My three kids were close enough in age that I once worked out I was cooking four or five separate meals a night, baby food, then toddler food, then something else for the rest of us, and that is the exact kitchen these waffle iron hacks were invented for. One hot appliance that seals, presses and crisps all at once turns out to be the shortest route between whatever is in the fridge and something a person will actually eat. Hash browns get crisp on every surface instead of two. Leftover fries come back as one pull-apart slab. Omelets, biscuits and gravy, churros, pizza dough, crab cakes, banana bread, hot dogs. Seven of them are ours, and almost none of them are waffles.
1. Waffled Spaghetti Bun Burger
Cooked spaghetti mixed with a couple of eggs, packed into the waffle iron and pressed into two buns. Then a half-pound Italian sausage patty with mozzarella, marinara and fresh Parmesan goes between them. The eggs are the whole structural argument, because without them you have hot noodles falling out of your hands. The maker is honest that this is not an original idea, just a well-executed one.
Get the full tutorial at Dude Foods.
2. Hash Browns In A Waffle Iron
Ours, and the one I would send a beginner to first. A thawed thirty-ounce bag of frozen shredded hash browns, four tablespoons of melted butter, a teaspoon of kosher salt, half a teaspoon of pepper, three quarters of a cup each of grated cheddar and finely diced ham. Spray the iron, cook on low to medium for fifteen minutes. They come out crisp on every face, which makes them a genuinely good bread substitute.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
3. Waffle Iron Brownies With Strawberry Syrup
Brownie batter in a waffle iron, topped with strawberry syrup. What you get is the crunchy edge piece from the corner of the pan, on all four sides, which is either the best or the worst news depending on which brownie person you are. Fudgy batters do this better than cakey ones. Run a knife around before you open the lid.
Get the full tutorial at Well Floured.
4. Loaded Potato Waffles
Ours, and it is a stuffed one. About a pound of potatoes boiled twenty minutes and mashed, then a cup of flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, salt, an egg, five chopped green onions and half a cup of milk. Half the mixture into the greased iron, a slice of cheddar, ham, another slice of cheddar, then the rest of the mixture on top. Five to seven minutes.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
5. Canned Croissant Waffles
Ours, and possibly the shortest ingredient list in this whole post: a can of croissants, a waffle iron and cooking spray. Pressing a croissant makes it crisp and crunchy all the way through instead of flaky, and that texture is what makes it hold a topping. Savory with melted cheese, or sweet with ice cream, whipped cream, nuts or crushed cereal. Ninety seconds of work.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
6. Waffle Omelet
Two eggs per omelet, two tablespoons of milk, salt, pepper and finely diced vegetables, poured straight into the waffle maker. The instruction that matters: ignore the waffle maker’s timer entirely and cook until the eggs are firm. It is a good way through leftover onions, peppers and mushrooms, and it makes an egg that holds its shape well enough to go in a sandwich.
Get the full tutorial at Growing Up Gabel.
7. Blueberry Muffin Waffles
Muffin batter, waffle iron. Half a cup of vegetable oil, a cup of whole milk, two eggs, a cup of sugar, one and three quarter cups of flour, a teaspoon of baking powder and a cup of blueberries, fresh or frozen. Two to three minutes per waffle, six from a batch. Wipe stuck blueberries off the plates between waffles or they burn onto the next one.
Get the full tutorial at Buns in My Oven.
8. Cornbread Waffle Tacos
Cornbread waffles with two teaspoons of taco seasoning mixed into the batter, then topped with seasoned ground beef and everything you would put on a taco. One and a half cups each of buttermilk and flour, a cup of cornmeal, two teaspoons of baking soda. The seasoning in the batter is the step people skip, and it is the only thing keeping the waffle from tasting like breakfast.
Get the full tutorial at Taste and Tell.
9. Savory Cheddar And Bacon Waffles
Ours, and a from-scratch batter rather than a hack on something canned. A cup of milk, a cup of shredded cheddar, two beaten eggs, three tablespoons of melted butter, one and a half cups of flour, a tablespoon of baking powder, a teaspoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of salt and eight slices of cooked bacon, divided so some goes on top. Still good with maple syrup, if salty-sweet is your thing.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
10. One Minute Waffle Iron Baked Apples
Slice an apple into rings just over a quarter inch thick, dust with cinnamon and sugar, grease the iron by running a stick of butter over it, one slice per section, one minute, no flipping. They come out hot, soft and chewy. Use a crisp apple, Honeycrisp, Gala, Granny Smith or Jonathan, because a soft one turns to mush. Pineapple works the same way.
Get the full tutorial at Cupcake Project.
11. Waffle Iron Churros
A choux batter, the same base as cream puffs, which is why these crisp instead of going soft. Half a cup water, four tablespoons butter, a tablespoon sugar, a quarter teaspoon cinnamon, half a cup flour, two eggs added one at a time. Medium to medium-high, five to ten minutes, then brushed with butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Makes three. Double it, because three is not enough.
Get the full tutorial at The Cooking Actress.
12. Stuffed Pizza Waffles
Store-bought or homemade pizza dough, stuffed and pressed, and the source specifically rejected the biscuit-dough version she started from because pizza dough works better. Marinara and ranch both make good dips. Fair warning that filling squeezes out no matter how carefully you seal it, so spray the plates well. Her teenagers made these themselves, which tells you the difficulty level.
Get the full tutorial at My Kitchen Escapades.
13. Waffled Banana Bread
Banana bread batter in a waffle iron takes minutes instead of an hour, and the trade is texture: crisp edges and a denser crumb rather than a soft loaf. Very ripe bananas still matter, maybe more, because there is less time for the sugars to do anything. Butter and maple syrup, or cream cheese if you want it to read as dessert. A good use for two sad bananas.
Get the full tutorial at Parade Community Table.
14. Ground Steak Waffles
Ours, and the one nobody expects. Ground steak or ground beef with an egg, breadcrumbs and your seasoning, pressed in a sprayed waffle iron. You can also skip the mixing and put the meat straight in from the package. The ridges give you far more browned surface than a flat patty does, and browned surface is flavor. Good in a sandwich or alongside a salad.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
15. Waffle Iron Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Two slices of bread, three ounces of cheddar, two tablespoons of room temperature salted butter on the outside faces only. Three to five minutes. The instruction that matters is not to press down, because the iron’s own weight does the pressing as the cheese melts. Keep the cheese under a quarter inch thick, and remember aged cheeses are sharper but melt worse than young ones.
Get the full tutorial at Fifteen Spatulas.
16. Waffled Pepperoni Pizza Grilled Cheese
A can of Pillsbury thin pizza crust rolled and cut into twelve squares, then about fifty-four mini pepperoni and three slices of mozzarella built into three sandwiches, with marinara served on the side rather than inside. Fifteen minutes. Keeping the sauce out is the decision that makes it work, because sauce inside turns the crust soggy and then leaks everywhere.
Get the full tutorial at Kirbie's Cravings.
17. Crab Cake Waffle
Crab cake mixture in the waffle iron, and the source’s version is grain free and dairy free, which is worth knowing before you plan around it. A crab cake is fragile in a pan and this is the fix: it is held on both sides while it sets rather than being flipped. Chill the mixture first. Remoulade or a lemon aioli in the wells.
Get the full tutorial at Karen Luvs Life.
18. Waffled Hotdogs
Hot dog and bun pressed together, based on the old KC drive-in waffle dogs from Hawaii, which were made in a dedicated machine that turned out smooth rectangles. A home waffle iron gets you the same idea with ridges. The source recommends a good quality uncured hot dog, and notes veggie dogs work if you already know you like them. Try one first.
Get the full tutorial at Guava Rose.
19. Cornbread Waffle And Chili
Ours, and a full meal rather than a hack. A cup each of cornmeal and flour, four teaspoons of baking powder, a quarter cup sugar, a teaspoon of salt, two eggs, a cup of milk and a quarter cup of canola oil for the waffles. The chili is a pound of ground beef with tomato sauce, paste, diced tomatoes, two cans of kidney beans and a seasoning packet. Cheese, cream cheese and green onion on top.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
20. Waffle Iron Mozzarella Sticks
Sliced mozzarella, breaded and cooked in a well-oiled waffle iron, so you get fried cheese without a pot of oil on the stove. They are not stick-shaped and the grid is the point: the divots hold marinara instead of letting it slide off. Firm, low-moisture mozzarella only. This comes out of Daniel Shumski’s Will It Waffle?, which is where a lot of this post’s better ideas started.
Get the full tutorial at Serious Eats.
21. Chicken And Waffle Bites
Ours, and the shortcut is small frozen waffles as the bread. The chicken is thighs or breasts brined in half a cup of pickle juice, a quarter cup water, half a cup buttermilk and an egg, then breaded with flour, three tablespoons of powdered sugar, paprika, black pepper, chili powder, salt, baking powder and one to three teaspoons of cayenne. Coleslaw and pickles, assembled into sliders.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
22. Waffled Ice Cream Sandwiches
Cookie dough stuffed inside a yeasted brioche-style waffle dough, then chocolate ice cream between two of them. The maker is straight about what happens: some of the dough oozes out if you do not seal it completely, and the iron does not turn the cookie dough into a cookie, it melts the mini chocolate chips instead. That melting is the good part. Seal thoroughly.
Get the full tutorial at Half Baked Harvest.
23. Waffle Biscuits And Gravy
Biscuit dough in the iron, sausage gravy over it. Two cups flour, a teaspoon salt, four teaspoons baking powder, a quarter teaspoon baking soda, four tablespoons of cold butter and a cup and a half of buttermilk makes about four waffles. The gravy is sixteen ounces of sausage, a quarter cup of flour and three cups of milk, and the source says plainly not to drain the grease.
Get the full tutorial at Yammie's Noshery.
24. Pull Apart Waffle Fries
Leftover fries, the sad ones from last night, pressed in a hot waffle iron until they fuse into one crisp slab you tear apart by hand. It is the best use for cold fries there is, better than the oven and much better than the microwave. Season while they are hot. This is the hack to try first if you are still deciding whether any of this works.
Get the full tutorial at Serious Eats.
