Overnight Sourdough Discard Waffles

Your new favorite weekend brunch is here: made with sourdough discard for a unique yeasty flavor and buttermilk for tang. Slathered with salted butter, you almost don’t need any syrup (though I’ll admit that the combination of sweet syrup and salty butter on a crisp, yeasty waffle is nothing short of perfection). The overnight method […]
The post Overnight Sourdough Discard Waffles first appeared on Love and Olive Oil.

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Overnight Sourdough Discard Waffles

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** February 1, 2026
—
by Lindsay Landis

Your new favorite weekend brunch is here: made with sourdough discard for a unique yeasty flavor and buttermilk for tang. Slathered with salted butter, you almost don’t need any syrup (though I’ll admit that the combination of sweet syrup and salty butter on a crisp, yeasty waffle is nothing short of perfection).

The overnight method allows you to mix up the bulk of the batter the night before, letting the sourdough work its magic while you sleep. Then, when you wake up in the morning, just mix in the eggs and start baking and you’ll be enjoying waffles by the time the coffee finishes brewing!

[Plates with stacks of golden brown sourdough Belgian waffles topped with berries, a pat of butter and drizzled syrup.]

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I really do love waffles (you could say, I love them a waffle lot).

I love waffles more than pancakes. And even French toast. Although German pancakes still reign as supreme brunch food in my opinion, but waffles aren’t far behind.

Within the hierarchy of waffles themselves, yeasted waffles always taste just a little bit… more. More flavorful, more fluffy, more crispy around the edges. Just, more.

Seeing as how sourdough is the queen of all yeasts, well, you can see where this is going. To be honest I’m a bit disappointed in myself that it’s taken me this long to actually make sourdough waffles (unlike sourdough pancakes which I tackled years ago).

Once you taste these overnight sourdough waffles, with their golden brown, crunchy exterior and yeasty, toothsome centers, I think you’ll agree that they have been well worth the wait.

If you like your waffles with a bit more substance and depth of flavor—no dry, flavorless styrofoam here—these sourdough waffles might just be exactly the recipe you’ve been looking for. With a perfectly golden brown, crispy exterior and a toothsome, fluffy-yet-substantial interior with a robust yeasty flavor, they truly are the pinnacle of brunch for sourdough lovers. They’re so good that you might find yourself intentionally feeding your sourdough starter a little bit extra, just so you have an excuse to make these waffles.

[Fork lifting a bite of sourdough discard waffle, showing the fluffy interior texture.]

The beauty of overnight waffles is you can mix up the batter the night before, then let it sit out overnight at room temperature so the sourdough starter can work its yeasty magic.

Then, the following morning, just mix in the eggs (plus baking soda, salt, and vanilla) and start baking! That’s an easy enough task to tackle even before that first cup of coffee, and quick enough that your first waffles should be coming off the iron all golden brown and delicious just as the pot finishes brewing.

No sourdough starter, but still want yeasty waffles? Check out my yeasted donut waffle recipe, which uses a similar overnight process, just with instant yeast instead. The donut waffles are lighter and fluffier than these sourdough waffles (thanks in part to the whipped egg whites), perfect if you prefer ultra light, almost delicately crisp and fluffy waffles. Plus the crackly vanilla bean glaze is nothing short of perfection.

And if you absolutely must have waffles but don’t want to deal with yeast, might I suggest my Sunshine Citrus Waffles, which are leavened with baking soda/powder and beaten (but not separated) eggs for an extra fluffy, citrus-infused delight that can be whipped up in under 30 minutes (I recommend making the candied citrus peel ahead of time, it’s not required but truly makes these waffles shine!)

[Syrup being poured over a stack of golden brown Overnight Sourdough Discard Waffles topped with berries and a pat of butter.]

Most Belgian-style waffle makers are 1 cup-capacity, which will give you exactly 4 waffles. But I definitely recommend referring to your waffle maker’s instruction manual to determine the exact amount before you start baking, as you don’t want to risk overfilling your waffle maker (trust me, it gets messy).

In my final test batch I actually started weighing out the waffle batter, which gave me the most consistent, even results. For my particular waffle maker, a generous 1 cup, or about 240-250 grams of waffle batter was the perfect amount. That’s about 5 large scoops worth, but the scoops were harder to make consistently-sized, hence the switch to the scale.

My waffle maker is a since-discontinued KitchenAid waffle baker, but this Cuisinart one looks pretty similar. I like that you can make two waffles at a time, and the rotating mechanism ensures the batter evenly coats the iron.

Could you make this with a regular, non-Belgian waffle maker instead? Sure! Just refer to your instruction manual to figure out exactly how much batter to use—and how long to bake them—before you start. Trust me, you don’t want to mess with overfilled waffle makers. Unless you want to deal with an elementary-school-science-fair level of mess, to say the least.

Now, if only I could find a waffle maker with interchangeable plates so I could make round, square, or bubble waffles depending on my mood! Kitchen-ware brands, get on it!

[Golden brown Sourdough Discard Waffles arranged haphazardly on a wire baking rack.]

Overnight Method

The overnight method for making sourdough waffles really highlights the flavor of the sourdough, as the overnight rest gives the natural yeasts in the starter time to activate and develop that lovely yeasty flavor.

In terms of timing, I’ve let it sit for as little as 10 hours up to about 15 hours (I had to take these process photos before the sun disappeared, afterall.) So the timing is much more flexible than making actual bread, since we’re really just relying on the starter for flavor rather than rise.

If you want to make your batter even farther ahead of time, let it sit out for a couple of hours and then refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Let it come back up to room temperature for an hour or so before you mix in the eggs and start waffling.

[Sifting flour into a glass mixing bowl sitting on a digital scale.]

Sift flour into a large mixing bowl. I like to sift straight into the bowl set on a kitchen scale, no measuring cup needed!

[Weighing out 100 grams of mature sourdough starter discard.]

Tare out the scale, then measure out 100 grams of mature sourdough discard starter (at 100% hydration).

[Adding melted and cooled butter to mixing bowl with other ingredients.]

Add butter that has been melted and cooled to lukewarm (having all room temperature ingredients will prevent it from solidifying into little bits).

[Stirring sourdough waffle batter until just incorporated.]

Whisk or stir until dry ingredients are just incorporated (batter will be a bit lumpy, but there shouldn’t be any large pockets of flour left).

[What the batter looks like the night before.]

Cover the bowl and let it sit out at cool room temperature overnight to mature.

[The next morning, the batter will have increased in volume.]

The next morning, the batter will have increased noticeably in volume.

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