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Red Lentil Waffles

Blender + waffle maker · Soak 2–3 hours · No flour, no eggs

Batch
0/0 done

Four-ingredient-ish gluten-free waffles built entirely on 200 g of soaked dry red lentils — no flour, no eggs, no dairy. Two Medjool dates do all the sweetening. The lentils soak 2–3 hours, then everything goes in the blender at once.

Ingredients

Gram figures marked “approx.” are standard-density conversions of the source recipe's volume measures — the volume is the original and takes precedence.

For the waffles
  • 200 g dry red lentils (1 cup)
  • 30 g soft Medjool dates (2 dates)
  • 120–150 ml plant-based milk (approx. 125–155 g) — see notes
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (approx. 4 g)
  • 1 tsp baking powder (approx. 4 g)
  • ¼ tsp baking soda (approx. 1 g)
  • 1–2 pinches of salt (approx. 0.5–1 g)
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (approx. 15 g)
  • Avocado, coconut, or olive oil, for the waffle maker
For serving — optional
  • Chocolate spread
  • Chopped walnuts

Soak the lentils at least 2–3 hours. That soak is what lets a raw legume blend to a smooth batter; unsoaked lentils stay gritty no matter how long the blender runs.

Method
  1. Rinse the 200 g dry red lentils in a sieve until the water runs almost clear, then soak them in plenty of water for at least 2–3 hours.
  2. Drain, rinse, and drain the lentils once more.
  3. Blend the drained lentils with all remaining waffle ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth — the batter should be similar to a thick pancake batter.
  4. Pause as needed to shake the container or scrape down the sides so everything blends evenly.
  5. Let the batter rest and thicken while you preheat a lightly greased waffle maker. Grease it with avocado, coconut, or olive oil.
  6. Pour enough batter into the hot waffle maker to cover about ¾ of the surface — it spreads — close the lid, and cook until golden brown and crisp.
  7. Cooking time varies by waffle maker. Cook until little to no steam is visible. If the waffle sticks when you try to open the lid, close it for another 40–60 seconds and try again.
  8. Transfer each waffle to a wire cooling rack — the airflow is what keeps them crisp — and repeat with the remaining batter.
  9. Serve with your favorite toppings. The source serves them with chocolate spread and chopped walnuts.
How the volume measures were converted
  • Lentils and dates came from the source already in grams — 200 g and 30 g — and are unchanged.
  • Milk came in as 120–150 ml. Plant milks run close to the density of water, so that's roughly 125–155 g.
  • Vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon juice had no gram figure in the source. Those grams are standard-density conversions, not measurements from the original — measure by volume if you want to match the source exactly.
  • The leavening is the one place where the conversion matters: 4 g baking powder and 1 g baking soda are small enough that a scale beats a teaspoon, but don't split the difference between the two methods mid-batch.
Savory variation — from the source recipe

Omit the dates, reduce the milk to ½ cup, increase the salt, and add spices such as garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, cumin, curry powder, or nutritional yeast. Fresh herbs and finely shredded zucchini or carrot are also good additions. This is the source's proposed variation, not a tested one — no quantities were given for the spices.

House-rule checks
  • The source says to grease the waffle maker with “oil or cooking spray.” Most cooking sprays are canola or another seed oil — use avocado, coconut, or olive oil instead.
  • Lemon juice is the better of the two acid options here, and it's the one that fits the house style.
  • Chocolate spread and walnuts are the source's serving suggestion. Check any store-bought spread for dairy and seed oils; nuts stay an optional topping.
  • Naturally gluten-free and dairy-free as written, with no eggs.
Still to confirm
  • Yield — the source gives no waffle count or serving number.
  • Total cook time per waffle — the source only says “until little to no steam is visible.”
  • Where in the 120–150 ml milk range this batter actually wants to land.