142. Gluten Free Waffles

I try to eat, cook and bake gluten free most of the time.  I am not on an exclusive "no wheat" diet like I used to be when I was having some health issues a few years ago.

Since December I have been able to eat some white wheat products.  I still cannot handle anything that is 100% wheat like pasta or bread.  I immediately start having issues and my face breaks out with a HUGE rash…it's not pretty let me tell you!

So, because of that I get lazy about posting gluten free recipes.  I received an email from a friend asking me about some ideas for her daughter.  She is very sensitive and intolerant of wheat specifically.  In the course of our exchange, she mentioned that her daughter missed waffles the most.

I can relate.  There were so many things I missed too.  Waffles, Pancakes, French Bread and so on.  The challenge is finding something that taste and feels like what you are used to.

I told my friend that I would work on finding or creating a recipe that she could make for her daughter.  

I know that there are several recipes around the web (probably a few 1000 in fact) but I don't have all day to be on the computer reading reviews and such.  

I decided to just use what I know and pull something together.  I admit it took a couple of batches to find the right taste and texture.  

I expect my waffles to be:  crispy on the outside, soft in the middle and thick.  I feel that this recipe has all three attributes.  In fact my daughter came home from school and had a couple and loved them.  I asked her if she would eat them again and she said YES, I said "GOOD, they were gluten free".

There are a few things to remember though.  You can't eat them right out of the waffle iron.  For some reason the mix (and this is normal with a lot of gluten free items) needs to sit and cool slightly. If you don't do this, then it is gummy and not good.  In fact, for me, I prefer to make them and have them cool completely then microwave them for a few minutes.  That is just me though.  

Working with gluten free flours and starches takes a bit to understand which flours work well and how much to use.  I did make a batch of waffles with some buckwheat and oat flour that I loved.  The kids thought the flavor was too strong.  I LOVE buckwheat.  When substituting these flours think in terms of percentages.  I try to only replace about 25% of the rice flour with the grain flours (teff, quinoa, oat, etc).

Baking breads, muffins and other goods requires the use of xanthum gum at times.    When you decide to venture into this area of baking I would recommend buying a cook book or searching out recipes on the web.  There are lots of gluten free sites that have wonderful recipes.

Bake to the waffles…..they are good and I hope that you enjoy them too!

I purposely left off the syrup so that you could see how fluffy the waffles were.

Recipe:  Gluten Free Waffles, makes 8 waffles


1 cup of white rice flour
1/2 cup of potato starch (not potato flour..it is not the same)
1/4 cup of tapioca flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar

1/4 cup of canola oil
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk


In two separate bowls, mix the dry ingredients REALLY GOOD in one and in the other, mix the wet ingredients.

Combine the wet into the dry and stir until smooth.

Heat your waffle iron and add your mix.

Cook each waffle until golden brown.  My waffle iron was taking about 5 minutes.  Check your manual for cook times.

Let cool on a cookie rack until ready to eat.  Store in baggies and refrigerate.  Microwave for a few seconds and serve with syrup.

ENJOY!