Bacon and Cheddar Waffles

My Bacon and Cheddar Waffles are crispy and fluffy, and filled with salty bacon and savory cheddar cheese. Topped with butter and warm maple syrup, these are going to be your new obsession!

Forget the battle between waffles and pancakes, these Bacon and Cheddar Waffles are winning the war (so sorry to those of you who are team pancake). You guys know I have a long time love of waffles. It goes all the way back to Sunday mornings with my Dad, and that obsession continues to this day. Well, I have added a new weapon to my arsenal!

These Bacon and Cheddar Waffles take it to another level. There is just something about adding salty bacon and savory cheddar cheese to a sweet waffle that will put all of your flavor jets on full blast. Not only are they delicious, they are incredibly easy to make, and even easier to devour!

Ingredients

If you don't have all of the ingredients to make these Bacon and Cheddar Waffles, go get them, make some waffles, then come talk to me. You'll be sure to have them on hand from now on! Until then, I have a few substitutes listed below. I just want you to be happy. These waffles will do that 🥰

See recipe card for quantities.

Substitutions

If you are missing a key ingredient for this recipe, I still want you to enjoy some delicious waffles.

• Cornstarch - I know that not everyone has cornstarch on hand all the time, so feel free to just add another ½ cup of all-purpose flour.
• Buttermilk - If you don't have buttermilk in your fridge using 1 ½ cups of yogurt mixed with ½ cup of milk is the perfect substitute. You can also use milk or half and half.
• Bacon - If you don't have thick cut bacon, thin cut will work just as well. If you don't have any bacon, why? Just kidding 😂 You can always substitute with chopped ham, crumbled or sliced breakfast sausage, or even chopped lunch meat. Trust me, I've done it.
• Cheddar - I really enjoy the savory sharpness of cheddar cheese in the waffles, but you can use any cheese you like.

Variations

Bacon and Cheddar Waffles are really peak breakfast goals, but sometimes we gotta jazz things up, don't we?

• Spicy - Chop up a jalapeño and toss it in with the bacon and cheddar. Leave in the seeds, if you dare!
• Vegetarian - Skip the bacon (I can't believe I said that) and add some chopped chives for an herby, cheesy waffle.
• Team texture - In place of the cornstarch you can use cornmeal. It adds a light cornbread flavor and texture that is amazing with the bacon and cheddar!
• Ham and cheese - Ham and American cheese will have you looking for tomato soup to dip in!
• Ham and Swiss Cheese - Like my Ham and Cheese Biscuits, adding ham and Swiss cheese to the batter makes for a ridiculously delicious waffle.

Instructions

I make waffles so often, I don't even have to look at the recipe anymore. One taste of my Bacon and Cheddar Waffles and you'll be making them so often, you won't need the recipe either. In the meantime, follow along!

1. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a large sheet pan. Lay your bacon down in a single layer. Place into a cold oven. Turn oven on to 400°F. Starting bacon in a cold oven renders more fat and gives a crispier result.

2. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until crispy, turning the slices over halfway through. Remove cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate to cool. Chop the bacon and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, add all of the dry ingredients. Whisk them together.

4. In a large measuring cup, whisk together buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Drizzle in the melted and cooled butter and continue whisking.

5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk just until there is no visible dry flour. It will be lumpy. That's normal.

6. Fold in the cheddar cheese and bacon until evenly mixed in. Save some bacon for garnish if you like. Allow the batter to rest while you preheat your waffle maker. This will hydrate those lumps and fluff up your batter.

7. Scoop batter into your waffle maker. Follow the manufacturer's instructions on how much batter to add and how long to cook your waffles, usually about 4 to 5 minutes.

8. Place cooked waffles into a 250°F oven to dry and crisp up the surface while you make the rest.

Serve with butter and warm maple syrup. Garnish with more chopped bacon if you like. Eat more than you planned and feel really good about that decision.

How to get the crispiest waffles

There are two special ingredients that help give you a crispier bacon and cheddar waffle: cornstarch and time. What?! Allow me to explain:

Replacing a portion of the all-purpose flour with cornstarch is a great way to get crispier and lighter waffles. Cornstarch helps to decrease gluten development and it also absorbs excess moisture, giving you an crispy exterior while maintaining a fluffy interior.

When you are making your waffles you'll see steam billowing out from the sides of your waffle maker as they cook. This steam decreases as they get nearer to done, but even when you take them out, some moisture is still remains on the surface.

After they are done, place your waffles on a wire rack on a large sheet pan and put them in a 250°F oven. This will allow the exterior to dry out and will seal off the fluffy and moist interior. Just a few minutes will do wonders for your crisp factor!

Waffle makers

Now that you know the cornstarch and time crispiness factors, does your waffle make make a huge difference? Well, not all waffle makers are created equal, but they're pretty darn close. In my opinion, how often you make waffles, and how much you want to spend, are really the deciding factors in which waffle maker you purchase.

For years I was perfectly happy with my inexpensive Black and Decker Waffle maker. It made one waffle with four little sections and always released the waffle easily. Very lightweight, it was easy to clean by holding it over the sink and brushing it out with a silicone brush. The only real drawbacks were, my waffles weren't quite as crispy as I wanted and, if you overfilled the machine batter, dripped all over the counter.

Now that I'm a professional waffle chef (by that I mean, I'm constantly making and eating waffles), I treated myself to an upgrade. I really wanted a beautiful stainless steel baby with removable, dishwasher safe plate, but I'm not a millionaire yet.

I ultimately went with the smaller version of the one Ina Garten uses: a Cuisinart waffle maker. It has a drip catcher for when I'm too enthusiastic with the batter, and it makes two deep pocketed Belgian style waffles that, along with my two special ingredients, increase the chances of waffles that come out incredibly crispy every time!

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