Best waffle makers

A waffle maker is handy when you get a hankering for crisp and fluffy waffles, but not all have evenly heated cooking plates, mess-free designs and speedy cooking times to help you make perfect waffles.

In November 2021 we tested 10 bestselling waffle makers from leading brands including Lakeland, Breville, Sage, Russell Hobbs, and more, to find out which make crisp and fluffy waffles.

Read on to see which waffle makers we recommend, what you should bear in mind if you're looking to buy one and how you can make waffles even if you don't have a waffle maker.

Prices and availability last checked: 7 January 2022.

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The best waffle makers

Only logged-in Which? members can view the test results below. 

If you're not yet a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the waffle makers we tested. Join Which? now to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations below.

American Originals Flip Over Waffle Maker

Cheapest price: £29.99, available at Argos, also available at Amazon

Size and weight: 8.9 x 12.4 x 32.9cm (HxWxD); 1.4kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 10.2 x 10.2cm

Approx. heat-up time: 2-3 min

Recommended cooking time: 5-10 min

Other key features: Handle lock, vertical storage, non-slip base, recipes included

The American Originals Flip Over Waffle Maker has a unique cooking method which requires you to grab the handle and flip it over halfway through cooking.

This could be a genius design if it results in evenly cooked waffles.

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Breville VST072

Cheapest price: £46.99, available at Amazon, Currys, also available at Littlewoods, Robert Dyas, Very

Size and weight: 9.4 x 27.6 x 23.5cm (HxWxD); 2.43kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 12 x 10.5cm

Approx. heat-up time: 4-5 min

Recommended cooking time: 7 min

Other key features: Detachable cooking plates, handle lock, vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base, recipes included

This small kitchen appliance from Breville resembles a little suitcase, so it's easy to store away when not in use.

We put this compact waffle maker to the test to see if it's also straightforward to use and whether it cooks waffles evenly.

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Daewoo SDA1562

Cheapest price: £29.99, available at Amazon, Currys

Size and weight: 15 x 30 x 26 (HxWxD); 2.6kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 10 x 11.5cm

Approx. heat-up time: 4 min

Recommended cooking time: 4-5 min

Other key features: Detachable cooking plates, handle lock, vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base

Daewoo's SDA1562 waffle maker puts simplicity first, with no buttons or dials to overcomplicate the cooking experience.

Find out if the waffles it cooks are just as good as those from more intricate waffle makers.

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Global Gourmet by Sensiohome American Waffle Maker

Cheapest price: £29.99, available at Sensiohome, Amazon

Size and weight: 13.5 x 28.5 x 22.5cm (HxWxD); 1.6kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 9 x 9cm

Approx. heat-up time: 3-4 min

Recommended cooking time: 3-7 min

Other key features: Temperature control, vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base, recipes included

This Sensiohome American Waffle Maker makes four mini waffles you can divide into quarters, so it could be a good fit for someone who often cooks for one and likes their waffles to be bite-sized.

We put it to the test to see how evenly it cooks waffles and whether this low priced waffle maker is worth buying.

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Lakeland No Mess Electric Waffle Maker

Cheapest price: £49.99, available at Lakeland 

Size and weight: 11.5 x 28.5 x 31.5cm (HxWxD); 2.9kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 9 x 10cm

Approx. heat-up time: 3 min

Recommended cooking time: 5-7 min

Other key features: Vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base, recipes included

This expensive Lakeland waffle maker can cook four waffles at a time and it has a moat around the sides to prevent batter from leaking out if you overfill it.

While it's clearly well designed in terms of cleaning and mess, what did we make of this waffle maker overall?

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Russell Hobbs Deep Fill 3in1 24540

Cheapest price: £30, available at Dunelm, also available at Amazon, AO.com (out of stock), Argos, Asda (out of stock), Russell Hobbs, Very

Size and weight: 10.5 x 25 x 23.2cm (HxWxD); 2.5kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 11.2 x 12.7cm

Approx. heat-up time: 4-5 min

Recommended cooking time: At least 3 min, with regular checks until golden brown.

Other key features: Detachable cooking plates, toastie and grill plates included, handle lock, vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base, recipes included

We've tested the Russell Hobbs 24540 before as a toastie maker, but now we've put it through its paces as a waffle maker too.

You can head to our toastie maker reviews to see how the toasties turned out, or read our full waffle maker review to see how it fared at making waffles.

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Sage The No Mess Waffle Maker BWM520BSS

Cheapest price: £175.50, available at Amazon, also available at AO.com (out of stock), Argos (out of stock), Sage (out of stock)

Size and weight: 14.6 x 24.1 x 29.2cm (HxWxD); 3.65kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 18.8 x 14.3cm

Approx. heat-up time: 5-6 min

Recommended cooking time: 3-4 min

Other key features: Temperature control, handle lock, vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base

This is by some way the most expensive waffle maker we tested, with most other waffle makers costing less than half the price of this one.

Our test results reveal if it's worth stumping up the extra cash to purchase this Sage waffle maker over cheaper rivals.

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Salter EK2143

Cheapest price: £32.99, available at Robert Dyas, also available at Amazon, Argos, Currys (out of stock), Very

Size and weight: 11 x 29 x 25.5cm (HxWxD); 1.92kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 13.8 x 14.1cm

Approx. heat-up time: 4 min

Recommended cooking time: 15 min

Other key features: Detachable cooking plates, toastie and grill plates included, handle lock, vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base

The Salter EK2143 has the longest recommended cooking time of the waffle makers we tested, but if the waffles are perfect, they could be worth the wait.

Find out what we thought in terms of ease of use, cleaning and cooking ability.

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Tower T27025

Cheapest price: £29.29, available at Amazon, also available at Currys (out of stock), Robert Dyas (out of stock)

Size and weight: 10 x 29.2 x 24.3cm (HxWxD); 1.94kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 13.5 x 13.5cm

Approx. heat-up time: 4 min

Recommended cooking time: 3-6 min

Other key features: Handle lock, vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base

We made several batches of waffles with this low priced Tower waffle maker and judged them on how evenly they cooked and their texture.

Photographs were taken of the waffles we cooked so you can see how they look as well as what we thought of them.

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VonShef Round Waffle Maker

Cheapest price: £32.99, available at Amazon, VonHaus

Size and weight: 12 x 23.5 x 34cm (HxWxD); 2.2kg

Cooking plate size (per waffle): 9 x 9cm

Approx. heat-up time: 2 min

Recommended cooking time: 3-8 min

Other key features: Vertical storage, cable tidy, non-slip base

This VonShef waffle maker was the quickest to heat up out of all the models we tested, so it could be a good fit for those short of time.

Our full results show how easy we found it to use, what we thought of the waffles we cooked, and more.

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Four key findings from our waffle maker tests

• Most waffle makers struggle to cook evenly on both sides if you fill the cooking plates up to the recommended amount. If you pour extra batter in to get more evenly cooked waffles you're likely to face some overspill, and if there's no catcher of any kind you'll be left with a tricky cleaning job. This is why the best waffle makers tend to have a drip catcher or moat to compensate for the seemingly required overfilling.
• Detachable cooking plates can be a hindrance as well as a help, as although you can remove them and stick them in the dishwasher for cleaning, they leave small gaps on the waffle maker where batter can leak in. If this happens, you'll have a much more frustrating time cleaning up than if you'd just bought a waffle maker with non-detachable plates.
• Every waffle maker we tested got very hot everywhere except the handle. Make sure not to touch any other part of the waffle maker while it's in use and wear protective gloves if you're worried about burning yourself.
• During cooking the batter joins together to form a solid object that you can just peel out of the cooking plates when the waffles are ready. This makes waffle makers a doddle to clean as long as you don’t overfill them. The cooking plates shouldn’t need more than a wipe with a damp cloth.

If you're looking to make the perfect topping for your waffles, see our picks of the best ice cream makers.

How to make waffles without a waffle maker

Investing in a whole electric appliance to make your waffles might not feel worthwhile, especially if you're short on kitchen space or only fancy waffles for breakfast occasionally.

If this applies to you, did you know that you can also make waffles using a griddle pan?

They won't have the little holes you so often see in waffles made by a waffle maker, but the charred grill lines of the griddle pan can give a different but equally appealing look to your waffles.

1. Prepare your batter following your usual method. For our tests we used Jamie Oliver's waffle batter recipe.
2. Melt a lump of butter in your griddle pan and heat it until the butter melts and stars to bubble.
3. Pour a thin layer of waffle batter onto the griddle pan until the the whole bottom is covered, and cook for around five minutes.
4. Once the batter can easily be lifted off the griddle pan with a spatula, flip the waffle batter over and give it another five minutes of heat.
5. Once it's golden, buttery and has attractive brown griddle lines cooked into both sides, take it out of the griddle pan, slice it into four quarters, and serve.

Prefer this method of making waffles? Check out our recommended griddle pans that impressed in our tests.

How we tested waffle makers

To find the best waffle makers we put together a selection of tests to separate the top performers from the disappointers.

We chose and bought 10 waffle makers widely available at UK retailers and brands and cooked up more than 20 waffles for the tests.

Here's how we assessed each waffle maker we tested:

Build quality and storage

The best waffle makers should be sturdy, made of high quality materials and designed to make the user experience as comfortable as possible.

We checked each waffle maker for signs of poor manufacturing, for example loose parts, fiddly buttons and sub-par non-slip feet, and praised them for being easy to store, clearly labelled and for having useful features such as a drip catcher for overspill.

Ease of use and heat-up speed

We timed how long it takes each waffle maker to heat up before it's ready to cook, how easily detachable plates can be removed for cleaning, and how clear and bright the indicator lights are.

Waffle makers that make audible beeps when they're ready to go earned extra points, while slow to heat and poorly labelled ones were penalised.

Evenness of cooking

We cooked several batches of waffles with each waffle maker following the instructions for each.

Using Jamie Oliver's waffle batter recipe, we made waffles with every waffle maker we tested using the same ingredients, and took as much care as possible not to overfill or underfill the cooking plates.

Waffles that were evenly browned and had a crisp outside and a fluffy inside scored highly, and undercooked or uneven waffles were given lesser scores.

Ease of cleaning

After cooking with each waffle maker, we cleaned each one following the instructions and noting how easy or difficult the task was.

We looked for tricky to reach spots or stuck-on bits of waffle batter that will prove more difficult for you to clean after you've used them.

Several waffle makers we tested were also tested as toastie makers. See our toastie makers results to find out how they compare.