Easy Gluten Free Oat Waffles
These crispy and fluffy oat flour waffles are the very best! They're light, healthy and gluten free. Best of all, they only require one flour—oat flour!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
I’m pretty particular about my waffles. I want light, whole grain, crisp-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside, Belgian-with-deep-pockets, quintessential WAFFLES. No soggy waffles allowed! Bonus points if they freeze well so I can pop them in the toaster like Eggo’s.
These waffles meet all of the aforementioned qualifications. After tweaking five batches of these waffles, I can confirm that oat flour waffles are the waffles I’ve been searching for all along. Oat waffles are the waffles of my dreams.
Best of all, these waffles are gluten free! That means that I can share them with all of my friends.
This gluten-free waffle recipe is so simple that I have it memorized. It only requires one flour—oat flour—which is the easiest flour to make at home. Just toss some old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats in your blender or food processor and blend until they are a fine flour.
Watch How to Make Gluten Free Waffles
The secret to these waffles’ success is letting the batter rest for 10 minutes while your waffle iron heats up. The resting time gives the oat flour time to soak up some of the moisture, so you get crisp, fluffy waffles when it’s go time. I learned this trick with my banana oat pancakes, a recipe that has quite a few fans.
I love these waffles so much that I included this recipe in my cookbook. I’m re-sharing the recipe today with better photos in case this recipe has slipped by you over the years.
If you, like me, have been disappointed by other gluten-free waffle recipes in the past (or waffle recipes in general, really), give these a try! They’re just right. Please let me know how they turn out in the comments.
Oat Waffle Variations
You can also make flavored versions of these waffles—check out my Gluten-Free Banana Oat Waffles and Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oat Waffles.
Oat-Based Pancake Recipes to Try
If you don’t have a waffle iron at home, you can make oat pancakes in a regular skillet. Try these recipes:
Easy Gluten Free Oat Waffles
These light, crispy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside, gluten-free waffles are my favorite waffles! They’re heart healthy, too. This waffle recipe requires just one flour, oat flour, which you can easily make yourself (see note). Recipe yields 3 to 4 round, 7-inch Belgian waffles, or 6 small, square Belgian waffles (the size shown here).
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (128 grams) oat flour*, certified gluten-free if necessary
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pinch of cinnamon, optional
- ¾ cup room temperature milk of choice (light coconut milk, nut milk, cow’s milk)
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil or 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: oat flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: milk, melted coconut oil or butter, eggs, maple syrup and vanilla extract. (If your coconut oil solidifies on contact with cold ingredients, gently heat the wet mixture in the microwave in ten seconds intervals, until it melts again.)
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir with a big spoon until just combined (the batter will still be a little lumpy). Let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the oat flour has time to soak up some of the moisture. Plug in your waffle iron to preheat now (if your waffle iron has a temperature/browning dial, set it to medium-high).
- Once 10 minutes is up, give the batter one more swirl with your spoon. Pour batter onto the heated waffle iron, enough to cover the center and most of the central surface area, and close the lid. Once the waffle is deeply golden and crisp, transfer it to a cooling rack or baking sheet. Don’t stack your waffles on top of each other, or they’ll lose crispness. If desired, keep your waffles warm by placing them in a 200 degree oven until you’re ready to serve.
- Repeat with remaining batter. Serve waffles with maple syrup and nut butter, or any other toppings that sound good!
Notes
Recipe based on my oat pancakes and coconut waffles recipes.
*Make your own oat flour: Simply blend old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats (be sure to buy certified gluten-free oats if necessary) in a food processor or blender until they are ground into fine flour. You’ll need to blend roughly 1 ½ cups oats to make enough flour for these waffles (you will probably end up with a little extra). Once you’ve blended the flour, measure it using the spoon and swoop method.
Make it egg free: You can omit the eggs. The waffles will be slightly more delicate, but they’ve turned out great for me.
Make it dairy free: Use non-dairy milk and coconut oil.
Make it vegan: Use non-dairy milk, coconut oil and omit the eggs.
Freeze it: These waffles freeze beautifully. Just store in freezer-safe plastic bags and pop individual waffles into the toaster until warmed through.
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.
I made the waffles slightly different, rather than just mixing the eggs, if you seperate them and whip the whites until stiff peaks first then fold it in it gives a very crispy and fluffy texture very easy to remove from the iron!! delicious
I’m a big traditional waffle lover but am now a gluten free vegan so I make them with soy or almond milk. I love these gluten free waffles!! They are super yummy and even my 14 yo son eats them:) ; absolutely a wonderful treat. Thank you
You’re welcome, PJ!
Made the recipe exactly as written, and I barely got 4 small waffles, not 6. And not at all crispy.
I love Cookie and Kate recipes, but this one was disappointing.
I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed, Sarah. I appreciate your feedback.
I have to say I have made this recipe probably a hundred times, I am not kidding. These are fantastic and so healthy!
At first, I thought these were going to be a bust as the batter was more runny than I was expecting (even after letting it sit for 10 minutes). However, they turned out great and had such a delicious taste. The kids loved them!
Hooray! That’s great to hear, Penny.
Great recipe! Now that I’ve learned I’m sensitive to wheat, I’ve had to compromise on flavor for a lot of recipes. Not this one!! I think I would choose this over standard wheat waffles. I like to have these with peanut butter, bananas, and bacon. Keeps me full until dinner! They reheat pretty well too.
I’ve found that store bought oat flour makes these too thick, the less finely milled home made food processor flour works better.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Mrianda!
Hi Kate, I’m wondering if you could share the waffle maker you’re using? Thank you
Just wondering if you can sub the maple syrup with honey? I’m not a maple fan. Thank you
You could try it. Let me know how it works!
I used sugar-free ‘brown sugar’ Truvia (stevia)
Do not waste your time with ANY other gluten free waffle. For some reason I decided to give a handful of other waffles a try and was so disappointed that I didn’t even keep the batch.
These are everything you will ever want! I’ve probably made these 50+ times! Thank you Kate!
I’m glad you love these, Hope!
Followed the recipe as given and they were delicious! Topped with maple syrup, strawberries and pecans, they tasted great AND looked beautiful.
Great to hear, Barbara!
I’ve made these waffles at least a hundred times. The recipe is very forgiving and I appreciate the simple ingredients and especially not having to use GF all purpose flour or almond which can be so expensive. I feel the texture is so satisfying, compared to other GF recipes. Even my 71 year old dad can’t tell these are GF. Usually when I cook for him he’s suspicious that I “did something” to make it healthy!
Oof, something must’ve gone terribly wrong, because despite following the recipe, they came out fluffy yet limp! Not crispy at all.. Maybe my waffle iron doesn’t run hot enough.
Hi Luna, did you stack them on top of each other as you finished? That can cause some steam to soften the ones underneath fresh, hot waffles. You could try crisping them up in a toaster oven.
I have used coconut oil so far, but I’m concerned about the saturated fat, since my cholesterol and LDL are higher than they should be. I’m wondering about using a light (not virgin, the flavor is too intense) olive oil instead.
Has anyone tried using a more healthy fat than coconut or butter? Is there a tweak to the ingredients that will allow me to do this?
Shoshana… I made these today and used Avocado Oil, reduced amount, it worked perfectly. For personal health reasons, I adjusted the recipe. If interested:
1 1/2 Cups Whole Oats
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 Cups Water
1 Tablespoon Avocado oil
1 Egg
1/2 Cup applesauce, unsweetened
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Medjool Date (optional)
I put all the ingredients, including the oats, in the NutriBullet and blended. I follow the instructions as far as letting the batter rest for 10 minutes, preheating the waffle iron, and cooking on medium high. I hope this helps you on your health journey!
Perfect! Thank you for the recipe. I substituted oat flour with oats +spelt+almond flour as I didn’t have enough oats. The texture, the taste came out so good. My first waffles actually
These waffles are delicious! The recipe turned out as promised for me. Thank you very much, Kate.
A note about your endorsement of the waffle maker that you use however. It has 3.7 stars on Amazon and some dismal reviews. Yikes. That makes me wary of any product endorsements on your blog in the future. It may be wise to choose your endorsements carefully.
Amazing !! These were delicious and my kids love them. Your recipes never fail
These have become my favorite waffles! I add fresh blueberries to the batter and then sprinkle toasted pecans over the top before closing the waffle iron. Thanks for sharing this and many other recipes that have become my go tos!
Excellent recipe – followed it to a Tee
As a gluten-free vegetarian who bakes A LOT, this is my favorite waffle recipe, hands down. It’s hearty, filling and versatile. It only makes 3 large waffles for me, but one waffle is a big meal. I serve mine with a homemade sweetened cashew cream, blueberry compote, whipped coconut cream and toasted nuts. I’ve also served it savory by spreading Cheez Whiz on top, sprinkling green onions and fried seitan.
I’d like to make an oat-buckwheat flour combination. Are there any adjustments I need to make for that?
I sub out the 1/4 cup oil for apple sauce to keep them a bit lower in calories. My whole family loves them, this is an excellent recipe.
These have replaced regular waffles in my family. Everyone loves them. Light, delicious and so easy to make! Thank you!!!
They were apparently delicious to my 8 year old. Only 5 came out with the doubled ingredients. I used all as is with homemade blended rolled oats. I added skim milk and they came out pretty good.
love this recipe, totally surprised on how good this turned out. served it with hummus for breakfast, and it’s super yummy. Also tasty and kids friendly when serve with chunky peanut butter + condensed milk too. This recipe is so good that I won’t need to search any further, will just use this going forward. Thanks.
I made this waffle recipe three weeks ago and since then it became my family breakfast on Sundays.
I replaced the butter for Avocado oil and they came out SUPER DELICIOUS!!
Thanks for sharing that the substitution worked for you, Michelina!
I highly recommend this waffle recipe, it is Nutritious, Healthy and overall satisfy the taste of all eaters, including the pickier ones!!
Is there a way to add Greek yogurt to increase the protein content?
Hi Kelsey, I haven’t tried this recipe with yogurt instead of the milk, but I think it would be wonderful served with yogurt and berries to increase the protein.
Can I add berries into the batter
Hi Nancy, yes you could add berries in the batter.
Very fluffy and delicious!
these are magnificent. i can’t rave enough about them Kate. i’ve made them countless times for GF fam member and love the texture, flavor – etc! far exceed any NYT waffles ANY DAY! thank you for your continued incredible recipes :)
These were absolutely delicious!! I added a tablespoon of ground flaxseed and used avocado oil in place of the coconut oil. Yes the batter is thin as some other people have mentioned, but they come out lovely. Thank you for this recipe!
This is the best oat flour recipe! I have tried multiple oat flour recipes elsewhere for pancakes, muffins, biscuits, etc. My toddler is sensitive to grains and dairy among other things. Oat flour is the only thing she hasn’t reacted to so she can have some yummy carbs. She LOVES these waffles and so do I. They are so delicious and actually just as you said – crispy on the outside and soft inside. And just as the recipe is written! I have had to make modifications on other recipes trying to get them to work. This is the first recipe of yours I have tried. Will try out more of your recipes. THANK YOU SO MUCH! It is so nice to have a happy baby instead of serving her sad dense, or mushy raw on the inside flops for breakfast.
Hi Keala, thank you so much! I hope you find more recipes that work for your family here.