We had a lovely waffle dinner the other night with family and friends in our community group and it was fun to be able to meet the needs of some of our food sensitive friends with this scrumptious variety that is completely gluten and dairy free. They are mighty tasty! They turn out light and fluffy so you cannot even notice the difference. Even if you are not sensitive to these foods, its a nice recipe to have on hand if you run out of your other grain choices. Plus, I am becoming more and more convinced that having a good variety in your diet is very beneficial!
This recipe is made with the simple use of your blender. No grain grinder is necessary. You can soak the batter overnight for increased benefits (as brown rice has a small amount of phytates, learn the benefits of soaking here), or simply skip that and proceed with the recipe. Soaking also helps to break down the grain so it is softer, otherwise it will add a bit more crunch to your waffles, which is yummy too. I often prepare this recipe for last minute pancakes if I forget to soak my standard whole grain blender recipe.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups coconut milk, rice milk or hemp milk, or coconut milk kefir/water kefir (I prefer canned coconut milk and water it down 1/2 and 1/2 otherwise it is a bit thick. It adds the best flavor and texture to the waffles. If you use other options, make sure to increase grain choice by 1/4-1/3 cup so the batter is not too thin.)
1 1/2 cups whole raw brown rice and millet (I like to do half and half of each grain, but you can also do all brown rice or all millet. You can also use gluten-free rolled oats or quinoa, which are also wonderful additions.)
2 Tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil (preferably extra virgin cold-pressed)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs (preferably pastured farm fresh)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Directions:
1. In a blender, combine your choice of milk, grain, oil and vanilla extract. Blend on high for 1-2 minutes until the grain is broken down into tiny little bits.
2. Cover and soak overnight (about 8-12 hours).
3. After soaking, add eggs and blend again for 1-2 minutes, until the batter is smooth. You may have to add a 1/8-1/4 cup water to get the batter blending in a vortex.
4. Add the baking powder, salt, and baking soda and pulse briefly just until blended.
5. Prepare waffle iron or pancake griddle. I use olive oil on my Krups waffle iron for best results and grease generously between each waffle.
6. Cook for approximately 4 minutes on the waffle iron. If making pancakes, rotate when lightly brown and fry on other side till fully cooked.
Top with your favorite maple syrup and berry sauce (recipe to come)! You can get organic maple syrup at Amazon for only $16.83 with the Subscribe and Save option. A great deal!
Yields: 3-4 waffles, 20+ pancakes
For my standard whole grain waffle recipe, visit here.
I just tried these for the second time, but I used brown rice farina instead of the whole rice, and i like it much better! Next time, I will leave out the salt, and I plan to experimant with dfferent flavors
This recipe was wonderful! I have experimented with several gf/df pancake recipes and this is by far the best. I think allowing it to soak overnight helps the batter to be thicker. It is the closest I have come to our traditional pancakes. I used 1/2 rice flour and 1/2 rolled oats. I also used about half the baking powder and not as much salt.
Thanks SOOOOOOOO much for this recipe. We are egg/dairy and gluten free here and have been longing for a pancake that WORKS! And the fact that it is soaked is a major bonus!!! I made my own little tweaks to the recipe, added flax gel in lieu of eggs and they turned out the best I’ve had in two years of dietary restrictions! Keep up the good work
Do you not need to add an acid medium (lemon juice, apple cider vinegar) to break down the phytates if you use coconut, rice or hemp milk instead of the kefir?
You can use apple juice instead of rice milk or water.
Just wanted to say that I used cooked rice instead of the dry rice – 3 cups – and the called for amount of milk. They didn’t work so well as waffles, though that may have been a user error, but as pancakes they were okay. They tasted like they were made with cornmeal, and were kind of flat for pancakes, but edible.
these sound great! but – I have never soaked anything – can you explain in more detail how I would do that? I have visions of a blender filled to the brim with water…but that sounds gross!
Thanks!
Elizabeth,
It soaks in the milk over night. You don’t need to add any extra liquid to it. Hope this helps!
You can also simply omit the eggs. It works great! Thanks for that tip Lindsay! My life is SO MUCH easier now!
If I use oatmeal does it need ot be ground first? If I use quinoa does it need ot be ground or cooked first? I’m just getting used to GF cooking. I do know I my family does not prefer rice flour. We’ve worked hard to get our kids to like heavy, nutritious bread. Rice flour (& even the gluten flour mix from BRM) seems like a step backward; all white and pasty.
Jodi, the blender does all the grinding of the grains and the waffle iron does all the cooking, so you don’t need to grind or cook anything first. That’s the beauty of this recipe! HTH!
As others have already said, thanks so much for this, Lindsay. We’re trying GFCF/soy-free for my youngest due to some persistent reflux issues, and having a trusted pancake/waffle recipe is going to make the transition so much easier!
Hi! I am very excited about this recipe! I am learning how to cook the nourishing traditions way, but I have a milk allergy and am trying gluten free for a little while as I am healing from chronic fatigue. Is it safe to use almond milk to soak overnight with? I had already bought some blue diamond almond breeze. I know usually vinegar or whey or something like that is completely safe to leave out on the counter, but I did not know about leaving out something like almond milk or coconut milk. Thank you for your input. I like your website and am going to subscribe!
I’m making these for breakfast this morning. These are really good and I love that you can mix up the grains. I think our favorite combo is 1/2 cup brown rice, 1 cup oats. They are so easy too, and make the morning work simpler since I get them started the night before to soak. Thanks!
I don’t have a Blentec or Vitamix, just a cheap-o Oster. Will that work or should I do my food processor? I have a grain mill that I do my grains through usually, so it feels strange to think of using them whole! Thanks!
These waffles are SOOOO good!!! I’m recently eating gluten/dairy free & am so glad that I found this recipe. They taste just like (delicious) traditional waffles with a hint of coconut. Yum! My husband even liked them & he is usually very skeptical (and critical) of new non-traditional recipies that I try
They don’t taste heavy, or whole grain at all. I used 1/2 brown rice & 1/2 oats. I didn’t water down the coconut milk, and didn’t have to add water in the morning either, and the batter was still pretty thin.
Tonight I’m trying 1/2 quinoa & 1/2 oats, and will try making blueberry pancakes tomorrow. We’ll see how it turnes out!
Thanks again! I love your site as well. Have spent WAY too much time reading it
Emily
Hi Lindsay,
I so appreciate your blog. It has been such an encouragement and inspiration. I was so excited to see this recipe for GF and DF waffles and attempted to make them last night and this morning. I followed the recipe using rice milk that I made yesterday and used 1/2 cup each of brown rice, millet, and oats. I did everything as stated in your recipe and let it soak all night. However, the waffles had a REALLY sour taste. It was so bad it burned my throat and left a terrible after taste. Just wondering what I did wrong and what I can do differently next time. Thank you!
Yeah. I always have to halve the baking powder. I use only 1 teaspoon baking powder
. Takes away that soapy taste. That is if you have new baking powder. My old baking powder I could use the amount Lindsay used.
Is it 1 1/2 cup grains total, or were you saying 1 1/2 cup of EACH grain? My batter is awful runny…
It’s 1 1/2 cups total. Soaking will thicken it up.
My mom is gluten free and I am always trying to look for easy gf pancake recipes…this seems very easy however can you be more specific about which brown rice and millet I should buy…there are so many options and even bulk bins that I am unsure what to buy. How do I tell it the product is whole and raw?
Also, I remember reading something about buying a specific baking powder/soda – do you know if organic is a must?
Thanks!
The only concern with baking powder is the aluminum content, so you want to make sure to buy aluminum free baking powder. Rumford is the brand that offers this.
I am a celiac, and I’ve been using your original recipe for the blender waffles all along, just using buckwheat and flax. They are absolutely delicious. We make dozens and dozens of them at a time (after I prepare the batter for soaking overnight, my dear husband stands at the counter and makes waffles for a couple hours!) and freeze them. They pop in the toaster for a quick filling breakfast. I don’t like brown rice in baked goods at all, but we do love millet, so that may be a yummy addition to the buckwheat. We eat a huge variety of unusual grains, including sorghum, which could also be used in this recipe.
This sounds delicious – and just the kind of thing we can use for our family too! I was wondering though – when you soak it – do you just leave it on the counter to soak overnight, or do you put it in the fridge??
For all soaking purposes, you keep it on the countertop.
Oh, this looks like what i’ve been looking for! Thanks so much for posting!
This is a great recipe, thank you SO much!
However, and this has been in my mind for a while now, I have a question regarding the waffle maker. As you have avoided teflon and non-stick on your pots and pans, why do you feel it’s safe to use a waffle maker that has non-stick coating? This is NOT meant to critize you or anything like it, I’m genuinely asking because so many times I’ve been tempted to get one but the non.stick bit has always ringed an alarm bell inside. Should I be concerned?
Thank you for all you do, Lindsay!
I am not saying it’s the safest option, but it is what I have and I have chosen not to worry or fret about it. It works the best in my experience, and since we don’t have waffles all the frequently (maybe once a month as we eat pancakes far more), I have chosen that it would be wasteful to throw it out. This machine works really well, especially good for company. If it starts chipping in any way (which is the main concern here), then I would certainly consider another alternative, such as this cast iron waffle maker. I have chosen that it isn’t worth my worry, and I strive to do the best I can, and trust the Lord with the rest.
Thanks for your honest answer!
This is awesome! I’m always so delighted at how God provides exactly what we need, exactly when we need it! I’ve recently discovered I have gluten intolerance (soy and corn too!). Waffles have been the new “bread” for me. They’re simple to put together and I don’t have to deal with the learning curve of xanthan gum and guar gum at the same time learning all of the products that gluten is in. It will be wonderful to have this soaked blender recipe. Most of the work is done the night before which will be so handy in the morning.
Appreciate you! Sharon
To Lisa– I have been off and on several foods for the last 8 years and am now off of even more foods than your daughter is. I have a cookbook that has been a Godsend for me called, “Wow, This is Allergy Free!”. I just checked, and you can get it on Amazon. It is written by a Mennonite woman who had a lot of health issues. She gives a lot of tips for substitutions, explains a 4 day rotation diet and many more resources.I am looking forward to trying the recipe above. Right now, I use the buckwheat pancake recipe in the book that I just mentioned (I tweaked it a bit though) and that’s what I use for bread. It is good not to use the same grain everyday though, so these rice/millet pancakes will be a good alternative.
There are more celiac’s (intolerant to gluten) in the world than you’d think because of all the genetic modification of grain. Whole-wheat and grain, according to natural doctors, are not really good for you at all.
Could you substitute nut milk (almond, walnut) for the coconut milk? Coconut milk is expensive and not sure about the other ones.
I understand that nut milks are not ideal (especially almond) due to the very high pesticide and phytate content. I personally don’t recommend them. Coconut milk is very reasonable in my experience and I always use one can coconut milk divided with one can water, thus making it even more cost effective. The nutritional value is worth it! I use the Native Forest Coconut Milk.
Oh man! I just started drinking Almond milk as an alternative to cow’s milk. Here I thought it was better! (I don’t like the taste of cow’s milk, and I’m not ready to drink raw cow’s milk)
Have you tried hemp milk? We love it! I think it is the best non-dairy alternative for use as a regular milk product.
I’ll give it a try. Thanks Lindsay!
@Rachel, it’s true that the prepackaged gluten free foods are really not all that good for you- ususally because they are so heavy on the tapioca, potato and corn starches. A lot of those prepackaged foods have more carbs and more calories than non-gluten free foods. However, homemade gluten free foods are beneficial because you’re using a lot of different whole grains that are very healthy that people would normally not eat when using wheat 100% of the time. There are really healhy grains such as brown rice, millet, teff, quiona, amaranth and buckwheat that have their own healthy benefits. If you don’t have to be gluten free, try rotating grains while still utelizing whole wheat. You can even just replace some of your whole wheat in recipes with some of these different grains (you may want to read up on them first so you know which grains and how much to use). Hope that helps!
sounds great thank you for the recipe. I was looking at some of your past posts on essential oils and wondered if you would share where you order yours. cant decide if it worth the cost to go with doterra
I honestly don’t use a lot of essential oils due to cost as well. Doterra is definitely the best option and would be more beneficial for the investment. Otherwise, I have purchase Aura Casia brand in the past.
These look delicious! A friend of mine told me there were actually no benefits to eating gluten free unless you were intolerant of gluten. Since you seem to know a bit about this diet, is this accurate?
As the others shared, it is more for the beneficial nutrients that are provided in a variety of grains diet. I wrote a post titled Variety in Your Grains that shares some of the differing nutritional values in all the different whole grains. You may find it useful.
Wow! Thank you for this awesome recipe. Very simple. We’ve just started an overwhelming everything-free diet (dairy, gluten, peanuts, eggs, sugar, yeast) for my daughter’s bacterial and yeast GI issues plus some possible food sensitivities. My sister calls it “the tree-bark diet”, ha. Luckily the ND says duck eggs are an alternative to chicken so that’s one less thing we have to substitute. I’ve been searching for perfect pancake recipe that is still “legal” for her, I think this may be it. I’m going to take out the vanilla in a second batch to make a bread substitute for her.
I’m excited to try it out this week, so will my daughter. Thanks again!
The eggs can easily be substituted with my frugal egg substitute recipe (using flaxseeds) as well.
Lisa,
My family is just embarking on a crazy diet due to internal yeast issues, too. We’ve just moved back to the States and are a bit overwhelmed. Do you have any helpful suggestions?
Thanks!
-Teresa