Gluten-Free Buckwheat Waffles
This simple, 100 percent buckwheat flour recipe yields light and crisp waffles that are nice and fluffy on the inside! Extra waffles freeze well for later.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
I have high standards when it comes to waffles. They must be:
- crisp on the outside,
- fluffy on the inside,
- light but made with whole grains, so they stick with me for longer than a couple of hours.
These 100 percent buckwheat waffles meet all of those qualifications and then some.
They possess buckwheat’s rich, nutty flavor, which makes them more unique than my go-to oat waffles.
Plus, I can share them with my gluten-free friends since they’re made with buckwheat flour. You can also make them dairy-free with two simple adjustments (see the recipe notes). I think you’ll love them.
These waffles freeze well for future breakfasts. Pop them in the toaster until warmed through.
Don’t have a waffle maker? Try some buckwheat pancakes or crepes instead!
More Gluten-Free Breakfast Recipes
Here are a few gluten-free favorites from my breakfast recipes:
- Almond Flour Pancakes
- Easy Gluten Free Oat Waffles
- Gluten-Free Banana Oat Waffles
- Gluten-Free Banana Muffins (Made with Almond Flour)
- 3-Ingredient Banana Pancakes (choose the oat or buckwheat flour option)
Please let me know how your waffles turn out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Gluten-Free Buckwheat Waffles
This simple, 100 percent buckwheat flour recipe yields light and crisp waffles that are nice and fluffy on the inside! This recipe yields waffles for two to three people, so multiply the recipe as needed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar (I used coconut sugar)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk, shaken (see notes to learn how to make your own with any kind of milk)
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) melted butter or coconut oil
- 1 large egg
- Topping suggestions: maple syrup, almond butter and/or fresh banana slices
Instructions
- Preheat your waffle iron. If desired, preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit to keep waffles warm until you’re ready to serve.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the buckwheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In a liquid measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter and egg. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir them together until there are only a few small lumps remaining. Give it a few more stirs if you see any liquid that hasn’t fully incorporated. Commenter Monisha says her waffles turn out lighter and more crispy if she lets the batter rest for 5 to 10 minutes, so you might want to give that a try.
- Pour batter onto the hot waffle iron plates, close the waffle iron and cook until the waffles are barely letting off steam and they are lightly crisp to the touch (this might take longer than your waffle iron suggests). Carefully lift waffle out of the waffle iron and serve immediately or place in the oven to keep warm. Avoid stacking the waffles or they will lose their crispness. Repeat with remaining batter as necessary. Serve with maple syrup, almond butter and/or sliced banana on top.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my buckwheat pancakes.
How to make your own buttermilk: Measure 1 tablespoon + ¾ teaspoon vinegar into a 2-cup capacity liquid measuring cup. Pour in any variety of milk until you reach the 1 and ¼ cups line (regular cow’s milk, almond, soy, oat, rice, low-fat coconut milk should all work). Let the “buttermilk” rest for 5 minutes before using.
Make it dairy free: Make your own buttermilk with non-dairy milk and use coconut oil instead of butter.
Storage suggestions: These waffles freeze very well in sealed, freezer-safe bags. Just pop them in the toaster to warm them up.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I’m gluten intolerant and appreciate an easy gf waffle recipe (aka no need to beat egg whites). I just made a double batch (so we can keep some in the freezer for a quick breakfast or snack) and my kids and I love them! This will definitely be one of my go-to waffle recipes. :)
Yay! Thank you, Sandra. They’re my favorite, too.
This is so delicious. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you, Rowena! Glad you enjoyed them!
Wow! These were great this morning. I recently learned that I’m sensitive to almost all grains and pseudograins – but not buckwheat! I was excited to give it a try and I love waffles. The hint of cinnamon in these was perfect. I made the dairy free version with homemade almond milk and ate mine with a drizzle of maple syrup. My eats-all-grains husband liked them too with butter and syrup on his. Thanks for the great recipe.
Thanks, Brandy! I’m so glad you found these waffles. I bet you would enjoy my buckwheat pancakes, too!
Hi Kate – your website has made me look forward to breakfasts ! No more boring store bought cereal!
I have noticed that with the Buckwheat waffles if I let the batter sit a bit they turn out very airy and light wheras If I use them right away they are softer .Should I be letting them rest awhile( just like the Oat waffles?)
Thanks and looking forward to your book . congratulations!
Hi Monisha! Glad you’re enjoying my breakfasts. That’s an interesting observation. Sounds like these waffles probably do benefit from a rest!
Hi there,
Made these waffles (Oat and Buckwheat both)and can seriously say that they are absolutely the best waffle recipe that is gluten-free I have ever used, seen or heard of! I have tried over a dozen GF waffle recipes and none have them have turned out half decent. This is the ONLY recipe (this and the Oat recipe) that have turned out extremely well!
I make these all the time now and use them as part of a breakfast, toasted from frozen, and as a dessert after a long day.
Wonderful recipe that will be hand printed and put in our cookbook that I will use and hand down to my kids!
-Colin
Woohoo!!!! Thank you, Colin! :D
Absolutely fantastic! Great flavor…..and the batter was so easy to deal with.
I’ve been looking for a 100% buckwheat waffle recipe that did not entail having to beat egg whites…..and fold in.
Thank you!
RF
Thank you, Robin! Glad this recipe was the ticket! I’ve tried whipping and folding in egg whites, and I honestly don’t think it makes much of a difference.
Just made these for my family!!! I am showing our 9 yr old Thatcher free can be fun and delicious. Thanksformaking this so easy
I’m glad you all enjoyed the waffles, Tara!
I just made these & they are yum! I made buckwheat pancake but don’t understand how I missed buckwheat waffles for so long. Both me & my 7yo daughter are coeliac & she absolutely loved them to! We have now declared every Sunday to be waffle Sunday!
Waffle Sunday, love it! So glad you two enjoyed these!
Only on Sundays? Wow you are brave! I feel like I could eat these every single day ohmygod.
I made these waffles and they were delicious. I had made some 100% buckwheat muffins that I actually threw away, so I was prepared not to like these. But now they ar my go to waffles.
You can’t even imagine how amazing these waffles were!!! I made my own butter milk using almond milk and apple cider vinegar and it worked out really well! I am so happy that I found these dairy-free and gluten-free waffles. I put maple syrup and strawberries on mine! Can’t wait to make them again thanks so much for sharing this outstanding recipe!
We just made these buckwheat waffles because I’m going gluten-free right now. These were great! Nice and crisp on the outside! The only adjustment is I made it with almond milk because I’m allergic to mammal products(alpha galactose). Thanks for the great recipe!!
Glad you enjoyed the waffles, Charity! Yay!
The buckwheat waffles were amazing! My family loved them! We made extra for the freezer for school mornings. They reheat wonderfully! I usually don’t post comments on thing, but these were sooo good crisp, light and fluffy. Will be making more of your recipes!
I’m just wondering which you would recommend for guests. The oat waffles or the buckwheat ones?
Hmm, the oatmeal waffles have a more traditional waffle flavor. I’d probably go with those.
Hi there! Beautiful post and pics :-). Can you explain how to make the buttermilk? I saw in the notes, but it doesn’t say to use butter, but then it says you can substitute coconut oil for butter. Are you supposed to use butter?
Thanks so much!
Hi Lou! Buttermilk doesn’t actually have butter in it. You can make it according to the notes, and choose to use either butter or coconut milk for the batter.
I made these this morning (added vanilla extract and double the cinnamon). It is delicious! It’s crispy on the exterior, light and airy on the inside. Really love it! This recipe is a keeper.
Wow, these were sooooo good. Not grainy at all. I doubled the recipe. It was enough to feed my family of 5 plus two left over. They were frozen for a quick weekday breakfast. Thank you sooo much.
I forgot to rate it. Oops
I love this recipe and I can’t eat eggs so I substitute applesauce. I also use Maple Sugar. Yumyum
Can these waffles be used as “bread” to make sandwiches? I’m gluten intolerant and I would die for a sandwich right now!
With intolerance to several foods (including preservatives) I’m always looking for new ways to use buckwheat flour. This recipe made 3 in my waffle maker but it’s deep. One waffle fills you up. The other two waffles are now in the freezer. I love the slight hint of cinnamon in this recipe. The taste & texture are perfect. I’ve measured out a double recipe of the dry ingredients into a quart size freezer bag, mixed it then squeezed all of the air out for a quick batch during the week.And-great reminder not to stack these so they can cool & stay crispy. I put mine on a cooling rack. Thank you!
Hi, these waffles are NOT crispy. Very thin crust formed over a cake-like consistency. Followed your recipe exactly and even let batter sit for 5 minutes before pouring onto hot waffle iron. Did not remove waffle until browned. I guess being web savvy and using the right buzz words for a good SEO trumps being ethical. Shame on you for writing authoritively about things you don’t know about to make money off of us.
Hi M, I am disappointed to hear that your waffles didn’t meet your expectations. They certainly turned out crispy for me (which I believe you can see in my photos). Plenty of other commenters attest that their waffles are nice and crispy, too (see their comments above), so it may have to do with your waffle iron, your measuring technique, letting the batter rest longer than specified or not letting the waffles cook long enough. Your review seems awfully harsh, and I assure you that I am not ashamed of posting well-tested healthy recipes. “We live in a world where most people still subscribe to the belief that shame is a good tool for keeping people in line. Not only is this wrong, but it’s dangerous. Shame is highly correlated with addiction, violence, aggression, depression, eating disorders, and bullying.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
Thank you Kate, for having the courage to reply in a mature and non confrontational, yet an especially helpful teaching manner. Agree 100% that shaming someone is nonproductive and terribly damaging to children and adults for a productive society. Feeling remorse, regret, rectifying and apologizing for wrongs we have done is an entirely different thing, of which it seems you need not feel nor do for having posted a recipe that a reader did not enjoy, nor have an outcome with which they were not pleased. I appreciate your recipes and attitude of support of healthy living for our bodies and minds. Many variables are present in baking beyond our immediate control or on first try: air temperature, altitude, humidity or airdity as well as the ones you mentioned. I quite frankly don’t feel you are taking advantage of me or anyone else monetarily or otherwise. I do love to read the comments others have to find out what worked/didn’t work, substitutions that work/didn’t work, ingredients available in different parts of world, or additions to ingredients, etc. Judging others on how they perform, who they are, intentions they have is not okay nor welcome. So thank you for taking a stand. Bake and Blog on!
Thank you very much, Denise. I wish I could say that the original comment didn’t bring me down when I read it, but it’s easy to remember the one negative comment out of 100. I appreciate your support!
I love your buckwheat waffles! I used them in my vegetarian Buckwheat Waffle With Spinach, Crimini, and Caramelized Onions. I linked to your recipe in the post as well as in the notes. I left out the cinnamon, but made no other changes. I always want to acknowledge the work of others, so I hope this is appropriate! Thanks for a great recipe! My post should be out later today…
Absolutely the BEST 100% buckwheat waffle recipe ever. Better comes out thick, but the outcome is crisp exterior, tender interior, light and delicious which is how I love my waffles. This is the ULTIMATE recipe.
These are some of the best waffles I’ve ever had! Thank you for the recipe! My family is patiently trying many gf recipes with me and they loved these waffles! We let the batter rest and that did make them extra yummy!
Thank you, Jennifer! Glad you all enjoyed them. If you’re eating oats, I think you would also love my gluten-free oat waffles!
I have now made this recipe twice. Both times they stuck. And I followed the recipe as written, no substitutions, additions, etc.
I wonder if it has to do with the iron temperature setting. My waffle iron can be adjusted from 1-6. 1 is low and slow. 6 is hotter and faster. Most waffles work well on 5.
Any idea if a cooler slower setting would work better.
(I ended up using the remaining batter for pancakes, instead of waiting for the iron to cool so I could clean it and start over.)
Hi Erika, I’m super bummed to hear that these stuck. Cleaning off those grates is the worst. I always have my waffles at the max heat setting, so I don’t think that a lower temp will help. My best tip would be to wait until there is no steam seeping out of the sides of the maker before checking the waffles. (If in doubt, wait longer.)
Hi Kate I just made these following a batch of your oat waffles (greedy us!). These are so light and crisp up beautifully, even in our el-cheapo waffle maker. We dont eat lots of buckwheat so we prefered the flavour of the oat waffles over these. Thank you.
Thank you, Sasha! So glad you’re enjoying these.
My husband didn’t think buckwheat waffles were possible without regular flour until I showed him this recipe.
He made them for us this morning and we both marveled at their delicious flavor. I love the extra crunch that this all buckwheat waffle provided.
Thanks!
So glad you both loved the waffles! Thanks, Alex!
I printed out your waffle recipe and tried it tonight. I’m afraid that it didn’t turn out too well. The one waffle I cooked (in the waffle iron) didn’t rise at all, stuck to the iron and then fell apart when I took it out to place in a warming oven. I turned the rest of the batter into pancakes, which weren’t too bad. I used Almond milk to make the buttermilk, which you said was ok. The only thing different was that I had only half as much dark buckwheat flour as I needed so I finished the cup of flour with buckwheat groats that I had ground into flour. Could that have been the problem?
I am very new at using alternative (GF) flours so I cold use all the help I can get! Thanks!
Not good:(. When you can taste the baking powder in the waffles..more than necessary.
Sorry this one didn’t work out for you, JW!
I was skeptical, but these turned out really well. They DO take a little longer to bake, though.
Yes, they certainly do, but I hope the flavor was worth it!
These turned out so well- best at home waffles we’ve ever made. We can’t do eggs so I used a 1/4 cup of applesauce instead. I also subbed in a little almond flour for part of the buckwheat flour. Can’t wait to make these again.
I’m thrilled to hear these worked with those substitutions, Nicole. Awesome!
easy and kid-approved. i use 1 T of flaxseed instead of egg and i don’t bother with the buttermilk, i just use almond milk for sake-of-ease. this is a recipe that i use at least once a week. these waffles also freeze well and perk up again in the toast oven. thanks for sharing this recipe!
Perfect! And yes, I love how easily freeze-able these are, too!
These are amazing! My kids love them too! Good for freezing.
I really like this recipe. I used it a few times already, although I had to add less flour, and slightly more liquid. I also skipped the butter, so my waffles are lighter :)
Great! I’m glad your variation worked out for you, Iza.
Awesome recipe, we just had a delicious waffle breakfast with your buckwheat waffle recipe. Thank you very much!!
have made these twice now… delicious, especially when hot and crispy. added 1/2 tsp almond extract. wonderful when reheated in the oven or toaster :)
Yum! I love popping these in the toaster, too.
It really worked! I love it, crunchy, lightweight. Thanks a million <3
You’re welcome! So glad these worked out for you.
I just made these for breakfast this morning! I had wanted for so long to try buckwheat in crepes, waffles or pancakes. They were delicious! Thanks for this recipe!
Really really good! Love them! I did 1/3 of flaxseed flour and 2/3 buckweit and they were still perfect!dr
Great to hear!
These are crisp and tasty but stuck in my waffle maker. I’ve used coconut oil as coating with other waffles but that didn’t work with this one. Any suggestions?
Does your waffle maker have a non-stick coating on it? You shouldn’t need the additional oil. Try a non-stick that has a higher flashpoint. Hope this helps!
Thank you, Kate, for this recipe! That’s exactly what I was looking for! I have just bought a waffle maker so I can now experiment your recipe. Have a nice day!
You’re very welcome, Emmanuelle! I appreciate the review. :)
Hello Kate, I experimented my new waffle maker but very sadly I discovered that it is of poor quality :-( so I couldn’t make a decent waffle… Soooo I decided to use your recipe to make pancakes instead and wow! They turned out to be the best buckwheat pancakes I have ever eaten!! Slightly crispy on the outside and so fluffy inside! I used almond milk instead of buttermilk and it worked perfectly. So a big thank you again for that recipe! :-) :-) :-)
Can almond milk or regular milk be used as opposed to a type of buttermilk?
Is it just the taste that would be altered?
Thanks!
I started this recipe and realized that after we moved I did not have any baking soda. I substituted Siggy’s vanilla yogurt 8 ounces for the baking soda. The texture came out very good and the flavor was excellent as well with just a hint of vanilla. This is one of the better waffle recipes I have come across for texture and flavor thanks.
That’s great! It’s nice when that happens. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have. Thank you, Alicia.
I was having a craving for buckwheat and tried your waffle recipe. All I can say is FABULOUS! Thanks!
Perfect! Thanks for the review, Michele.
These turned out beautifully!
Great! Thanks, KT for the review.
Excellent recipe. I doubled it, to freeze some. I also added some chopped strawberries. I will certainly make this again. Great taste, and texture– without having to beat the egg whites separately. Thanks!
Thank you, Beth for sharing!
My 4 year old son and I love these. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
These waffles were the best. I waited the 10 minutes as suggested and they were amazingly crisp and tasty.
That’s great! Yes, waiting is key and it’s so hard to wait! Thank you, Victoria!
I’m in England had to go gluten free a couple of years ago. Last week I was in Brussels for work and had a buckwheat waffle in a cafe. It was a revelation. Today I bought a waffle maker and your recipe was the first I used. I tinkered a little – instead of buttermilk I used watered yogurt, but the batter was too thick so I added water until it was the right consistency. Also I left out the cinnamon and most of the sugar because I wanted waffles I could eat with savoury or sweet toppings. I read all the comments too, for tips, so I rested the batter. It worked so well! Each pair of waffles took 10 minutes to cook – longer than the 7 mins suggested in my new waffle maker’s instruction book – and they came out light and crisp and delicious, and didn’t stick at all. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing what you did, Helen! I appreciate your details and review.
Just made it exactly the same, it was very light and delicious….keeper recipe. Thanks
Thanks for sharing, Ema!
Loved this recipe, doubled it for morning after sleepover breakfast and not a crumb left. I’ve made a ton of your recipes and they all turn out great! Thank you. Nutritious and indulgent.
These are so good! I’m glad you and your guests agreed, Rebecca.