The Best Weekend Gluten Free Buttermilk Waffles

If you’re craving gluten-free buttermilk waffles that are crisp and golden brown on the outside, light and tender inside, and gloriously buttery all the way through, this is the recipe.

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I’ve been making some version of these homemade waffles for years, and they remain one of those recipes everyone in my house agrees on—which, frankly, is reason enough to keep a waffle iron permanently within reach. The tangy buttermilk keeps the waffles tender, while melted butter helps those deep pockets get beautifully crisp. And unlike some fluffy waffle recipes, there’s no need to separate the large eggs, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, or pull out a hand mixer. Just whisk the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and get that waffle batter into a hot waffle iron.

Breakfast is served.

Why You’ll Love These Gluten-Free Buttermilk Waffles

These are the kind of gluten-free waffles I want on a lazy weekend morning, but they’re easy enough for busy mornings too—especially if you keep a batch in the freezer.

Here’s why I love them:

• Crisp outside, tender inside: Plenty of melted butter helps create beautifully crisp edges while buttermilk keeps the center soft.
• No whipped egg whites required: Some traditional waffles call for separating the egg yolks and egg whites, then beating the whites to soft peaks or stiff peaks. Delicious? Sure. Necessary here? Nope.
• Simple ingredients: The waffle batter comes together with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend and basic refrigerator and pantry staples.
• Freezer-friendly: Leftover waffles reheat beautifully in the toaster or toaster oven.
• Endlessly customizable: Pile them with fresh berries, fresh peaches, whipped cream, pure maple syrup—or even a scoop of ice cream if breakfast has taken a turn toward dessert.

Basically, this is the gluten-free waffle recipe I make when I want classic, buttery homemade waffles without turning breakfast into a production.

Sometimes Breakfast for Dinner Saves Lives

I originally wrote about these waffles while I was supposed to be packing us up for the summer—sorting through clothes, doing laundry, and making lists for the brave soul taking care of two crazy cats, one skittish dog, and approximately umpteen dozen tomato plants while we escaped to Cape Cod.

Naturally, instead of packing, I was thinking about waffles.

Gluten-free buttermilk waffles, to be precise.

Buttermilk waffles are just the thing for dinner when you’re too busy to make a proper one. They use up that last bit of buttermilk lingering in the refrigerator, everyone can add their favorite toppings, and in my house, nobody complains. That last part is really the best thing.

My middle son fell hard for waffles when he was tiny. Before his second birthday, he would pad around the kitchen, tan little hands pulling at my legs, chanting:

Waffos, waffos, WAFFOS!

It drove me slightly nuts. I also completely understood. Waffles are delicious.

A Classic Buttermilk Waffle Recipe, Made Gluten-Free

Over the years, I tried all sorts of waffle recipes.

Easy ones that were fine but forgettable. Whole-grain versions. Complicated traditional waffles that required separating the eggs, whipping the egg whites until stiff peaks formed, and carefully folding everything together with a rubber spatula.

Who has time for that on busy mornings?

Eventually, I discovered Marion Cunningham’s buttermilk waffle recipe in my old Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Those waffles had the crisp, airy texture I loved without requiring whipped egg whites.

They were a revelation.

The original recipe also called for a rather impressive amount of butter. I gradually reduced the amount of butter until I landed on the sweet spot: enough melted butter to give these waffles their signature crispness without making them quite so buttertastic.

Then I adapted the recipe using an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.

And it worked.

Beautifully.

The result is still one of the best gluten-free waffle recipes I make: crisp, buttery, fluffy waffles with just enough tang from the buttermilk.

What Makes Buttermilk Waffles So Good?

Buttermilk does more than add flavor.

Its acidity works with the baking soda, which acts as a leavening agent and helps create a lighter waffle. It also gives the finished waffles a subtle tang that balances all that butter and maple syrup.

The combination of buttermilk, baking powder, and baking soda helps make these waffles light without requiring any special egg-white gymnastics.

The melted butter, meanwhile, is doing important work of its own.

It enriches the waffle batter and helps the outside cook up crisp and golden brown against the hot waffle iron.

It’s a very good partnership.

Choosing a Gluten-Free Flour Blend

For best results, use a good all-purpose gluten-free flour blend designed as a replacement for regular all-purpose flour.

My original homemade blend contains a combination of flours and starches, including potato starch, along with xanthan gum. Commercial cup-for-cup blends can also work well.

If your gluten-free flour blend already contains xanthan gum, leave the additional xanthan gum out of the recipe.

I would not recommend swapping in a single flour such as buckwheat flour or almond flour here. Gluten-free baking works best when a flour mixture combines different grains and starches to mimic the structure of traditional all-purpose flour.

How to Make Gluten-Free Buttermilk Waffles

One of my favorite things about this recipe is how simple the method is.

1. Preheat the waffle maker

Spray your waffle iron lightly with gluten-free non-stick spray and preheat it to medium heat.

A properly preheated waffle maker is important. If the iron isn’t hot enough, the batter will sit there steaming instead of immediately beginning to crisp.

Whether you use a standard iron or Belgian waffle maker, follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for the amount of batter and cooking time.

2. Combine the dry ingredients

In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten-free all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum, and sugar.

Whisking the dry ingredients before adding the liquids helps evenly distribute the leavening agents throughout the flour mixture.

3. Add the wet ingredients

Add the lightly beaten large eggs, buttermilk, cooled melted butter, and milk directly to the flour mixture.

Whisk until the waffle batter is smooth and no obvious lumps remain.

If you prefer, you can whisk the wet ingredients together first in a separate bowl or medium bowl and then pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. I generally skip that extra bowl because fewer dishes are always welcome in my kitchen.

If the batter seems too thick, add a little bit more milk—up to ¼ cup.

The final waffle batter should be thick enough to hold some body but loose enough to spread once it hits the waffle iron.

4. Cook until crisp and golden brown

Pour the appropriate amount of waffle batter into your hot waffle iron and cook according to the manufacturer’s directions.

I look for two things: the waffle should be deeply golden brown, and the waffle iron should have mostly stopped steaming.

If you like your waffles extra crisp, give them a little additional time.

Why These Are Still My Favorite Gluten-Free Waffles

I’ve made a lot of waffles.

I’ve made complicated waffles, traditional waffles, whole-grain waffles, and waffles that required beating egg whites while hungry children circled the kitchen like tiny sharks. These are the ones I keep coming back to.

• They’re simple.
• They’re crisp.
• They’re buttery.
• They’re tender in the middle.
• And they taste like the kind of homemade waffles I remember from before gluten-free cooking became part of my everyday life.

Whether you’re firmly Team Pancakes or believe a waffle’s deep pockets make it the clearly superior vehicle for melted butter and maple syrup, I think this recipe deserves a place in your breakfast rotation.

Waffles for breakfast are a given. Waffles for dinner are a treat. And waffles when the whole house feels upside down? A no-brainer.

Waffos, waffos, WAFFOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love breakfast for dinner? Try these other scrumptious recipes!

• Orange Blossom Buttermilk Waffles
• Gluten-Free Buttermilk Pancakes
• Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

FAQ: Everything You need to know to make perfect gluten free waffles

How to Keep Waffles Crisp While You Finish the Batch

Waffles are happiest when eaten straight from the waffle iron.

Of course, this means breakfast tends to happen one person at a time while everyone hovers nearby waiting for their turn.

If you absolutely must serve everyone together, place the finished waffles in a single layer on a wire rack set over a baking sheet.

Transfer the baking sheet to a preheated oven set to about 200°F to 250°F while you finish cooking.

The rack is important.

If you put hot waffles directly onto a sheet pan or stack them on a plate, trapped steam will soften those wonderfully crisp edges.

And nobody came here for a floppy waffle.

Do I Need to Whip the Egg Whites?

No—and that’s one of the reasons I love this recipe.

Some waffle recipes separate the large eggs, adding the egg yolks to the wet ingredients before beating the egg whites separately until soft peaks or stiff peaks form.

The whipped egg whites are then folded carefully into the waffle batter with a rubber spatula.

It works.

It also creates another bowl, another appliance, and another step.

Thanks to the combination of buttermilk, baking powder, and baking soda, these waffles come out wonderfully light without it.

If you happen to be feeling ambitious, you certainly can separate the eggs and fold whipped egg whites into the batter. But for me, the simple method gives such good results that I rarely bother.

What If I Don’t Have Buttermilk?

You can make a quick buttermilk substitute.

For approximately 1 cup milk, stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar and let the mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes before using.

For this recipe, which calls for 1½ cups buttermilk, scale that mixture accordingly.

Regular dairy milk works best if you want to stay closest to the original recipe.

For a dairy-free version, use unsweetened almond milk or another plain dairy-free milk with lemon juice or vinegar, and replace the melted butter with your preferred dairy-free butter.

The flavor and texture will change a little, but you’ll still have waffles.

And waffles are almost always good news.

Can I Make the Waffle Batter Ahead?

You can mix the waffle batter the night before and store it covered in the refrigerator.

Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or transfer the batter to an airtight container.

Give it a good stir before cooking the next morning.

That said, because baking powder and baking soda begin working once the wet ingredients and dry ingredients meet, I prefer freshly mixed batter for the absolute best results.

If mornings are particularly chaotic, an even easier solution is to cook the waffles completely in advance and freeze them.

How to Freeze Gluten-Free Waffles

These waffles freeze beautifully, which makes them especially useful for busy mornings.

• Let the leftover waffles cool completely.
• Arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until firm, or stack them with squares of parchment paper between each waffle.
• Transfer the frozen waffles to a freezer-safe bag or airtight container.
• They’ll keep well in the freezer for up to three months.

You can pull out one frozen waffle at a time whenever the mood strikes. This is future-you taking care of present-you.

How to Reheat Frozen Waffles

Skip the microwave if you can. It tends to make waffles soft.

Instead, place a frozen waffle directly into:

• A toaster
• A toaster oven
• A 350°F oven

Heat until warmed through and crisp again.

The toaster oven is especially good for larger Belgian-style waffles that may not comfortably fit into a regular toaster.

My Favorite Toppings for Gluten-Free Waffles

Warm pure maple syrup and butter will always be my first choice, but these waffles are basically a blank canvas.

Try them with:

• Fresh berries
• Fresh peaches
• Sliced bananas
• Whipped cream
• Honey
• Jam
• Nut butter or peanut butter
• Cinnamon sugar
• Lemon curd
• Chocolate sauce

And if waffles happen to become dessert? Add vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit. I fully support this decision.

Can I Make These Dairy-Free?

Yes.

• Replace the dairy milk with an unsweetened dairy-free milk such as almond milk.
• To make a dairy-free buttermilk substitute, add lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar to the dairy-free milk and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes.
• Use dairy-free butter in place of the melted butter.

Because different dairy-free products behave differently, the waffle batter may need an extra splash of milk to reach the proper consistency.

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