We tasted 12 frozen waffles to find the best — and Eggo didn't even crack the top five
These brands will make busy mornings easier — and more delicious.
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I'm a breakfast-for-dinner person, and I don't just mean I'll eat scrambled eggs or cereal for my evening meal. I also love a good frozen waffle, particularly Eggos (I'm a kid of the '80s, and hey, old habits die hard). But as Yahoo's resident taste-tester and a former food-magazine editor, I have a pretty adventurous palate. I'm always open to discovering a new favorite, so I eagerly took on the task of finding the best frozen waffles in the grocery store.
In this story
Joined by another frozen waffle fan, Home Editor Elizabeth Berry , I scoured local supermarkets for nationally available brands, including Kodiak, Good & Gather and, of course, Eggo. We then broke out our toasters and heated each variety — 12 in total, including a couple of gluten-free waffles — for a brand-concealed taste test. We rated them on flavor, texture, appearance and overall enjoyment, as the best frozen waffles shouldn't just save you time, but also make a genuinely delicious addition to your morning.
Best frozen waffles for 2026
Serving size:Two waffles | Calories per serving:210| Protein per serving:6g
Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, these are the quintessential waffles. They have a slightly salty tang (the buttermilk at work, I'm guessing) and taste just as good on their own as they do doused in syrup. Many of the other waffles we tried had a slightly carboard-y taste and texture when eaten alone, so this felt like a big win.
One of my favorite things about these waffles is that even after putting them through two cycles on my toaster's low setting, per the box's directions, the interior was very soft. It almost seemed undercooked, and as someone who loves batter of any kind, I found this very appealing. The squares are deep and hold an impressive amount of toppings. And though the waffles are on the flatter side, they had a lightness to them. I also loved the buttery aftertaste.
Score: 16/20
- Savory flavor that complements syrup (though tastes great without it)
- Crisp exterior and light interior
- Affordable — just $3 for 10 waffles
- Flatter than some others we tried
Waffles per serving:One | Calories per serving:250 | Protein per serving:3g
Considering Whole Foods' reputation as a place for healthy, organic groceries, we didn't exactly expect it to be home to the best sweet frozen waffle we tasted. But lo and behold, the supermarket's house brand, 365, knocked our socks off with its dessert-like Belgian waffles.
"So delicious, OMG," noted Berry, who detected notes of cinnamon and brown sugar. The decadent flavor may be too much for some, or you may want to skip the syrup (the waffles are so sweet, they don't need it). Each one comes wrapped individually, six to a box, and they're on the smaller side but thick and fluffy, just like a Belgian waffle should be. Berry's convinced that with a few toppings, she could convince her friends she made these from scratch.
Score: 19/20
- Thick and fluffy
- Salty-sweet flavor, with hints of cinnamon and brown sugar
- Crisp top
- Might be too sweet for some
Waffles per serving:Three | Calories per serving:280 | Protein per serving:7g
When you're craving that crispy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside combo, Trader Joe's Toaster Waffles are the ones to buy. They earned the highest score for texture, beating out every other waffle in the testing pool. "Very fluffy and bouncy! And they stay fluffy, even when you cut into them," Berry noted.
Despite their soft, light interior, they had an impressive crunch. And they were sturdy enough to hold up to syrup and fruit. Berry wishes they were a little more flavorful, but if you love toppings, this shouldn't be a deal breaker.
Score: 16/20
- Crispy on the outside and light on the inside
- Sturdy enough to stand up to heaps of toppings
- Serving size is larger than competitors
- Not as flavorful as some other waffles
Waffles per serving:Two | Calories per serving:210 | Protein per serving:10g
With their darker color and notes of cinnamon, these definitely aren't your standard toaster waffles. They struck me as a more grown-up option, and they definitely taste more "healthy" than our top pick from Good & Gather (they're made with whole wheat). They smelled incredible while cooking, thanks to the cinnamon, and they had a light sweetness even without syrup.
The exterior is crunchy, yet these waffles have a nice lightness. I will say they eat a bit dry, so syrup does boost the texture. As far as "healthy" waffles go, these are a solid bet, and they do, in fact, have one of the highest protein contents of the brands we tried. Only Kodiak, with a whopping 16 grams per serving, topped Van's, but Van's tasted more interesting.
Score: 15/20
- Made with whole wheat
- Higher in protein than most
- Lightly sweet and smell incredible
- May not appeal to kids or picky eaters
Waffles per serving:Two | Calories per serving:180 | Protein per serving:2g
If you're wondering how flavored waffles made their way into this test, I had heard great things about Nature's Path Organic, which makes a variety of waffles. I had been hoping to try the Homestyle variety , but they were out of stock at my local supermarkets, so I decided to give Pumpkin Spice a go because it seemed the closest in texture and flavor to the classic.
Honestly, the texture of these was spot-on: They were fluffy, with an exceptionally light interior. These are gluten-free, but I would gladly eat them as someone who loves all things glutinous. The pumpkin-spice flavor was faint but noticeable and made the waffles smell incredible as they toasted. I was also impressed with the hearty look of these, both in size and color.
Both these and the brand's homestyle waffles are made with brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, yellow corn flour and cane sugar. They're certified USDA organic and vegan, to boot.
Score: 13.5/20
- Excellent texture
- Hearty size
- Certified organic and vegan
- Not as flavorful on their own as some others
How we tested frozen waffles
I started with my go-to, Eggo, then expanded the testing pool by researching top-rated frozen waffles that are nationally available in grocery stores or online. I made sure to include some sweet waffles alongside high-protein and gluten-free options to address different dietary preferences. Most were classic or buttermilk-flavored (often called "homestyle"), but one was a seasonal flavor because that's all I could find at my local grocery stores.
No short stacks here! We tried every frozen waffle brand we could find at the grocery store in our quest for the best.
(Jessica Dodell-Feder/Yahoo)Then came the fun part. My colleague Berry and I set ourselves up in our respective kitchens with a toaster, butter and syrup (of course!). We heated the waffles according to each box's directions, though pretty much all of them tell you to do the same thing: Place the waffles in a toaster on the lightest or lowest setting for one or two cycles until heated through. We labeled each sample with a letter and did our best to mix up the brands during testing, so we didn't know which waffle was which.
After tasting each waffle on its own and with syrup, we scored them from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best) on flavor, appearance and size, fluffinessand overall enjoymentfor a total of 20 points.
Other frozen waffles we tested
Eggo Homestyle Waffles: My nostalgic standby didn't fare especially well in testing, earning middle-of-the-road scores in all categories. They're a perfectly decent frozen waffle, but not necessarily a standout. Berry found their yellow color a bit unnatural.
Eggo Buttermilk Waffles :Berry thought these tasted slightly sour at first, but they grew on her. "They remind me of a standard pancake mix," she reported. They toasted up softer than the others she tried.
Trader Joe's Whole Grain Waffles :Thin and perfectly round with small pockets, these reminded us of hockey pucks (though mercifully, they were much fluffier). They weren't especially flavorful, but some sweetness came through the more we ate them.
Kodiak Buttermilk and Vanilla Power Waffle :With 6 grams per waffle, these were the highest-protein options we tried. Their dark color and fairly bland flavor (I couldn't detect buttermilk or vanilla) give them a "healthy" vibe. They ate dry and benefited from a drizzle of syrup.
Here's just a taste of the dozen toaster waffles we tried.
(Elizabeth Berry/Yahoo)Good & Gather Gluten Free Homestyle Waffles :The other gluten-free waffle in our testing pool, this version paled in comparison to our top picks. Though the texture was on point, these waffles had a faint chemical taste/smell, which I think was actually the corn flour in the ingredient list. They tasted slightly sweet and had an oily aftertaste.
365 by Whole Foods Market Organic Homestyle Waffles :These were fine and scored similarly to the Eggo Homestyle waffles. They have a darker, wheaty color and a vaguely sweet flavor. But the ingredients are organic, which might give them a leg up.
Kashi Seven Grain Waffles :Both Berry and I ate these healthy waffles growing up. They're made with a whole-grain flour blend that includes oats, hard red wheat, buckwheat and rye. Molasses and cane sugar give them a bit of sweetness, but they're not the tastiest. They are also on the thin side.
Must-haves for heating (and eating) frozen waffles
Amazon
Technically, these tongs were designed for snagging freshly cooked waffles from a waffle maker, but they'd be equally as handy pulling them from your toaster. The tines are designed to fit neatly inside those spongy little pockets, and the handle has a nylon grip.
Amazon
A drizzle of syrup on your waffles is great — but on your table? Not so much. This container makes it easy to deal with sticky substances (including honey). Instead of pouring from the top, it dispenses the liquid from a spout at the bottom. As soon as you release the trigger on the handle, the spout automatically seals to prevent leaks.
Amazon
You might not think you need a pop-up toaster , but this extra-thin model makes an excellent case for keeping one on your counter. At just 3.6 inches wide, it can tuck away nearly anywhere, and it comes in six pretty colors, all in a display-worthy matte finish. The single slot can fit two frozen waffles side by side.
Want to take frozen waffles to the next level? Instead of toasting them, brush them with a little melted butter and warm them up in a cast-iron pan . Senior Deal Writer and former pro baker Britt Ross considers silicone pastry brushes like these a must-have because they're heat-resistant and easier to clean than traditional bristles.
Amazon
As convenient as frozen waffles are, sometimes you've just got to go with the homemade version. This little gadget cranks out 4-inch waffles and is inexpensive enough to pay for itself in just a couple of mornings! It gets an impressive 4.6 stars from more than 158,000 Amazon shoppers.
Personally, I think there's a place and time for standard pancake syrup , but if only maple syrup will do, Wood's is a winner. The Vermont-based company produces its syrup in small batches and has all kinds of fun flavors beyond apple pie: chocolate , pumpkin spice and even infused with ghost peppers . That's quite a way to wake up!
