Tahini Waffles Recipe – Gluten Free, Crisp and Fluffy Waffles. Healthy, Natural, Dairy Free and Delicious
The Pilgrims are responsible for bringing waffles to America in 1620 after discovering them during their brief stop in Holland. Dutch immigrants popularized the dish in New Amsterdam, before it became New York. Thomas Jefferson reportedly started a mini American waffle craze during the 1790s when he returned from France with a goose-handled waffle iron. At the 1964 World’s Fair, Americans were introduced to the Belgian waffle, made fluffy with the help of yeast and egg whites. Once electric waffle irons replaced those inconvenient metal plates, waffles officially became an American favorite.
I doubt Thomas Jefferson knew what tahini is, but I’m guessing he would have gone nuts for these waffles. I got the idea to develop them when I was making a batch of my stepdaughter’s favorite peanut butter pancakes. My mind wandered to peanut butter waffles, then I thought– why not try tahini as a nut butter replacement for folks with nut allergies? I mentioned this idea to my test kitchen assistant Gary, who took it one step further by suggesting that we use brown rice flour in place of traditional all purpose flour. Gary’s been cooking gluten free a lot lately, and I liked the idea of making this recipe accessible to my gluten free readers. We swapped out white sugar for coconut sugar, which is lower in fructose and may also have a slightly lower glycemic impact than traditional can sugar (it’s also got a unique flavor that I really love). Coconut milk was used in place of regular milk. We whipped the egg whites to help create a light, crisp-yet-fluffy texture. Before I knew it, we had created a seriously tasty waffle that was also gluten free, dairy free, naturally sweetened and uniquely flavored with protein-rich tahini. I topped them with date honey syrup (silan) and the flavor was off-the-charts delicious. Nobody would ever know these are gluten free, they are every bit as tasty as regular waffles with a slightly nutty flavor that my family absolutely loved. I know you’ll enjoy them too!
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Gluten Free Tahini Waffles
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk, or your favorite non-dairy milk you may substitute regular milk
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 3 large eggs separated
- 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups brown rice flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch salt
- Nonstick cooking oil spray
- Warm date honey syrup (click for recipe) or maple syrup for serving
NOTES
Instructions
- Preheat your waffle iron. While iron is heating, separate the eggs. Place the whites in a clean mixing bowl and the yolks in another large clean mixing bowl. Whisk together the yolks with the coconut milk, tahini, coconut sugar and vanilla. Add the rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix until well combined. The texture should be like thick pancake batter-- if it seems overly thick or dry, you may add a bit more coconut milk.
- In the other mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture to form a light and fluffy batter.
- Spray your waffle iron generously with nonstick cooking spray. This is important, even if your iron is nonstick, as this batter is more sticky than traditional waffle batter. Ladle the batter onto the iron. Cook the waffles in a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions until they reach desired doneness. They may take a bit longer than traditional waffles to fully cook through. Do not force the iron open if you feel it sticking a bit-- this likely means that the waffles are not yet done and need a bit more time to cook. Waffles are done when they are golden brown on both sides. Be sure to spray the iron with nonstick cooking oil spray between batches to prevent sticking.
- Serve with warm date honey syrup or maple syrup.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
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I just made these! I had all the ingredients except the rice flour and since gluten isn’t my problem I used 2 cups whole wheat flour and one cup white. The batter was so thick I added another 1/2 cup of water The texture was still like glue but the waffles came out quite pretty and tasty although rather dense. My husband needed to drink about a quart of milk to get them down! How much flour would you sub for the rice flour?.Have you tried tahini cookies?
Hi Toby– while I didn’t test this recipe with all purpose flour, my guess is it would probably work. However, it sounds like you substituted 3 cups of flour for 2 cups of rice flour, which would of course make the batter far too thick. If you were going to try this sub again, I would suggest simply using 2 cups of all purpose flour, so it would be an even ratio of ingredients. While I can’t promise it will work perfectly, it should be a big improvement on your first attempt.
no waffle iron, want to try as pancakes.. is the batter different?
Can you make these as pancakes if you don’t have a waffle maker?
Yes 🙂
I don’t have a waffle iron 🙁 any way these could be pancakes instead?
Valerie, yes you can use this batter for pancakes too. We tested this yesterday and it worked really well. Enjoy!
Wow these look amazing. I’m such a sucker for tahini. It should be used in moderation, but it seems to make just about anything taste awesome!
Can’t wait to try these!
date syrup vs date honey? What is the difference?
Susan same thing. Here’s a recipe if you want to make it yourself: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/date-honey-syrup-silan/
I have the recipe from the Date honey orange chicken you gave us a whille back. It is a family favorite but because I am blind people keep throwing it out on me. I am glad to have another recipe that I can use it with. Toda Tori!
Loved the vegan chocolate mousse dessert. Who would have imagined that avocados would be a main ingredient.
I am going to make gluten free cupcakes and try it as frosting next!!
These sound glorious!!! tahini and coconut sound like such a unique pairing!