Crispy Vegan Buckwheat Waffles
Crispy Vegan Buckwheat Waffles- light and airy whole grain waffles that require less than 10 ingredients to make! (gluten-free + soy-free)
This waffle recipe kind of happened by accident. I woke up on a Sunday with a mean craving for buckwheat waffles and asked Brandon if he’d make me a batch.
I’m never serious when I ask him because I know it would take several hours for him to find the ingredients and he probably wouldn’t follow the directions to begin with. But my dreamy state gets the best of me and I ask anyway, and he always replies with an enthusiastic yes.
When reality finally set in, I pulled myself out from the covers and stumbled into the kitchen to get my waffle making on. I wasn’t in the mood to experiment that morning so I turned to my old friend Google for help. The first recipe that came up happened to be from one of my favorite bloggers Cookie + Kate, however it wasn’t vegan. So I substituted the egg for a combo of ground flax seed and water, and made my own buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to almond milk. Bada bing, bada boom.
We devoured our waffles that morning and they were so light and crispy that I knew I had to share them with you guys. When I went back to write down the recipe it dawned on me that I completely left out the oil.
I didn’t do it on purpose so I decided to test them again with coconut oil. I think it helped mask the flavor of the buckwheat flour, however they are crispier without the oil. So I’ll leave it up to you to decide how you want to try them.
If you’ve never had buckwheat flour, just keep in mind it’s a bit earthier than other grains, even more so than whole wheat flour. We both like it but taste is subjective so just thought I’d throw that out there.
I find topping them with banana and drizzled natural peanut butter makes them extra tasty so I highly recommend trying them that way, or with whatever your favorite nut butter/fruit combo is.
Crispy Vegan Buckwheat Waffles
Yield: 4 large waffles (varies*)
Prep Time: 5
Cook Time: 10
Total Time: 15
Ingredients:
- 1 and 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or plain soy milk)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup buckwheat flour**
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (optional)***
Directions:
In a measuring cup, combine milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside to curdle.
In a large bowl, combine the ground flax with 3 tablespoons water. Allow to sit for a few minutes to thicken.
Pour the almond milk mixture into the bowl with the flax and stir to combine. Add the buckwheat flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt (in that order). If using oil, add it now. Use a spatula to fold the ingredients together until evenly combined. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes while you heat up the waffle maker.
Lightly grease the waffle maker then pour in enough batter to cover 3/4 of the bottom. For me this is about 1 cup. Close and cook for about 5-7 minutes on each side, or until the edges are golden brown and crispy. The time and serving size will vary depending on your waffle maker.
Serve warm with fruit and/or melted nut butter, and pure maple syrup. Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Place in toaster or oven to reheat when ready to eat.
*Serving size will vary depending on the type of waffle iron you own.
**I recommend this brand of buckwheat flour for best results.
***Oil is optional in this recipe. The flavor of the buckwheat flour is slightly less powerful with the oil but they come out crispier without it.
Recipe minimally adapted from Cookie + Kate
Did you try this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out by leaving a comment below or sharing a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #makingthymeforhealth. I love hearing your feedback! 
I haven’t had waffles in forever! I feel bad because Riley got me a waffle maker for Christmas last year, not realizing that when I say “I’m craving waffles” it means I want him to make them for me!
I think he automatically assumes you want him to make everything since he’s Chef Riley! ;)
Too funny! I never ask Garrett to make breakfast because it’s such a long production for him too, and I know I’ll be hangry AF by the time he’s finished cooking, lol! Still your waffle weekend sounds like it was sooo relaxing! And these waffles are mega enticing! I’ve never made waffs with buckwheat and am 200% up for a crispy nut butter-drizzled experience! Bravo sista!
Those boys would be so lost without us! ;)
I love it when cooking happens so organically like that! You must have been sleepy lol! Buckwheat is earthy… and I love it, but Rob, not so much. So I usually do a blend of flours and shove as much buckwheat I can get away with. After-all, I don’t want to hear “it’s not regular” on the weekends! Delicious work, Sarah! xo
I was very sleepy but I wanted waffles, haha!
Love me a nice crispy waffle! I recently threw out my waffle maker because the finish or something had gotten old and my waffles kept completely sticking to the maker no matter how much cooking spray I used, so I have to nab another one soon. I love when these accidental awesome recipes happen – because heaven knows recipe creation isn’t always that easy! ;-)
Can I somehow use cooked buckwheat instead of flour? How much would I use?
I haven’t tried the recipe with cooked buckwheat so unfortunately I can’t say if that will work. If you are unable to find buckwheat flour you can grind your own using raw buckwheat groats and a food processor.
These look amazing! Can’t wait to make them. What kind of baking powder do you use?
Hi Lindsey! I always make sure to use aluminum-free baking powder. This is the brand I usually have on hand: https:https://www.vitacost.com/rumford-baking-powder-canisters Please let me know how they turn out for you!
Made the waffles this morning for breakfast. These tasted great and had great texture. Thank you.
These will become a regular in our house.
I’m happy to hear you like them, Suzanne! :)
These were really yummy! I was worried the buckwheat flavour would be strong and I didn’t want that taste but these had a really mild buckwheat taste. I wasn’t nearly as strong as I thought it would be and I think the cinnamon really helped. I doubled the recipe and added chocolate chips. I used cream of tartar instead of baking powder (just 1 Tbsp when doubled) and since I didn’t want to use 2-1/2 cups worth of milk, I used about half water, and they still turned out amazing. I WAS making waffles at first, but then the batter just kept sticking to the pan even though I greased it well in between batches. So I pulled out my pan and made them into pancakes instead! Cooked until browned on both sides and it worked out great! Thanks for the recipe! I will make again
These are the best! So fluffy! I love that they’re 100% whole grain and can be made oil-free! Thank you!
Thanks Kate! I’m so glad you like them!
Around 5pm today I made these for a snack and was very surprised how light and fluffy they were. I then planned to save the rest of the batter for breakfast tomorrow only to have my son and husband tell me to make all the batter so they can eat the waffles now. Thank you for another great recipe. BTW, my son who is celiac had only been able to eat waffles at a local Austin TX restaurant that does vegan and gluten free. They sell their mix and that was our next option until today he gave me the high-five that this recipe was “off the chain”.
Yay! That’s so great to hear. Thank you! :)
Something went wrong. The flavor is alright. It came out more like about a hundred crumbs than a waffle.
Sorry to hear that they didn’t work out for you. Did you make them without the coconut oil?
Didn’t come out at all with Bob’s red mill brand buckwheat flour and leaving out the oil. After cleaning up the dry crumbly mess, I added oil and tried again with the same result :( I think maybe the recipe needed a couple more flax eggs?
I’m so sorry to hear that! I like to use Arrowhead Mill’s buckwheat flour so I wonder if that could have been the difference? I’ll have to revisit the recipe and figure out what went wrong. If they were too dry then more flax eggs could definitely help!
Is it 2 tablespoons of water or 3 for the flax ?
3 tablespoons! Sorry for the confusion.
I seldom rate and comment, but this is my go to buckwheat recipe, so why not?! My family loves them!
I usually buy the Arrowhead Buckwheat waffle and pancake mix, but I ran out, was craving waffles, but only just had the plain buckwheat flour (same brand). I was desperate for waffles, lol, and landed on your recipe, which I chose largely because I had all of the ingredients. I was skeptical when I saw the baking soda and power (don’t like it when I can taste either one), and it turns out that’s all I could taste when I finally ate them. The texture was ok, a little thinner than what I generally like, but my main issue was taating the baking powder/soda. I presume the apple cider vinegar waa meant to neutralize the taste of the baking soda?
Yes the vinegar should neutralize the taste…did you use apple cider vinegar?
These are amazing! We did make some tweaks and I have a note that might help those with the “crumbles.” We add 3 tbsps of molasses and double the cinnamon. Our first go was crumbly but then we realized the problem wasn’t the mix, it is the vegan butter. It separates as the waffles cook, so you need to be sure the keep whisking the vegan butter before you put it on again. And don’t let your waffle iron get to clean – keep it seasoned like a good cast iron skillet. We are making a huge batch tonight and freezing them. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks for the feedback! Do you mean the butter you use to grease your iron or the butter in the recipe?
Good call out. The butter for the iron. We keep a bowl of melted Earth Balance ready for greasing but it separates while the waffle cooks causing the crumbling. We didn’t catch this the first time we made these but once we caught on we never had a problem again with crumbles.
Thanks for clarifying! My waffle iron doesn’t require greasing so I wasn’t sure. Mine is ceramic and does an awesome job preventing sticking. But I’m glad you figured out what works for yours!
Love them! They came out perfect. I’m not sure what brand of buckwheat flour I used since it came from the bulk section of our grocery store. I will definitely be making them again.
I am wondering though, if you could use half buckwheat and half all- purpose with good results?
It seems like that would work! If anything you might have to use a little less liquid as buckwheat tends to be more absorbent than all purpose.
I made this recipe with Anthony’s Organic Buckwheat Flour (without oil) and it is now our go-to waffle recipe. I’m not sure why people had trouble with them being crumbly. I’m grateful for our cheap Hamilton Beach non-stick Belgian waffle iron. They were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I doubled the recipe with no problems. Thanks for a wonderful waffle recipe!