Morning Glory Muffins