Potato waffles are crispy and delicious! Made with mashed potatoes, they make a savory or sweet breakfast, appetizer, or brunch.
Want a fun way to make a savory breakfast: try Potato Waffles! These crispy waffles are to-die-for, with a crispy exterior and a fluffy, cheesy interior. They taste like a combination of a hashbrown and a waffle, and wow are they delicious. Serve them up savory with sour cream and chives (or as chicken and waffles). Or, they work just as well served sweet with maple syrup! They’re the perfect idea for using up leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving or any meal.
What you need for potato waffles
This potato waffles recipe is perfect if you happen to have leftover mashed potatoes, but you can make them anytime. The delicious cheesy, savory potato flavor will have you hooked! This one went over extremely well in our family, and we loved both the savory and sweet ways to serve them. Other than the mashed potatoes, you don’t need much to bring these together:
- Refrigerator ingredients: Leftover mashed potatoes, eggs
- Pantry ingredients: Olive oil, baking powder, salt, all-purpose flour
- Dairy: Shredded cheddar cheese, milk of choice
Got more leftover mashed potatoes? Also try Mashed Potato Pancakes.
Belgian waffles vs standard
This mashed potato waffles recipe works for either Belgian or standard waffles. Our personal preference is Belgian waffles, since they’re thicker and look more impressive. (Here’s the Belgian waffle iron we use.) Here’s more about the different types:
- Belgian waffles are twice as large as regular waffles. They’re 1 ½ inches thick with a deep grid pattern. One serving size is half of a Belgian waffle, since it’s double the size of a standard waffle — unless you make the half size with ruffled edges (see below).
- Regular waffles, aka American waffles are about 1/2-inch thick. They’re half the size of the Belgian waffles, and the serving size is 1 waffle.
Tips on cooking potato waffles
For these potato waffles, we like to cook them in a Belgian waffle maker but make ruffled edges by using half the standard batter. We love the look of these: and you can make more waffles in a single batch! Here’s how to do it:
- Ruffled edges: Simply use about ½ cup of the batter in a Belgian waffle maker and don’t spread it to the edges. You can also do this in a standard waffle maker by using about ¼ cup batter.
- Full circular waffles: Use about 1 cup for a Belgian waffle maker or ½ cup for a standard waffle marker, and spread it the edges. These quantities depend on the waffle maker, so eyeball it and adjust quantities as necessary.
Toppings for potato waffles
You can serve potato waffles savory or sweet, which makes them incredibly versatile! We like them as a savory breakfast or appetizer topped with sour cream and chives. But they’re just as good sweet with maple syrup. Here are a few savory and sweet ways we like to top them:
- Sour cream and chives for a savory breakfast or appetizer
- Fried chicken for chicken and waffles
- Pure maple syrup for a sweet breakfast
- Fruit sauce or compote like raspberry compote or blueberry sauce
- Fresh fruit like strawberries, raspberries, or sliced bananas
- Whipped cream like homemade whipped cream
Dietary notes
As written, this potato waffles recipe is vegetarian. For dairy-free, omit the cheese and add another pinch of salt. Use oat milk, and serve with cashew cream.
For gluten-free, you can use gluten-free 1-for-1 flour. Almond flour is another option, but the pancakes would be more fragile and you might want to make them smaller to be easier to flip.
This potato waffles recipe is…
Vegetarian. For dairy-free and gluten-free, see the Dietary Notes section above.
Potato Waffles Recipe
Ingredients
1x
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch kosher salt*
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups cold leftover mashed potatoes
- 1 tablespoon milk of choice
2x
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 pinch kosher salt*
- 1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 4 cup cold leftover mashed potatoes
- 2 tablespoon milk of choice
3x
- 6 large eggs
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 pinch kosher salt*
- 2 ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 6 cup cold leftover mashed potatoes
- 3 tablespoon milk of choice
Instructions
- Whisk the eggs, then add the oil, baking powder, flour and salt and whisk until combined. Change to a spatula and stir in the shredded cheese, mashed potatoes and milk.
- Grease or butter your waffle iron. Add about ½ cup of the batter into the center of the waffle iron (don’t spread it out if it’s a Belgian waffle maker**), then cook according to the waffle iron’s instructions until golden brown: about 3 to 4 minutes depending on your waffle iron. Note that this takes slightly longer than a standard waffle because the batter is denser. Remove the cooked waffles and place them on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet without stacking. Make the waffles to order, or place cooked waffles in a 250°F oven to keep warm.
- Serve immediately with sour cream and chives or maple syrup. Cooked waffles can be frozen; place them in a plastic bag and remove the remaining air with a straw before sealing. To reheat, remove from the freezer and lightly toast in a toaster.