Mouthwatering Ways to Make Your Morning Waffles More Exciting

Waffles are worth waking up for, and there are many ways to customize your waffles, so you never tire of them. Make your waffles sweet or savory, and enlist additions, such as fruit, chocolate, coconut, and nuts. We rounded up the best waffle recipes to satisfy all tastes. Make your waffle game more exciting by going for a healthy variation one morning — and a deliciously decadent version the next.

1. Belgian Buttermilk Waffles with Glazed Bananas

You don’t have to get out of bed and go straight to a restaurant to get your Belgian waffle fix. You can enjoy them in your pajamas with this recipe from Epicurious. It yields eight Belgian buttermilk waffles that come with a topping of glazed bananas. This breakfast is better than any meal you would overpay for at a restaurant. As long as you have a Belgian-style waffle iron, homemade Belgian waffles are a piece of cake.

Serves: Makes 8 waffles

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
• ¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• Vegetable oil for waffle iron

Topping

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 firm-ripe large bananas, cut diagonally into ⅓-inch-thick slices
• 1¼ cups pure maple syrup

See recipe directions from Epicurious.

2. Waffles with Salted Caramel Sauce

Here’s another waffle recipe from Leite’s Culinaria that errs on the sweet side of things. Appease your morning sweet tooth with waffles with salted caramel sauce. You’ll start your day with a sugar rush. After 30 minutes of prep time, you’ll have yourself a family serving of traditional waffles with a sauce made from sugar reduced to a caramel and then blended with cream. Add any toppings you like to your waffles, including fruit and nuts, and then get ready to treat yourself.

Serves: Makes 4 to 8 waffles

Ingredients:

Salted caramel sauce

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup cold water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch sea salt

Waffles

• 2 large eggs
• 1½ cups whole milk
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted, or ½ cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

See recipe directions from Leite’s Culinaria.

3. Cornbread Waffles

You can go the sweet or savory route with these cornbread waffles featured on Smitten Kitchen. Think sweet if you’re pulling out your fruit and syrup or savory if you want to top your waffles with cheese, fried chicken, bacon, or an egg. The choice is yours, and this recipe yields several waffles, so you can make a few variations. The cornmeal on the ingredients list helps make these waffles rich and crispy, and they take on a slightly different taste and texture than traditional waffles.

Serves: Makes 8 waffles

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup coarse yellow cornmeal
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
• 4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

See recipe directions from Smitten Kitchen.

4. Overnight Yeasted Waffles

Have you ever tried yeasted waffles? If not, you’re in for a treat. And lucky for you, when you make them overnight, they’re even easier than the traditional version. This recipe for overnight yeasted waffles from The Kitchn breaks down the steps for you and proves all you need to do for yeasted waffles is make the batter the night before, adding yeast so the batter can rise. You’ll wake up to risen waffle batter that has a sweet, yeasty flavor. You might never go back to the standard version again.

Serves: Makes 8 Belgian waffles

Ingredients:

Night before

• ½ cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon active-dry yeast
• ½ cup melted butter
• 2 cups whole or 2% milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

Next day

• 2 large eggs, beaten
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

See recipe directions from The Kitchn.

5. Pecan Chocolate Waffles

For a decadent start to your morning, make these pecan chocolate waffles from Taste of Home. Chocolate lovers will go to bed dreaming about their morning meal, and it will take them less than 30 minutes to make. The waffles are creatively made with pancake mix, eggs, milk, chocolate syrup, oil, and pecans. And the star of the show is the chocolate butter that coats the carbs. Make the chocolate butter by simply combining butter, confectioners’ sugar, and baking cocoa. These pecan chocolate waffles will wake you right up and will energize you to take on the day.

Serves: Makes 4 waffles

Ingredients:

• 2 cups pancake mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1½ cups 2% milk
• ½ cup chocolate syrup
• ¼ cup canola oil
• ⅔ cup chopped pecans

Chocolate butter

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking cocoa

See recipe directions from Taste of Home.

6. Bacon-Cheddar Waffles

These next savory waffles from Delish are so good you’ll want to eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And luckily, you can. The bacon-cheddar waffles take less than 40 minutes to make, and they feed a family. The waffle batter contains bacon, cheddar, and scallions. And after the waffles are made in the waffle iron, you can get to work on frying your eggs in leftover bacon grease. Serve your waffles with an egg on top, and enjoy the yolk soaking your bacon-cheddar waffles. Who knew savory waffles could taste this good?

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 5 large eggs, divided
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
• ¾ cup grated sharp cheddar
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced

See recipe directions from Delish.

7. Citrus Waffles with Marmalade Compote

Next is a lighter waffle breakfast that is naturally sweetened and still satisfying: citrus waffles with marmalade compote from Cooking Light. The buttermilk waffles get their citrus flavor from the orange rind on the ingredients list. And a sauce made from orange marmalade, orange juice, lemon juice, honey, and orange sections covers the carbs. This breakfast is the perfect dish that enlists fresh citrus, and it’s as pretty as it is delicious.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Compote

• ¼ cup reduced-sugar orange marmalade
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 cups fresh orange sections (about 2 oranges)

Waffles

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup toasted wheat germ
• 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⅓ cups buttermilk
• ⅓ cup water
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray
• Powdered sugar

See recipe directions from Cooking Light.

8. Waffles Rancheros

Here’s another way to make your waffles more exciting. Enlist them into your favorite Mexican breakfast by making waffles rancheros. Food & Wine has the recipe, and you can enjoy the dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The three components of waffles rancheros are beans, waffles, and eggs, and this recipe shows you how it’s done. In 40 minutes, you’ll have plates of crispy waffles topped with seasoned beans and fried eggs. Serve with queso fresco, avocado, sour cream, and lime wedges.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes in juice
• 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• ¼ cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1¾ cups whole milk
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove
• ½ jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Vegetable oil, for greasing
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup masa harina
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• Salt
• Pepper
• Crumbled queso fresco, sliced avocado, sour cream, cilantro leaves and lime wedges, for serving

See recipe directions from Food & Wine.

9. Chicken and Waffles

Chicken and waffles isn’t a new concept, but the idea of cooking the dish at home might be. Next time you’re feeling ambitious and craving a hearty addition to your waffle breakfast, add some fried chicken. You don’t have to leave the fluffy waffles and fried chicken to restaurant chefs. The traditional breakfast can come to life in your kitchen with this recipe from Food Network. In 30 minutes, you can have chicken and waffles on your breakfast table, and you won’t even have to tip the server. Follow these fool-proof directions that take you through the steps of frying your chicken tenders and mastering the fluffy waffles that will serve as the dish’s carb layer.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil, for shallow frying
• ¼ cup hot sauce
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 8 chicken tenders (about 1 pound)
• ¾ cup instant flour
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 scallions, sliced, plus more for garnish
• 1½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 buttermilk or Belgian-style frozen waffles
• Maple syrup, for serving

See recipe directions from Food Network.

10. Bananas Foster Waffles

We’re going out on a sweet note with these bananas foster waffles from Broma Bakery. Not only are the banana-rum waffles delicious by themselves, they’re also topped with ice cream and a sauce made from brown sugar, rum, maple syrup, butter, and bananas. Sprinkle some chopped pecans on the finish product, and you’re good to go. You’ll serve a morning meal that mirrors a dessert, but no one will complain. It’s not every morning you get to enjoy bananas foster waffles, and everyone deserves rum and ice cream for breakfast every once in a while.

Serves: Makes 14 waffles

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1½ cups buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons dark rum
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup dark rum
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 bananas, sliced lengthwise

• Chopped pecans
• Vanilla ice cream
• Maple syrup

See recipe directions from Broma Bakery.