Remember when I posted Alice Waters’ recipe for whole wheat waffles a few months ago and said they weren’t quite as crispy as I’d like them to be? Apologies to Ms. Waters, but these waffles totally trump hers. They are as crisp as can be, with an incredible crunch and an impossibly fluffy interior, not to mention a heavenly coconut fragrance and flavor. They’re everything I dreamed they could be.
I discovered King Arthur Flour‘s recipe for whole wheat waffles last month through the commenters on Orangette. I had just finished reading (and falling in love with) Molly Wizenberg’s book, A Homemade Life (quick aside: she grew up in Oklahoma City, not far from where I grew up!).
Hungry for more of Molly’s wonderful writing, I visited her blog and came across a post in which she asked her readers for their favorite waffle recipe. She received over 200 suggestions; her people know their waffles. Being the whole grain nerd that I am, I scanned through all of the comments for the words “whole wheat” and noticed that the clear consensus was this whole wheat waffle recipe by King Arthur Flour. It seemed almost too simple, too basic with no special tricks, but the five star rating and glowing reviews convinced me that this recipe might just be “the one”. The perfect whole wheat waffle recipe.
Of course, being me, I had to change it up a little. You may have noticed that I’ve been on a coconut kick lately, so I couldn’t resist trading the regular butter and milk for coconut oil and coconut milk. Success! These waffles are quite possibly the best I’ve ever tasted, and most certainly the best I’ve ever made.
I have also been on a cranberry kick lately, so I decided to make a quick and easy cranberry sauce. The recipe below doesn’t make a ton, enough for a big spoonful for each waffle. It’s really delicious, but to be honest, these coconut waffles don’t need anything special. Real maple syrup is just right.
Cranberry Cinnamon Sauce Recipe
Adapted from Green Market Baking Book‘s recipe for Blueberry Ginger Syrup (seen here)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons arrowroot starch (or cornstarch)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons water
Instructions:
- Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Stir constantly for about three to five minutes, until the cranberries pop, the sauce thickens and turns red. That’s it!
Whole Wheat Coconut Waffles
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 to 3 servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast
Crispy coconut waffles made with 100% whole wheat flour. This delicious coconut waffle recipe is easy to make, too! Recipe yields about 3 ½ Belgian waffles.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons turbinado (raw) sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups room temperature light coconut milk (or lukewarm milk)
- ⅓ cup melted virgin coconut oil or 5 tablespoons melted butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your waffle iron.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar).
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (egg, coconut milk, coconut oil and vanilla extract).
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. The batter will be a little lumpy, which is fine.
- Cook the waffles as directed by the waffle iron manufacturer.
Notes
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour’s recipe for whole wheat waffles.
Note on fat content: Since light coconut milk has a higher fat content than low fat cow’s milk, I suspect you could reduce the amount of coconut oil to ¼ cup. Remember, though, waffles need enough fat or they won’t get crispy (source: On Food and Cooking). Nobody likes a soggy waffle!
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Maria
What a great waffle flavor! They look perfect!
kris
I love waffles but I haven’t had one in ages. Adding coconut to them makes them sound even better.
Erica
Ohhhhh looks like a fabulous recipe! I have never thought to try coconut oil in a waffle batter! This is going in the must try folder! “A Homemade Life”…what a book! Have you tried the Winning Hearts and Minds Cake?!
kate
No, I haven’t tried the Winning Hearts and Minds Cake yet but it sounds amazing! I love the little powdered sugar heart you put next to yours.
la domestique
Oh dear I do love waffles. Never tried one with coconut milk but I think it seems like a great idea. Glad you found the crispy waffle you were looking for.
Melissa
These look divine! I’m with you on the coconut milk. I made my pumpkin pie with it this year. Yum!
Maria@Orchard Bloom
These look fabulous. I will be adding these to my “to make” list for sure!
Pure2raw twins
now I am craving waffles is it ok to make them for dinner haha of course it is LOL
they look great!!!
Jacqui
I never make waffles for that exact reason! They have to be crispy, otherwise I’ll just make pancakes! Thanks so much for posting these, they sound delicious! I’m so getting my waffle making on soon : )
kate
You’re welcome, Jacqui! I’m so glad I found the King Arthur waffle recipe. I’m sure the waffles are just as crispy made with regular milk and oil if you’re not in the mood for coconut. Enjoy!
Kathryn O
YUM. Great call on the coconut milk, and I bet these taste awesome paired with the cranberry sauce!
Katrina
These waffles sound so awesome! I love how you made them coconut! Also, I would have never though to put cranberry sauce on waffles – great idea!
Kayla
Those look absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to try out this recipe! Thank you for sharing (:
http://www.sealedwithakay.com
Lacey
oh my heavens…
Erin
You had me at “coconut waffles”, I’m filing this one away to try! :)
Ashley@BakerbyNature
I’ll be over for breakfast tomorrow!!
Erin@TexanerinBaking
I love how little sugar your cranberry sauce uses! I wish I could make these waffles, especially since they’re whole grain, but we don’t have a waffle iron. They’ll go on my list for the wonderful day we get a waffle maker! Your pictures are lovely. :)
kate
Hey Erin, I hope you get a waffle iron soon! For Christmas, perhaps? I got lucky and inherited one from a friend. By the way, that cranberry sauce is great on lots of other things, too. Toast, oatmeal, and so forth.
chinmayie
Awesome is the word!!
nat@thesweetslife
oh goodness, these sound wonderful! Just bookmarked!
Natalie
Drooool! These look amazing!
Kathy
Just made these for dinner, since I had the ingredients and was looking for something uncomplicated. These were awesome! I didn’t make the cranberry topping, so I just put on a little butter and drizzled some agave syrup. Next time I’ll put some chocolate chips in for the kiddos for a fun breakfast.
kate
I’m so glad you enjoyed the coconut waffles! Chocolate chips sound like a terrific addition, I will have to try that next time, too!
Olga
From what I understand you can only sub a small amount of coconut flour as it absorbs too much liquid.
Carli
Try using coconut flour or almond flour instead of whole wheat…. that makes some REALLY FANTASTIC, and not to mention gluten free, waffles! :)
kate
Great suggestions, thanks Carli!
Christina
Made these waffles for supper and they were super crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle! Thanks for the great recipe. It’s a definite keeper.
Kate
Excellent! Glad to hear your waffles turned out well, Christina! Thank you for commenting.
rachel
These waffles are perfection! Crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside… these waffles are now my go to recipe. Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Kate
Hooray! Thanks, Rachel!
Sarah
These look amazing! I’m a sucker for good waffles ;) Wondering if the sauce could be made with blueberries instead? They’re all I have in the freezer right now. I think I’ll give it a try :)
Kate
Yep, blueberries should work great! These waffles are also delicious with nut butter on top, or just maple syrup!
Elina
very tasty waffles, thank you! one question though…my dough was kinda watery and I had to add additional flour. is it suppose to be watery?
Kate
Hmmm. I don’t recall the dough being watery, although it is more of a “batter,” so it shouldn’t be super thick, either. Are you sure you didn’t have any big lumps of flour in there?
Elina
It was kinda like pancake dough and resulted in flat, tasty, pancake like waffle. :). I mixed it well. The proportion liquid/flour is 1:1plus oil plus an egg so it should be thin. I will try again without extra flour. maybe it is my waffle maker.
Kate
Hmmm. Sounds like your leavener didn’t kick in—are you sure you didn’t forget the baking powder? Or maybe your jar has expired? Might be worth checking into.
Debra
The waffles were amazing nice flavor and loved the crunchy texture love coconut milk and coconut oil so much healthier,even my husband enjoyed them and he is not a coconut fan.Thank you for this recipe it was so easy and quick
Kate
Thank you, Debra! I’m so glad you enjoyed these!
Michael
Bland and limp I did them exactly as directed – I used butter. They didn’t really crisp up as promised. Maybe I just don’t appreciate the taste of wheat flour as much as others but I’m certain never I’ll make these again.
★
Kate
Michael, I’m sorry to hear that. It sounds like you didn’t cook your waffles long enough.
Carmen
Great recipe thanks so much! The only thing that didn’t work for us was the 2 teaspoons of baking powder. I used half wholewheat rice flour and the rest plain flour. After the first waffle which had a strong baking powder taste I mixed milk and cream (about a cup in total) and a cup of plain flour to the mixture. They turned out much better and I will definitely make these again but only with a teaspoon of baking powder. Perhaps our baking powder is different here in Copenhagen.
★★★★
Sara
Excellent recipe! Perfect all around. I added cinnamon and doubled the vanilla. Used a whole can of regular coconut milk and reduced oil to 1/4 cup. Will make these again! Family enjoyed them immensely!
★★★★★
Nina
Just made them! They’re perfect! Thankyou for the recipe Kate! :)
★★★★★
Brook
Just made this for my hubby’s bday! Not sure that my waffle-making technique is up to par (can’t remember the last time I used a waffle iron), but he and his buddy ate up the finished product with a little extra coconut on top:)
Jana
Hi Kate! Whenever I am searching for some recipe, I know I found the one when google shows me your page! You have akways great recipes, tasty, yummy! These waffles are amazing! I have used agave syrup instead of sugar and they turned out great! Thank you:) Jans from Czech Republic
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you! I’m so glad you’re finding my recipes in the search results. :)
Elizabeth Brown
Thanks for posting.
I made the waffles and cranberry sauce this morning and it was really good. The cranberry sauce was the best that I have ever had.
★★★★★
Lori
I added shredded coconut to the batter and it was delicious!
★★
Kate
Thanks, Lori!
Ann F
This recipe was a total failure for me, not sure what I did. I used canned coconut milk that was regular not light because its what i had. I had to add a ton of water to get right consistency, and then the whole thing stuck like glue to my waffle iron. I had to make pancakes out of the batter, which seems laden down a bit with oil….1/3 c seems a lot. I like the concept though and coconut flavor comes thru nice. I added some grated coconut. Does type of waffle iron make a difference?
Kate
Hi Ann, I’m sorry this one was a flop for you. Unfortunately, using regular fat coconut milk and not light (then adding water) impacted the result. If you try it again as the recipe reads, I would love to hear how it goes!
Ann
Thanks Kate will do