Copycat Waffle Love Liege Waffle Recipe [+ Video]

This Copycat Waffle Love Liege Waffle Recipe is the closest we’ve found to our favorite food truck waffles here in Utah using a Liege waffle. 

Remember when food trucks started popping up and became all the rage a few years back? The Waffle Love food truck was one of the original food trucks to go crazy here in Utah. They always had a line for days no matter where they were. In fact, they have now opened over a dozen brick and mortar locations in Utah, Idaho and California and their food truck is still going strong!

Waffle Love quickly became the go to family treat truck, date night truck, girls night out truck, and “I’ve got a hankering for something sweet” truck. The waffles are amazing and the little sugary bits really add something to the waffles, but you can’t forget about their awesome toppings which revolve around one of our household favorites, Biscoff. Stinking Biscoff. That stuff rocks our world.

I immediately started working on a copycat recipe so that we could make these irresistible waffles at home. After I figured out the perfect recipe, I posted it and it went crazy! So crazy that the aforementioned company contacted me and asked me to pull my recipe down because it was so close to theirs. Haha…nope! That, my friends, is when you’ve NAILED a copycat recipe! The people need to be able to make these at home, and so you shall!!

While we still love our bacon apple cider waffles, this copycat waffle love recipe is seriously fantastic, and it would be the perfect way to enjoy Christmas morning.

What is a Liège Waffle?

Liège waffles (pronounced “leej”) are a Belgian style waffle made from a yeast dough rather than a traditional waffle batter. They are a little sweeter and different in texture once they are cooked.

Liège waffles are different than your normal run of the mill waffle. In fact you really should forget about the taste and texture of the normal breakfast waffle because this one is seriously a totally different taste, but delicious like you wouldn’t believe.

What Ingredients are Needed for Waffle Love Waffles?

Here are the ingredients that you will need to make this liege waffle recipe:

• Whole Milk: scalded, see section below for how to scald milk
• Water: helps activate the years
• Sugar: used to both feed the yeast as it activates and to sweeten the liege waffle dough
• Instant Yeast: we prefer instant yeast rather than active dry yeast
• Eggs: adds structure to the waffles
• Unsalted Butter: the fat needed to make these waffles so rich and perfect
• Honey: adds a little extra natural sweetness and flavor
• Vanilla: adds flavor
• Bread Flour:
• Flour:
• Belgian Pearl Sugar:

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card down at the end of the post. Keep scrolling down for all the details.

What is Belgian Pearl Sugar?

Is There a Substitute for Pearl Sugar?

How to Scald Milk

To scald milk, just place milk in a pan over medium heat, do not bring to a boil, instead let it heat up until foam appears around the sides and a little “skin” appears on top of the milk.

How to Make Liege Waffles at Home

Ok, I’m going to walk you through each step of this recipe since it’s quite different from making traditional waffles. Here is the process:

1. Combine: Add the scalded milk, water, yeast and sugar to a bowl and stir to combine.
2. Proof: Allow the yeast to proof.
   • Proofing yeast is really just a fancy term for letting the yeast grow and get all poofy. You do have to be careful because too hot or too cold of liquid can kill the yeast so make sure you get warm water.
3. Cream: Beat the butter and remaining sugar together until creamy and fluffy in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Then add the eggs, honey and vanilla and stir to combine. Finally, add in the yeast mixture and mix thoroughly.
4. Rise: Change to the dough hook attachment and add the bread flour to the wet ingredients. Mix the dough until the flour is thoroughly incorporated. Add the remaining flour, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for up to 4 hours on the counter or in a warm place. 
   • PRO TIP: At this point, you could let the dough rest in the fridge overnight. You can let the dough rest for up to 24 hours covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. The dough will need to sit on the counter and come back to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.
5. Knead: Once the dough has risen, punch it down and knead in the pearl sugar.
   • Now this part is especially important, and you must buy a special ingredient because normal sugar just won’t work. You’ll want to buy Belgian Pearl (there’s Swedish too, but it’s smaller than the Belgian sugar) Sugar which you can find at specialty or natural food stores. In Utah we buy our sugar at Orson Gygi. You can totally buy online too.
6. Separate: Divide the dough into 7-8 balls and preheat your waffle iron. I know it’s a little odd to put a clump of dough as opposed to a runny batter in your waffle maker, but it will spread out a little when you close the lid.
7. Cook: Once the waffle iron is hot, spray it with cooking spray or melted butter and place one dough ball on and cook it. Cook until it is golden brown. Repeat with all the remaining dough balls.
   • We use a Cuisinart waffle maker and we cook our Liege waffles a little longer than a normal waffle on a slightly lower temperature so as to not burn the sugar, but you will have to just try out your waffle maker and experiment with how long to cook it. The sugar will kind of melt into the waffle and crystalize like little sugary nuggets of goodness. It’s awesome.
8. Toppings: Serve the waffles with your favorite waffle toppings!
   • PRO TIP: We think that spreads compliment the waffle much better than a syrup because of how dense the yeasted waffle is. We like to stick with what we love from the Waffle Truck, Biscoff cookie butter, whipped cream and berries. But, you could do just whipped cream, Nutella, peanut butter or anything you like!

I can’t wait to hear how your first attempt at making homemade liege waffles goes! For those of you who have tried Waffle Love, we would love to hear how you think this recipe compares!!

Watch How This Waffle Love Recipe is Made…

Toppings for Liege Waffles

Is Waffle and Pancake Batter the Same Thing?

The only difference is the fat content. Waffle recipes usually contain a bit more butter or oil than pancakes – that’s what gives you the slightly airier, fluffy yet crisp waffle texture.

Can Waffle Batter be Kept Overnight?

Pancake and waffle batters made with baking powder can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator overnight.

Since the baking powder may lose some of its potency overnight, add a little extra.

Are Liege Waffles a Dessert?

You might be asking yourself if these waffles really are a breakfast food or more of a dessert. The answer is yes! They are great for breakfast, brunches with friends, breakfast for dinner or for dessert. And this may sound crazy, but actually also love to top them with a fried egg sunnyside up and a couple strips of bacon. Sweet and savory is one of my favorite combos!

Storage Tips

If you make our Copycat Waffle Love Liege Waffle Recipe please tag us on social media, @ohsweetbasil #ohsweetbasil

strawberries, Belgian waffles, salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, recipe card, liège waffle

More Sweet Breakfast Options:

• Buttermilk Pancakes
• Apple Pie Slow Cooker Oatmeal
• Dutch Baby Pancakes
• Orange Sweet Rolls
• Classic French Toast
• Waffles
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Blueberry French Toast Bake
• Homemade Yogurt
• Cinnamon Roll Pigs in a Blanket
• Peach Coffee Cake
• Liege Waffles
• Slow Cooker Overnight Steel Cut Oats
• All our BREAKFAST RECIPES!

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