I make waffles a handful of times every month, often with some seasonal variations tossed in – blueberry, pumpkin, apple (see page 115 of my cookbook) – but these sourdough waffles are hands down my favourite. They’re so easy, always bake up perfectly, and, best part, they’re prepped the night before.
Vegan waffles can be a bit fiddly to get right. Usually you need some kind of starch or other binding agent (banana, applesauce) and the texture can be wonky. With sourdough starter, though, they’re spot on without adding anything!
This recipe uses spelt flour (see below for subs), so the taste is more complex and a little nutty. They’re overall much more interesting than normal waffles. The outside is still crisp, with a nice soft inside, and a slightly chewy texture. Serve with classic maple syrup, applesauce, or something like a quick blueberry compote.
There is a fairly significant flavour difference from the sourdough, but it’s pleasant rather than overwhelming. If you’re looking for diner style waffles, though, this is not that. The taste is more mild than with a long-ferment sourdough bread, but there is a bit of tanginess.
If you tend to get a bit bloated or some slight stomach upset from normal waffles, you might be able to digest sourdough waffles a bit more easily, much the same as with bread. I usually have a bit of trouble with waffles but these ones are easy on the stomach due to the fermenting process.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Starter: don’t have a starter? That’s fine, you can use yeast instead! A teaspoon of yeast will do the trick and can be subbed in for the starter. The flavour won’t be as pronounced, and they’ll be slightly less chewy, but they’re still good.
- Spelt flour: this can be either light or whole grain. All purpose white flour, whole wheat, or other ancient grains like kamut or einkorn all work well. I haven’t tried making these gluten free.
- Milk: any kind of dairy-free milk with the exception of canned full fat coconut milk can be used here. Dairy milk, as is the case 99% of the time, can be used as well if you don’t need them to be dairy free. The waffles will have a slight yogurt scent if you use dairy milk.
Starter or Discard for Waffles
If you have an active sourdough starter and only use it to make bread, you’re discarding a lot of useable starter. This is a great recipe to make use of some of that discard! When you feed your starter, use the discard to mix up a batch of waffles instead of tossing it in the compost or whatever you do with it.
It does need to be quite active, though! If you’re storing your starter in the refrigerator, the discard from feeding it that first time won’t be strong enough to give these waffles a good rise. If that’s the case, you’ll want to use a starter that was fed about 12 hours beforehand, just like you would to make a loaf of sourdough bread.
What I’m saying here, is that if you feed your starter daily, the discard from that will work well. If you only bake once a week or so, use a starter that’s been fed and is active. Need a good recipe for less active discard? Try these sourdough crackers.
Please note that this recipe requires a 100% hydration starter. Mine is made with rye flour, but any active starter will work well.
Step by Step
Couldn’t be easier! You can see the process more clearly in the video or in the step-by-step photos below. Everything is mixed in one bowl, there are just 7 ingredients with no weird additives or hard to find ingredients.
After mixing, simply cover to rest overnight at room temperature (no need to clear out a shelf in the fridge) and then bake the following morning. The batter can rest for anywhere from 8-16 hours so there’s a flexible timeframe if you need it.

1. Mix the batter: whisk everything together into a smooth batter.
2. Rise: set aside to rise, covered, overnight. It should be bubbly and light.
3. Bake: don’t mix the batter again. Pour into a hot waffle iron and bake until golden.
4. Repeat: keep baking the waffles until all of the batter has been used.
How to Store
Storage: like any waffles, sourdough waffles will also soften as they cool and are stored in a container. To freshen them up, toast for a few seconds before serving. Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container for a couple of days.
Freezing: freeze cooled waffles in an airtight container for up to a month, and thawed in the toaster if you’d like.
Newsletter
Expert Tips
- Know your iron: how you bake the waffles will vary between irons; I fill mine 90% full or it doesn’t reach the edges. Baking time will depend on the kind of iron you have. They should be golden but not overly browned as they’ll lose the softness inside if overcooked.
- Don’t whisk again: once the batter has risen, don’t whisk or mix it a second time before baking into waffles. You don’t want to beat the air out of the mixture.
- Use a hot iron: most electric waffle irons will have a light on top that changes colour when it thinks waffles are ready. Ignore this, it’s always wrong. Make sure the iron has really preheated before starting to bake the waffles, and take them out when they’re ready, not when the iron thinks they are.
More Ancient Grain Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Rye Bread
Spelt Sourdough Pizza Dough
Spelt Sourdough Bread
Dark Rye Bread
If you make these Sourdough Waffles or any other vegetarian breakfast recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Sourdough Waffles
Ingredients
- 340 grams spelt flour*
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 500 ml oat milk
- 50 grams sourdough starter OR 1 teaspoon dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil**
Instructions
- Add the flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and salt to a large bowl and whisk until combined.340 grams spelt flour*, 2 tablespoons coconut sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- Add the milk, starter, and oil. Whisk again until just combined and no streaks of flour remain in the bowl.500 ml oat milk, 50 grams sourdough starter OR 1 teaspoon dry yeast, 2 tablespoons olive oil**
- Cover with a a tea towel and board or plate and set aside to rise at room temperature overnight, from 8 to a maximum of 16 hours.
- Once the batter has rested overnight, heat your waffle iron and bake the waffles as usual, filling the iron quite fully. Repeat until all of the batter has been used.
- Serve hot with desired toppings. These are best eaten fresh and will lose the outer crispness if stored. If you do have leftovers, toast briefly before eating.
Video
Notes
* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
This was originally shared in March 2018. It has been updated with improvements to the recipe, new photos and step by step pictures, and a video as of January 2020.
Frizzle says
I’ve really gotten into sourdough this year & I found a brand new waffle iron at goodwill so I needed a vegan sourdough recipe- this is the first one I tried because I didn’t want to mess with flax eggs. It is SOO good! I’ve made it several times now. I am cooking for one, so I love that the batter can sit in the fridge multiple days & I can just scoop out as needed (I do add a little more water or soy milk if it gets too thick). Last time I accidentally added twice the amount of sourdough discard and it turned out great.
Amy says
I have tried numerous times to make plant based waffles in the Belgium waffle iron and they always stuck to the iron. This recipe worked! No stick! Plus my husband and I really enjoyed them. They are airy, crisp and tasty! This is now the only waffle recipe I will use! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Susan says
so happy to find this. After I made my levain at midnight for baking sourdough bread tomorrow, I put this together for breakfast. I’ve made similar before, but this recipe has everything I would like!
ferryboat George says
I made this up and had it for dinner last night, almost everybody loved it : ) My friend decided she doesn’t like mixing “sweet” and “sour” (she also won’t cook savory dishes in coconut oil, she’s weird like that :)) I did have a question though. There were six of us eating, and since we wanted about two each, I double the recipe. Unfortunately, it only made 7 waffles. Was this because I doubled it? I know some recipes don’t like to be increased. I also didn’t have enough spelt flour, about 3/4 of one recipe, so I subbed in a bit of gluten free all purpose for the first and rye flour for the doubling. Is that why it didn’t make the expected number of waffles? If I use all spelt can I double it ok? I’d like to make it again now that I’ve been able to buy spelt flour. Thanks again for the awesome recipe.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I’m glad you liked the waffles! I think it’s probably just that your waffle maker is much different from mine. I have a small-ish Belgian style waffle maker but can’t get the big American style ones over here (I’m not sure where you are). It does seem a bit crazy that it still only make seven with doubling, but I don’t think using different flours in the same amounts would’ve caused that. In general you should be able to double it no problem! You can see in the pictures the number I ended up with for one batch so I think it’s just differences in irons.
ferryboat George says
I’ll try again to double it. To me the iron we used was very small, but I think not as small as yours. In the iron we had growing up your recipe would probably make two or three : ) Maybe you should add the dimensions of the iron to the number of waffles made so people with bigger irons think about it : ) like “makes 8 2×3″ waffles” or something like that. Looking forward to trying it again soon.
Andy says
Made these this morning, delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe, even my 3 year old daughter enjoyed them, will definitely be making again.
Claudia Lamascolo says
I love working with spelt flour and these waffles sure look great and would be a huge hit for breakfast in our home.
They look so pretty!
Alexandra Daum says
I'm sure it will! It might smell a bit yogurt-y in the morning but that's normal.
Melissa says
Will this still work with dairy milk?