This Is What Happens When You Substitute Water For Milk In Waffle Recipes
You're craving a stack of rich, syrup-smothered, piping-hot, crispy waffles, so you go to your kitchen to start whipping up a batch. You heat up your waffle iron, start mixing together your dry ingredients, and then you realize it — you're out of milk. You shrug and move on with making the waffles. No big deal. You'll just substitute the milk for something else that you always easily have on hand, right at the kitchen sink: water. It can't impact the end result of your waffles that much, can it?
Unfortunately, it can. The milk in your waffles acts as a binding agent and adds a level of richness that you just can't obtain with water alone. That's not to say that you can't substitute water for milk in waffle recipes and you likely have at some point — you'll still end up with waffles. You'll just be sacrificing some of that classic flavor and richness in this fan-favorite breakfast dish. There is some good news, though, according to Our Everyday Life. While water does nothing to improve your waffles' flavor, using equal parts water for the milk your waffle recipe calls for can result in slightly crispier waffle edges and a lighter crumb texture.
There are better dairy alternatives to use in your waffles instead of water
Still, if you find yourself in a situation like the above, hold off before immediately reaching for the faucet. There are other ingredients around your kitchen that you may be able to use in your waffle recipe in place of both milk and water.
If you have any non-dairy milk substitutes in your fridge, those may work well in place of regular milk in your waffle recipe. Consider almond milk, cashew milk, oat milk, or coconut milk (though you don't want to use the full-fat canned coconut milk, which has the wrong texture and fat content for waffles). Soy milk, hemp milk, and rice milk are other options. If you have no milk whatsoever, try another form of dairy; some waffle recipes use Greek yogurt (like this one from Allrecipes) instead of milk. But look past your fridge, too; you may have some condensed milk sitting in your pantry that A Pretty Life suggests you could use in lieu of regular milk as well.