Crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, with a perfect balance of coconut and pandan and beautifully green, Pandan Waffle is a Vietnamese delicious snack that can be made in less than 15 minutes.
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Looking for more unique waffle recipes? If you're a fan of Earl Grey, you need to try my Tea-Infused Waffles!
🧇What's a Vietnamese Waffle?
Pandan waffle (Bánh Kẹp Lá Dứa) is a street food in Vietnam, where they are served with no topping at all.
They're different from the normal American waffle: pandan waffles have a crispy exterior and a chewy interior, a beautiful hue of green and a unique flavor.
🥥What’s Pandan?
Pandan, also known as screwpine, is an aromatic plant, popular in South and Southeast Asia cuisines. The taste is like a grassy vanilla with hints of coconut.
🌿Pandan: Leaves or Extract?
For this recipe, I recommend sticking to the second option. Pandan extract is more convenient and produces a consistent taste, while fresh leaves require blending and straining.
But if you're all about using fresh ingredients, you can make it with leaves. Blend them with water, strain through a clean cloth, and boom, you've got your own green liquid that can add flavor to any dish.
Just remember that there are some differences between the two options: extract is more potent and gives a stronger pandan flavor, while leaves produce a milder and subtler hint. Additionally, the extract gives you a bright green color while the leaves result in a muted green.
📝Ingredients
For a crispy outside and a chewy inside, 3 types of flour are used in this recipe. For a delicious coconutty vanilla flavor, we use pandan extract. Regular milk is also substituted for coconut milk to enhance the taste even more.
Pandan Extract. It’s easier to use and gives you a consistent result every time. It also will have a stronger taste and color than using the juice of fresh pandan leaves. You can find this ingredient in most of Asian supermarkets.
Coconut milk. Coconut milk will add an extra layer of flavor to these waffles. Use canned coconut milk, unsweetened.
You can substitute coconut milk with coconut cream. The batter will be a bit thicker, but the waffle will have a more intense coconut flavor.
Rice flour. This ingredient handles a crispier waffle, so don’t skip it.
All-purpose flour. Use white all-purpose flour for the best result.
Tapioca flour/starch. It’s responsible for the chewy texture.
Coconut and granulated sugar. Coconut sugar gives a caramel-like taste. If preferred, it’s possible to replace coconut sugar with the same amount of white sugar.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and substitutions.
🥄How to make it
Step 1. In a large bow, mix dry ingredients: rice, all-purpose and tapioca flour, salt and baking powder.
Step 2. In a medium bowl, mix both sugars and eggs until combined.
Step 3. Add lukewarm melted butter, room temperature coconut milk, and pandan extract.
Step 4. Add wet mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix until batter forms and the bigger lumps of dry ingredients are gone.
Chef's Tip: Don't add hot butter, or the eggs might end up cooking before the batter hits the waffle maker!
Step 5. Preheat the waffle iron. Coat top and bottom plates with butter or cooking oil, and pour the batter.
Step 6. Don’t overcook them if you want your waffles with some green: cooking for too long will make them fully brown.
Place waffle disk in a cooling rack, or enjoy as soon as it’s ready.
🥣Tips and tricks
- Preventing a mess: Do not fill too much the plate of the waffle maker, or the batter might fall out when closing the top.
- Same size waffles: use a measuring cup to pour the batter and remember to our it right into the middle of the waffle iron plate.
- Preheat: always start with a preheated waffle maker to prevent soggy waffles.
- Don’t open the waffle iron before time. Keep it closed until only a bit of steam comes out of it.
- Don’t have a waffle maker? You can make pancakes with this recipe. Add about 3 tablespoons more of all-purpose flour for a more consistent batter, and cook it in a preheated pan, for 1-2 minutes each side.
- For an extra layer of taste and texture: add ½ a cup of unsweetened shredded coconut to the batter.
🤷🏻♀️Questions you're asking
Yes! You can make it ahead and store in the fridge for up to a week. Cover it well before storing, and give it a good stir before using.
Yes. You can substitute coconut milk can for almond, cashew, rice or regular milk. Note that the final flavor will be different if you choose to make this substitution.
Yes. Replace butter for canola, vegetable, or coconut oil.
Don’t overcook pandan waffles if you want them to keep some of the green: cooking for too long will make them fully brown. You can also add a few drops of green food coloring to the batter.
Some recipes suggest letting the batter rest before cooking to allow the gluten to relax. However, there's not a lot of gluten in these waffles, so no, you don't need to let it rest. Make the batter and feel free to head straight to the preheated waffle maker.
❄️Storing and freezing
Pandan waffles taste better when fresh, but they keep well if stored correctly.
After cooled, they’ll lose its crispness. You can reheat them in a preheated (350F°) oven for around 5 minutes to get some of their crispness back, or just toast them individually in a toaster.
You can freeze leftovers. Store them in an airtight container or resealable bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat in the same way as instructed above.
You can also reheat using the microwave, but waffles won’t be crispy with this method.
Wanna save this recipe for later? Pin it to your Pinterest Recipe Board!
If you tried my Pandan Waffles, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below!
📖 Recipe
Pandan Waffle (Vietnamese Waffles)
Equipment
- 1 Waffle maker
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup rice flour
- 1 ¼ cup tapioca starch
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs large
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ⅔ cups coconut milk
- ¼ cup butter melted and unsalted
- 1 ½ teaspoon pandan extract
Instructions
- In a large bow, whisk to mix the 3 flours (rice, tapioca and all-purpose white wheat), salt and baking powder.
- In a medium bowl, mix both sugars and eggs until combined. Add lukewarm melted butter, room temperature coconut milk, and pandan extract. Whisk to combine.
- Add wet mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix until batter forms and the bigger lumps of dry ingredients are gone. Watch the video for more visual information. Careful not to over-mix: small lumps are totally ok here. Over-mixing makes tough waffles.
- The batter should not be runny, but also, not too thick. Watch the video to check if your batter is in the right consistency.
- Preheat the waffle iron. Coat top and bottom plates with butter (or cooking oil, if preferred), and pour the batter. Flip it, and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes, using medium heat.
- Don’t open the waffle iron before time. Keep it closed until little steam comes out of it.
- Place waffle disk in a cooling rack. Serve it while warm.
Tara
This waffle recipe is what I’m looking for, I love it! I have tried many different ones but wasn’t successful to my taste. Thank you very much!