Chaffle Making: Tips and Tricks

If you’ve been in the groups that follow low carb eating as at least part of the diet/eating style, you have probably already heard of a chaffle. In short, a chaffle is a sandwich bread/waffle sub that is rocking the low carb world.

If you’re not familiar with chaffles, you can go to this post for info on where to start with making a chaffle.

Now that this trend has exploded, a lot of people have offered lots of tips, tricks, and chaffle recipe variations. Some of them sound so yummy and I can’t wait to try them!

This post does have affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. Several of these items I was not familiar with and had to look up and wanted to provide them to you — and I have already been making a list of which ones I want first.

Seriously, some of these recipe ideas make my mouth water. I’m not sure there’s enough time, nor eggs, in the world.

So, without further ado, here are tips to clean your waffle maker, chaffle ingredient additions and how best to mix them all, yummy chaffle toppings, and how to store your chaffle.

General cooking

• Start with the basic Dash mini waffle maker
• When you figure out you’re going to make a lot of these, get a bigger waffle maker like this one, which has been reported by many readers as being really great and currently has a coupon.
• Basic recipe: 1 egg, ½ cup cheese. Pour half in mini waffle maker – See this post for details on how to make a chaffle.
• Add 1 Tbsp almond flour (I like this one) to basic recipe to make chaffle a little more substantial
• I don’t often use cheese, (I prefer it in the sandwich itself), it doesn’t cover all the waffle maker teeth, but is substantial enough.
• If you want a precise amount to measure for the mini waffle maker, start with about 2.5 Tbsp – ¼ cup of recipe to fill. Some recipe ingredients may cause an overflow, some may be thinner, but this is a good start for all recipe variations
• If you think it’s done, wait another minutes or two, or until the steam has stopped. In the mini waffle maker, 5 minutes is usually a good time, but I do flip mine to make it cook even more evenly, especially if part of it has puffed up
• Wait for waffle maker heat up light before you use it. Ingredients are less likely to stick if the waffle maker is hot. If you have more trouble with this, allow the waffle maker to reheat between chaffles. I haven’t had a need for this with the Dash, but it’s a potential solution if your second is not as successful as your first.
• Don’t overfill the mini waffle maker, use 1/8-1/4 cup of batter; stay on the lower side of this if you use baking powder
• Brush waffle maker lightly with coconut oil or butter before cooking for crispness. You can use a pastry basting brush or a paper towel to spread, if you do it after it is heated, be careful not to burn your hand!
• A little bit of cheese before/below the egg mixture and on top of egg mix may help it release easier if you find that your chaffle sticks to your waffle maker
• Get extra crunchy: Put cheese on griddle before whisked egg mix, and then on top.
• Set your timer on your oven or phone. I haven’t had a problem overcooking with just a few more minutes, but you don’t want to forget about it and have it burn and possibly create a fire. Also, it needs very little attendance, so you can prep other items while it cooks.
• “Use less than you think you need and cook longer than you think you should.” YMMV
• Can keep made chaffles warm in the air fryer while other chaffles cook.

Can You Make Chaffles in a Belgian Waffle Maker?

Chaffles can be made in a Belgian waffle maker, though you will likely have to alter the recipe to something like this: 3 eggs, 1.5 cup cheese, 1 tsp baking powder, makes 4 Belgian waffles. Spray, heat, cook 4-5 minutes. May need to brush oil on the plates and cook thoroughly so they don’t stick, can experiment with a higher heat.

Chaffle Ingredients and Mixing

• Whisk/mix with a fork for only a couple of ingredients
• For more ingredients, mix everything in the blender cup/Magic Bullet or with a immersion stick blender like this one that is highly rated and has a whisk attachment… ~lusty moment, I want a whisk attachment for mine. Okay, moment over.~
• You don’t have to blend the cheese into the egg. Some people do, some people don’t.
• If mix seems too thick, splash a little heavy whipping cream to thin it out.
• Baking powder helps them fluff up, need only 1/8 tsp in a recipe.

Ingredients & Additions

• Can add 1 Tbsp almond flour per 1 egg; this may make it a drier recipe but many people recommend this addition
• Baking powder and flour make it better, some heavy whipping cream too because the fat in it makes the texture better, approx. 1 Tbsp or “a splash”; Fold in after mixing in blender, also helps mask the eggy taste
• Isopure protein powder (keto friendly) works well in a chaffle to give more of a waffle texture (light, airy, fluffy); Use approx. 5g (1 tsp) per egg; can be used in lieu of almond flour
• Double your grocery list of eggs and cheese
• Shred your own cheese in a food processor: Shredded cheese contains cellulose to help prevent it from sticking together (oh the horror); cellulose is often made from wood pulp. Gross! You can read more about that here. So, I shred my own, it takes seconds, and it doesn’t stick together.
• Everything Bagel Seasoning (soooo beloved by soooo many friends) can go inside batter (can also go on top as a seasoning)
• For savory chaffles, can put a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder in the egg mixture
• If you’re keto, watch your additional ingredients, the carb total can add up fast! Consider using some of those ingredients as sandwich fillers or toppings so you can taste them better. I only do egg chaffles for this reason, and use the cheese separately as the sandwich fillers.
• Put approx. ¼ cup cooked scrambled sausage, like Jimmy Dean brand, in the batter for it to be a part of the chaffle
• Add maple extract into mix to get syrup flavor in chaffle, like a McGriddle.
• Sprinkle a little dry yeast (these little packets are great) into mixture before whisking, will taste more like bread.
• Add vanilla and cinnamon to batter for sweet waffles
• Crush pork rinds (can put in blender or coffee grinder) instead of almond flour for great texture and less carbs.
• Taco seasoning in batter if using as a taco shell.
• Add chive and a little almond flour, salt, pepper, egg, rosemary, and parmesan cheese for a focaccia chaffle.
• Devotion nutrition Flex flavor packs (here are several fun, delicious options) are good additions
• Dash of cake batter extract for a sweet chaffle. Note to self: Must try!
• Tablespoon of nutritional yeast adds a great cheesy savory flavor
• Use ground flax in place of almond flour. (Always grind your flax seeds freshly. They go rancid very quickly once ground, and your body won’t get nutrition from the whole seeds.)
• Jalapeños and olives can be chopped and put in
• A tiny pinch of baking soda may help cut the tartness of the cheese.

Cheese variations

• Use cheese slices instead of shredded cheese; delis often have round cheese that fit perfectly in the Dash mini, just ask for the thin slices.
• Put one slice on the hot iron, add egg, top with the second slice and close the top; makes it crunchy
• Mozzarella tends to reduce the eggy taste
• Mozzarella is best for sweet chaffle, cheddar is good for savory chaffle
• Mozzarella, if used separately from egg mix (used by some to make it crunchy and help chaffle release from the griddle) may turn black, but should taste fine. Can use Monterrey if the color is a concern.
• Pepper jack cheese for a slightly spicy taste (my favorite cheese!)
• Add 2 oz cream cheese, can also reduce eggy taste
• Provolone is good

Decrease eggy taste

Obviously, the more ingredients you use to make your chaffle, the less egg you will taste. I haven’t really had a problem with it tasting too eggy, but if you do, here are some suggestions:

• Can use egg 2 whites (in place of 1 egg) to decrease eggy taste.
• Almond flour also does the same, will produce a slightly drier chaffle as well
• Mozzarella tends to reduce the eggy taste
• Add 1 oz of cream cheese per waffle
• Tablespoon of nutritional yeast and pepper jack cheese.

Toppings

• Everything but the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s (can also go in egg mixture)
• Chive and onion cream cheese
• Johnny’s Parmesan Garlic seasoning
• While putting chocolate in the mixture will make it burnt, you can take a Lily’s Chocolate bar (keto friendly) and shave it onto the chaffle while it’s still hot and it will melt on it.
• If you have chocolate chips instead, you can chop them in a nut chopper like this one and sprinkle the pieces on top. YUM!!
• 2-3 pepperonis on top of batter (and cheese of choice) before closing dash mini waffle maker. Then cut into strips and dip into pizza/marinara sauce. Perfect little pizzas!

Cooling off/Freezing/Storage/Reheating

• Allowing them to cool on a baked goods cooling rack will help them become crispier
• Can be kept about a week in the fridge.
• You can freeze them to keep them fresh
• Make sure they are completely cooled for better results, can use cooking rack to cool faster
• For freezing, put a piece of wax or parchment paper between them so they’re easier to get apart, or lay individually on a sheet pan and then put into bag/container once individually frozen
• Reheat in toaster if you want them crispy; can also try toaster oven or air fryer
• Microwave can be used if crispiness is not an issue, approximately 45 seconds-1 minute for 2
• Heat chaffle maker to warm it up. Be careful that chaffle is not freezer burnt when reheating, and also monitor it as you reheat, as it could catch on fire. Ask me how I know… {story at the end of post}

How to Clean and Maintain Your Waffle Maker

• Don’t use Pam or other non-stick sprays with propellants as they will eventually eat away the non-stick coating away; use butter, olive, avocado, or coconut oil instead.
• Set the waffle maker on a plate or a silicone cooking mat like this one in case of overflow.
• Keep cord on countertop and unavailable to pets and children. It can burn them if its hot. If it gets pulled off, it will likely break.
• Eco-friendly option: use a toothbrush to easier clean between the teeth of the waffle maker.
• Voted ‘Best Tip’ by me!: If your waffle maker is full of gunk, put a damp paper towel in the waffle maker when you are done (unplug the iron, put the damp paper towel in and close the lid down, and leave it) and it makes clean up a breeze.
  • Though it is not an eco-friendly option, I used this once with GREAT results. So easy. Should I try it with a damp old rag that I can reuse or will that cause a fire? Film at 11.
• Don’t leave waffle maker dirty for days, it will be a beast to clean. If you forget or don’t get to cleaning it, try the damp paper towel (or spare damp clean towel) trick above and it will steam the grill clean.

(Story about reheating in microwave: I once had a normal frozen waffle I was reheating in a microwave at work. Didn’t pay close attention, turned away from it, went to check on waffle, smoke was BILLOWING at an alarming rate out of the microwave.

When I opened the microwave, it smoked even more. So I closed it, and watched the smoke rise and flooooat down the long hallway. My prayers were answered when the fire/smoke alarm did not go off — this was an 8 story Federal building after all. Whew!

My supervisor came in about an hour later, took a sniff, and said, “Hm. Who’s the chef?” I fessed up, and we had a good laugh.)

So, I hope these tips helped you navigate this chaffle recipe business. If you have questions or feedback about any of these tips, or any new tips I haven’t included, I would love to hear from you!

Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for being here, and God bless!!

Other Related Posts

• My Trim Healthy Mama Experience
• White Wonder Bread Keto Chaffle Recipe (Gluten free, Dairy free, THM S, Low Carb)
• Chaffle Making: Tips and Tricks
• How to Make a Chaffle: Basic Recipe (Gluten-free, Keto, Low Carb, THM S)