Recipe Details
Community Pick: Overnight Waffles
Photograph by A Marsteller
Recipe Basics
Total time (including overnight rise): 9 hours 5 minutes
Yield: Serves 4–6
Total ingredients: 9
Ingredients
½ teaspoon instant yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon fine salt
2 cups whole milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
Light olive oil or vegetable oil, for brushing the waffle iron
2 large eggs
Instructions
Before you go to bed for the night, mix all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the milk, then add the cooled melted butter and vanilla (if you’re using it). The batter will be very loose — this is expected.
Cover the bowl tightly and let the batter rest and rise at room temperature overnight.
In the morning, separate your two eggs. Stir the egg yolks directly into the rested batter.
In a separate clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, fluffy peaks. Gently fold the beaten whites into the batter.
Lightly brush your preheating waffle iron with oil, then ladle batter onto the iron and cook 3–5 minutes, until golden and cooked through.
Serve immediately, or keep finished waffles warm in a low oven while you cook the remaining batter.
Reader Question
If I make these for weekly meal prep, how many days do they keep in the fridge or freezer? And what’s the best way to reheat them in the morning so they don’t turn super dry or get that weird stretchy texture microwaves give bread-based foods? I’ve had mixed results reheating any baked good for meal prep, whether I steam it or not.
Reader Reviews
⭐ Bergy you are a genius! I had my husband mix this up for me on Christmas Eve, since Santa was gifting my daughter a new waffle iron (it’s a long story), and the batter was ready to go whenever we were the next morning. These turned out so incredible, the texture is absolutely perfect. You’ve done it again!
⭐ These are delicious and so easy to pull off. I was a little nervous leaving the batter out at room temperature all night, but it was totally fine. The last batch I cooked was actually the best, since the waffle iron was fully heated through by that point. This recipe deserves to be made again and again, and I will definitely be coming back to it. Thanks Bergy!
⭐ This is such a great recipe — I know that because I just finished eating a batch, and they’re amazing.
⭐ These are fantastic waffles. We’d been tweaking the Fanny Farmer waffle recipe for ages with zero luck, then we stumbled on this one. Even though it uses far less yeast than that other recipe, the batter turned out far better, and the cooked waffles are so much lighter. I had a cup of buttermilk I needed to use up, so I swapped it in for regular milk in my second batch, and I think I’ll keep doing that going forward. These are wonderful: light, crispy, with a lovely subtle yeasty flavor. Absolutely perfect. Thanks for posting!
⭐ All it takes is five minutes of work the night before, and by the time your waffle iron preheats, you’ve got the eggs whipped and folded in and the batter is ready to go. The hardest part of this whole recipe is remembering to start the batter the night before! These are such nice, light, tasty waffles.
View 25 additional full reviews on the original post
Home Cook Tweaks & Adjustments
❌ Tweak attempt with mixed results: I’m not sure what went wrong with my batch, but the texture turned out weird. They got crispy on the bottom, but stayed soft (almost doughy) on top. I even adjusted my waffle iron to a darker setting and it was still the same. They also didn’t rise at all. I used active dry yeast instead of instant, so that’s probably the cause. I also swapped coconut oil for butter, but I’ve done that swap in tons of pancake and waffle recipes with success before. The flavor was good, but the final result was just mediocre. Sorry!
✅ Successful whole-grain swap: I swapped all whole wheat flour for the all-purpose (I don’t cook with white flour) and these turned out delicious. I did have to add ¾ cup extra liquid, because the batter was very thick (like muffin batter) by morning. The waffles came out perfectly holey and flavorful. I also swapped buttermilk for part of the milk. I recommend making a double batch for families of 4 or more — these go fast!
About the Recipe Submitter
Submitted by Bergy, January 10, 2010:
This year, I’ll celebrate 9 years as part of the Zaar community, and I can’t imagine life without it! It’s become part of my daily routine, and I feel so privileged to be a host on the Photo Forum. Photographing my cooking is a full-time hobby for me, and I love it. All my friends know what to expect when they come for dinner: they always joke, “Are you done taking pictures yet?” I never keep them waiting too long, though, and the food is never cold!
I now have more than 6000 photos on Zaar — some are pretty good, and some are definitely not, but I’m happy to say practice really does help. I grew up in Vancouver, BC, a beautiful city that holds so many wonderful memories for me. In 1990, I decided I wanted to settle in a smaller community for retirement, and found my slice of heaven in the North Okanagan, BC. I love living here, but every once in a while I miss the bright city lights, Broadway shows, and all the incredible small ethnic restaurants that Vancouver has. That’s an easy fix: I just take a trip to the coast, visit friends for a weekend, catch a show, and feast on dim sum or other specialty foods.
I’m getting older, but I’ve always been adventurous. I’ve river rafted Hell’s Gate on the Fraser River, flown in a glider over Hawaii (not a hang glider!), gone hot air ballooning in Napa Valley and the Fraser Valley, driven dune buggies on the Oregon dunes, gone para sailing in Mexico, and tried so many other fun, challenging adventures. I haven’t tried bungee jumping or sky diving yet… but I still might.
I love to travel and experience new cultures. Mexico has long been one of my favorite places to visit — I’ve gone there dozens of times. Australia and England are two other favorites too. In the past 16 months, I’ve lost 61 pounds and I feel wonderful. I’m off all my medications, and all systems are go! I may be 79 years old, but in spirit I’m still in my forties. We’re only as old as we let ourselves feel. Always think positive, do something a little challenging every day, and always do something silly every day. Be a kid again! Laugh every day — it’s internal jogging.
Below are a few of my photos: