Skip to main content
Cooking Tips

How to Avoid the Lonely Waffle-Maker’s Dilemma

The worst part about making waffles for a crowd? They get cold before all of them are ready. Not anymore.
By Published Aug. 8, 2022

Waffles are a weekend luxury. Slightly sweet, with lots of nooks and crannies for syrup and butter to gather—there’s nothing like a hot, crispy waffle fresh off the iron.

But you know what’s not a luxury? Cold waffles. And unless you have an arsenal of waffle makers, you can only make one (or two at the most!) at a time, leaving the early waffles to get cold before you can finish the rest.

Or the other alternative is for you, the Chief Waffle Officer, to let your family, friends, and guests eat before you, leaving you to take a lonely shift with the final warm waffle. Or even worse, one of the cold ones that’s been sitting out for twenty minutes. 

After all the work you put in? You deserve better. Here’s how to make sure everyone get to enjoy warm waffles at the same time.

Sign up for the Notes from the Test Kitchen newsletter

Our favorite tips and recipes, enjoyed by 2 million+ subscribers!

All you need to do is use your oven. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. But here's the key: place a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet and put it on the middle rack. As you are cooking, simply transfer each finished waffle from your waffle maker to the wire rack. That’s it!

The low temperature of the oven will keep the waffles warm and crispy without burning them and the the elevation of the rack in the baking sheet helps keep away sogginess. The result? Hot, still-crispy waffles that taste as fresh as they did the moment you took them off of the waffle iron.

Never again will you have to eat your waffle alone. Join the group. You’ve earned it.