Savory Cornmeal and Chive Waffles with salsa and eggs

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There’s something about a giant stack of waffles topped with butter, powdered sugar, and maple syrup that puts me in an un-fightable, resistance resistant, afternoon coma.  That really… and I mean reeeeaaalllyyy pisses off the workaholic in me.  She hates napping.  The waffle-aholic in me?  Well… obviously she thinks her workaholic counterpart should just chill  the heck out.

I’ve tried to appease both sides of my w-aholics… and it’s not about trading waffles for spelt toast.  No…  that just can’t happen.

Switch up the waffle!  Make it a savory dream!  Top it with salsa and an egg!  This way my waffle-aholic self gets all of her warm waffle goodness. and my workaholic self doesn’t need a resentful nap.  Take note.

Please tell the waffle-aholic within you that this dish is supreme for either breakfast or dinner.

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Savory waffles are IT!

Here’s what you’ll need:

A waffle iron.  I know… I know… what a pain.  There’s really no other way to make waffles though.  Perhaps you could turn this dish into savory pancakes… but it’s not quite the same.  Waffle iron.  It’s a splurge!!

Cornmeal gives these waffles a really wonderful crunch.  I used a more coarse cornmeal.  Bite!

Chives and parsley kick up the flavor of these waffles. Subtle onion and herb.  It’s perfect.

Black pepper!  Coarse and generous.

Salsa and eggs!  Cook up and egg and top it off with salsa.

With these few ingredients, I swear you’ll feel like you’re doing everything right.

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This batter is beautifully thick and subtly flavored.

Cornmeal and scallions mysteriously take things from ok to uh-mazing.

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You might choose, as I did, to enjoy these waffles with a friend, on a front porch, under a gloomy grey sky, on a slightly chilly weekend morning.

Or!  Or or or… you could plop down in from of the television and watch reruns of Law and Order SVU.

OR!  You could eat them standing in your kitchen, trying to get your cat to stop sticking his face in the open waffle iron.

I usually opt for the later option.  That’s just how I choose to live… or something.

Savory Cornmeal and Chive Waffles with salsa and eggs

serves 2

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1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal (fine cornmeal is good, but I love a coarse grind for this recipe)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

1/3 cup melted unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons chopped chives

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

salsa and eggs

Set your waffle iron in a level, clean surface and turn on to preheat.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, baking soda,  and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, butter, and buttermilk.  Add the wet ingredients, all at once to the dry ingredients.  Add the chives and parsley.  Stir until just incorporated.  Try not to over-mix the batter.  If a few lumps remain in the batter, that’s ok.

Cook according to your waffle machine instructions.

While the waffles cook, fry up some sunny side up eggs in a nonstick frying pan.

Serve waffles with fresh salsa and hot fried eggs.  Top with extra chives and parsley.  Waffles are best served immediately.

Note:  Allow waffles to cool completely.  Store them in pairs in ziplock bags and store in the freezer.  In the morning, gently reheat waffles in the toaster or toaster oven.  Best toaster breakfast ever.  You can even turn the waffles into bread for sandwiches… just trust me. Awesome.

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182 Responses

  1. I made these last week for a brunch birthday potluck
    But, instead of salsa and egg, I smothered in creole style BBQ shrimp
    Incredible pairing!

  2. I made these waffles this morning for brunch and they were insanely good! Instead of chives and parsley, I threw in chopped scallions and cheddar cheese. Next time I want to try making a sweet cornmeal waffle with blueberries! One question though – this is a LOT of butter. Any ideas for a slightly healthier subsitute?

  3. Made this for lunch today at my Assisted living home and it was a huge hit!! Very tasty!! Next time I made add a few jalapeno’s.

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  5. Beautiful, have been wanting a savoury waffle recipe that works in my iron for years, have tried other ones but this one is a winner, the kids love it too. Only had to substitute the buttermilk for soy milk with a little vinegar and butter for oil as we don’t do dairy but worked superb. Thanks

  6. I had previously been totally owned by savory waffles in my waffle iron. Why I decided to revisit them while responsible for a dinner for 6, I’ll never know, BUT I am so happy I found your recipe. They came out so perfectly. Chicken and waffles night a huge success, and I now have a go-to recipe. Thanks!

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  9. These waffles are so delicious. They are dreamy with a little wedge of spreadable cheese, and tomorrow’s plan is to use them as the base for grilled cheese sandwiches with fig spread.

  10. Joy, I made this tonight, for a kinda breakfast dinner, but mostly because I treated myself to a proper waffle iron (yay!!). I added scallions and cheddar to the batter, but everything else remained the same. Oh My Goodness!!! Sensationally good! I was eating the waffle on its own, forget everything else! My kids had it with eggs, salsa and broccolli (they’re nuts for it). It’s entered into my beloved Moleskine recipe book. There’s gonna be plenty a-waffling in this house. Thanks so much for sharing such a fabulous recipe.

  11. Shush! I need these in my face, like now! Oh, I do love a savory incarnation of a typically sweet thing. Merci, dear for the inspiration!

  12. I just wanted to pop by and let you know that I made these waffles this morning. They were so so good! Thanks for providing a savory alternative to maple syrup & butter! (the fiancé said they were excellent and could I please make them again?)

  13. Made these for lunch and they were super good – great tip about the coarse cornmeal as this really works to up the crunch factor. I used vegetable oil rather than melted butter too, as I’ve read that makes for a crispier finish too. A couple of poached eggs and a tomato salad – perfect.

  14. I always check food blog comments to see who has successfully made the recipe, and this one was lacking, but I tried it tonight anyway. EPIC WIN. Dinner guest and fella loved it (as did I), will definitely make again. I added a tiny bit more chives to the batter and sprinkled a little cheese on the eggs, because I’m like that, but otherwise it was as written. A super quick dinner, too (about 30 minutes, though I didn’t time it). I only had fine cornmeal; next time I’d prefer it with the grainier kind, and perhaps more of it (my waffles were not cornmealy enough for my liking). Thanks for the great recipe!

    PS – As I made the waffles two at a time, I ate last. My dinner guest, to me, ruefully: “Yeah, sorry, I’m going to be finished by the time you sit down because I CANNOT STOP SHOVING THIS IN MY FACE.” A good testimonial if ever there was one.

  15. Outstanding combination of flavors. I made them as corncakes instead of waffles because I don’t have a waffle iron and they turned out great. The combination of the runny yolk on the corncake with a bit of bite from the salsa is just heavenly. Not hard to make and tastes absolutely delicious (how could it not with 1/3 cp butter). The recipe says it serves 2 so I doubled it. As corncakes, the recipe serves 4, so I had a lot left over. The toaster trick works great for the corncakes too.

  16. I approve of your egg’s yolk being a deep gold color and not neon yellow. Having my own chickens has made me an egg snob, but oh well.

    If I could be any type of snob, I guess an egg snob is not that bad of a choice.

  17. If you think thats amazing, in Juneau, AK there is a restaurant that serves nothing but waffles. One of them is the Omelette Waffle, it has chopped ham, sauteed veggies, and some scrambled eggs stirred into it, they serve it with salsa and sour cream. IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND. I force everyone who comes to visit to eat one. They also have a waffle of the day and one time it was straight bacon and cheddar…… I’m just sayin I might have cried.

  18. Ohhhhhh yeaaaaaahhhhhhhhh….at least that’s all I was going to say until I realized that would be a bit creepy. But I’m crushing hard on those waffles right now.

  19. Okay, these look freakin’ amazing. But I have a question: the name of these waffles calls for chives (and that’s what’s in the picture), and then the recipe calls for scallions (green onions). Which one is it!?! The suspense is killing me. It might not matter, but I feel like they add a different amount of crunch/flavor. Also, making these ASAP.

  20. This recipe definitely warrants buying a waffle maker. I love that you added cornmeal, Joy, I think that real seals the deal on the savory and would make for a wonderful texture. Now I just need to buy a waffle maker!

  21. I absolutely love savory waffles and I always eat my eggs with salsa, so this sounds absolutely amazing to me. I may just have to hijack someone’s waffle iron this weekend to make these!

  22. Alright alright alright! These sound awesome! I love the idea of making waffles into a savory dish because 9 times out of 10, I make them sweet with some sort of fruit. Not sure why I never thought of this before, but thanks so much for the idea. I know what I’ll be making for breakfast tomorrow morning. Possibly even for dinner tonight :)

  23. Oh I want to make these for dinner tomorrow. I can’t seem to get it to print though. The “print this” link only turns up as your “Joy the Baker Copyright” info… :(

  24. This just reminded me that I wanted to ask for a waffle iron for my birthday. Shoot! My kids and I love waffles. This recipe may also get my husband to love waffles. Maybe I’ll get my husband a waffle iron for HIS birthday and attach this recipe to it…

  25. Love love love waffles–especially topped with eggs and salsa! Hate hate hate unearthing my waffle iron from the depths of my appliance shelf. Anyone know if there is a waffle iron out there that you can just plop on the stove?

    1. I was just thinking about chicken and waffles for dinner. I found a recipe that used beer in the batter for the chicken as well as the waffle. I think you need to make this for us Joy!

  26. Oooh! What sort of sandwich would you recommend making out of waffles – would it be better to use cornmeal waffles or a regular Belgium waffle recipe?

  27. Perfect timing! I just happen to have some leftover chorizo in my fridge. These waffles, plus chorizo, are going to be epic.
    Now, to go dust off that waffle iron!

  28. Maybe you’ll block me from commenting forever on your blog after saying this: I don’t always love sweet breakfasts of pancakes and waffles. I try. I really do. But CORNMEAL crunchy savory waffles with eggs and salsa? This is the first time I’ve wanted to pull out our 4-year old wedding waffle maker and give it a try. This looks amazing!

  29. My father just got a waffle iron for Christmas. I’m going to forward this to him then show up for brunch tomorrow. Thanks, he’ll be super happy you posted this! :o)

  30. I’m afraid of ruining the non-stick surface of my waffle iron my putting things like berries or chocolate in waffles (am I overprotective?) but cornmeal savory waffles sounds doable. My family will enjoy this one!

  31. Recently I left my waffle iron at my aunts (over 5 hours away!!) not a good plan. BUT I do have a plan to get it back! Maybe in February some time. Might have to an emergency run to goodwill to see if they have any waffle irons on cheep!

  32. I’m a big fan of unexpected sweet and savoury combinations for breakfast – or anytime really! I recently discovered toast and jam with fried eggs (LOVE) and also putting jam in omelettes. But yes, eggs for breakfast are definitely more energising than baked goods… so combining them is the ideal!!

  33. What an awesome recipe. I can already picture myself standing in the kitchen (while the cats circle) devouring one of these. I need to get myself a waffle iron pronto.

  34. These look awesome! I realized the other day that the waffle recipe I use doesn’t even have any sugar in it. Hadn’t really thought about it before. It could totally be used for savory things! Great idea! Beautiful pictures!

  35. I’m sure the cat only put his face on the waffle iron once and then learned his lesson! These do look delicious, I’m wondering if your friend was irked that you needed to pause to take pictures before eating waffles? One of the downsides to having a beautiful blog, cold waffles.

  36. I’m always so incredibly torn between savoury and sweet at breakfast. As a compromise I’d probably have these as my main with a sweet round of waffles to follow…January diet? What January diet? :-)

  37. Perfect! This looks like THE way to eat breakfast for dinner – which my husband usually hates. I chucked my waffle iron in the garbage after 5 years of not being able to really get it clean. I’ll have to go the pancake route. . . until I can get myself a waffle maker with dishwasher safe removable grates.

  38. This is fantastic! A few years ago my friend invented the ‘waffle sandwich’ to alleviate this problem…add less sugar to your batter when making waffles, then drizzle one side of each waffle in olive oil and use them as you would bread for a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. It sounds like crazy food, but it is delicious!

  39. I love this! I have been all about the commonly sweet – turned savory breakfast items lately. Very specific genre, I know – but oatmeal? french toast? now waffles – oh the possibilities!
    Thanks for this brilliant idea for the collection.

  40. Cornmeal. It makes everything better. The only way I could possibly think to improve upon this would be to add bacon. Also- I don’t have a waffle iron, so will be trying them as a pancake. But you’re right, it probably won’t be as good.

  41. As a Brit, savoury waffles are a fairly regular feature, but I am loving the Mexican/heuvos spin, they look and sound delicious, perfect Sunday brunch fare, AND my Veggie friends can share.

  42. Wow, i love the idea of a savory waffle! Your photographs look beautiful and darn DELICIOUS!! Love all the ingredients, especially the chives and the cornmeal in the waffles! I’ve only had cornmeal waffles once before at this place called Brown Sugar Kitchen, and they were the best thing of my life, so I know I have to try these now!

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