Liege waffles are so much different than America’s version of Belgian Waffles. Learn the difference, and taste traditional, authentic Belgian Liege waffles with their heavenly bits of caramelized Belgian pearl sugar and you’ll never look back!
These Liege waffles are super lekker!
Oh, I’m sorry, you don’t speak Dutch?
Neither do I, but I learned the term “super lekker” from my cousin’s four year old daughter when I was visiting in Belgium last month.
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“Super lekker” translates to “super tasty” in English, and that’s exactly how to describe these authentic Liege waffles!
What is the Difference Between US Belgian Waffles and Authentic LiegeWaffles?
First of all, if you’re like me, you probably think these are sort of like our American breakfast waffles, right? Well, I was so far off base on this: you can’t imagine what a difference there is between the two, so let me explain the differences. Belgium has a few different types of waffles, but mainly Liege and Brussels waffles (made with yeast, and lighter than the Liege-style).
- Authentic Liege waffles are not made with a batter, but a yeast dough.
- Authentic Liege waffles have a completely different texture than American Belgian waffles.
- Instead of eating them with a knife and fork, authentic Belgian waffles (from both Liege and Brussels) are usually eaten handheld.
- Authentic Liege waffles are not solely for breakfast and are often eaten without a topping or sauce.
- One of the biggest differences is that Liege waffles have pieces of caramelized pearl sugar in them!
It’s not a surprise that as Americans we are so misled as there are a lot of “Belgian Waffle” recipes out there which do not resemble anything like the real Liege waffles and are also different than Brussels waffles. Even a very prominent and popular flour company has a recipe for “Belgian Waffles” on their site, which is made with a batter. They should probably be called American-Belgian waffles. Now you know the difference, and the recipe I will be sharing with you is for the real thing: an authentic, traditional Liege-style Belgian waffle.
Visiting Bruges and Discovering Liege Waffles
When I went to Bruges last month which was my next stop after leaving London on my culinary tour of Europe, I saw waffles everywhere! Here are a few shots from my day in Bruges (you can skip to the bottom for the waffle recipe).
We went to the chocolate museum, although it’s interesting, I’d say you could skip it and check out more of Bruges if you’re short on time. (There’s also a french fry museum!) However, a boat cruise on the canals is a must as you see many more sights, and from a unique perspective.
Sights around Bruges. The boy below is made entirely of chocolate.
We had pastries from a fabulous patisserie called Patisserie Academie. I will be posting about this lovely patisserie in more depth later, with another recipe (if I can manage to recreate the amazing dessert)!
And what trip to Belgium would be complete without having some fries…
chocolates,
and beer!
But most of all, we cannot forget about the authentic Belgian LIEGE WAFFLES!
Authentic Belgian Waffles (Liege Waffles)
adapted from Piet Huysentruyt Nieuws
Makes 10 waffles
*unfortunately, I cannot add the amounts in cups as the exact measurements are critical to this recipe
I strongly recommend buying a kitchen scale for all baking
Ingredients
- 300 g all purpose/plain flour plus 200 g flour
- 80 g sugar
- 2 tsp dry yeast
- 150 ml water
- 2 eggs
- 15 g butter (room temperature) plus
- 175 g butter, cut into pieces (then allow to sit at room temperature)
- 140 g Belgian Pearl Sugar* (found at specialty stores or Amazon)
Special equipment: waffle iron (the one I have by Waring Pro has been discontinued
Make the Liege Waffles Dough
Place 300 grams flour plus the 80 grams of regular sugar in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
Warm the water until it is lukewarm (not at all hot) then add the yeast (do not add the yeast when the water is too hot or it will kill it and the recipe will be ruined) and whisk until it has melted.
Add the eggs and 15 g of butter to the flour and sugar mixture in the mixing bowl, then pour in the water and yeast mixture, whisking to combine all the ingredients.
Continue stirring until a sticky dough is formed.
Then add the 200 grams of flour to the top, along with the 175 grams of butter pieces. Cover (without mixing anything) and allow to rest for 20 to 25 minutes.
With your hands, incorporate the butter and flour into the sticky dough until all the ingredients are well combined and the dough is no longer sticky (only add a little more flour if necessary).
Roll the Waffle Dough and Fill
Place the Liege waffle dough onto a lightly floured surface and press into a 12″ x 12″ square shape, then sprinkle with the Belgian Pearl sugar (*the original recipe lists 300 grams of sugar, but I found this to be much too much-add more or less to your liking).
Now roll the dough from one end to the other, to form a large sausage shape.
Cut into 100 gram pieces and form into ball shapes and set aside to rest for 15 minutes, covered with a slightly damp kitchen cloth.
NOTE: You can cook these Belgian waffles in the iron now. However, I discovered that keeping the dough pieces in the fridge overnight, then bringing them to room temperature and then cooking them worked marvelously, too.
Cook the LiegeWaffles
Heat the waffle iron. This is the tricky part as all irons are different. I have a Waring Pro, now discontinued, and heated mine to the number 2 setting. The goal is to cook the waffle without making it too dry and overcooked, but caramelizing the sugar pieces at the same time. Play with the settings until you reach a result that you like. This is how the sugar looks once it’s caramelized.
Place a ball of waffle dough in the middle of the iron and cook it until it’s golden brown (I cooked mine at the number 2 setting for 4 minutes) and the sugar has caramelized. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look pretty.
Carefully remove the waffle as the caramelized sugar will definitely give you a nasty burn (I used a small flat wooden utensil, but wooden tongs would also work).
Serve as is, with a dusting of powdered sugar or melted chocolate (traditional serving ideas). Authentic Belgian waffles can be eaten the next day; just warm them a little first, or even put them in the toaster.
Remember, don’t expect these to taste like, or have the same texture as American waffles. Liege waffles are so delicious, but are difficult to describe as they are so different than what we are used to.
Overnight Waffles with Buttery Maple Nectarine Topping
This is what the inside of the authentic Belgian waffles looks like: not light and fluffy, but more dense and substantial. We’re missing the best of Belgium’s waffles if we don’t make traditional Liege waffles! Order that Belgian pearl sugar and get kneading! As Donkey says from Shrek, “We’re makin’ WAFFLES!”
The inside texture of Liege waffles, along with the bits of caramelized sugar is what makes them phenomenal!
All I know is, I’m hooked on these super lekker authentic Liege waffles! Let me know if you try them by leaving a comment below. Goede eetlust (bon appetit)!
Next stop on my culinary tour? Geneva, Switzerland!
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A Super Lekker, Authentic (Traditional) Belgian Waffle Recipe and a Day Trip to Bruges!
An authentic Liege style waffle recipe to recreate the amazing waffles from Belgium in your own kitchen.
Ingredients
- 300 g flour plus 200 g flour
- 80 g sugar
- 2 tsp dry yeast
- 150 ml water
- 2 eggs
- 15 g butter (room temperature) plus
- 175 g butter, cut into pieces (then allow to sit at room temperature)
- 140 g Belgian Pearl Sugar* (found at specialty stores or Amazon)
Special equipment: waffle iron (the one I have by Waring Pro has been discontinued)
- kitchen scale
Instructions
- Place 300 grams flour plus the 80 grams of regular sugar in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Warm the water until it is lukewarm (not at all hot) then add the yeast (do not add the yeast when the water is too hot or it will kill it and the recipe will be ruined) and whisk until it has melted.
- Add the eggs and 15 g of butter to the flour and sugar mixture in the mixing bowl, then pour in the water and yeast mixture, whisking to combine all the ingredients.
- Continue stirring until a sticky dough is formed.
- Then add the 200 grams of flour to the top, along with the 175 grams of butter pieces. Cover (without mixing anything) and allow to rest for 20 to 25 minutes.
- With your hands, incorporate the butter and flour into the sticky dough until all the ingredients are well combined and the dough is no longer sticky (only add a little more flour if necessary).
- Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press into a 12" x 12" square shape, then sprinkle with the Belgian Pearl sugar (*the original recipe lists 300 grams of sugar, but I found this to be much too much-add more or less to your liking).
- Note: this is less than half of the sugar in the original recipe.
- Now roll the dough from one end to the other, to form a large sausage shape.
- Cut into 100 gram pieces and form into ball shapes and set aside to rest for 15 minutes, covered with a slightly damp kitchen cloth.
- NOTE: You can cook them in the waffle iron now, however, I discovered that keeping the dough pieces in the fridge overnight, then bringing them to room temperature and then cooking them worked marvelously!
- Heat the waffle iron. This is the tricky part as all irons are different. I have a Waring Pro, now discontinued, and heated mine to the number 2 setting. The goal is to cook the waffle without making it too dry and overcooked, but caramelizing the sugar pieces at the same time. Play with the settings until you reach a result that you like. This is how the sugar looks once it's caramelized.
- Place a ball of dough in the middle of the iron and cook it until it's golden brown (I cooked mine at the number 2 setting for 4 minutes) and the sugar has caramelized. Don't worry if it doesn't look pretty.
- Carefully remove the waffle as the caramelized sugar will definitely give you a nasty burn (I used a small flat wooden utensil, but wooden tongs would also work).
- Serve as is, with a dusting of powdered sugar or melted chocolate (traditional serving ideas). These can be eaten the next day; just warm them a little first, or even put them in the toaster.
Notes
These waffles truly don't need anything served on or with them, they're that good.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 waffleAmount Per Serving:Calories: 341Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 107mgCarbohydrates: 50gFiber: 1gSugar: 18gProtein: 6g
Nutrition information is only estimated.
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Hi! Can I use instant yeast instead?
I do think that would work! Let me know how they turn out!
Wow, these were soooo good but so sweet! I can’t believe the original recipe almost calls for double the pearl sugar. I am so glad you cut it down and I followed that. I would’ve been completely turned off if I used the original amount!!
Right? I was shocked at the amount of the original recipe and don’t remember them being so sweet in Belgium. So glad you like them :) Thank you for the review!
I have to tell you, I just received a beautiful waffle iron for my birthday, and I cannot wait to try this recipe. I had no idea American and Belgian waffles were different. Your story is wonderful, and Belgium has moved up to my top five places to visit, going to order my scale right now, Happy New Year!
Ooooh, I’m so happy, Kathleen! I can’t wait for you to try these waffles as they’re so incredibly delicious and different than our normal waffles. Happy new year to you, too and let me know how they turn out! CC
This recipe lacks salt and is very sense. They are supposed to be dense but not like this. I would say this recipe is close but not great. I’ll keep trying others for the perfect balance.
Sorry yours didn’t turn out as you liked, but these turn out absolutely perfectly for me (and others who have left lovely reviews). I would guess you maybe measured something wrong? This is not my recipe, but an authentic Belgian recipe, so I don’t know what to tell you.
I’ve been using this recipe for years..
I always mix it the night before, which is what I’m doing tonight for New Year’s Day breakfast. I wrap the balls individually and place them in a bowl in the fridge over night. I take them out let them sit in the counter while I’m preparing the rest of breakfast, I heat the iron and cook them last so they are at the table hot.
I would wager inexperience working with yeast is where your recipe failed. Water too cold or hot and rising time, (20-25 mins) before the final mix is very general, the air temp would affect this too.
If you can’t appreciate this recipe, best to move on, try a simple North American waffle with baking powder, that you can’t mess that up.
Or keep trying to get it right. It does work and the reward will be delicious. 🙂
Thank you for your input, Graziana! It’s appreciated :)
Bedankt voor de recept! (Thanks for the recipe) Singaporean living in The Netherlands here. I love love love Belgian waffles and made it (not so authentic without the pearl sugar) once when I was then in Singapore. Just bought a waffle maker and I’m really looking forward to trying out your recipe. I could have just bought Belgian waffles from the snack stands or the supermarkets but they contain way too much sugar! I don’t remember seeing pearl sugar at the supermarkets in NL… wonder if using broken palm sugar works too – once again, not authentic. Loved Bruges/Brugge and all the colourful shops full of candies, the scenic views and the atmosphere. Been there both during winter and summer – loved the winter atmosphere. So magical!
Maybe you already know this: apparently in the Dutch world, it’s known as Luikse wafels (because it originally came from the village Luik near the Dutch border), Liege wafel (French name of the same town) and we just have to confuse people by giving it another name, Belgian waffles 😂
Hi Hart! I’m so sorry I missed your comment! Have you tried the recipe yet? Do let me know what you think! CC
Caramelized from the pearl sugar and crispy on the outside. Soft and dense on the inside! I love these Belgian waffles, it’s my second time making them! 💕 And I will be making them again and again! Thank you for this great recipe!
Thank you so much, Yasmin! So happy that you tried the recipe and love them! :) CC xx
Thanks so much for this recipe and the lovely photo essay. Bruges is such a gem. I did a photo essay on Facebook of Bruges side by side with stills from the movie (I did love the movie. Great cast). But photos simply cannot capture the charm of it, can they? I envy the people that live there! Oh, back to the waffles – making this recipe this evening. I’m going to prepare the waffles, and then since I only have one waffle iron, see how it works re-heating them in the oven for breakfast (should take most of the evening with cooking them, one by one). (Works for croissants and the like… ) Hoping that will work out ok, fingers crossed! A new neighbor who’s son is in my son’s class brought us a Korean noodle dish this evening, quite unexpectedly. If these waffles work out, I’ll run the boys over with four of them tomorrow (with reheating instructions) for their breakfast on Sunday. Lovely people, they speak almost no English. Food is meant for sharing !! Thanks again,
Al
What a lovely message, Al! Sorry for my delay in responding as I’m traveling in Australia atm. You can even pop the waffles in the toaster (if you have extra wide slots). Yes, Bruges is wonderful! Part of my family had a reunion there last summer! Korean food is my favorite Asian cuisine and I have several recipes from a Korean friend here on my site! Let me know how the waffles turned out! CC